Impact (Book 5): Black

by Isherwood, E. E.

  “Her husband is by other tree. He is trying to move around. Take shots on our flank.”

  Grace figured there was no way for the man to get around the sides of their position since he’d have to cross empty railroad tracks, but the evil couple was gaining an edge over them. One could talk while the other shot or moved. Grace and her friends were losing more control over the encounter, stuck behind the equipment.

  She sidled up to Asher. “Got any brilliant ideas? We could use one about now.”

  He laughed a little. “I can tell you what type of rock we’re lying on.” He picked up a three-inch-long piece. “It’s granite.” After dropping it, he continued. “But all this shooting and running isn’t in my wheelhouse. I hate to say this, but my only skill is hiding.”

  Despite her misgivings about Asher at the start, she’d come to depend on him for support. He’d often done the saving in their relationship, such as when he’d found the extinct geyser pit. She hoped he’d come up with an equally brilliant plan as they sat there. Grace kept him from seeing her worry. “Well, then, all you need to do is figure out a way to hide us in plain sight. How can we get behind the train without exposing ourselves to the shooters?”

  “Is not possible,” Misha interjected. “Only way is for one of us to shoot at them. Other two run behind train car. Then train drives away.”

  She was surprised. “You’re talking about yourself, aren’t you?”

  He nodded without putting strain on his neck. “Is not suicide. I will jump on train when it starts to move. It will give you two civilians best chance to live.”

  Grace fought against a wave of guilt for wanting to let him do it. As she thought it over, she noticed a truck moving on a nearby residential street. There was another car far down the rail yard, crossing the tracks on a road. If they could hold off long enough, someone was bound to notice the gunplay. Someone in the town would call the police. Gunfire couldn’t be such a common occurrence no one would think to involve law enforcement, right?

  If she were home, what would happen in a similar scenario? People shot guns around Kentucky Lake all the time. Neither she nor her parents ever raced to the phone to call the sheriff. Even people doing target practice on her street barely caught her notice, she suddenly remembered.

  “It might be our only choice,” she finally agreed.

  Misha smiled. “Can I have two guns? One for each hand?”

  She didn’t think it would matter. Her job was to run. If he wanted two guns, it was no problem for her.

  The hitman made sure her weapon was primed to fire. He shifted it to his left hand, adding it as a duplicate of the one in his right. She thought he looked like he was enjoying the moment a little too much.

  That was when he pointed the guns at her.

  Kansas City, MO

  Ezra stood at the exit of the skyscraper. Prior to the asteroid, it was probably an elegant lobby with a fancy restaurant and conference area. Now it was filled with dried mud and a few pieces of driftwood, which had been forced inside when the water came through. There were also several chunks of rock from the more recent explosion. He picked up a shiny piece about the size of a baseball. “Does this look like gold to you?”

  They all scanned the lobby. Many of the rocks shimmered. Those by the door reflected sunlight, making them more obvious.

  Haley bent over to grab a few. “These all look like gold. It’s a…gold mine.”

  Soon Butch joined in, scooping up an armful of it. “You’ve got the backpack, E-Z. Mind carrying my loot?”

  He waved him off. “Wait a minute. I can’t carry rocks across the city. We have to find something else. The ammo is heavy enough.”

  “Just one,” Butch joked, picking up a black-and-gold rock the size of a basketball.

  The three of them shared a few moments of levity. The weight of the daring boat ride and dance between the bullets and fireworks fell away. The fear he’d never talk to Grace again. The disappointment of losing his boat. It all drained out of him, replaced by laughter and his newfound wealth.

  “There’s more in here!” someone shouted from across the lobby.

  A wave of people crowded themselves through the far door, led by a man in jeans and a dirty white T-shirt. He’d shoved a pistol into the front of his waistband. When the guy saw Ezra, he shouted. “You! Drop it! This is ours!” The man pulled out his pistol while moving closer.

