The Crypt

by Saul, Jonas

  She moved the gun up against his cheek and started to lower the last finger.

  Whether he spoke English, Hungarian, or Swahili, he understood her quite clearly.

  He raised both hands in the air in a gesture for her to hold on and then set the truck in gear and started it moving. Instantly he yanked hard on the big steering wheel and turned it toward the front of the building.

  She knew he had no idea what was happening but he would find out soon enough.

  The truck was slow to get moving. It felt like forever, but finally they were coming around. As they got closer she heard gunfire again and felt relieved. The fight was still going on. That meant someone on her side was alive. She never thought she’d be so happy to hear gunfire.

  They cleared the building and Sarah could see off to their left the backs of the attacker’s vehicles. One of the hit men was crouched behind his car. He looked up at the sound of the rig and turned on the balls of his feet to fire at it.

  A hole formed in the windshield. In that second the driver lost all his ability to cope. He panicked and tried to spin the wheel away. The rig lurched to the right. If they continued on that path they would cross a grassy median and end up on the highway going the wrong way.

  Sarah anticipated him losing it and making the wrong decision. She dropped her gun in that second and dove across the cab, her left shoulder hitting him seriously hard as the cab had just bunny hopped to the right. She scrunched him into his door as she spun the wheel back as fast as her hands could manage, but it was too late. They were already passing the attacker’s car.

  She kept on turning anyway, knowing the trailer, at least fifty feet of rolling metal, would follow.

  Sure enough, it did.

  She felt the collision as well as heard it. Metal screeched across metal. The cab was tilting a little to the right. Sarah stopped spinning the wheel and jumped back to her seat. The driver looked petrified, both hands on his chest, his whole body shaking. Not ten minutes before he was sleeping. Probably dreaming about fields of sunflowers and flitting around like he could fly and now he was ramming cars with his rig and being shot at. She understood how that could fuck him up a little.

  There was no time to console him. Bad guys could still be out there. She reached over and yanked his keys out of the dash and then grabbed her weapon from beside her and ripped open the door, gun held out.

  She dropped to the ground and studied under the rig.

  No movement.

  Carefully, ever so slowly, she stood up and edged around the front of the cab. Behind her she heard cars racing by on the highway. Miraculously not a single vehicle had tried to enter the gas station in the time the three attacker’s vehicles had entered.

  When she reached the corner of the rig she looked around it cautiously. No one was in sight. There were bullet holes in the sides of all three SUVs. The lead one that she’d been in was tilted almost on its side as it now sat on the gas pump.

  She looked left and saw that the gunman had been trapped between her trailer and the car he’d been hiding behind. He was dead, his upper half sprawled out on the back of his car’s trunk.

  “Rosalie!” Sarah shouted.

  “Over here.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are there any more?”

  “There were three of them. I clipped two,” she shouted back.

  “I got the last one over here.”

  Rosalie stood up from behind the hood of the SUV she’d been in, her gun held out in front of her.

  Parkman opened the front door of the gas station convenience store and stepped out.

  “From where I’m standing, they’re all dead.”

  He held a chair in his hands. Sarah dropped her gun into her waistband and asked, “Is that supposed to be a weapon?”

  “It’s all I could find,” Parkman shouted back.

  “They weren’t tigers. That chair wouldn’t have held these guys back.”

  “Well, at least it was something. I was thinking I could’ve thrown it at them.”

  “Ahh,” Sarah nodded. She motioned for the driver of the rig to come down and join them.

  “Rosalie, Parkman, let me introduce you to this guy here,” she said as the driver stepped down beside her. “It was his rig that got the last guy. I’d wanted him to ram the vehicle but that’s okay. We still got him.”

  Rosalie walked over. “All of us need to get in that truck.”

  “What?”

  Parkman had set the chair down and was walking closer.

  “We get in that truck and leave before anyone gets here. The police are going to want a statement. They aren’t going to like this. My colleagues will come in and clean it up. We have to stay on the move. Being in a nondescript rig will be better than more SUVs or any other vehicle that tips these assholes off to who we are or where we are. This is getting crazy. How many times in one day can they try to kill us?”

  “They’re after me,” Sarah said. “Leave Parkman and me to deal with this. You go home.”

  Rosalie looked at her for a moment. “That hurts. I just lost good men here. Men I went undercover with. Your driver, I’ve known him for ten years. I will not be going home. I will see that Armond pays for what he has done. I’m just as determined to see this to the end.”

  “Okay, then let’s get out of here. The crypt awaits,” Sarah said. Sure people died. That went deep for her too. But they’ve all lost people. Her sister was raped and murdered by Armond and nothing anyone could do would bring her back or remove the horrible image of what that must’ve been like. Before this was over, more people would die. She would mourn later. What she wasn’t going to do was feel sorry for anyone. This wasn’t the time.

