“What’s up?”
“Floor it. And get in the left lane. Full steam!”
“Okay!”
Freya revved the engine and swerved into the left lane. Someone honked next to them. Hugo smelled smoke but ignored it. The only thing that mattered now was to find out which car was controlling the drone. He stared behind them as several seconds passed.
There! A black van swerved softly into the left lane.
“I got them!”
Wind roared through the cabin. Mikko peeked back.
“Now what?”
Hugo grabbed his weapon.
“Freya!”
“What?”
“Find a truck or something and drive in front of it.”
“Okay.”
Freya turned right and drove past a row of trucks in the inner lane, slipping into a gap between two of them. Hugo took a deep breath and aimed for the space between the trucks. The seconds went by. There! The dark drone slid forward, and Hugo gently pulled the trigger. The weapon boomed, and the drone disappeared in a dark cloud.
Sussie cheered. “You got it!”
“Freya! As fast as you can. They are blind, but they’re still hunting us.”
“Roger that.”
Freya swerved out between the trucks and gunned the engine. The smell of smoke became sharper, and Hugo said a prayer for the engine to hold. Mikko picked up the phone, and Hugo heard him make contact with Madeleine.
Hugo turned to Sussie. She was pale but focused.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m good.”
“Good. We’ll be out of their reach soon.”
But seconds later, Freya shouted, “Hold on! They’re coming at full speed!”
Hugo swore. The big, dark car had come closer, and Hugo saw that it was a Ford van.
“Take cover!”
Hugo glimpsed two men in the front seat. These guys hadn’t given up. Hugo grabbed his weapon and pointed it at the Ford, which rushed toward them like a raging bull. When it was no more than a dozen meters away, he opened fire. Death exploded from his weapon, and Sussie held her ears as thunder echoed through the cabin.
The front window of the Ford shattered as the bullets hit and as if in slow motion, Hugo watched the two men throw themselves into cover. But when the magazine was empty, the men sat up again. They kicked out the remains of the front window, and it crashed to the side and disappeared. The man in the passenger seat pulled out a gun and pointed straight at them. He opened fire.
“Take cover!” Hugo bellowed.
The bullets hit the car’s frame around them, and Hugo heard the metal squeak as large holes opened in the body. Sussie screamed and was thrown forward.
“Sussie!”
With his heart in his throat, Hugo reached for Sussie and got hold of her shoulder. She cried out, but as she writhed, Hugo sighed with relief. There was only a scratch on her cheek. He pulled her up.
“That’s going to leave a mark.”
The smell of smoke was even sharper now.
“The engine is getting too hot!” Freya cried. “It won’t last much longer!”
Hugo turned as Sussie crawled up again.
“Mikko!” Hugo shouted. “See if you can get them to back off a bit. I have an idea.”
The great Finn chuckled while he raised his weapon. “Okay!”
Mikko pulled himself to the side window, leaned out, and pointed his gun at the oncoming Ford. He squeezed off six shots at a brisk pace. The Ford swerved to the side but didn’t slow down.
“I don’t know how much that helped!”
But Hugo had his hands full. He reached as far as he could back to the trunk and grabbed the other bag. Pulling it out, he opened it and pulled out two dark hand grenades. Sussie looked at him.
“Are you sure?”
Hugo growled, “As sure as I can be.” He pulled the pin, leaned out, and counted. He threw the hand grenade in a soft arc. Seconds later, it exploded into a violent roar, and the Ford swung hard to the right. He held his breath. In some magical way, the Ford avoided driving off the road. Instead, it accelerated toward them.
“What the hell?” Sussie shouted.
Hugo pulled the pin of another one. “Second chance!” He repeated the procedure, and the hand grenade flew through the air. This time it hit even closer. There was a violent crash, but this time the driver didn’t have time to evade it. They survived, but thick black smoke rose from the engine. Sussie and Mikko cheered.
“You got it!”
Hugo clenched his jaw when the Ford finally opened up distance to them. But somewhere in the smoke, Hugo saw a shadow moving. Seconds later, Hugo saw another weapon looming, and it fired at them. Hugo shouted at the team to throw themselves into cover.
