Midnight Crossfire

New chapter is live.

Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

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"They started shooting," T-Lilith said, listening to the gunfire coming from the direction of the office.

Adrian lit a cigarette, utterly confused. According to his own guess, Kelly would probably stubbornly try to hand T-Lilith over to the BSAA. That was why he had hidden nearby tonight, watching for movement around the office.

Now someone was exchanging fire right outside his door.

The BSAA? Who are they fighting?

Prone inside a nearby building, Adrian lifted his AR-15 and studied both sides through the scope. One side was indeed BSAA. On the other, he spotted a familiar bald head.

"Norman? That bastard isn't dead?"

"Mr. Norman?" T-Lilith looked at him.

"Yeah. The security captain in charge of your convoy. I thought everyone from that night had been wiped out."

"Should we kill them all?" T-Lilith clicked the safety off her AR-15. Her face stayed blank, but Adrian could almost see the eagerness under it.

"T-Lilith really doesn't like Mr. Norman."

"Not yet. Let them fight." Adrian took a drag from his cigarette. "Give it a little longer, and the Italians should join in too."

Adrian had to admit he had underestimated the organization behind T-Lilith. He had underestimated how important she was to them. After talking with Kelly, he understood things would never unfold the way he had first imagined. The organization would do anything to recover T-Lilith, an irreplaceable research result. They would step straight into the sewer pit called Loplers without caring how much noise they made. And if the BSAA knew a B.O.W. sample had been left loose in civilian hands, they would never let it go either.

This was bad.

He did not have the ability to take T-Lilith and vanish forever. If he failed to deal with the source of the problem, trouble would keep finding them.

"A Team, four with me. We recover the asset," Naraza ordered quickly. "Everyone else, including B Team, pin the BSAA down."

He turned to Norman. "Watch my back. Once we find her, we leave."

"Understood."

Norman loaded a grenade into his launcher and fired toward the BSAA's cover. As the blast flared, Naraza shouted for suppressive fire and charged up the outside stairs of the two-story building with his team. He shot the lock twice, kicked the door in, and tossed a flashbang inside.

The flashbang detonated. Naraza raised his HK416 and swept into the room with the security personnel behind him.

The room was dark. Only the firelight outside reached through the windows. Under Naraza's command, the team cleared the entire office in seconds.

As expected, they found nothing.

"Damn it. The back door is locked too. They were gone before we got here. That third-rate mercenary." Naraza pressed his comm. "Norman, target's not here. They ran."

"Fuck!" Norman's curse came through the radio.

Then the sound of jeeps rolled up outside. More than one. At the same time, shouting in a language Naraza did not understand filled the street.

He was about to lead the team out when a heavy machine gun roared outside. Bullets shattered the glass and swept across the room. Naraza grabbed the nearest man and dragged him down by instinct. The next second, rounds screamed over his head. One man who reacted half a beat too late was shredded where he stood, his body armor punched through as if it were paper.

"Damn it, that's a heavy machine gun. Norman, what the hell is happening? How did local forces get here so fast?" Naraza shouted from beside Adrian's sofa.

"It's the local gangs. Naraza, there are over a hundred of them. Five jeeps, all with heavy guns mounted." Norman's voice pitched upward over the comm. Then came a near-screamed warning. "Incoming RPG!"

The rocket detonated. Naraza felt the world buck under his feet. Heat poured through what remained of the windows. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself up, glanced at the riddled corpse on the floor, and said, "We withdraw through the back."

Gunfire ripped apart the once-quiet night.

Naraza escaped with the three surviving members of A Team and linked up with the security personnel holding below. Norman looked ragged. Two security members lay in the alley, blood spreading around them, their condition impossible to judge at a glance. Naraza looked across the street. The BSAA had already fallen back the way they came, using the buildings as cover while exchanging fire with the gangs. The locals were attacking like madmen, pinning both the security team and the BSAA down with a chaotic mix of weapons.

"Snipers. Kill their gunners," Naraza snapped.

