Chapter 21: Rule Number one
Langley, Virginia. U.S. Eastern Seaboard: 0612 hours, November 15th, 1996…
Jonathan Dubrino sat in Jack Ryan's office, looking at all the pictures with him and Admiral Greer, then farther down, him and his wife, Cathy Muller-Ryan standing at the altar. The door opened, and Dubrino turned around. Jack Ryan was staring him in the eyes.
"What do you want, Detective?"
Dubrino threw Jack the photos of the Arrsburg massacre that he took, as well as the box that held the Stealth Camouflage.
"That's what is happening over in the U.K. Voldemort is search for an object. An object called-"
"The Green Flame Torch."
"Yes, how did you know?"
"My brother -in-law's brother-in law married Morgana's heir. He alerted the whole family of the immediate danger of his wife position. He's dead, isn't he?"
"How did you guess?"
"The woman he married, Sarah Granger, she would have died before giving up the location of her piece of the map. The only way she would say anything unless Abath was in mortal danger."
"Oh, I see."
Jack Ryan looked over the man. Zalrot told me a man would visit me within a couple weeks. Why does this man look like death? Jack then looked at the man's left arm. He saw the skin change and reform, making the dark mark appear, clear as day. Then it disappeared, just as quickly as it was shown.
"So, what have you got for me?" Jack walked over to his bookshelf, and pulled down one of the books. Then the back of the bookcase slid backwards, the shelves folded down, and the back of the bookcase slid into the wall, revealing a hidden passage way that was very steep, going down.
"Follow me." He took a step onto the path, and kept walking down. Ryan looked back every few seconds, just to make sure Dubrino was following him. The path was starting to get quite dark ahead of them, so Ryan slowly unclipped the top of his gun holster, and flicked on a flashlight.
Then the beam of light hit a very wide, open spot at the end of the tunnel. Then Jack turned around, pulled his gun out, and aimed it at Dubrino, "Let me see your hands!"
"Not a chance!" The man disappeared for a second, and reappeared, "What the hell?"
"The wonder of anti-apparition charms. Now, hands in the air!" Ryan said, cocking his gun, "Hands in the air, NOW!" Dubrino raised his hands, and Ryan grabbed him by the back of the neck, and pushed him into one of the walls, "Show your true face, Death Eater."
Then the man changed, his form turning into a giant blob-like creature, and reforming to a man know as Donovan Mintoka, a Wizarding Colombian Warlord. Columbian? How the hell did he become a Death Eater?
"How are you a Death Eater?"
"I was captured by the dark lord, yet willingly gave my life to serve him. It was seven months ago."
"That's why the fighting stopped."
"Exactly."
"Where's Dubrino?" Mintoka struggled, swinging his arm at Ryan, who ducked and thrust his left fist into the Colombian's side. Mintoka doubled over in pain, and Ryan put his foot on the back of Mintoka's neck. He aimed the gun at Mintoka's left leg, "Where's Dubrino?!"
"Go to hell!"
"You first." Ryan then shot the warlord in his left leg. He then aimed at the right one, "Where is he?"
"AH! Jesus Christ man! Okay! Okay! I'll tell you! Just give me a world map!" A large table-like device presented a large, holographic map of the entire world. Ryan took out his wand, aimed it at Mintoka's leg, and healed the wound. The bullet popped out, and Ryan picked the man up by his collar.
"Now, show me where Dubrino is being held." Mintoka hesitated, and Ryan pulled out his gun again, and aimed it at his temple, "Show me!"
Then, Mintoka raised a shaky hand, "Right here, there is a secluded base in the northern part of the Ural Mountains, right here. That is where your friend is being held at this moment."
"Check the Sat photos. I want a full digital perimeter analysis cross-referencing with a hard-target search. I was picture size of one mile per photo. Do it!" Then, throughout the entire room, the clacking of keys were the only that was heard. People frantically searching for a base inside that area.
Jack Ryan held his breath for a few minutes, the barrel of his gun still aimed at Mintoka. Mintoka started to move a little bit, and Ryan pressed the barrel into the man's left temple, "Hey, hey, hey! Can I just scratch my balls for a second?" Ryan hit him on the back of the head the bottom of his gun.