A rear tire exploded, and the car swerved. Freya yelled something he didn’t understand. Hugo flexed every muscle in his body as he felt the car slide to the right. Like in a haze, he saw them drive up an exit ramp. Several cars ran into the ditch as they tried to escape the onslaught of vehicles behind them.
Hugo called out helplessly when they hit the edge of a truck on the ramp, unable to turn away.
“Hold on!
***
Pullman Zero and Roddy were up front, with Raul and Umberto in the back.
The roar of the wind subsided as the speed decreased. Pullman steered softly after the van that drove down the exit. Smoke billowed out of it.
“Now we have them!” Pullman bellowed.
Seconds later, he froze as the police bus hit the edge of a truck. With a violent crash, it bounced toward the ditch, but the driver kept it on the side of the road at the last second. But when the wheels slid out onto the grass, the bus skidded and swerved in an arc. The wheels hit a rock, and the bus rolled onto its side with a tremendous crash.
“They’re down!”
Pullman braked and steered toward it. Cars were idling behind them with the exit blocked. The heavy-duty truck the van had hit braked hard. Pullman stopped about ten meters behind the van, which was now across the exit, blocking it. He watched for signs of life, but he didn’t see any.
“Okay, grab a couple of guns and go out and finish the job.”
Roddy and Umberto took their weapons, threw open their doors, and jumped out. They approached the van with their guns pointed at it. A shadow slid past just above the van, and Pullman shouted out a warning.
“Watch out!”
Seconds later, a dark object lobbed through the air and landed on the ground between Roddy and Umberto. They threw themselves aside the second the hand grenade exploded. Pullman threw himself down on the seat. The blast knocked out the air from his lungs, and shards of glass rained on him as the last full windows exploded. His ears rang.
Outside, both Roddy and Umberto staggered up. Umberto shouted something. Pullman threw open the door and got out, and the ground rocked when his feet hit it. He picked up his weapon and pointed it at the van. Whoever was in there was still well-armed.
Pullman pointed at Umberto to come with him, and together they walked in a wide arc around the van. He flexed every muscle in his body, ready to shoot whatever moved. But when they got closer to the truck, they saw it was empty. Pullman swore. There had been someone there just a few minutes ago. He was sure of it. He grabbed Umberto’s shoulder.
“They must have made it to the gas station.”
Roddy ran to them. “Do you have them?”
Pullman nodded farther down toward the exit and the gas station. “They must have made it there,” he said.
Before they could reply, a voice echoed from the other side of the truck—a man.
“What is this?”
A fat man with tattoos came around the corner. He pointed to the overturned police van.
“What are you doing? Did you shoot the cops?”
Pullman didn’t answer except to raise his gun and shoot the man. The tattooed man fell. His legs twitched as Pullman, Roddy, and Umberto crouched and ran to the gas station about
fifty meters away. The narrow exit moved in a wide arch, and a row of trees lined the road. Pullman grabbed a walkie-talkie.
“Raul, what are you doing? Come in, Raul?”
A few seconds passed before the walkie-talkie crackled. “Raul here.”
Pullman looked at the space around the truck. It was in the middle of the road, blocking almost the entire carriageway. But there looked like there was possibly room for their car on the left.
“Raul, see if you can drive the car up the left edge. We’ll head up to the gas station farther up.”
“Copy that.”
Pullman spat and waved at Roddy and Umberto. “Okay, Raul is bringing the car up. We’re going up along the tree line.”
Both men nodded, and they ran up to the first tree. Pullman scanned for movement, saw nothing, and ran on to the next one. Behind him, Umberto and Roddy repeated the maneuver until they were halfway to the gas station.
Pullman stopped at one of the trees in the middle and groaned. He had to quit smoking. His heart pounded in his chest, and he felt dizzy. Umberto came up next to him and pointed.
“There, maybe. To the right. Something moved.”
Pullman squatted and peeked forward. It was a relatively large gas station, with ten pumps spread over five racks. It had a mom-and-pop restaurant on the right and a little convenience store on the left. About a dozen cars were parked around. He looked to where Umberto had pointed. He didn’t see anything.
