The large man held out a smartphone to Braxton. The screen showed a video with a live stream indicator in the top right corner. A group of SWAT Officers stacked up on the side of the building where Braxton saw the injured woman. Blood remained on the trash can, and one officer inspected the smear. No! Braxton screamed in his mind. A series of vibrations came from the man’s pocket. The vibration pattern reminded Braxton of the one he used. Wait, they kept and left my phone on. It was a slim possibility, but he needed some kind of hope. The rear man crossed to the other side.

“What did you do to that door?”

“What makes you think we did something?”

Braxton hovered his finger at the bottom of the door, where he noticed a strange glint. Why didn’t SWAT see the tripwire? The lead SWAT Officer started the last check with a pat on the leg behind him. A signal went back, and a pat on the shoulder came forward. The lead officer nodded at the signal. The man opposite shot through the door handle, tossed a flash-bang grenade, and barreled through the doorway. 

At first, Braxton thought he’d misjudged. All six officers made it through the doorway before anything happened. A crackle of white noise gave way to radio chatter through the phone’s audio.

“Salted 6, this is Salted 1. We have visual on a female body. Standby—”

The transmission cut off. Braxton watched the plume of explosive smoke and debris shoot from the doorway. The rumble through the building came next, but another explosion surprised Braxton. And another. The entire building rumbled as far as Braxton could tell, and he yelled.

“Are you taking down the whole damn building?” 

The man shook his head and then tapped the phone’s screen twice. A set of controls appeared, and the video shifted with each tap. It’s a drone. At first it showed the other entryways less damaged than the others. A deterrent, showing that they’re willing to blow the entire building. A Police Cruiser appeared in the screen’s corner. Braxton didn’t ask to look at the phone. Instead, he reached out as fast as he could and tapped the auto land button he’d noticed. Then Braxton closed his hand around the phone, ripped it from the large mans hands, and chucked it over the black walls. The man punched Braxton in the head. He blacked out.

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