Durell's Insurrection

Prologue

Two men walked together into the utility office laughing and joking together. The only thing distinguishing them from the two dozen other people lined up were the large guitar cases they carried with them. They walked to the end of the long line for cash utility payments and continued talking with each other about how their band was going to rock the night away during a frat party that night.

A couple minutes later a large man walked into the lobby. He was about six feet two inches tall with a large build and a full beard. Neatly trimmed black hair and the casual clothes made him look like a businessman on his day off. The only things that set him apart were his eyes. His gray eyes darted around the room quickly, dissecting everything and missing little. He entered the line while adjusting the strap of a large gym bag that he carried hanging from his shoulder.

The line moved slowly for a few minutes while a few of the poor people begged the clerks not to have their power turned off for lack of payment. A few of the men took notice as a petite blonde woman entered the building and walked up to the large man with the gym bag. They started talking a little bit, but the big man's attention was not completely on the girl. It was on the two cops who had just walked into the lobby.

The officers were obviously on their break, most likely there to pay a utility bill. The big man looked them over quickly and then looked back at the girl, who nodded knowingly back. He then looked at the rock and rollers quickly, who also responded with a slight nod that indicated more intelligence than their outward appearances did.

Suddenly, the big man moved quickly, pulling a pistol out of the gym bag and aiming it at the police officers. The surprised police officers reached for their weapons as well, but they were too late. The big man fired two shots and hit each of them in the chest. The police officers hit the ground, covered in a pool of red, before they could fire a single shot.

Damn, he grumbled as he pulled out a larger submachine gun from the gym bag, They weren't supposed to be here!

The girl took another one out of the big man's bag while the two grunge types took assault rifles out of their instrument cases.

Everybody on the floor! the big man shouted as he fired a few shots into the ceiling.

It took barely two seconds for everyone to comply. The rock and rollers quickly went around and barricaded all of the doors except the front one, wiring them with what looked like an orange tinted version of C4.

The front door was guarded by one of them at all times. The guise of the ignorant rock and roller had left both of them. Now their eyes were as hard as the big man's was as they followed his instructions to the letter.

The woman kept an eye on the bill payers, now hostages, with her small assault rifle. If anybody moved at all she aimed the weapon directly at the person, showing them that she was serious. Nobody questioned her authority, the look on her face, pretty as that face may have been, was not one conducive to reason or open to question.

The big man looked around the lobby and checked out his work. He had the place buttoned down and at this point had complete control of the lower level of the building. Now the only thing left for him to do was to wait.

They did not have to wait long. The police showed up less than four minutes after the reports came in. The big man fired a few shots at the cops to warn them to keep their distance. There was no shouting, no malice. Just a few well-placed shots designed to show they were serious without wasting their limited supply of ammunition.

The police soon encircled the place and the negotiators and the SWAT set up shop. As soon as people realized that something had happened, they started to congregate behind the barricades that were thrown up quickly. Some of the people outside the building were screaming because they had relatives inside, but the police were calm and kept the crowd well away from the line of fire.

They were all professionals had dealt with this type of situation before. Once it was established that the situation was serious, the swat team took control of the entire perimeter. Cameras were placed to watch for any openings or signs of weakness. The phone lines were also cut and rewired so that the only person who could call in or receive calls from the building was the negotiator.

A hostage negotiator's job is to make the bad guys listen to reason. He or she has to try to become the criminal's best friend and get them to stand down. The negotiator actually has the hardest job of anyone on the hostage rescue team as they have to try to get an irrational person to begin acting rationally.

The first call was made two hours after the police officers hit the ground. The negotiator looked towards the building, wondering what he was in for as the phone rang. The big man picked up the phone on the tenth ring. He knew that it was time to state his demands.

The negotiator’s job was made difficult as the big man cut him off at every opportunity. He did this to keep the negotiator from getting into a rhythm that could lull his defenses. The big man had been through this drill before and knew what he wanted. He wasted no time stating his demands.

He wanted the release of ten men that were currently being held in a prison upstate. He told them that if his demands were not met within eight hours a hostage would be executed every hour until they were met.

If anything happened to the prisoners, all the hostages would be killed. If the police attacked the building, the hostages and the building would explode. Before the negotiator could say another word, the big man placed the phone back on the cradle.

After the line was dropped the negotiator looked at the building again and then at the bosses around him. They expected him to be a miracle worker. He wondered how someone was supposed to be able to work miracles when the people you were supposed to be working miracles on would not talk to you.