“Are you sure?”
Umberto nodded and pointed to a red Toyota at the last gas pump.
“There’s someone behind that car.”
Pullman lifted his weapon and used his sight. He brought it against the red Toyota. The seconds went by. Nothing. Well, maybe. A pair of legs moved. And there. A couple more.
“You’re right. Good eyes,” he said.
Pullman waved to Roddy. “Okay, let’s do this. I’ll take the middle, you take right, Umberto, and you’re left, Roddy. When we have them in our sights, we give them everything we have.”
The two men nodded and raised their arms.
“Okay.”
They crouched and ran toward the exit, rapidly moving nearer to the gas station and the red Toyota. Behind him, he heard Raul driving his car along the exit. Not long now. Barely twenty meters. Pullman pulled his lips back in a shark-like smile. The legs were now clearly moving behind the car, and Pullman raised his weapon. Umberto and Roddy followed his lead and did the same.
***
Hugo ran from his hiding place behind the service station. He brought his weapon in a soft arc toward the man in the middle—Pullman. The man’s smile made Hugo shiver. He’d seen that kind of man before, the type that enjoyed death and destruction. People who lived to murder the innocent. The man pointed his AK47 at a red Toyota; behind the car, a man and his son were taking cover.
He pulled the trigger, and the gun in his hand resounded. Two shots hit Pullman in the legs, and he fell, screaming, to the ground. To Hugo’s right, Freya opened fire on one of the other men. She hit him in the shoulder, and the man spun around and fell backward while he pulled the trigger of his AK47. The weapon pumped death and annihilation right into the gas pumps. Hugo shouted to the man standing behind the car with his son.
“Run!”
But the man was paralyzed by fear, and his son, who was too young to understand what was happening, could do nothing. Inside the petrol pumps, the bullets hit something, and with a loud noise, a flame shot out.
“No!” Hugo groaned.
He got up to run toward the father and his son, but the third gunman lifted his weapon and opened fire. Ten bullets smashed into the service station, and Hugo heard a metallic squeal as it was torn to pieces.
He looked back and saw Sussie rushing from her hiding place behind the gas station. The diminutive Danish woman ran like a cheetah toward the Toyota. Hugo had never seen her run so fast. Usually, Sussie wasn’t the most action-oriented member of their team, but right now, she moved like a predator on the hunt. Smoke poured out of the burning petrol pump.
“Run!” Sussie cried to the father.
But the man stared at Sussie as if she had come from another planet. Hugo saw movement to his left. He spun around and saw that the man in the middle—Pullman—had crawled to his feet and was now pointing his weapon at him. Pullman pulled the trigger, and Hugo was forced into the back of the service station.
Thick smoke now billowed under the ceiling, and Hugo saw Sussie rushing like a whirlwind to the man and his son. She grabbed the boy, shoved him into his father’s arms, grabbed the man’s hand, and dragged them away from the fire.
Someone screamed behind them. The shooting stopped, and Hugo stuck his head out. A Ford van had driven up the exit, and Hugo watched the four men gather around it.
Two of them limped, one of them a lot. The other two appeared to be unharmed. Hugo swore. After fleeing the car, the team had gotten separated. Mikko and Freya had run to the left, Hugo and Sussie to the right. Hugo checked his gun—half a magazine left. He peeked out of his hiding place and was rewarded with a long salvo.
Sirens echoed from the highway, and Hugo held his breath. If the police came now, it was certainly timely. Blue lights approached from the exit. The four men turned back, and a shiver went through Hugo as he realized what was going to happen. He jumped up.
“No!”
But it was too late. Three of the men opened fire on the police bus driving up the exit ramp. Hugo froze as the front window exploded. He ran toward the men, lowering his weapon. Shooting at this distance was useless. He tasted metal as he ran. The police bus swerved and drove into the ditch.
Two of the men kept shooting, and Hugo heard the bullets hit the metal. Thirty meters to go. He ran like the wind. Twenty. He pulled out his weapon and, sinking to his knees, aimed and pulled the trigger. The gun boomed, and five rounds left the barrel. Three of them met the men firing at the police bus, and they screamed. Both fell to the ground. One of them lay motionless, but the other low-crawled down to the far ditch. Someone shouted from inside the police bus.