"Sir! I found something!"
"Watch him." Jack said, and the person drew his weapon and aimed it at Mintoka's head. Ryan walked over to DS&T technician who had found something during the search, "What did you find?"
"Sir, as I was doing the mile size photos, I decided to switch to a geo-thermal scan of the area and found this. About maybe 400 warm bodies grouped in a single spot. If you look at the normal NSA sat photos of the region, you only see snow and ice."
"Alright, that has to be it. I'll notify London about the solution to this situation." Then he pulled out his gun, and aimed at Mintoka's face, "You know the job. We eliminate threats. You, Donovan, are the threat. Goodnight, Mintoka."
Hogwarts Castle, Scotland: 1112 hours, November 15th, 1996…
Harry woke up, lying on his side, on the couch in the Prefect Common Room. Hermione was lying in front of him, looking at the back of the couch. There was a thick blanket lying over both of them, a fire that was nearly dead in the fireplace. The only other person who was in the Common Room was Ron, and he was sitting in one of the chairs, laughing.
"Well, it seems Ginny will be pleased."
"Shut up." Harry said, laying his arm across Hermione again, and setting head back on the pillow. He could hear Hermione breathing softly, and he could feel her chest rise and fall with every passing breath. He kissed the back of her head softly, taking in her scent, which just fueled Ron's laughter, "Ok, you've been laughing for two weeks straight. Be quiet."
"I agree." Hermione said. She turned around in Harry's arms, and kissed him softly, "Good morning."
"It would be." he said, smiling. She apparently had the same thoughts, and they both looked at Ron with the same, devilish grin. They picked up the pillow from under their heads, and threw it at Ron. It hit him square in the face, but he just kept on laughing. Harry conjured up another one, and the two of them laid their heads back down.
"Alright, in truth, Sirius asked me to come get you, Harry. He wanted to tell you something." For some odd reason, this made Harry panic. Hermione sensed it, turned around again, and kissed him softly on the forehead. Then she put a hand on his free arm and rubbed it, soothing his fears.
"Everything will be fine. Don't worry." Harry just nodded dumbly, got out from under the covers, and kissed Hermione on the forehead. Then walked out of the Common Room. Hermione turned over, missing the warmth that was with her just a few seconds ago.
"So, are you going to throw anything else at me?"
"Shut up and let me sleep."
Harry opened the door to Sirius' office, and immediately caught a small, pen-like device in his hand. The other one was in Sirius' own hand, a little green light blinking on and off, "Synch your repeater."
"Sirius, what do you mean? What's going-"
"Synch your repeater, Harry." Harry pulled the top of the repeater up, and the green lights that were flashing synchronized instantly, blinking at the same time. Then Sirius closed his device, and Harry followed suit, looking at Sirius confused, "When a beep goes off, and the green light goes red and stays steady, then I have fallen."
"What's going on?"
"The Order received a high class retrieval order from America. It seems that the missing person, Dubrino, has been located, and we have to get him out as soon as possible. Dumbledore is sending me to help with their hand picked agent, Neil Shaw, to help with the infiltration and extraction."
"Why you?"
"Because I'm the best that the Order has at the moment. Remus is the other top, but his affliction prevents him from doing this. I'm the only one who can."
"What about Tonks?"
"Remus wouldn't allow his wife to get mixed up in this. Especially since she carries his child."
"I thought that-"
"Remus was cured. Somehow, he was cured of being a werewolf. So now, him and Tonks are married, and have a child on the way."
"Oh, what about the others?"
"Not nearly trained enough, or have the time to do this. Shacklebolt is up to his eyeballs with trying to defend the country, and the others are in his same position, injured or dead."
"So you're the only one that can do this?"
"That's what I've been saying."
"You get you ass back here alive, as soon as possible." Sirius smirked.
"It's no less then what your father and mother would recite at the same time. And I promise, it will be in and out, infiltrate, liberate, and extract."
"It's the liberate part that worries me."
"Well, I have to get out of here. Remus is taking over my classes for now."