"No snipers left," Norman answered. "After two of their machine gunners died, they used grenades to collapse the tower our snipers were in."

"These are supposed to be gangsters?" Naraza spat.

"A Loplers gang," Norman said.

Naraza had imagined all sorts of problems. Maybe they would fail to slip past the local patrols. Maybe that local mercenary would fight harder than expected. He had even considered the possibility that T-Lilith might refuse to leave with them. What he had not imagined was running straight into the BSAA the moment they reached the mission site. He had not imagined the local gangs butting in. He definitely had not imagined those so-called gangs carrying AK-47s, mounted heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, and grenade launchers instead of pistols, hunting rifles, or old shotguns.

Right now, he only wanted to get out of this damned town.

Why did a city this small turn into a war zone the moment a fight started?

"Target is not at the planned location. BSAA and local gangs interfered. Mission failed. We need to retreat," Naraza told Norman.

"I'm afraid not." Norman shook his head. "Command sent new orders. They successfully tracked the target's current position. They want us to follow the guide signal, locate the target, and recover her."

"When I find that mercenary," Naraza said viciously, "I'm going to peel his skin off and hang it on a wall."

Chris pressed a hand to his forehead. The situation had spun far beyond anything he expected.

Command had received the informant's update. The operation's target B.O.W. had fallen into the hands of a local mercenary. With permission from local armed forces, Chris had led his team into Loplers and planned a midnight raid on the mercenary's hideout. Instead, the moment they appeared, they ran headfirst into another armed force.

He recognized them immediately. Their uniforms and equipment matched the security team that had escorted the target convoy a few days earlier. Both sides opened fire. Chris could accept that much. They had clearly received their own intelligence and come to seize the B.O.W. too.

Then the local gangs charged into the battlefield with a terrifying amount of heavy firepower.

Chris wanted air support, but Kirk told him the local government had rejected BSAA air units' request for entry. Instead, the local government had negotiated with the gangs. Mediators were on the way to ensure the BSAA team already inside Loplers could be extracted safely.

Chris could not accept that result.

He crouched with his team in an alley and watched the local gangsters pour fire into the security team like men possessed.

Two olive-drab jeeps rolled in, brakes screeching as they stopped at the alley mouth. A local officer stepped out and waved to Chris.

"You are Mr. Redfield, yes? I'm Engel. Sergeant Major Engel. My orders are to escort you and your people safely out of the combat zone."

Chris looked toward the security team's position. They had thrown smoke and seemed ready to retreat. The gangs were charging into it like lunatics. For no reason he liked, Chris thought of a CIA report the BSAA had received the previous year, one describing human hosts implanted with Plaga parasites.

The gang members outside looked almost exactly like the report's description of people implanted with parasites.

"Don't look so surprised. They're always like this," Engel said, catching the doubt on Chris's face. "Hot blood, short fuse. They say they believe in the Golden Spirit, a code about courage and protecting the neighborhood. This district of Loplers is drug-free because of them, so I suppose they're the last bit of human decency this trash city has left."

Chris thought for a moment, then patted Lainey on the shoulder.

"Lainey, take the others and leave with the sergeant major."

"What about you? Where are you going?" she asked, startled.

"Personal business."

"Mr. Redfield," Engel said, "I must remind you. My orders are to protect all BSAA personnel and escort them out of Loplers. If you insist on staying, my unit cannot guarantee your safety."

"That's fine. If something happens, I'll take responsibility." Chris looked at Engel. "For now, get my team out."

Engel studied him for a long second. In the end, he said nothing.

The BSAA squad left with the local military convoy. The gang members had already pushed through the smoke. Gunfire continued to roar from the far end of the street.

Chris took a deep breath, raised his HK416, and crossed the smoke-filled street. Then he slipped through the rear alleys, trying to cut off the security team as they changed position. His reason was simple. His instincts told him the security team would not retreat so easily.

He had to stay on them.

"Now," Chris murmured, "let me see what started this mess."

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