He was the one who’d realized that the best way out was south to Ventnor and across the Dorset Street Bridge, although it had taken Squid’s skillful questioning to bring this out. It was unlikely that this route was guarded. The only tricky part was going to be reaching the Ventnor border without being harassed. As he reviewed his recent actions and affirmed his intentions he cut over to Pacific Avenue, a route which would be more under the radar than along Atlantic.
~~~
Squid watched Matt arrive at the Baltimore Grill at dawn the next morning from inside a battered storefront across the intersection. Good, he thought. Everything’s on schedule so far. Matt’s appearance at the restaurant meant that whoever was holding him in the Trop hadn’t noticed that he was the only occupant of his cell overnight. It also signaled that they’d bought his story about needing to get to the Water Factory early, to work on some unnamed project. It didn’t surprise him. After everything he’d seen inside the city, he had no illusions about the quality of his enemy. They weren’t very good at what they did.
It was his first glimpse of Matt Shardlake, but that wasn’t the reason he’d crossed into Atlantic City the day before, more than twenty-four hours ahead of schedule. He was there to gather intelligence and look for somebody. So far he hadn’t had any trouble. He’d walked the streets. He’d entered and casually searched two apartment buildings where he’d been told many families were living. After that he’d strolled the entire length of the Boardwalk looking for clues. As much as he hated the long hair and beard, both were now assets, helping him blend in with those who made Atlantic City their home.
It was hard not to feel conspicuous as he walked about, though, because not many of Atlantic City’s residents did the same from what he’d seen. Not that he doubted what Levan had told him about how many people were living there, but he hadn’t seen much evidence of it. Apparently staying indoors and out of sight was the norm for most of them. That fit everything else Levan had said. Usually, in a police state, which Atlantic City seemed to be, regular citizens did their best to be invisible. That was making his current mission hard. He’d covered most of the island on foot since paddling over and had seen fewer than fifty live human beings. So far, none of them had supplied him with any information of value. But he wasn’t ready to give up. That’s what he was there for.
He didn’t need a watch as he watched Matt arrive to know that within minutes, if they hadn’t already, Nick, Lou and Dewey would be landing on the shore of the bay at the end of Iowa Avenue in a pair of canoes. From there they’d make their way into town where they’d meet up with the Shardlakes and escort them back to the canoes for the cruise across the bay to the ACME home base. There was no reason for the plan not to work. In fact, the trickiest part, getting the family to the reconnoiter site, was already done. Matt Shardlake, who he hadn’t yet taken the measure of, had shown he was up to the task. Now, if all went well, the team would be serving as no more than a glorified taxi service. This was all good. Turning the dangerous into the mundane was the mark of good intelligence and careful planning in his world. It usually translated to success.
“Wait a minute,” he whispered aloud. Three figures, none making any attempt at stealth, had appeared out of nowhere. They’d come up Iowa Avenue from the direction of the Tropicana, same as Matt. Given the hour, Squid guessed that they’d seen Matt leave and, suspicious at the deviation, had followed him. Even if they hadn’t seen him enter the Baltimore Grill, this was going to be an issue. It wouldn’t be long before the Shardlakes emerged for the last leg of their walk to the bay, and freedom. Now it looked like there could be trouble. They’d hit a snag after all.
He weighed his options and considered the situation. It wasn’t a tough call. The approaching men had to go. It was only a question of how to do it. He could move closer to make the shot easier, but that brought the risk of exposing himself. There was no need; from where he was hidden across the street, he could easily pick them off, even with a pistol. His only worry was that the Shardlakes would come out before he had a chance to take the shots. With that in mind, he sneaked along the sidewalk and crouched behind a mailbox. This was a better vantage point anyway, he realized. It was darker than he thought, making the shot tougher.
It was between the second and third shot, each of which was on the money, when Squid saw the Grill door swing open in his peripheral vision. All three men were already dead by the time Matt turned and shoved his family back inside. Now Squid realized that in Matt’s eyes, he was no different than the three men he’d just gunned down. It might be better to stay out of sight and let them go on their way.