The big man smiled as he realized the negotiator's dilemma. He knew that the bigger loop he could throw them out on, the better his chances of getting what he wanted were. While the big man stared at the phone, one of the rock and rollers patrolled the wired doors. The other one sat by the still open entrance, keeping his weapon ready in case of attack. The girl was tired, but she was still alert and watching her captives for any sign of resistance.

After a few hours everyone started getting hungry. The big man, answering the phone for the first time in hours, finally agreed to trade five female hostages for ten pizzas and soft drinks. The big man was unbelievably relaxed. He smiled and even joked around with the hostages a little. The hostages were not in the mood to be buddy-buddy with the man who was holding them against their will, but it helped to relieve the stress of the situation.

The transfer went without a hitch and the pizza was passed around between the hostages. The big man instructed his people to wait until the hostages sampled the pizza before eating themselves. The big man's good mood ended when two of the hostages lost consciousness. The cops had drugged the pizza.

The big man was incensed. He dragged two frightened people to the front door. He started screaming outside at the police officers, though he was careful to stay out of sniper range.

You want to fuck with me? he screamed, Well this is what you get for fucking with me!

He then pushed the two frightened people, a young man and woman, out the door. Before they could run to safety he fired several shots from his submachine gun into their backs, sending them tumbling down in pools of red. The police fired several shots at him, but he ducked back inside as the bullets shattered the glass door and smacked harmlessly into the wall.

The police were not happy with this new development. They had now lost several hostages to this group, which was a bad situation all around. The situation had escalated. In addition to the physical loss, the police were going to lose face if they did not act soon. The negotiator tried frantically to get the terrorists on the phone, but the big man refused to answer.

The big man figured it was time to let them think about it. He shut the ringer off on the phone and sat back in the chair. He realized that this mess was going to take longer than he had originally planned. He was prepared for it, but did not like it. The police had tried an amateurish trick and it backfired, costing them two hostages.

The big man leaned back and rubbed his temples, looking around at the group of scared hostages. The blonde looked over at him, but said nothing. The two rockers were both tired, but still doing their jobs flawlessly. They all took their bosses actions as a matter of course.

The deadline approached at around nine in the evening. The negotiators were frantically trying to contact the terrorists in the last minutes before their deadline ran out. The governor had a policy against caving in to terrorists, which is what this group was considered. The police were in a no win situation, and they knew it.

The big man turned the ringer on the phone on exactly three minutes before the deadline. He was greeted with the frantic ringing that he expected. He smiled and waited another few seconds and then lifted the handset up to his ear.

Have you complied with my instructions? he asked the negotiator.

You've got to give us some more time… the negotiator replied.

Without saying another word he placed the phone on the table and grabbed one of the frightened hostages. He roughly shoved her out into the area that had been exposed by the shooting earlier that evening. The girl pleaded with the big man not to shoot her, but her pleas were ignored. The big man lifted his pistol and, without betraying any emotion at all, shot the girl three times in the chest.

The big man walked casually over the phone and picked it up again. The negotiator tried to go into his story about how this sort of thing would not make things any easier on them but the big man cut him off again.

You now have another hour, The big man told him, ice forming in his voice, I suggest that you not waste it talking to me.

He then put the phone down on the cradle and sat down to wait for the next hour to pass by. The hostages were all scared, but the blonde with the gun did not give them any relief. Everyone was tense and knew that things were going badly on both sides. It did not take a rocket scientist to see it, either.

The police were desperate. They knew that they could not give up those prisoners and they could not let the terrorists kill another hostage. It was finally the time to plan the assault, and they had less than an hour to do it. The planning started in earnest at this point.

The big man knew that an assault was a very real possibility at this point. He had his people take caffeine pills to heighten their awareness state. The hostages, though now fewer in number than before, were all still huddling on the ground. The big man himself escorted hostages to the bathroom in pairs so that his people would not be distracted by the task.

The hour went slowly for everyone. The big man was mildly surprised that the authorities had not attacked the building. The reason they had not, however, was the chunk of explosive sitting prominently by the hostages. The hour was running out and the phone was not ringing. That alone was not a good sign.

The big man debated on whether to call himself. He knew they were not going to free the prisoners on the death of just three hostages. He prepared to grab another hostage to kill when the phone rang. The big man sighed and picked up the phone.

Are they out?

We've got…

I don't care what you have, the big man said impatiently, One word, asshole. Are they out?

