Assassin Games (Tarnished Heroes)

by Bristol, Sidney

  “What happens next?” Kevin grasped her hand and squeezed.

  “I don’t know, and if I did, I couldn’t tell you.” She stared into his face, so familiar it was painful. “I’m sorry we just met, and now I have to leave.”

  “It’s nice to have met you at all.”

  “You look like him, you know?” Carol swallowed and blinked back the sudden urge to cry.

  “Mom tells me that all the time.”

  “I wish we had more time to get to know each other.”

  “Don’t die, and maybe we will.” Kevin smiled, his eyes dancing much like Dad’s had.

  Carol swallowed and shut the door on all the memories. She didn’t have the luxury of working through what she was feeling right now. At least not until she had Andy back.

  “Make your call. Signal when you’re ready for us to move.” Kevin squeezed her hand and turned back to the rest.

  They had a shoestring plan and next to nothing to go off of, but they were going to act, and she didn’t have to do it alone.

  Carol dialed Jan’s number, but it went straight to voicemail after a single ring. She left her message, half in crazy gibberish code, and prayed she got it right. Her life might depend on a series of perfect events.

  “Carol? Carol, if we’re doing this I think we need to go now,” Jesse called over his shoulder.

  “Let’s roll.” She swiped her hands across her cheeks and climbed into the SUV.

  One after the other, Irene, Jesse, Kevin, and Noah climbed in around her.

  “What exactly is it we’re doing?” Noah turned to face her from the front passenger seat.

  “Jesse has flash grenades, correct?” Carol swallowed.

  “Yup.”

  “Then we circle the facility so we come at them from the other direction, drive up onto the concrete patio, and use the flash grenades on the people moving. Proceed inside and downstairs from there.” She could only hope once they were down there it would be obvious where Andy was.

  “All right, Irene and I will hold the lobby then,” Kevin said. “You three can go below. If we don’t see you in five minutes, we’re coming in.”

  “Leaving.” Irene’s voice was firm. “We can’t all be caught.”

  “Agreed.” Carol swallowed.

  The time for hard decisions had come. She still wasn’t leaving Andy behind.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Irene couldn’t help but feel that they were gliding into the firefight on a paper plane, but neither could she deny that they had to do something.

  The director had been clear that anyone on-site wasn’t just working for the CIA. They were cleared to use whatever means necessary. It still wasn’t a comforting idea to think that they were about to fire on their own, loyalty regardless. There was something…sacrilegious about what they were moments away from.

  “Brace yourselves,” Jesse said.

  Irene placed her hand on the seat in front of her and the other on the door.

  Kevin and Noah had the flash grenades ready.

  A few of those and they could hit the ground running.

  “Here we go…”

  The SUV bumped and bobbed over the curb. Jesse pushed the vehicle. The wheels slid a little over the snowy ground, but they reached the salted patio without incident.

  People stared, completely caught off guard.

  Noah moved first, Kevin a scant second behind him. They lobbed the canisters one after the other onto the entry and walkway to the building.

  Irene closed her eyes and covered her ears, sliding out of the vehicle. She felt the concussion blast of the grenades, then drew her weapon.

  There were times when a conscience was a luxury. Now was one of those times. She was a patriot. She believed in doing what had to be done for the greater good, and right now, that was storming the castle.

  …

  “The door is locked.”

  “Yeah.” Andy stepped up on the chair and shoved at the ceiling tile. He’d heard the click of the lock already, and truth be told he wasn’t looking to make himself a target by waltzing out into the hall.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Mitch free was more annoying than Mitch hallucinating.

  Andy pressed the edge of the tin up. They appeared to be at a juncture of the shoddy ceiling. He pushed and the corrugated metal bent back without much protest.

  “Come on, before they look for us.” Andy grasped the edges, keeping his hands on the load-bearing beams, and hoisted himself up. His shirt got partially caught on the sharp edges of the former ceiling tin and ripped.

  Mitch blinked at him with the one eye, a bit of spit ready to drip off his three-times-its-normal-size lip.

  “Now,” Andy snapped.

  Mitch crossed the room and stepped up on the chair. He eyed the opening.

  “I don’t think my arm will hold me,” he said.

  “Then I’ll hold you. Turn, and use your good arm to hold here and brace your foot on the other wall, okay?” Andy shifted so he was on his knees.

  Mitch turned and Andy hooked his arms under the other man’s shoulders.

  “Ready—go.”

  They grunted.

  Mitch lifted himself a bit.

  Andy did the rest. He hauled Mitch up, refusing to leave this man behind. They’d sacrificed, they’d done the work they had set out to do, and they believed in the mission of the Company.

  They sprawled on the ceiling, the metal bowing in places. The sound of movement was louder now. The ducting shielded them from view, even from the stairs, or else Andy feared they might have already been discovered.

  “Stay here. Let me get a look at what’s going on.”

  He rolled over onto his stomach and pushed up, a little at a time.

  People trucked up and down the stairs, file boxes in hand.

  There were more than a few people, and they sure as hell looked stressed, even from a distance.

  Most were in normal, everyday clothes. That gave Andy an advantage, but Mitch’s bloodied appearance would draw attention.