  “Hey,” Parkman stepped forward. “You two think they’ll try again today? I mean, we’re not cats. We only have one life to live.”

  “Yes. I think they’ll continue until we’re all dead. Using this rig,” Sarah gestured up behind her, “will slow them down though. Rosalie is right. Let’s move now.”

  “You know there’s one thing you’re not considering,” Rosalie said.

  “What’s that?” Sarah asked.

  “These men entered the lot and engaged me and my drivers. During that time you and Parkman were in the gas station.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “If they were truly after you, why engage us? We’re trained professionals. Why not just drive up, walk into the gas station and shoot at you two?”

  “Maybe they want to remove the professionals first. Take out my bodyguards and then leisurely go after me.”

  “Don’t take offense Sarah. I have a point and that is, I think they’re after me as much as you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I orchestrated the attack on Montone. Tony Soprano is dead along with his organization. Over time, their group will be finished and people like Armond are super pissed about that. I think they’re here for me as much as you.”

  Sarah mulled it over for a second. “Good point. I think you could be right.”

  She turned, walked around the front of the cab and jumped up into the passenger seat. She looked down through the cab and out the open driver’s side door.

  “You guys coming?”

  Chapter 23

  The driver didn’t protest much. Sarah caught him looking at the bullet hole in the windshield from time to time, sizing up how close it came to hitting him. Rosalie spoke Hungarian so communication became a non issue.

  Within minutes they were underway, with Sarah and Parkman sitting back on the driver’s bed while Rosalie directed the driver to Esztergom.

  Parkman fumbled in his pocket and produced a little package of something. Sarah looked over and saw him tear it open and yank out a toothpick.

  “Got those at the gas station?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Haven’t been using them much lately but I sure need one today. Good thinking on using the rig earlier.”

  “Thanks.
”

  “Sarah?” Rosalie turned in her seat. “You guys okay back there?”

  Sarah nodded.

  “Good. Give me a minute. I’m going to call it in and request more men.”

  Rosalie got on the phone, stated a couple of numbered codes and then spoke in what sounded like German. When she was done she turned to the driver, pointed out the windshield and gestured at an exit and then turned back to Sarah and Parkman.

  “They’re going to send two parties. One will clean up the gas station mess and deal with the police and the other team will meet us near the Basilica tomorrow afternoon at 17:00hrs.”

  “The team meeting us at the crypt are to do what?”

  “Whatever I need them for. To secure the perimeter, to assault the crypt if there’s a problem. They’re coming in a helicopter that’ll land on the Slovakia side of the Danube River. No one on the Hungarian side of the river will even notice their arrival.”

  “Is there any proof that Armond will be in Esztergom?” Sarah asked.

  Rosalie shook her head. “Just you, kiddo. Just you.”

  Sarah leaned back on the bed. You got anything for me Vivian? Is this the end? Will it finally be over? Are you going to tell me why you are sorry?

  The driver moved the rig onto a narrow street and explained something to Rosalie. She turned in her seat and said, “this is it. We get out here.”

  The three of them filed out and the rig started moving almost instantly.

  “He’s in a hurry,” Rosalie said.

  “I’d be too,” Parkman said. “After what just happened.”

  They crossed the street and stepped into the shadows of a line of trees, all three of them scanning the area to make sure they wouldn’t be attacked by surprise.

  “I’ve always wondered how many men Armond has working for him. Or does he hire mercenaries as he goes?”

  “We believe it’s a consortium. This large group of individuals and companies that pool together to reach their common goal of immigrating whomever they want for a price. That also means young girls. The documents were perfect because they actually came from the normal branches of government that produce them.”

  Rosalie was leading them down a street just slightly off the broken sidewalk.

  “You don’t think walking the way we are won’t attract attention?”

  “Who cares what people think? If the bad guys show up I want to be a little hidden first and not out on the open side of the street.”

  “Fair enough.”

  They continued on in silence. Three more blocks up Rosalie gestured for them to stop. Sarah turned at what Rosalie was staring at. The Esztergom Basilica stood in regal form with its three domes held high in the air.

  “Wow, it’s gorgeous,” she said.

  “Yes, it is,” Rosalie responded.

  Parkman gasped behind her.

  “Come on. Let’s take a tour. The place is full. Armond’s men won’t make another attempt with a church full of people.”