I will…

I said one word, The big man snarled, I will shoot one hostage for every nonessential word in the next sentence.

No.

The big man sighed and looked at the receiver.

Thank you, he said as he clicked it back onto the base.

He decided to take it easy on them and shoot one of the men this time. He motioned for the man to head towards the door. The man started to make a fuss, but the blonde girl clipped him up side of the head with her gun, knocking him onto the floor.

The big man picked him up and dragged him over to the door and tossed him out. He leveled his pistol to fire shots when suddenly his chest burst in a splatter of red. The big man fell down to the ground.

The girl saw the big man fall, but didn't hear a shot, causing her a moment of confusion. The two rock and rollers did not have time to react, as they were shot quickly by swat team members who crashed in through the windows. The blonde girl saw one of them fall and realized that they had been penetrated.

She screamed a few obscenities as the SWAT team quickly came into the building. In a split second they all fired together. She fired first, knowing the futility of shooting at the SWAT team, and emptied her assault rifle into the group of hostages as they hesitated on whether to shoot her. At a range of less than ten feet she hit at least two thirds of them before she hit the floor in a pool of red.

The SWAT team removed the now empty rifle from her hand and look around.

All clear! the team leader yelled.

After a few seconds the big man got up from the pool of red paint that resulted from the paint bullets striking him in the chest. He got up and walked around the room, seeing where everyone had fallen at the end of the scenario.

Good job everyone, he said as he surveyed, You almost cleared us out without any extra casualties.

Nice sim, A.J., the negotiator, Josh McClain, said as he walked into the room, If I didn't know better I would have thought it was the real thing.

Sorry I didn't give you much to do, The big man grinned, But I wanted to see what would happen if you were confronted with someone who wouldn't negotiate.

It seems we didn't do very well, McClain said as he motioned to the group of hostages covered with the dark red paint designating death by terrorist weapons.

You did well right up to the very end, A.J. Durell said to McClain, Only thing that screwed your people was the hesitation on shooting a woman. Teri emptied her rifle into them as they were deciding whether to shoot her or not.

Do you hear that everyone? McClain shouted to the swat team, Next time remember, if the girl has a gun she goes down. Even if she is as pretty as Teri.

Teri Michaels, the blonde girl that had gotten the best of them, got up and smiled at McClain and Durell as she tried to wipe the paint off her face.

You win some, you lose some, she said as she looked around, I’d say everyone lost this round.

There are general murmurs of agreement around the room as A.J. and Josh looked around. It had been a learning experience for all of them, but a useful one. Well worth the quarter million dollars it had cost the police department to hire Durell and his team.

Tim, A.J. said as he noticed the red on his man’s head, You ok?

Great, Tim Warren, one of the rock and rollers, grumbled, It’s going to take me a fucking month to get this out of my hair.

Stop whining, Mike McGrath, the other rock and roller who was now taking off his wig, told his partner, Just go back to short hair for a while. You look ridiculous with that mass of long hair anyway.

He’s right, Teri teased him, Fire red hair looks better short anyway.

Fuck all y’all, Tim growled as he brushed painted hair out of his eyes, It’s taken me a long time to grow this.

And it’ll only take a few seconds to lose it, Durell smiled as he clapped Tim on the shoulder."

You four are a trip, McClain said, Good actors too. We didn’t even detect your entrance and we knew what we were looking for.

The idea is to make a situation that is tougher than the average, A.J. told him, Most hostage situations are nothing more than punks who fucked up a robbery. Those are usually fairly easy. I stress training for the harder situations, which makes the everyday look like a cakewalk.

That way when you run into an everyday one it is a cakewalk, McClain nodded, Good approach. It seems to work well.

You can thank me by sending the check on time, A.J. smiled, And sending me the tapes on your first situation after this.

To check your training? McClain wondered.

Exactly, Durell nodded, Lets me see what areas improve.

Consider it a bonus, McClain said, I’ll send you the copies myself.

Thanks, Durell told him and then went back to his team, Where did we screw up this time?

Upper windows, Teri said, We didn’t secure them well enough.

You showed yourself, Mike said, Dumb move, boss. Got you killed quick when the time came.

That’s true, Durell admitted, Teri?

Yes? she asked, looking at her boss.

Why’d you shoot the hostages instead of the cops? Durell wondered.

Because I had a shot at them, Teri smiled, I was a goner when they took Mike and Timmy down. I figured that if I was going to go I’d make them pay for it.