  They either needed a distraction or some way to disguise Mitch’s face, and they likely only had moments to do it.

  Andy studied the way the space was set up for a moment longer. It was a gamble any way they tried this, but at least they were getting the opportunity.

  He turned and crawled back to Mitch.

  “Okay, we’re going to head that way. There looks to be a small hall, we’ll wait until there isn’t anyone coming. I’ll go down, then you. There’s a lot of coming and going. I figure we find something to carry and walk out of here. Got it?” Andy still had his getaway car out there. They weren’t completely stranded.

  “Yeah. Let’s go.” Mitch winced.

  “Stay as low as you can, and move quick. They’re going to figure it out soon.” That’s what Andy was most concerned about.

  He picked his way around the opening, then crawled, careful to slide his knees and hands across the metal instead of picking it up. The less noise they made, the better.

  Andy reached the edge of the ceiling and peered down.

  The hall didn’t dead end, it went straight through what should have been the edge of the foundation. Where that took them, he didn’t know, but it was another possible out.

  Andy vaulted down into a crouch and brought his hands up, but for the moment it was clear. He peered down the darkened hole. If they had time he’d look around, but they were short on everything.

  An alarm buzzed.

  “Shit,” Mitch muttered.

  “Come on.” Andy waved at Mitch.

  No one had seen them, which meant they still had a narrow window to escape. Every second counted.

  …

  Georgia pressed her back against the wall. She’d heard—and felt—the boom of something from above.

  The shit was hitting the fan one way or another, and she wasn’t sticking around to help clean it up.

  The number of armed agents on site were few, but they sprinted up th
e mid-staircase with all the intent of a charging herd of bulls.

  That was fine. Georgia wanted to make it out of here and keep her hands clean.

  She turned to the staircase at the front of the building and walked slowly toward it, listening for sounds from above.

  Gunfire pelted off something and men yelled.

  She’d sacrificed enough for this botched job. She wasn’t risking anything else.

  Footsteps pounded the stairs.

  Their people wouldn’t be retreating quite so fast.

  Georgia ducked into a room, peering out through a thin slit.

  A man with familiar pale hair came into sight.

  The man from the bunker. They’d really kicked the hornet’s nest with that one.

  Georgia took a step back, deeper into the shadows.

  Carol crept after the blond man, eyes wide.

  “This hall isn’t supposed to be here,” she said.

  A third man Georgia didn’t recognize stepped into view, his focus on the stairs behind them.

  “Fucking hell,” the blond man said. “Okay, we clear the rooms, one at a time and fast, got it?”

  The two men moved like trained covert operatives, their motions deadly, quick and silent. Carol trailed behind them, taking a longer look into one room or another.

  Shit.

  They were coming Georgia’s way.

  She turned, eyeing the storage closet.

  Fast meant they wouldn’t look hard at her.

  She circled a set of shelves and squeezed herself into the narrow space between it and the wall. Not a moment too soon, either.

  The door creaked open and the lights flipped on.

  “Clear,” a man said.

  Did Georgia wait for them to leave, or did she see this through?

  They’d captured Andy. Carol was all that was left.

  Fuck.

  There was a big part of Georgia that wanted the woman dead, in a bad way. But doing so meant risking her own life. Except Carol was valuable to both sides. She just might be Georgia’s ticket out.

  She slid out from behind the shelves and peered out.

  They’d passed up the classroom entrance. Good.

  The men were focused on the rooms, not behind them.

  The opportunity was too good to pass up.

  Georgia checked the chamber of her gun, ensuring it was ready.

  Here went nothing.

  She darted out, padding up behind Carol. The sounds from above were enough to disguise any noise she made.

  It was too easy.

  Georgia circled Carol’s shoulders with her left arm and pressed the muzzle of her gun to Carol’s temple.

  “You shouldn’t have come back,” Georgia said.

  Too easy…

  …

  Andy hefted the fire extinguisher and cracked the man at the foot of the stairs with it before he even knew they were there. He fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, his gun skidding almost under the stairs.

  “Come on, Mitch. We’ve got to go.” Andy looped the other man’s arm around his shoulders and they hobbled toward the stairs, pausing only to pick up the gun.

  The basement-level office had cleared out far too fast.

  Something big was happening, bigger than capturing them or anything else, and if they didn’t get out now, Andy feared they would meet an ugly end all too soon.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Mitch muttered.

  “Stop feeling anything and climb.”

  “Anyone ever tell you you’re an ass?”

  “Yup.”

  Andy’s sense of dread grew with every step they took.

  Someone should have tried to stop them. This was all too easy. As though this was orchestrated by a finger-painting child.

  Whatever got Andy out alive so he could find Carol would work. For him. For now. Once they were together again they could sort this mess out.

  “Can you walk on your own?” Andy shoved the bookcase door open and peered into the classroom.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” Mitch let go of Andy.

  He crept forward, through the classroom toward the hall door.

  Too easy.

  Too nicely set up.

  Something was very wrong.

  He peered out into the hall through the rectangle of glass, and his stomach knotted up.