"Aww, too bad for Snape." Harry said with a grin, "Where are you going?" Sirius didn't answer, just disapparated. Dumbledore must have lifted the ward for a few seconds.
New York City, New York: 0700 hours…
Sirius Apparated inside the hotel room at the Ramada inn in downtown New York City. Jack Ryan and a man he had never met before were sitting in two chairs, with a third one reserved for him.
"Sirius!"
"Hey, Jack." Jack shook hands with him, and gave him a hug, "Fifteen years, hasn't it?"
"Not since you helped me bust that Colombian drug smuggling ring on accident."
"How's things at CIA?"
"Understaffed and overworked. Here, let me introduce you to your partner, Neil Shaw. We went through the farm together."
"He works for you now?"
"No, actually, he now works as a UN covert op."
"I didn't know those things actually existed. I heard rumors, but nothing solid."
"Well, it seems that the U.S. government can't keep a secret."
"Obviously not."
"Hey, can we get to work? I don't think Dubrino wants to be in that hell hole very long."
"Right." Ryan walked over to a table, grabbed a small blue box. He then pressed a small, red button on the top, and the sound of electricity crackling through the air was heard. Little blue lightning bolts shot from the box, and hit places all around the room. Then the lightning receded into the box, which Ryan placed in his pocket.
"Afraid of the Chinese?" Neil asked him.
"You know that they're always trying to slip a mole in, but now we can move forward." Ryan opened a briefcase up, and brought out several satellite photos, as well as Geo-Thermal scans of a mountain range, "These photographs show a base in the northern sector of the Ural Mountains. That is where Dubrino is being held.
What we're going to do is slip you two about a mile away, going under radar detection, just in case Voldemort has a few tricks up his sleeve. Then you're going to enter through a steam vent on this part of the island…"
Ural Mountains, Northern Sector, Twenty Minutes into mission…
"Ryan, is CIA able to do a depth scan on the area?" Sirius asked over the Codec.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, it seems something landed here hundreds of years ago, and we're going to have to be Peter Pan to get into the vent."
"What do you mean?"
"There's too many guards around to rappel and walk to the vent, and a straight drop would kill us."
"Sirius, I have an idea." Neil got down, onto his stomach down on the ground, and aimed the grappling hook at the opposite end of the crater. He pressed the trigger, sending a high-tension line across the gap. It stuck into the wall, sending chunks of rack falling down to the bottom. Then Neil detached the line from the gun, and wedged it into the wall. Then he clipped a cord to it, and his belt, "Make sure that you get anyone I can't see." He said, reaching for a sniper rifle.
Neil jumped up, and pushed off of the wall, and started sliding over the gap, hanging on by a thin wire. When he was in the middle, he took off the scope covers, and aimed at the first person. He got a nice headshot and fired. One down. He kept aiming and firing, and the Death Eaters kept dropping like flies.
Soon after, all of the guards were dead, and Neil was looking down at the vent. He pointed at Sirius, and did a backflip, unhooking himself from the wire, and sending him on a freefall into the vent. He fell down, to the entrance of the vent and stopped. Then he flipped over, and landed inside the vent. Sirius followed suit. Soon, they were both in the very large vent.
"Alright, objective one, complete."
"Good job, you are go for objective 2. Liberate Dubrino."
"Roger that, sir. We're on our way."
Hogwarts Castle, Scotland, Twenty minutes into mission…
"Now your normal teacher, Professor Black, is indisposed at the moment, and is unable to teach class…" At the mention of Sirius, Harry took the repeater out of his pocket, and opened it. It was still blinking a green light. Hermione looked over at him with curiosity.
"What is that?"
"A repeater." he said simply. He didn't really want to get into what its use was at the moment.
"So, what is it- Harry, are you alright?" she asked, looking at his face drop.
"Hermione, I don't really want to talk about this right now, ok?"
She nodded, "Yeah, sure. Alright, Harry."
***
Sirius pulled out him M9, "Ryan, tell me, why am I using this little sissy Muggle weapon? And at that, a tranquilizer gun?"
"Because that they probably have magic detectors inside the building, and that way, if a person is discovered, alarms won't go off, and guys ready to kill won't appear."
