[OPS] The Manila Safe House

       [ OBJECTIVE ]        Survive the assault, identify the hostiles and escape the safe house.

       0001         After a 13 hour stakeout on a rooftop under the Manila sun, I’ve arrived to my safe house in the outskirts of the city to rest after a long cold shower.

       0002         This safe house was a 4 star hotel now converted to a grimy residential apartment complex. A studio room but spacious enough for just myself. No one knows about this place. It’s “safe”.

       0003         Before removing my equipment and clothes, I take a bottle of Royal Tru orange soda from the rusty fridge and take it down in seconds.

       0004         While enjoying the last swish in my mouth, I lock the front door then balance the empty glass bottle upside down on the doorknob.

       0005         I undress and uncharacteristically leave my SIG sidearm and Zero Tolerance knife on the bed, not bringing it with me to the bathroom like I usually do – because I feel safe in this safe house.

       0006         But I remove my venomous knife embedded in my pants seam, then put it in my mouth like a toothpick to bring to the bathroom. Just in case.

       0007         While closing the door to the bathroom, I nudge a DoorJammer device on the bottom of the door as there is no lock on it but keeping it cracked open so I can hear of any potential activity.

       0008         There’s a story about an operator who was killed in the shower during an OP because he couldn’t see due to the shampoo in his eyes. From then on, I stopped using any shampoo and conditioner while in the field. My hair never looked better, really.

       0009         It takes a while for the warm water so I take a piss… Just as I was about to flush the toilet, I hear glass breaking. I have intruders at the door.

       0010         I situate myself behind the door using the metallic trash bin’s reflection to see what’s going on through the slightly open door. I remove the venomous blade from my mouth and attach it to the waistband of my boxers so I can fill my mouth with mouthwash.

       0011         From the reflection, I see 2 men, one with a pistol and the other with a machete. Judging by their clothes and flip-flops, they must be local thugs, most likely hired by the organization we were surveilling. They must of followed me from the stakeout site. Damn, my SDR is off, I’m slipping.

       0012         My SIG is under my clothes on the bed so they don’t see it. The shower is running so they think I’m showering, vulnerable and unaware… They start walking towards the bathroom.

       0013         Still behind the bathroom door, I wait for them to make a move… The barrel of a Glock slips through the door opening as he tries to open it with the gun, but struggles since the DoorJammer is holding the door stationery – essentially locked. So I grab the barrel and easily take it from him.

       0014         In one motion I try to disengage the safety (but it already was) aim the firearm to the center of the door and fire; “Bang!” “Bang!” “Click!”

       0015         Damn, only two bullets. But I hear a gasp then a body drop to the floor as the other assailant yells something in Filipino. The machete blade flails through the door opening trying to cut me, again as he yells, finally realizing he’s calling for backup.

       0016         I drop the empty gun then equip the venomous knife from my boxers. While the assailant flails the machete through the door, I see an opening and stab my knife through his hand between the knuckles, twisting it so the blade breaks inside the flesh, violently splintering into muscle and bone.

       0017         He drops the machete and screams in pain, dropping to the floor, but out of my reach on the other side of the door. I kick the DoorJammer off so I can grab the machete or my own gun on the bed. However…

       0018         Before I can grab the machete or my gun, a third assailant runs in, also with a machete. So I position myself to engage.

       0019         The third assailant running towards me, seeing I’m unarmed, readies to swing his machete as he closes in. I counter his haymaker by swinging the door right into the machete, the blade gets stuck in the wood, losing his grip on the handle.

       0020         I take this brief moment of his disorientation to spray the mouthwash from my mouth to his eyes. He falls back in shock, wiping his eyes in vain.

       0021         He trips backwards over the assailant with the busted hand. I walk over to the bed and finally get my sidearm and point it at the “mouthwashed” assailant and ask him how many more men there are. He doesn’t answer.

       0022         I shoot the other assailant’s remaining good hand, after he screams in pain he passes out, I ask the now terrified “mouthwashed” assailant again but this time in Filipino, how many more men there are. He confesses it’s just them. Then I ask who hired them and how they found this place. He sings. I believe him.

       0023         I use my phone to take a photo of him, then I tell him to close his eyes. He complies but starts begging me not to kill him, I knock him out cold with the butt of the gun. Then I take a photo of each assailants’ face and collect each of their phones.

       0024         The police response time in this part of time is notoriously slow, assuming they’re coming at all. According to intel and test runs, I have 27 minutes.

       0025         After getting dressed and packing up, I check my watch; 16 minutes left. I dig up the one bullet I fired from my own weapon that’s wedged in the floorboard then wipe down the few things I know I touched with my bare hands of the entire apartment.

       0026         I put on my jacket and backpack then walk to the bathroom to release a DNA vector bomb. Then grab another Royal Tru soda from the fridge and walk out the apartment. From the hallway I throw in another DNAVB then close the door.

       0027         I open the soda, take a sip then walk away.