  Butch dropped the heavy rock, switching to his rifle in one smooth motion.

  He and Haley also let their pieces fall.

  “We don’t want any trouble,” Ezra called out, already retreating toward the main door.

  It was the same crowd who’d been standing along the shore. They came in through the broken doors like the tide. Some were bloodied from being struck. A few already had bandaged extremities. All of them seemed angry. They broke out in shouts once the leader identified the three of them as interlopers.

  “We’ve got to go!” he said to Butch and Haley.

  Haley held a small chunk close to her body.

  “She’s stealing it!” a woman screamed.

  Haley was already through the door and outside, but she tossed the rock as soon as she heard the accusation. “I don’t want trouble,” she said to the man with the pistol, picking up her pace to a jog.

  He ran with them, keeping his rifle at the ready.

  The street was filled with abandoned and muddied cars, as if there’d been a traffic jam when the asteroid bounced into the river. It took a few extra seconds to get around them and across the street. Haley and Butch stayed ahead of him. When he touched the far sidewalk, someone shot at them from behind.

  “Thieves!” T-shirt guy bellowed.

  Haley held up her hands, showing they were empty.

  A bearded guy lined up a shotgun.

  “Run for it!” Ezra yelled, ducking behind the line of cars.

  The boom of the scattergun was followed by an unknown number of pellets peppering the nearby vehicles. The tinkle of broken glass was mixed with the pings of metal on metal. Haley and Butch needed no additional motivation. They kept low, ran next to the cars, and didn’t look back.

  Ezra quickly fell behind the pair of youngsters. At the first intersection, he was a few yards back. By the next one, he trailed by fifty yards.

  “Come on, old man,” Butch laughed as he waited with Haley by the post for the traffic lights.

  “Are they still back there?” he asked, winded.

  “A few,” Butch replied. “Let me take the pack.”

  Ezra could barely breathe, so giving up the pack wasn’t a difficult choice. Haley offered to take his rifle, but he wasn’t ready to be unarmed in a city full of hostiles.

  The short break had given the pursuit a false sense of catching up. The shotgun guy stopped, lined up another shot, then let it rip. The birdshot sprayed the red, amber, and green stoplight bulbs.

  He pointed to the on-ramp for the interstate, which appeared to run on a viaduct to the west. “Up there!” The same abandoned traffic from the downtown street continued onto the highway. If they could get up there, they’d have a superior position to either hold off the people chasing them, or they could run ahead and get lost among the many vehicles.

  “Bring it back!” the man in the white T-shirt complained.

  “We don’t have it!” Haley shouted.

  “Don’t bother,” Ezra advised. “They’re in shock. I think.”

  There were perhaps twenty men chasing them, though many had stayed inside the building, stealing the same rocks they’d been accused of taking. Ezra didn’t think they’d be receptive to allowing him to explain the logic to them.

  Another shotgun blast boomed.

  “I’m in shock, too,” Haley snarked. “Why don’t they give us a break?”

  Butch took her hand and they ran together toward the highway entrance.

  He let himself have five extra seconds, aware he couldn’t keep up with them, even without the heavy pack. If he had to
hunker down and hold off the men with his rifle, he figured it might go his way. However, he realized his ammo supply was running away from him.

  “Dang it,” he exhaled, running across the street to give chase.

  Minutes later, exhausted, he made it to the top of the ramp. The highway went due west, as expected, but it also crossed the western edge of the new lake. He figured the area had once been a floodplain filled with warehouses and other industrial buildings. The structures beneath the long span were partially washed away. Some were underwater.

  “You going to make it?” Butch asked as he arrived.

  He looked back. The only man who’d stuck with them the whole way was T-shirt guy. The rest of the men had turned around or flat-out given up. The owner of the shotgun strode back toward the building with his gun over his shoulders.

  Still breathing hard, Ezra could only ask for help.

