Chapter 19

Whatever had happened was causing her ears to ring like somebody was banging on a couple of big church bells in her head but, Amy found that she could still think and move. She saw Tony stumble back in the door and then fall over a waiting room couch. She was not sure exactly what happened but, then, it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out that they were under attack. She had landed on the floor so she stayed there as she rolled back over to the door, pulled her weapon, and began firing through the smoke that was now choking the hallway.

There was a scream, followed by some frantic shouts, and Amy took that as a good sign that she had hit something. It only added to the sensation that was working her body and now she felt like she wanted to throw up. The smoke was bad enough but, this had to be the first time that Amy had ever fired her gun at anything but a paper target. Her hand started to shake as the shouts began to die down. Then the impact of a horde of bullets began impacting around her and now her hands were really shaking.

Amy rolled back out of the doorway no sooner than the debris of plaster and wood stopped falling. She crawled over to Tony who was still rolling around the floor with his hands covering his eyes. She steadied him and then tried to pull his hands away. He screamed at her, "I can't see!"

There were new sounds outside the door. Sally could not exactly make out what was going on but there was yelling and movement. Then another volley of fire began tearing up the wall around the door. She gulped when she realized that had she still been there, she would probably be dead now. They were shooting much lower this time.

Tony was still covering his eyes when he leaned up but, he sounded more in control of himself as he yelled over the sounds of gunfire, "they're trying to flank us."

"How?!" Amy had never really heard or used terms such as 'flank.' Now with her life hanging in the balance, Amy could figure out what it meant. They were trying to go around them only, how did you do that in an office building?

Tony, still squirming an in pain, told her, "the wall over by the records room."

Amy left him and ran for the room where they did their day surgery. She quickly found what she was looking for and wheeled it into the records room. She laid it flat and then retreated back to one side of the open door. Sure enough, and not nearly long enough, a wall of plaster and cheap metal came flying out of the room in a lethal wave of debris. Amy was still coughing as she peaked back in the room and saw the men with automatic weapons rushing in. One of them spotted her and prepared to fire. He only stopped when he realized what he was mostly standing on.

Taking as much cover as she could, Amy began to empty the magazine of her weapon. She probably did not have many rounds left when a bullet struck one of the two oxygen tanks she had left in the floor. It actually made a loud whistle that sounded closer to a shuttle engine at this range. The heat from the bullet and the sparks from metal on metal then ignited the expanding cloud of pure oxygen. Amy was actually surprised at the sound that made. It was more like very loud "crump" than a proper explosion.

When she looked back in the room, Amy could no longer hold the contents of her stomach. The smells of burned paper, flesh, and dust of plaster all mixed with the sights of those charred bodies and it was too much. She was still heaving on her knees when she felt the hand on her shoulder. Amy almost shot Tony at that point. He was stumbling and his eyes were puffy but they were open a little bit.

Amy got to her feet and found she was almost as bad as Tony on the stumbling thing. She fell back against the wall and then took a very deep breath. Tony was still rubbing at his eyes and then he looked back into what used to be the records room to make sure his first glance had been right. The flash, that had set the now growing fire, had been so strong that he could even make it out, in the waiting room, with his eyes closed and hands over them.

"What the hell did you do," Tony sounded out in a demanding tone.

That was enough for Amy. She had no wish to look back at the carnage she had just made. She had gathered enough of her strength and wits to take Tony's arm over her shoulder and lead him away. She also did not bother to answer his question. When she got him back in the waiting room he pointed at the chewed up door, "we need to get out of here. They're falling back."

Amy was both frightened and surprised, "because of what I did?"

"No offense babe," Tony told her, "but I don't think so."

As they passed by one of the windows, Amy looked down in the parking lot and saw the military looking armored vehicles, of the Wehrmacht, coming up the nearby street. Of course it was obvious that they would not get here in time to trap the heavily armed firemen wannabe's. Those guys had gotten down the stairs even faster than they came up them and were already loading up in their van.

Amy moaned, "oh great. Saved from sadistic psychopathic murderers by a bunch of Nazi goons. A girls dream come true." She wasted no more time and helped Tony down the stairway they had come up. The Germans were already surrounding the building when she got him back to her car and helped him sit on the hood. Tony held up one hand signaling Amy that he needed no more help and was rubbing his eyes with the other. He probably did not see the Germans that came up and pointed weapons at them but, there was no doubt to Amy, that he heard them yelling at them.

Raising her hands in surrender, Amy told the three soldiers, "Um spreken.. Whatever the hell you say, don't shoot!"

Horst came strolling up in time to hear Amy's tirade. He tapped one of his men on the shoulder and sent his grenadiers away. Then he smiled at the two Colonial Agents, "well I see you two are not having much luck today. You seem to keep showing up at all the wrong places."

Tony squinted at the guy, "oh don't hand me that crap Horst. You followed us here."

Horst simply smiled, tipped his hat, and said as he left, "I would have one of my medics have a look at your eyes Mister Tippet. Good day."

Amy waited for the man to get far enough away before she asked Tony, "what the hell is that guy after?"

"I don't know," Tony admitted in a tone that sounded out how much pain he was in. "Whatever it is, he owes us one."

Since Tony was trying to stand back up, Amy helped him and replied as she did, "the only problem is, he probably thinks he repaid the favor by not shooting us." It was only then, struggling to help a resistant Tony, that Amy actually paid attention to the car. She almost dropped him as she ran to the back door and opened it. That left Tony struggling to catch up. When he was steadied on the open back door he looked in and thought he could make out a half eaten hamburger that was now slung from one door to the other.

Amy gulped in a panicked frenzy, "where the hell is Shannon?"

Tony huffed, "Barbara's going to kill us."