After five minutes of waiting, however, he began to rethink this. Apparently the Shardlakes had been spooked by what they’d heard and weren’t coming out. Time was short, Squid knew. Even if nobody came to investigate the shooting, daylight was not going to be an asset when the Shardlakes did finally leave. As soon as somebody saw the kidnapped water purification expert hurrying toward the bay with his family, maybe even as they stepped over the bodies of three guards lying in their own blood, there were going to be problems. Squid looked around one last time before crossing the street.
As expected, nobody answered when he rapped on the glass door of the restaurant, but he felt he had to try. After a few seconds he pulled the door open. “Matt? You in there?” He tried to think of some code words. “I’m here for Nick and Dewey! Better not be late!”
“What?” a voice shouted back. Then Matt came slowly around a corner. “Do I know you?”
“No time for that,” Squid said. “I’m Squid. Get the family and go. If anybody heard me shooting, they’ll be here any minute. Let’s go!”
“That was you?” Matt asked. “Hey, Ellie, time to go!” he yelled over his shoulder.
“I’ll be right back,” promised Squid before backing out of the restaurant. There was some clean-up to take care of. He found the three fresh bodies, still warm, and searched for weapons and valuables. After finding none, he dragged them one by one onto the doorstep of the restaurant. Matt understood without being warned to keep the kids away long enough for the bodies to hidden inside.
Ellie and the toddlers appeared as soon as the corpses were out of view. Like Matt, all were wearing several layers of clothing. Squid wondered if that was because it was the easiest way to carry their clothes, or merely an effort to stay warm in the abandoned restaurant. He nodded at Ellie. Introductions could come later. “You know where to go, right?” he asked. “I’m only here by accident, but I can walk you down to--”
“It’s a good thing you were,” Matt said. “Somebody must have followed me out of the hotel.”
The walk up Iowa toward the bay was uneventful as they crossed Arctic Avenue, although daylight was coming on too fast for Squid’s liking. As they approached Fairmount, the last major cross street before they’d reach their destination, Ellie stopped and looked back. “Is that one of us?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” Matt asked. But then he heard it. They all did. The sound, unmistakable, was growing louder. A vehicle, or maybe more than one, was speeding up Iowa in their direction.
“Somebody heard the shots after all,” Squid said as the entire group stopped at Fairmount. “Cross the street here,” he ordered. “Then get the kids behind this building.”
It was a struggle, but after Matt scooped up his sons they were able to get across, and then behind one of the last two remaining houses between them and the bay. By then a van had screeched past them across Fairmount before skidding to a stop in the next block.
“That’s our van,” Matt whispered as they watched from behind a wooden fence. “They stole it from where I come from.”
“I know all about it. It doesn’t matter right now,” Squid whispered back. “We just have to get you all over to the bay. Nick’s there waiting with boats.”
“How far is it?” Matt asked.
“Just over that wooden wall at the end of the street,” Squid said as he climbed on
to an air conditioning unit so he could see what was happening in the street. “Those last guys weren’t armed, and I doubt these guys are either. I’m gonna’ go—”
His words were interrupted by a cannonade coming from the street. “Aahgh!” screamed Squid as he fell off his perch and landed on his back. His right hand was already clamped over his shoulder. “I’m hit!” he hissed.
Matt crawled over but could only stare at Squid with his mouth open. He’d never watched somebody get shot before. “What should I do?” he asked.
“Keep low,” Squid answered through clenched teeth. A volley of new rounds tore through the fence in front of them, sending splinters flying. “I’m okay, it’s just my shoulder.” He paused. “But it’s my shooting arm. And I’m having trouble seeing straight. I may not be of much use.”
“What should we do?” Matt said again.
“All we can do is get down to the water,” Squid said. “No change in plan. That’s probably the safest direction we can go. These donkeys have no idea we have somebody waiting for us there. They think they have us trapped here, and the shoreline will be the last place they look. But we have to move now!”