"Right. So, do we know where Dubrino is inside?"
"Probably the bottom floor. Voldemort would have anticipated an incursion or a possible invasion on the base, so he would've moved Dubrino to the bottom floor, just in case."
"Whatever you say…"
"What are you thinking?"
"Voldemort's smart. With the size of this base, he could have hid Dubrino in a room on the top floor and known it would take two or three days for someone to find them."
"I see."
"Neil, Is there a way to activate his tracer?"
"Yeah, I have the device with me."
"Good, when I call you the next time, meet me where I am at, to see if we can re-activate the tracer on Dubrino."
"Got it."
Ural Mountains, Northern Sector, Four hours into mission…
Neil had dropped into a closed bathroom stall after firing a single bullet from his M9 into a Death Eater's head. Neil took the man's uniform and opened the door. His gun pointing out first, he slowly looked out of the small crack, and then opened it completely.
"That won't work, you know."
Neil responded quickly, staring down a cyborg ninja with the barrel of his gun, "What are you talking about?"
"That uniform won't work in the area you want to go." the ninja said in a mechanical voice, "These Death Eaters are different. They use color-coded uniforms to get around. You have a level 1 uniform, you want a level 7."
"What are you saying?"
"If you even try to get to the holds, you're dead. And the Patriots can't let that happen."
"The La-li-lu-le-lo?"
"Correct. The la-li-lu-le-lo."
"So how do I get a level 7 uniform?"
"I cannot tell you. I only pass along useful information at the time. You do not need it yet."
"Who dictates what I need to know?"
"The Patriots, of course." Neil had heard enough. He was sure that this man worked for the Death Eaters, and fired a shot into the helmet that covered the ninja's face. The ninja brought a sword up and blocked the bullet with ease. Then the ninja spun clockwise, and did a back kick on Neil, slamming the bottom of his foot into his chest sending Neil through every one of the stalls.
"Never shoot at me." The ninja then said, pointing the sword at Neil. Then the person ran out of the door. Neil tried standing up, and realized one of his ribs was broken. His attempts to stand were unsuccessful, and was on his fifteenth when fifteen Death Eaters walked in, with guns raised high.
"We got a live one!" The head Death Eater said, before taking out his wand, and levitating him to the holds.
***
Sirius dropped down a long shaft in the air vent, and landing farther down in the building then the first floor. Whoa. That was fast. He looked out of one of the vents in the shaft, and saw five men in white uniforms, hitting a young man in his late twenties. Nope, not him.
He decided that this was another life that deserved saving, so he aimed the M9 through the bars, and fired five shots into the Death Eater's heads. They fell down, clearly asleep. Sirius silently opened the vent, poked his head out of it, looking around to see anyone still awake, and dropped down into the room.
He pulled a Damascus Bowie Knife out of his ankle, and cut the man's bonds from the chair. Then he stood up, and offered a helping hand to the man. He declined, and stood up quickly.
"What's your name?" Sirius asked, looking at the man suspiciously.
"El fuego."
"The fire?"
"Si."
"How did you get here?"
"A group of Death Eaters captured me a couple of weeks ago, from a church outside of Dublin. I was sent a set of plane tickets by owl, and was told to come at this church at a specific time. I showed up early and was captured."
"What is your real name?"
"T.J. Styles, why?"
"How much did you tell them about your piece of the map?"
"Map to what?"
"The Green Flame Torch. How much did you say about it?"
"How do you know about that?"
"My sister is Ursulane's heir, making me Ursulane's heir, so of course I know about it."
"Oh, I see."
"How much have you told them?"
"Most of it. Town, area of the country, all of that. The only thing they don't know is what building it is in."
"I see. Look, we need to get out of here. How good can you-" Styles healed his wounds instantly.
"I may be a squib, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Let's go. Get one of their uniforms on."
"Why?"
"You want to get into the Armory? It's on this level."
"Sweet."
Los Angeles, California, Seven Hours into Mission…
Chris Sanchez was sitting in an Interrogation room of the Los Angeles Police Department, waiting for Detective Nebaum from the Internal Affairs division to come in. For two weeks now, she would be called to that room, and Nebaum would ask her questions on it, each time getting no farther then the previous time.
