“Of course you don’t,” The target said pointing a gun at the boy’s head. “But you care if they die or you wouldn’t be here.”
“I can’t take the shot. The boy’s head’s in the way,” Ricochet said into the radio. “I’ll come down and join the party.”
“You think it makes you a martyr to kill innocent children?” Kong wanted to keep him talking until Ricochet could join them. “You think the world is going to sympathize with someone who murders deaf children? Children who will have no idea why they are dying? You’re nothing more than a coward who couldn’t fight in a real war.”
As Kong finished his speech Ricochet slid into the room. The target spared him a quick glance with nervous eyes. The tension in the room ramped up.
Sam saw all the children looking at them, terror filling their eyes. She needed to reposition herself in the room so she could tell them what to do without the target getting wise to her plan. Very slowly she took a step to the side.
“You let the kid go and they all walk out of here, we all walk out of here. Otherwise someone dies and we all know it’s going to be you,” Kong said taking his own step forward.
Sam took another step to the side, the children watching her like a hawk.
“I told you I’m not afraid to die,” the target responded staring straight at Kong.
“Yeah and what’s gonna happen when the world doesn’t hear anything about how you died or why?” Kong continued.
Sam took the opportunity to take two more steps, bringing her closer to the back wall and away from the target’s line of sight.
“They will hear. When children die the world listens.”
“The kids aren’t gonna die, you are, and I promise you no one’s gonna hear about it.”
Kong was making the target sweat. Sam could see it rolling down the side of his face. She could also see Boomer’s knees bending slightly, dropping him lower to the floor. Ricochet had his rifle aimed directly at the target’s head.
“The world will hear. The media and the people will blast the government for letting this happen. I will die a hero.”
“For what?” Kong shouted making the target jump. “Nothing.”
Sam lowered her pistol and tucked it in the back of her pants. Very slowly she began to sign with deliberate hands.
“Stay calm. We are here to help. No matter what stay where you are unless I or the large man in front of you tells you to do something. He signs too.”
She could see a mixture of relief and fright wash over their faces. The little boy who had seen her in the peephole began signing in his lap. Sam had to watch carefully to understand what he was saying.
“Bombs all over the room. Trigger on him.”
Sam’s heart dropped to her stomach. Boomer’s head turned in slow motion toward her. He had apparently understood what the boy said as well. Those steely eyes that had made her blood run cold only two nights ago were back.
“Do you know where they are?” she asked.
The boy pointed his finger at her. Sam ignored the shouting match between Kong and the target and concentrated on the small boy.
“Is it behind me?” she asked.
The boy balled his hand into a fist and moved it up and down, telling her yes.
Sam turned and saw a pile of open books thrown over something. She stepped backward and quietly moved a book away with her foot. There underneath the children’s lesson books was a square box with some kind of device blinking on the top. She looked to Boomer and nearly dropped to her knees when he closed his eyes and turned as white as paper.
In the middle of Kong’s rant about how the man would die a no-name corpse, Boomer stood and took two steps toward him. Sam watched him raise his gun to his eye, take aim and then freeze.
“What’s the trigger?”
Sam could feel his low, masculine voice rumble through the room, reverberating in her body.
“Back off, big boy,” the target shouted pressing his gun to the boy’s head.
“What’s the fucking trigger?”
“Boomer, what is it?” Kong asked moving closer to him.
“The bastard has the room covered in bombs. He can set them off. Tell me what the trigger is. Is it a remote in your pocket, a pressure plate in the floor? What’s the trigger?” he shouted making the target jump.
Ricochet inched closer as well, managing to put himself between the target and a kid.
The target’s gaze moved from Boomer to Kong then to Ricochet. “You want to know what the trigger is?” he said ripping open his shirt.
“Fuck.”
Sam and the other two didn’t understand what they were looking at but it was clear Boomer did. The defeated look on his face made her shiver with fear.
“What is it?” Kong asked again.
“I’ll tell you what it is,” the target said with a satisfied smile on his face. “I could give you all the technical terms but I think I’ll make it easy for you. My heart stops, the bombs go off.”
Instinct took over. Sam whipped out her dart pistol and fired two shots at the target. One made a hit in his shoulder, the other bounced off what must have been part of the trigger device. It wasn’t going to be enough to take him down completely but at least his heart wouldn’t stop. It’d be hell thinking straight too.
Boomer immediately lunged forward yanking the boy from the targets grip and away from the gun held at his head. Kong and Ricochet moved in.
“Don’t kill him or we’re all dead,” Boomer growled.
“I ain’t gonna kill ‘im, just take out a knee or somethin’,” Ricochet’s evil smile said he’d have no problem doing just that.
“Get the kids out,” Kong ordered.
Sam began signing fast. “Go through the door, down the steps and outside.” As each child was cut loose from his bindings she repeated the command.
The kids began to file out of the room. The older ones taking the hands of the younger ones. The little boy who had seen Sam in the crawl space stopped, turned and started running toward her. Ricochet reached out and scooped him up and held him close.
“Better tell the little tyke again. I don’t think he got the message,” Ricochet said with a bright smile.