To emphasize his point, a van door slammed shut, followed by more shots. “Go!” Squid said. “I’ll cover you as best I can! Get the kids out of here!”
“What about you?” Matt asked.
Squid grimaced as he fought his way to his feet. “I’ll be right behind you!”
But he wasn’t. Matt quickly outdistanced him as he rejoined his family, all of whom were terrified at what was happening as they huddled out of view. Squid knew they’d find the bay if given the chance; it could only be in one direction. His job was to give them that chance. Given the quality of his opponent, he was still confident that he could stay alive while doing it, and then make his own escape. Once that was done, his shoulder was going to require some medical attention. Maybe those doctor’s back at that Tabernacle place would take a look, if he made it that far.
Twenty-four
“Like, where are they?” Dewey asked. He, Nick and Lou had paddled across the bay in two canoes and were now standing on the muddy shore. Darkness was beginning to lift. They could see the edge of the city thirty yards away behind an imposing wooden barrier. They’d expected a quick reunion with the Shardlakes in the mud, followed by a calm evacuation back over the water. Now the mission was already off schedule, and it had just begun.
“Get your guns ready and let’s check it out,” Nick said. “One of us should stay here, though, to guard the boats. And to be here just in case they show up.”
‘I’ll stay,” Lou said. She already had her rifle ready to fire. “Let’s swap guns. I’ll take the shotgun. You might need the range.” Dewey accepted the rifle without a word.
Just as Nick and Dewey began making their way up the muddy beach toward the street, the rat-tat-tat of gunfire shattered the quiet morning. Both men instinctively dropped and flattened themselves against the earth. “We’re, like, dead here if they see us,” Dewey said after the shooting stopped.
“We don’t even know who’s shooting,” Nick answered. “It could be the good guys. Let’s get up behind that wooden wall.” They crawled the rest of the way there. Before they reached it more shots rang out. It sounded like a gun-battle now. That was unexpected. The last time they talked, Squid said he didn’t expect anybody to notice the absence of the Shardlakes until long after they were out of the city. Something had gone wrong.
“One of the vans they stole is right there on the street!” Nick whispered after taking a quick peek above the sturdy wall. “I think whoever drove it here is shooting at the Shardlakes!”
“What do we do?” Dewey asked. As he spoke he thrust the rifle Lou had given him at Nick.
“We protect the Shardlakes, that’s what,” Nick said. “If only we knew what was going on. They should have been here by now.”
“Like, there’s one of the little dudes right over there,” Dewey said as calmly as if he was pointing out the canoes bobbing in the bay behind them. When Nick turned and looked up the length of the sea wall he saw one of Matt’s sons standing in the mud looking at them. Moments later Ellie Shardlake and the young man’s twin brother appeared behind them. Except for Matt, they’d found the family they were looking for.
Both ran over to the Shardlakes immediately. Without a word Nick hugged Ellie, his neighbor back in Cherry Hill for a dozen years. “Where’s Matt?”
“Back with that guy,” Ellie said. “I can’t remember his name, but he got shot.”
“Matt got shot?” Nick asked.
“No, the other guy,” Ellie said. “Matt went back for him.”
“Squid?”
“Yeah,” Ellie said. “After we got to the wall, he ran back for Squid.”
“Well, let’s go get ‘em,” Nick said to Dewey. “Can you make it back to the boat okay without us?” he asked Ellie as he pointed at the water line, where Lou was standing knee-deep in the bay holding the ropes of two canoes. “Lou will take you across. We’ll be over as soon as we can get Matt and Squid. Go!”
To Nick’s relief, she didn’t protest. She knew Nick wouldn’t leave without her husband. Both toddlers slipped and fell on their faces shortly after, but it wasn’t long before Ellie had them waddling through the mud on their way to safety and freedom. Nick privately wondered if Dewey should have joined them, given that they had only one gun anyway, but he knew Dewey well enough by now to keep that to himself. Dewey Bishop wasn’t going back to the boat if Nick was planning on going into battle. He might not look the part, but the man was a warrior.