  “Will you put one over his head? I don’t want anyone following us on this bridge. We’re getting the hell out of Kansas City.” Looking to the west end of the span, the greener region of Kansas suggested they didn’t have far to go to escape the urban center.

  Butch lined up the shot, but Haley interrupted.

  “Let me do it. I’m the one he accused of stealing.”

  The big man smiled at Ezra, then winked.

  Ezra gave his blessing. “Sure, Haley. You’ve earned the right. Take your shot.”

  “Make sure you miss,” Butch added quickly.

  She paused. “What do you take me for? An expert markswoman? Of course, I’m going to miss.”

  Butch laughed, obviously admiring the young woman.

  He watched to see what would happen.

  CHAPTER 22

  Rawlins, WY

  “You can’t be serious,” Grace said with exasperation in her voice. Misha held two rifles pointed at her. Asher shuffled next to her, leaving his rifle on the ground. She thought he did the right thing. There was no chance of drawing a weapon on the guy who already had his guns aimed.

  “I am sorry,” he drawled with his thick Russian accent. “This was nothing like what I wanted. We were to go to Yellowstone. Fight noble fight. Win against bad guys.”

  “We still can,” Asher said matter-of-factly. “All you have to do is figure out another option.”

  “We cannot, my friend. I need you two on your feet.” He slid closer to the switching equipment, then turned a little to face Nerio. “I will do what you ask. I bring them to you!”

  Nerio laughed in disbelief. “Like I would trust you! Shoot them where they stand. Then you and I will talk.”

  Asher grabbed her hand, which she readily accepted. She turned to face him and his big brown eyes. She’d never noticed they also had speckles of emerald, giving them a deep, rich texture. They were the kind of eyes she could spend a long time exploring. “Ash, I’m so sorry for trusting him. You can blame this entirely on me.”

  “Okay,” he joked, barely containing the fear behind those same eyes. “But, seriously, I believed him, too.”

  Misha became agitated. “You must get up. We have to cross tracks and go to her.”

  “Aren’t you going to shoot us?” she snapped.

  “Stand up. I show you what I will do.” He lurched forward, forcing her to rock back on her heels. It seemed like he meant business, so she got out of her crouch and stood up. Asher came up with her.

  A second later, Misha stood up as well. To her relief, he was between her and Nerio. It would be sweet justice if she shot him first. Then they’d have a chance.

  Misha waved her sideways, out from behind the switches. He yelled to Nerio at the same time. “I bring them to you. I cannot shoot them.”

  The assassin sounded shocked. “Did you lose your mojo? You need me to hold your hand?” She yelled to her husband on the far side of the yard. “We will see if he brings them over. Shoot to kill if he tries anything.”

  “I’m on it,” Alejandro said in a mechanical tone.

  Misha shuffled around her and Asher, getting behind them. “Walk slowly. Do not try anything.”

  A silent sob bubbled up from out of nowhere. She managed to quell it before it escaped her mouth, but Asher noticed it. He strengthened his grip on her hand, which made her even more emotional. If this was how they met their end, it wasn’t very noble. A dirty rail yard was one of the last places she ever imagined she’d visit, much less where she’d die. She gripped his hand in return.

  Misha had no idea how scared she was. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  “I hope she kills you, like they killed your family.”

  Misha might have made a grunt in his throat, but he was a professional, too. He wasn’t going to rise to her clumsy prodding.

  They walked over all the tracks and got to the chain-link fence at the edge of the yard. A small gate was set in the middle, about midway between the two shooters. However, Misha had walked them toward the left-hand side of the yard, close to the neighboring privacy fence. They were in clear view of Alejandro, but not Nerio. She remained hidden behind her tree, as if mistrusting the Russian.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Nerio asked. “If I have to shoot them, I might accidentally shoot you, too. Perhaps you should put down your rifles, so we can talk?”

  Misha laughed. “There must be trust. How about you put down gun? I back up. You kill my friends. I get out alive.”