  Carol grasped at the arm clamped tight around her neck as Georgia dragged her back a foot or so. Noah and another man had their weapons trained on the two women, but they wouldn’t endanger Carol’s life. Not with such a small margin of success on the shot.

  She couldn’t fall into enemy hands.

  She wasn’t like him, she couldn’t withstand the torture. And Andy loved her. He wouldn’t let this happen to her.

  “Stay here,” he said to Mitch.

  Andy slipped through the door behind Georgia. The sounds of bullets and yells from above drowned out whatever Georgia was saying.

  They had to try to take her alive. Georgia would know people, places, resources.

  He took two steps, lifted his hand, pressing his gun to the back of Georgia’s head.

  “Let her go,” Andy demanded.

  For a moment, no one moved. Not Georgia or Andy or anyone. The sound of the firefight was all around them. She could wait them out and then they’d be overpowered and outnumbered.

  Georgia turned her head and looked at Andy.

  “I could just kill her. You’re going to kill me,” she said.

  “No, we won’t. You can help us.” Andy’s recollection of Georgia didn’t lead him to place any great trust in her, but he had to try.

  Noah gestured, his focus on Carol now that Georgia wasn’t paying attention.

  “You don’t have a horse in this race,” she said.

  “You could change that.”

  “I picked my side.”

  Carol dropped to the floor, right out of Georgia’s grasp. Andy dove at her, knocking Georgia off her feet. She twisted midair and he landed with a knee in his gut. He rolled one way, clenching nothing but air.

  His gun…

  Georgia pushed up and turned, swinging her arm toward him.

  Right behind her Carol went to a knee, his gun in her hand.

  He rolled to the tune of two guns firing.

  Andy shoved to his feet in time to see Georgia’s body pitched sideways.

  Carol stared at the body of the woman who’d been about to kill her with wide eyes.

  “Carol?” Andy rushed to her side, taking the gun and clutching her close to him.

  “Holy fuck!” Noah sprinted forward to the downed body of Georgia.

  “You must be Andy. Let’s get you two out of here,” the other man said.

  “No. Get Mitch, he’s hurt.” Andy jerked his head over his shoulder.

  “Come on, man, we’ve got to move.” Noah herded Andy and Carol back toward the stairs.

  The other man hauled Mitch out, one arm around the guy, and together they climbed the stairs.

  “Irene and Kevin are holding the lobby, but they’re pinned down.” Noah peered through the busted-out glass window at the top of the stairs.

  “Here.” The man behind Andy thrust a canister at Noah.

  “Fuck yeah.” Noah grinned. Never a good sign.

  “I can walk,” Carol said. Her whole body shook, but damn it, she was pulling herself together. Andy was so damn proud of her.

  “We get the other two, then run for the vehicles, okay?” Noah said.

  “I’ve got a car in this main parking lot. Follow me when we leave,” Andy said.

  He still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

  “Airstrip,” Carol said at the same moment Noah opened the door.

  The stairwell filled with the sound of gunfire and yelling, drowning out the rest of what she said.

  He clapped his hands over her ears.

  The flash bang felt as though it shook the whole building.

  Noah darted out first, followed by Andy and
Carol. The men in the lobby teetered and didn’t even lift their weapons.

  Noah grabbed the man and Andy pushed Irene to her feet. They sprinted for the doors, most of the group peeling off for a badly battered SUV.

  Carol kept pace with him, running headlong for the old sedan Andy had left parked there. One window was shot out, and it’d seen better days, but it was still their ticket out of here.

  He slid behind the wheel while Carol got in on the other side. In moments he was accelerating out of the lot, the SUV at his bumper.

  “Head for the airstrip. Jan is waiting for us.” Carol gasped.

  He’d never heard more beautiful words in his life.

  The sooner he got Carol out of the country, the sooner he could go about protecting the rest of her life.

  They made it a good two miles without anyone pursuing them.

  It wasn’t right. Something still gnawed at him.

  Ahead, a pair of police cars turned toward them, lights and sirens on.

  Andy gripped the wheel…but they sailed on by.

  “We did it…” Carol whispered.

  Had they?

  Andy wasn’t so sure.

  …

  Kristina shoved the suitcase into the back of the cab.

  Holy shit.

  Holy fucking shit.

  The whole plan, everything, was coming down around them.

  Forget playing by the rules, she was headed for the airport and then wherever was leaving next. She was getting out of the country as fast as she could and not looking back. She’d done her part, but the incompetent people around her couldn’t hack it, so she was out.

  The cabbie scowled at her handling the trunk. It wasn’t her fault he was so damn slow.

  “Airport, now,” she snapped.

  Kristina grabbed the door handle and froze.

  A pair of black SUVs with lights running skidded to a stop, hemming the taxi in. Uniformed CIA agents piled out, guns up, pointed at her.

  No, it wasn’t supposed to go this way.

  Kristina wrung her hands together, tears pricking her eyes.

  It was supposed to be a perfect plan. There was no way this should have happened.

  “Tina Butler?” the agent in the lead said. “Put your hands up.”

  She sniffled.

  It wasn’t fair.

  None of this was going the right way.

  “It’s Kristina.” She held her hands up.