"Sanchez, we've been back and forth at each other's throats on this matter, and we've gotten nowhere. So, before we transfer you to San Quentin, I will ask you one last time. What did you do with Mr. Styles?!"
"I didn't do anything! All I know is he left for a flight two days before he disappeared! I told you that!"
"Alright, get her out of here."
"Who the fuck are you, Nebaum? What did I ever do to you?"
"It's not me you did it to. Get her out of here." Three officers grabbed her, and dragged her out of the room.
***
Harry was sitting in the common room, just staring at the repeater. Hermione was staring at his face, which was set it stone. She was worried at what the item could be doing to him, and who had given it to him.
"Ron, what is Harry holding?"
"It's called a repeater. I think Sirius gave that to him today."
"What does it do?"
"See the green light? That means Sirius is alive. When that turns red and stays steady, a beep will go off. That means that Sirius was killed."
"Oh, I see."
"You didn't hear this from me." Ron said sternly.
"Why not?"
"Because what I just told you, is classified. You tell anyone, the order will kill you, and none of us want to see that happen."
***
Sirius and Styles were walking in the white Death Eater robes, down their fifteenth corridor, heading towards the Armory. The door opened, to see that someone else was already in there.
"Shaw?"
"Yeah, I have Dubrino with me."
"How did you get down here?"
"Long story. Take and M16, and let's get the hell out of here." Both of them grabbed one of the black assault rifles, fifteen extra clips, and a couple of grenades. Then they stuffed them under their robes, and walked out of the door. They went up the stairs, and went as high as they could, which was over seventy-five flights of stairs, to the warehouse.
Control Room of Ural Mountains Base, Eleven Hours into Mission…
"Now, we know where the last two pieces of the map are, we must get them before Potter is able to get to the Ministry."
"Where are the last two pieces, sir?"
"We already have one of them, theoretically. And the other, is in a town called Avalanche Ridge."
"Do we have a battle strategy?"
"A plan is still being formulated." Then a lone Death Eater ran into the control room.
"Sir, we have an intruder at the Warehouse!"
***
Then, the robes were ripped off, and gunfire could be heard from all directions.
"INTRUDERS! CODE THREE! SEND FOR RENFORCMENTS!" Guys with everything from 9mm Berettas to RPG launchers were popping out of the woodwork. Sirius was aiming as fast as he could at targets that were appearing so fast, they were like moles coming out of the ground.
Then the explosions started. Rocket Propelled Grenades started flying around them, colliding with flying bullets, boxes, forklifts, anything in their path. Styles, Ryan, and Dubrino were firing at the people that were almost surrounding them. Then Sirius saw the exit, a door on the opposite side of the warehouse.
"GO!" he yelled, pointing his finger at the door. The four of them started running across the room. Everything behind them were exploding, the walls of the building shaking as if something erupted up above. Dubrino and Styles walked through the door first, then Shaw.
Sirius had just reached the door, when something told him to turn around. He did a full 180, looking down an RPG that was coming straight at his face.
***
Harry was still sitting on the couch, with Hermione snuggled into his chest, asleep. He had one arm draped around her, and the other holding the repeater. It was still blinking a green light, which was going on and off every other second. Harry set it in his lap and sighed.
Then a beep was heard, and Harry jumped off of his seat. The repeater flew across the room. Hermione was awoken suddenly, and looked at him.
"Harry, what's wrong?" All he could do was stare at the little device Sirius had given him. The light had stopped blinking. It was now glowing a steady red, and Harry knew exactly what had happened. He knew that he had lost another person in his life. Sirius had died.
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Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! I know I left huge gaps, but if I explained it all, then it would be the length of the entire book. Some of those gaps will be explained. Watch for my next chapter, Chapter 22: Christmas With Sirius. Oh, and check out a companion fic to this story, Tears of the Sun, that, and the H/C prequel to this story, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is only One chapter at the moment, but is going to be a re-write of the newest Harry Potter book. It is on www.fanfiction.net