  “Mmm,” Nerio replied, as if licking her lips. “You know how to tempt a girl.” She added, “Alejandro, you got them?”

  “Easy shot,” the man replied from across the yard.

  Grace sensed Misha’s gun in her hair, behind her right ear. He was close.

  “Listen, my friends. Make no reaction with face. You must run to big fence when I poke you in back, yes? I will hold them off. You run.”

  She remained frozen for five seconds, processing the new data. “You’re letting us go?” she whispered.

  “Da. This is Russian ruse. Works very well. Now you go.”

  Asher spoke with incredulity. “Why didn’t you just say so at the beginning?”

  He whispered. “You never understand. Easier this way.” Misha then spoke in a loud voice. “This is where we part ways, my stupid American friends.”

  “Wait!” Grace blurted. She wasn’t ready to run, she wasn’t anxious to be shot from either direction, but most of all she wanted to thank the man for putting his life on the line for them.

  She didn’t get her chance. Misha shoved her hard in the back. So much so it actually hurt, causing her to yelp in pain. She lurched forward out of reaction and Misha fired his gun at point-blank range, causing her to move even faster.

  Asher kept hold of her hand, pulling her toward the privacy fence to the left.

  Misha fired several times, but the rounds weren’t going into their backs. He aimed them somewhere else. While on the run, she didn’t concern herself about where.

  The husband returned fire immediately.

  Nerio also shot around her tree, but even out of her peripheral vision Grace was able to confirm the woman couldn’t get a bead on her and Asher. Misha had planned his last walk perfectly, putting himself at the edge of the woman’s vision, while also putting his body between them and the guy at the far side of the yard.

  She stopped at the edge of the fence. Misha stood where he was, pumping rounds out of both rifles at the same time. He’d aim in one direction, then shoot a few rounds. He repeated the act with the second gun, shooting at the other target.

  “Run!” she shouted to him, amazed he was still alive.

  He half-turned, wearing a crazy smile, but didn’t come. Instead, he reoriented on his victims and poured fire onto them.

  A white blur appeared on the street in front of the house. It shot past Nerio, went in front of the house itself, then reappeared on the far side. It zeroed in on Alejandro like a cruise missile.

  “Oh shit,” she said dryly.

  Kansas City, KS

  “We crossed the sta
te line.” Haley pointed to the big blue sign hanging above the side of the bridge. The “Kansas Welcomes You” greeting was paired with a sunflower. The three of them stopped at the waypoint, but not to look at the simple sign. They had to check out the wreckage of the city down in the water about ten feet below.

  The object that caught his eye first was a partially submerged airplane about a quarter of a mile out in the water. As he searched, several others were wedged in various positions in the lake, as if an airport had been down there before the water swelled over it.

  “This looks like Armageddon,” he said with quiet reverence.

  Butch spoke next. “It’s no wonder those people were pissed. TKM put all those men and resources into their mining op, but I don’t see a single rescue vehicle anywhere else. This city was left to rot.”

  “But lots of people survived. We saw them back that way.” Haley pointed to the remains of the rocky island two miles down the widened river. It looked a lot like a volcano had ripped off most of the top and left only a rump. The empty barges had sunk at strange angles, as he’d seen many times on his river journey, giving an unnatural quality to the scenery.

  “And lots of people died,” Ezra added sadly. “The city was hit hard when this came down. I don’t think anyone could have survived in the building where we were. They would have been shoved out with all the furniture and desks. Who knows what happened to all those people in their cars? We know for a fact they couldn’t drive away. TKM should have been in there helping the survivors, not picking at the carcass.”

  Haley pulled a golf-ball-sized rock from her stretch pants. “People will do anything for this stuff.”

  Ezra shook his head. “You had it all along?”

  “No,” she said immediately. “I threw down all the big pieces. However, this is the first one I grabbed. I kept it hidden the whole time. Those guys couldn’t have seen it. I wanted you to have this. For your boat.” She offered it to him.