“You have to leave, it isn’t safe here,” Sam signed to him.
“She’ll come looking for me,” he told her with his tiny hands.
“Who? Who’s going to come look for you?” Sam questioned.
His hands spelled out a name letter by letter. “R A Y A.”
Sam looked at Boomer and then back at the boy. “Who’s Raya?”
“She was downstairs,” he told them.
“Honey, those kids are outside, safe. That’s where you need to be.” Sam could see he wasn’t buying it so she tried again. “We took all the kids who were downstairs to the police so they would be safe. If you go you’ll find her and see for yourself.”
Reluctantly he nodded his head. Ricochet dropped him to the floor and he ran out the door.
“I had no idea kids could be so stubborn,” Sam muttered too distracted to put it all together.
“Boomer, you need to do something with these explosives,” Kong said looking around the room.
“On it. Rico, I might need your help.”
“Oh great.”
“I’ll look around and see what I can find too,” Sam said turning away.
“Make sure you—”
A large thump sounded followed by a curse. Sam turned and saw Kong on his back with the target holding a knife above his chest.
“No!” she yelled moving toward them.
Before she could get there Boomer dived at the half-dazed man knocking him back to the floor. She heard a painful grunt and saw Boomer draw his fist back, plowing it into the man’s face. Even through the haze of tranqs the target was able to turn the knife on himself prepared to end his own life. Boomer wrapped his hand around his wrist and squeezed until the knife clanged to the floor.
One more blow from Boomer’s fist
and the man lay unconscious. Without missing a beet Boomer made his way across the room to work on one of the explosives. Kong jumped to his feet, pulled out a zip tie and secured the target’s hands none to gently.
Sam and Ricochet scoured every corner and under every desk. They found four explosives and watched from a distance as Boomer meticulously disarmed them with calm, cool hands. When he was finished with the last one he stood, wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt, smearing his black paint on his face.
“That’s it.”
“You sure?” Ricochet asked suspiciously.
“Yeah, I’m sure but we should take one last look around just to be safe.”
“I’m for bein’ safe.” Ricochet started making a sweep of the room again.
“I’ll go downstairs and take a final look before the Feds start calling,” Kong said.
When Kong gave the all clear for downstairs and received the same from the rest of the team he radioed the Feds. In under a minute they were entering the building, their guns drawn. When they saw the two men on the upper floor unconscious but still alive, a collective sigh of relief swept through the room.
Sam, Boomer and Ricochet slipped unnoticed down the stairs and into the early morning air while Kong filled the Feds in on what they needed to know. When he was finished he joined the rest of his team.
“I’d like to go check on the kids,” Boomer said as they walked away. “You think that’s a good idea?” Kong asked. “I mean, we’re supposed to be nonexistent.”
Sam leaned against Kong’s large frame and wrapped her arm around his waist. “What’s it going to hurt? They don’t know who we are. Besides, I’d like to thank Red for her help.”
Kong slid his arm over her shoulder and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Okay, we’ll go check on the kids.”
Chapter Seven
The children were sitting outside on the ground with blankets wrapped around them, eating cookies and drinking juice. When they saw the four mysterious people dressed in black approach they jumped to their feet and ran toward them, their bright, smiling faces beaming like sunshine.
Sam glanced over at Boomer. Her heart warmed when she saw the huge smile spread across his face. No one would have ever guessed just moments ago he was disarming explosives meant to kill the innocent. All the lines etched around his eyes and across his forehead softened.
He’ll make a great father some day, she repeated silently to herself.
He will.
Before the team knew it they were surrounded by children jumping up and down, their tiny hands signing furiously. Sam watched Ricochet hoist a small boy in the air. Boomer dropped to his knees and hugged every child he could get his arms around.
“What are they saying?” Kong asked Sam.
She watched as they signed. “They’re saying thank you.” Sam laughed out loud as one child hopped up and down with excitement as he signed. “This one is calling us their dark angels.”
“Dark angels,” Kong repeated. “I like that.”
“Me too.” Sam dropped to her knees and received a plethora of hugs.
When she looked up the boy the terrorist had used as a shield stood in front of Kong, his hand outstretched. Kong put his hand in the boy’s and shook it. When they released the young man began to sign.
“Kevin’s right. You are our dark angels. You saved our lives. You saved my life and I’ll never forget it. I thought for sure I would die today and never see my mother again. You could have died too but you were brave. Thank you.”
Sam interpreted for Kong, tears welling in her eyes.
“Tell him I wasn’t brave. Tell him I was just as scared as he was. I’ve just been trained to hide it.”
Sam signed Kong’s message to the boy and laughed when he shook his head, disagreeing with Kong and then walked away.
“He doesn’t buy it. Neither do I.”
“Hunh,” Kong grunted.
“Excuse me.”
Sam and Kong turned toward a federal agent.
“The parents are being brought up,” he said and then turned and walked away.
“Should we go?” Kong asked Sam.
“Not until I find Red and thank her.”
Sam scanned the children, looking for the bright red, curly hair. When she didn’t see her she shouted to Boomer.