The two wounded men retreated toward their car as Hugo threw his empty weapon and rushed straight at them like a berserker. The two men staggered backward and raised their weapons. One of them clicked, but the other fired a long volley at Hugo. But the man holding the gun was weak from blood loss, and the bullets went high over Hugo’s head.
Hugo rushed on while the blood pounded in his head. Ten meters to go. An explosion roared behind him as a petrol pump exploded and sent a beam of burning gasoline ten meters straight into the air. But Hugo didn’t hear anything. Five meters to go. He took a tiger leap at the man who had shot at him, hitting him with crushing force. He felt bones crack with the impact as he landed high on his shoulder.
The man fell like a pine. Hugo flew to his feet and turned to the last man, who threw his weapon to the ground and sank to his knees. He raised his hands in the air.
“No, please!”
Hugo ignored him. He grabbed the man’s collar, lifted him up, and struck him in the face. His nose splintered, and the man whimpered as blood streamed down his face. Behind them, another gas pump exploded.
Hugo let the man go, then turned to the police bus and ran toward it. The broken glass on the ground crunched under his feet. Voices came from inside the police bus. Hugo sank to his knees and watched as Sánchez crawled his way along the edge. Hugo reached out, and Sánchez grabbed Hugo’s hand.
“Hold on.”
Hugo pulled, and the mighty Pedro Sánchez slipped out through the shattered front window. He staggered up, and Hugo saw that the police chief had a long cut on his forehead that was bleeding profusely. Sánchez was pale and weak, but he caught hold of the police bus to steady himself.
“Thank you for what you did,” he said to Hugo. “I saw everything. Those men would have shot us to pieces if you hadn’t stopped them.”
Hugo nodded. “Don’t worry about it. What about your men?”
Sánchez wiped his face. “They’re in there. Three have fainted, and the fourth is taking care of the others until help comes.”
In the background, a third pump exploded. An engine roar cut through the air and Hugo and Sánchez turned to the sound. Hugo turned to stone when a black sedan sped around the burning gas station and headed straight toward them. A few seconds later, he relaxed, recognizing Mikko and Freya behind the windshield. The car drove up and skidded to a stop in front of Hugo. Sussie jumped out of the rear passenger door and rushed up to Hugo.
“You made it!”
Hugo smiled. “Yes—well done with the man and the child. That was impressive.”
Sussie smiled shyly. “Thank you.”
Mikko and Freya joined Hugo and Sussie. Sánchez cleared his throat, and they turned to him.
“Thank you for your help,” he said. “I understand now that we have been looking for the wrong people.”
Hugo shrugged. “It’s the Spaniard who’s the real target. He’s on his way for one last attack.”
Sánchez frowned. “It’s Cabello Medico’s secret facility, isn’t it?”
Hugo nodded. “Yes, the Spaniard thinks the doctors responsible for his wife and daughter’s deaths are there. He’s on his way there to kill them.”
Sánchez clenched his jaw. “Okay,” he replied, “I assume you’re still going after him?”
“That’s right.”
“Good, then we’ll do this. I’ll make a couple of calls and see if we can rally some help to send to La Rosa Española. But it’ll probably take a couple of hours. If you’re chasing after him, the police will do everything we can to help.”
Hugo looked at his team. “You guys ready to go hunting?”
Sussie, Mikko, and Freya nodded in unison. “You bet.”
14
No answer. Adnan Kosh tried again. It kept ringing, but no one answered when he dialed Pullman’s number. Adnan swore and threw the phone into the passenger seat. He needed an update from Pullman to know what happened. But if Pullman didn’t answer, Adnan wouldn’t have any more opportunities.
“Goddammit. Come on, think!” Adnan went over his options. He could abort. He could drive off the highway and disappear like he’d done so many times before. It was something he was an expert in. To disappear like a ghost, to become a wraith who slipped away into the night without a trace. He grunted.
The Hugo Xavier Series: Book 1-3 Page 61