  The three of them entered at the side door. They walked into the vast room filled with majestic art and the largest organ Sarah had ever seen. Rosalie was right. The place was filled with tourists, gawking and taking pictures. They toured the entire room and took the narrow twisting stairs to the top for a look above the city. Finally Rosalie led them back down and into the crypt. Just as she had explained, areas were cut off by gates to keep the public out. The entire time Sarah walked through the insides of the building she studied all the hiding places. Where could she run if she had to? What exit door would work best? She tried to memorize the crypt. The stairs she came down appeared to be the only ones giving access to the crypt. Maybe Armond and his men knew another way?

  When they were done, Rosalie proposed dinner. They got up the stairs, out into the lowering sunshine and into a trap.

  Seven men wearing fedoras stood in a semi-circle around the doors leading outside.

  “Come with us,” Rod Howley stepped away. He started limping toward the back of the church which offered a view of the Danube River. The gunshot wound in his shin that he received in the back of the SUV at the Budapest airport hadn’t done a lot of damage if he was already walking.

  Sarah’s stomach dropped a little. This guy was incredible. It lowered her spirits to see him here already but she knew he would be coming. How and when she hadn’t been sure of but now that he was here she could focus on tomorrow and what had to be done.

  The fedora men trailed behind Rosalie, Sarah and Parkman, with Rod leading them. The rear of the church had two very large doors. They were at least ten feet from the doors when Rod turned around to address them. It was clear that even Rosalie respected his authority.

  “Tell me Sarah, what has your sister been up to lately?”

  Sarah glanced at the men behind her and then back at Rod. “You brought your motley crew with you to Esztergom to ask me about my dead sister? You could’ve just called.”

  “Enough with the jokes. Tell me what’s happening? Why are you three touring this basilica?”

  “I don’t have to tell you anything,” Sarah said and turned to spit on the ground. She wanted him to know he left a bad taste in her mouth.

  Rod smiled, his brow creasing. “I see you still don’t fully grasp the situation.”

  Parkman stepped up beside her. He was so cute when he fell into protection mode. She smiled on the inside.

  “I guess I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?”

  “You are the property of the United States Government. At this moment you are on loan to Rosalie and her team. Whatever it is you’re planning has been given the go ahead as we are watching to see what Vivian’s role is.” His gaze turned to Rosalie. “I understand your objective is locating and terminating or arresting a man named Armond Stuart?”

  Rosalie nodded.

  “I also understand that Sarah has seen him up close. My government has agreed to aid in this investigation. If your mission is complete or not, at midnight tomorrow evening Sarah comes with me.”

  “Says who?” Sarah asked.

  Rod turned toward her. After a moment’s pause he looked back at Rosalie. His smile was gone. “Your support team is landing over there,” he turned and pointed at Slovakia. “I understand you are getting a quality assault team. This is good because Sarah cannot be involved in the assault. We need her unharmed.”

  Rod stepped up to Rosalie and pulled out a weapon so fast even Sarah didn’t respond in time. She reached for her own and in the second her hand clamped on the butt of her gun, several hands lifted her off the cement.

  Confusion reigned for a moment. Moving body parts and scuffling feet. The only things that weren’t chaotic were Sarah’s thoughts. She looked at Parkman who was now on the ground with two men holding his arms back, a knee jammed into his right kidney.

  A man stood behind her yanking her arms to their limits. The pain was instant and caused an internal rage that could only be quieted with violence.

  She took a deep breath and ducked her head, lifting her feet up like a horse would buck. Knowing full well she could do a face plant because her arms were being held back didn’t stop her from kicking at her attacker’s face with everything she had.

  The man holding her wasn’t prepared. Both her feet smacked each side of his face in unison, knocking him teetering back, his fedora hat lost to the breeze.

  Her hands were freed but not fast enough as gravity yanked her down. She landed on her right shoulder, pulling her face up just in time, saving a broken cheek or nose.

  She instantly rolled and hopped up to her feet.

  Two more men advanced. Sarah raised her hands and gestured for them to continue.

  Come and get it.

  “Wait!” Rod yelled.

  The two men stopped and stared at him.

  “I said unharmed. Leave Sarah alone.”

  Sarah looked at him with something greater than violence, something in league with absolute rage. A large knife with a brass knuckle handle was
held in his grip, the blade pressed against Rosalie’s cheek.

  “Drop the fucking knife,” Sarah said.

  Rod ignored her. Mistake after mistake, Sarah thought.

  “Rosalie, you’re a professional,” Rod said. “The gas station gun fight could’ve seen Sarah hurt or worse, killed. You have her on loan. Your orders are to take care of her.”

  “Hey asshole,” Sarah said. “Last chance. Drop the knife.” She edged closer. The two men on Parkman continued to hold him. The man she kicked was getting off the ground slowly, holding his face. The other men stood and stared at her as ordered leaving her untouched. Rod continued to ignore her.