“Have you seen Red?”
Boomer stood and looked around. “No.” Then he began asking all the children about the little girl.
The kids said they hadn’t seen her for some time and then rushed off when their parents came into view.
“Where do you think she is?” Sam asked the team.
“Maybe they tied her to a chair to keep her here,” Kong joked.
The four watched as parents scooped up their children, covering them in kisses, hugging them until they couldn’t breathe and sobbed happily. Off to the side, away from the crowd a woman with deep red, shoulder-length hair searched the crowd. When she approached an agent and fisted his shirt in her hands they knew something was wrong.
Again Sam glanced over at Boomer and saw him fix his gaze on the woman. The soft lines of his face became sharp once more. He began to jog toward them holding his side.
“He’s bleeding,” Sam said in a whisper but loud enough for Kong to hear.
“He sure as hell is,” Kong growled.
They both made their way toward Boomer, the woman and the frightened looking agent. When they reached them Kong pulled Boomer’s shirt away from his side, Sam gasped. His black shirt was drenched in blood.
“Where the hell is she?” the woman screamed, shaking the agent.
“Ma’am we brought them all out,” Boomer said ignoring Kong.
“Well she isn’t here now. I want to know where my daughter is and I want to know now.”
“What’s her name?” Sam asked calmly.
“Raya. Her name is Raya, she has curly red hair. Where is she?”
Sam looked at Kong and Boomer. “Red,” she said as they both nodded their heads.
“Find the little boy who said she’d come looking for him. See if he can tell us anything,” Kong ordered.
Sam took off and searched the crowd. When she found the little boy she asked his parents if she could talk to him. After they got past the shock of seeing a small masked person they agreed.
“Have you seen Raya?” Sam asked slowly. “Was she here when you came out of the building?”
“No,” he replied signing. “I told you she’d come looking for me. I tried to tell them she was missing but no one would listen.”
Probably because the agents couldn’t sign, she thought to herself. “Okay, do you have any idea where she would have gone?”
“There’s a small window in the back of the building. Sometimes we sneak in there just to look around. Maybe she went in there,” the boy told her.
Sam ruffled the boy’s hair and said thank you then took off toward Boomer and Kong.
“He said he hasn’t seen her since he came out. He thinks she might be back inside.”
“Of course she would. She thinks she’s Superwoman or something, always trying to save something,” the mother ranted, her hands flying through the air.
Boomer pulled Sam aside. “I’ll go look for her. You stay here and try to keep Mom calm.” Boomer smiled when he looked at the raving woman. “She has the temper to match the hair.”
Sam saw a spark in his eyes when he smiled. She looked back at the woman who had returned to shaking the poor agent senseless, threatening and accusing as she shouted in his face.
“I’ll stay. I’ll do what I can but I’m warning you, if she shakes me like that you’ll find her hog-tied when you get back. By the way,” she said jamming her fists on her waist. “You’re bleeding.”
“I know.”
“You know. How bad is it?”
Boomer shrugged his shoulders. “Hurts like a son of a bitch.” He said then turned and ran back toward the building.
* * * * *
>
Boomer clenched his jaw against the burning pain in his side as he ran. The target had managed to sink his knife deep into Boomer’s flesh when he dived on top of him. At the time he was able to ignore the pain, his mind too busy to think about anything else other than disarming the bombs. Now it was catching up with him.
He really needed it to be looked at but first he had to find the mischievous redhead so her mother didn’t do any bodily harm to anyone. He chuckled to himself. She was a bomb herself with those mile-long legs wrapped snugly in her tight jeans, a bit skinnier than he usually liked but shapely none the less. Her oversized green sweatshirt draped down her chest revealing two plump unbound breasts. Top the whole picture off with her high cheekbones, blue eyes and that raging temper and a man would gladly let her explode all over him.
“Boomer, you okay?”
Kong’s voice abruptly interrupted his thoughts. “Fine why?”
“How’s the side doing?”
“Fine.”
“Keep in radio contact. I’ll send Ricochet in if—”
“I’m fine. How’s Mom doing?” he asked cutting Kong off.
“Well, she quit shaking the shit out of the agent. Now Sam’s trying to settle her but I don’t think it’s doing much good. The woman said something about ripping her mask off and shoving it down her throat.”
Boomer howled into the radio. “Looks like Sam met her match.”
“Yep, kinda what I was thinking. Rico tried to help but backed off when she turned on him and gave him a look that could have done more damage than one of his bullets.”
“Okay, I’ll find the kid as soon as I can. Just make sure Sam doesn’t hog-tie the poor woman.”
“Roger.”
He made his way around the outside of the building, checking every window there was. When he reached the back he saw a little white sneaker lying on the ground in front of a two-foot by two-foot window. As gently as possible so not to cause himself anymore pain, he knelt down and peeked inside. Nothing but pitch black filled his sight. Pitch black stared back at him, so he pulled out his penlight and flashed it inside. There staring at a box with a flashing red timer sat little Raya three feet below him.
Boomer's Fall Page 9