“Come on!” he said to Dewey instead. They slogged to the end of the wall and scrambled up the beach-like terrain into a grassy yard. An occasional gunshot further inland told them where the action was, and most likely where Matt and Squid were pinned down.
After hearing somebody shout “Nick!” they saw Matt signaling them frantically from across a narrow street. They ducked down and sprinted across, meeting Matt on the sidewalk, where they pressed themselves up against a wall. “Good to see you guys!” he said, a smile flashing briefly on his tense face despite the difficult situation they found themselves in.
“You too,” Nick said. “What’s going on?”
“Your man Squid got shot,” Matt said. “He can’t raise his arms to shoot, at least if he wants to hit anything. I think he’s bleeding a lot. He told me to go ahead and get my family out, so I did.”
“I’m going back for him,” Nick said. “Me and Dewey are—"
“So am I,” Matt told him. “Why do you think I flagged you down? He saved my family. I’m not leaving him behind, even if I have no idea who he is.”
“Where is he?” Nick asked.
“On the other side of this house,” Matt said. “There’s a yard. He said he’d head toward the back, but I don’t think there’s anywhere for him to go after that. He’s not in good shape for climbing fences, I can tell you that.”
“How many bad guys?” Nick asked.
“I’m not sure,” Matt said. “We couldn’t tell from where we were. Squid wasn’t too worried, because he thinks they’re a bunch of bozos. So I didn’t bother counting them. He thought there were three, tops.”
“What are we waiting for!” Dewey said. “Let’s go!”
“Well, what’s the plan?” Matt asked.
“A plan for, like, what?” Dewey asked. “Can’t we just go get him?”
“Are they shooting at him?” Nick asked Matt. “I don’t hear many shots.”
“I don’t think they know exactly where he is anymore,” Matt said. “Or if he’s even still there.”
“Look,” Nick said. “We only have one rifle, but it sounds like Squid has a gun he can’t shoot,” Nick said. “Whoever finds him, take his gun. Then we’ll at least have two.”
“Got it,” Matt said. “I’ll do it.”
“Okay,” Nick said. “How about I take this rifle, go around front, and see if I can take a few
of them out. Or at least distract them. You guys go to Squid and do what you can to bring him out. If it’s too risky, just stay put and we’ll think of something else. But shoot whoever you have to. That’s what I plan on doing.”
The other two nodded their agreement and then they split up. Staying close to the building, Nick crept toward the street. The news there was bad. Now there were three vans parked haphazardly, not just one, and all three looked like they’d been taken from Tabernacle. If there were three vans-worth of enemies instead of one, the situation just got a lot more dangerous. And what made it worse was that Dewey and Matt, and probably Squid too, thought there were only two or three men to deal with.
If only it were an hour earlier, Nick thought. The darkness would have helped. He readied the rifle just before he reached the corner, flattened himself against the wall, and then peeked to see what he was up against. All he could do was hope Dewey and Matt would stay low enough so as not to be easy targets.
The only men he could see, and there were seven of them, were massed in front of the same house that Dewey and Matt were about to go behind. All of them had rifles, the barrels of each resting on the fence pointing behind the house. That meant to Nick that Squid was pinned down back there, just as Matt had suggested.
It also meant that Matt and Dewey were walking into an ambush. Nick knew he had to act fast. After taking a look around at what he had to work with, he knew what he was going to do. He didn’t even care how risky it was. He had mistakes to atone for. He never thought it would be easy, and it wasn’t going to be.
He had no reservations about his intentions, especially after hearing everything Levan had told them about how these men ruled this island. Besides, he reminded himself, they kidnapped one of my best friends and his entire family while they were at it. They deserved everything they were about to get.
Super Pulse (Book 4): Defect Page 21