Knave's Gambit
Page 28
But Kat had already switched the Sennheiser to her left hand, and was thrusting her right into her carryall. She came out with the Glock, jammed it under the trooper’s chin. “Watch your language, Handsome. We’re live.” He froze for a moment, then let his weapon sag to his side. She thought she was getting pretty good at this stuff.
The swarthy man stepped in front of Edge as he was about to climb into Marine One. “Mister Secretary. I have a message from the vice president.”
Edge tried to push the guy in the pilot’s uniform out of the way. He guessed he belonged to Woody. “What the hell are you talking about? I have to get back to the White House. Who the hell are you?”
“Many people, Mister Secretary, many people. But I think you know me as José Martí. The man who orchestrated the gasoline attack?” He watched the man’s eyes for signs of comprehension. Because he didn’t want this fool to die without knowing who and why. “The attack that allowed you and the vice president to resurrect my old friend, REX 84. I had high hopes that Rex would put our nation back on the path of righteousness. But then you posted some video on the internet, and jeopardized everything.” He pushed Edge away from the stairs, away from the Marine NCO, and reached for the Ruger.
Father and daughter hurried to the helicopter. They handed their H&K’s to Tran, who added them to the collection in SKY SIX. “Maybe I open gun store.”
Nick wrapped an arm around Liz, pulled her close. He said to Poppy, “It seems we all could have stayed at home.”
Poppy looked at the three Bearclaw troopers. “What are we going do with these guys?”
Liz said, “Why don’t you put them in the cooler, with mine?” She called to her new friends, who were busy lobbying Congress. “Hey LaDonna. Show my Poppy where we have our prisoners.”
The Dirty Half Dozen looked at her for an explanation. Fred said, “It sounds like you’ve had quite an adventure.”
Liz grimaced. “You have no idea.”
Kat spotted Secretary Edgerton, at the steps to Marine One, talking to a man in a pilot’s uniform. This whole mess was his doing; from building the camps, to staffing them with these mercenaries. It was time to tell him what she thought about his damned REX 84 scheme. She handed Liz the microphone. “Howie? Do we still have our signal? Liz, here’s your chance to be a reporter. Tell the world about your adventure.” She slung her carryall strap over her shoulder and marched toward the green helicopter.
The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate had assembled their respective bodies around the flagpole, and were leading them in the Pledge of Allegiance, with the singing of God Bless America to follow.
Edge said, annoyed at this Mexican’s lack of respect, “Yes, well, fella, that’s been explained away. I took care of it. And, as far as your vice president is concerned, you’re behind the times. Out of the loop. He’s now president. President of these United States. So state your business, and be on your way. What’s the message from my old college roommate?”
“This.” The swarthy man slipped his hand beneath his coat and closed his fingers around the Ruger. The fat suppressor added nearly a foot to its length, and it snagged on his waistband as he tried to draw the weapon. He turned, looked down, ripped it free.
Kat was a dozen paces away and walking fast when she saw the swarthy man in profile. Something familiar; yes, sure, facial recognition software, matching video images, a driver’s license photo, a grainy black and white capture from Dulles. “José Martí,” she yelled, and he turned and she saw him full face and she drew her Glock and fired and the first shot kicked up dirt at his feet.
José squeezed off a single round at point blank range, then swung the cumbersome weapon toward the Anglo almeja. The silenced pistol stuttered as the action cycled, again and again and again, coughing out deadly Hydroshock bullets. Somewhere in the crowd a congressman yelped in pain and his nearest neighbors screamed and the singing died.
Kat got both hands on the Glock and forgot everything Nick had taught her about gun foot back and knees locked and triangles, and hit José in the hip, gut, chest, and throat, and the slide locked back on empty. The rest of her rounds had punched .40 caliber holes in the aluminum skin of Marine One.
High pitched screams, male and female, mixed with shouts and curses as Congress reacted to the drama.
“Some woman shot the pilot!”
“Some crazy woman killed Secretary Edgerton.”
“It’s another terrorist attack. It’s the gas truck killer.”
“The Argentine Assassin.”
“She’s blonde.”
“So was Eva Perón.”
“You’re thinking of Madonna.”
“Somebody grab her.”
“Are you nuts? She’s got a gun.”
“Where’s our Security people? We’re supposed to be under protective custody.”
Edge slumped against the landing gear of Marine One, reached inside his suit coat, pressed his hand against his side. A shooting pain, a stitch in his side, the kind he hadn’t experienced since playing touch football, forty years and forty pounds ago. A shooting pain; Jesus Christ. Had he been shot?