Good shooting, Teri, Mike grinned, Real class act.

Glad I don’t have to pay the cleaning bills, Tim said as he looked around, It’s going to take a lot of cleaning on this mess.

They signed a waiver, Durell shrugged, They knew what they were in for.

The new paint bullets worked wonders, Teri said, Felt like the real thing.

New charge packs, Tim explained, being the armorer of the group, It gives a blowback which simulates the push that’s needed to send out a lead bullet out, while giving the paint bullet a much less lethal trajectory.

How is it that you can act so dumb on some things, Mike wondered, While you can discuss weaponry to the minutest detail?

Timmy has a fixed amount of brain cells, Teri said as she went over and kissed his cheek, Unfortunately most of them are used in weapons statistics.

Gotta have a hobby, Timmy shrugged.

I think we deserve a beer, Mike said, How bout you, A.J.?

Absolutely, Durell said, a smile on his face as the four of them left the thoroughly destroyed building.

Book I Durell goes to Finland

Chapter 1

A.J. Durell relaxed in his easy chair with a beer in one hand and the remote control in the other hand. Another sim was done so he could finally just sit back and enjoy his movies. He always did this at the end of a sim, simply take a week off to sit back and do nothing.

It was a needed relaxation for him, as his simulations were meticulously planned, usually taking a minimum of two weeks of intensive work before the actual thing took place. It was exhausting, and often times he had to face the fact that he was not in his 20's anymore.

A.J. Durell was never a paragon of physical fitness. He had to make allowances for the fact that his blown left knee and increasing waistline were increasingly slowing him down. The pack of cigarettes he smoked every day didn’t help much either. He grumbled at the thought and took a swig of his beer as he realized the movie he was watching truly sucked. Moving back to his computer in a laboring motion he hit random on his multi-disc CD player.

He smiled and fired up a cigarette as the beginning strains of Vienna Calling floated out of the CD player. A true child of the 80’s, A.J. Durell was. He leaned back in his easy chair and flipped the on switch to his computer. He figured that he could play a few rounds of Risk against the amateurs on the internet before he went to bed.

Chapter 2

Ambassador Matti Roto from Finland cornered Martin Brown at one of the many political shindigs that go on after hours in that city. As anyone familiar with how D.C. really works could tell you, the real deals are made at the cocktail parties between minor bureaucrats from all levels of government. International goodwill is made or broken at them as well.

Finland's economy had been falling apart since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Bad economies mean political unrest and instability in the populace. In a country used to seeing murder as something done by foreigners in distant lands, they were seeing an increase in violent crime. They were seriously unprepared for an increase of this nature.

Martin, Roto said in his accented English, It's getting worse and worse back home now. We are getting these attacks monthly, mainly because our police don't have the training to handle them.

Sounds like you need to train your people better, Brown said dryly.

He knew where this was heading. He had read the reports on Finland, and figured this was a hit-up for either training or aid money. Knowing the transparent bastard that Matti Roto was, he figured that either was a possibility. Brown was not in the mood to give much, since with the fall of the Soviet Union there was little need for additional goodwill with the small Scandinavian country.

It would help if we actually had people who knew how to do it, Roto replied, We can throw all the money we want at it domestically, but the fact is that we need training that no one in Finland, not even our army, has ever had.

Brown looked over to John Castor, CIA's deputy director of operations, who was standing nearby, listening to the conversation. He knew what Roto wanted as well as Brown did. Roto wanted U.S. aid and training to deal with their domestic terrorism, aid that just was not in the cards in the current US political climate.

Castor walked over to save Brown, who was not senior enough to make these decisions anyway. John Castor had dealt with Roto before, mainly while Roto was going up through the Finnish diplomatic ranks in the years before the Soviet Bloc collapsed. It always paid to have friends on the border of your largest enemy, so the CIA had long fostered friendly contacts with the Finns.

Matti, it's been a long while, Castor said to divert the conversation a little, So you're the full ambassador now? Can't say it could have happened to a nicer man.

I thank you for that, John, Roto said nervously, It’s been a long time coming.

Matti Roto had had too many dealings with the CIA in the past to be comfortable around Castor. If Castor revealed to anyone the fact that he had been one of the best CIA sources in Finland for years, Roto's career would be over and he would spend the rest of his life in a Finnish prison. Castor knew this as well, but was smart enough to know that Roto was not the enemy.

"You were telling me about your