The hot little number, Sinclair, his Ph.D. hire, was coming toward him in slow motion, a pistol in her hand. Probably one of the Glock things they’d assigned to everyone at HomSec. Fuckin’ hell, had she shot him? Time slowed and there was a pounding in his ears. Pulse, he thought; my blood pressure is off the chart. Jesus, I hope I don’t have a heart attack. The Speaker of the House was looking down at him, yelling, “Is there a doctor in the house?” There were several, as well as a couple in the Senate.
An Obstetrician, an Optometrist, and a Psychiatrist clustered around Edge, but they were unable to do much, besides diagnose his condition as a gunshot wound. “Get him on the helicopter. Walter Reed’s not more than twenty minutes away.”
“There’s got to be a hospital closer than that.”
“Yeah? Where the hell are we?”
“Heck if I know. Whose Congressional District are we in?”
Edge reached in his breast pocket, took out his eight gig camera pen. He’d be God Damned if his old roommate was going to leave him holding the bag a second time. In a weak voice he said to Kat, “Give this to that Army woman. The Snake Eater. She’ll know what to do with it.”
Kat knelt, took the pen. “Geneva? Geneva’s dead.”
Edge looked up, puzzled, and slipped into unconsciousness.
She examined the device, saw it was a digital camera with a jump drive. Just like the one Geneva had told her about. She stowed the Glock and booted her laptop. Nick appeared at her side, put his arm around her shoulder. “Hell of a job, Kiddo.” He kissed her cheek. “What have you got there?”
The president and the vice president were in the Oval Office. The sound was flat, coming from the tiny speaker of her computer, but the words were clear. “This civil disobedience could spread like a virus.”
The president turned, faced the camera. Kat and Nick saw confusion in his eyes. As did the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader, who had silently joined the audience.
“But how do we stop it? Isn’t there that a congregational right? To peaceable assembly?”
The vice president grinned. “As a wartime president, you can set that aside. I think it’s time to substitute some hot lead for cold water.”
The president threw up his hands, as though to block the onslaught of words. “Whoa. These are American citizens you’re talking about. Isn’t that going a little over the top?”
His vice president shook his head, shot POTUS a look of disgust. “A stroke of the pen, and they are ‘enemy combatants’. The whole damn lot of them. The names can be filled in at the morgue. This mob is openly challenging your authority.”
The Majority Leader looked around in dismay. “Holy Mary, Mother of God, but this is political dynamite. Where did you get this, child? And who are you?”
Kat hit CONTROL, OPTION and F4, then removed the ju
mp drive. “I’m a researcher, at HomSec. And I got this from Secretary Edgerton.” She looked at the leaders of the House and Senate, clueless as to who they were. “With instructions of what to do with it.”
The Marine NCO, the pilot of Marine One, and two of the congressional physicians were struggling up the folding stairway with Edgerton.
The Speaker’s hand snaked out, snatched the drive from Kat's hand. “I think it best that we take this back to Washington, dear,” then turned to the Majority Leader. “We’ll want to have hearings, look into the consequences and ramifications of this development.”
“Absolutely. With full subpoena powers. Perhaps leading to Articles of Impeachment. Serious, serious business, young lady. You will say nothing of this, until we call you to testify.”
There was a whine as the turbines of the Sea King came to life, and the NCO leaned out the door, grabbed the railing, began to fold the stairway into the aircraft.
“Whoa, son,” The Speaker yelled, and dropped Kat's drive in the lone pocket of his orange jump suit. “The Leader and I have to hitch a ride.” They scrambled aboard, and the Sea Stallion lifted off in search of a hospital.
Nick and Kat walked back to SKY SIX as Marine One became distant dot. “I think,” he said, “you just got finessed.”
She gave him a look. “Bite your tongue.” Kate placed her laptop on the pilot’s seat and hit the F4 key. The Oval Office leaped onto the screen.
Nick grinned. “You rascal. You made a copy.”
Her new and somewhat extended family gathered around her, watched the video clip.
Kat saw math the way Mozart saw notes. The composer transcribed the sounds in his head into clefs on paper, and Kat turned her thoughts into keystrokes. Seconds later she was connected to an ISP in the Netherlands.
“Yes, I did, Sweety.” She hit ENTER. “I don’t trust 30 Rock to air this. By the time those politicians get back to Washington, this will be circling the globe, for all the world to hear.”
Nick raised his eyes to the darkening sky. He wondered aloud, “Is anyone listening?”
THE END
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty One
Chapter Thirty Two