No Way to Die

by M. D. Grayson

  * * * *

  It took a minute to calm down, but I took a deep breath and found that I was able to breathe easier for the first time since finding out Toni’d been kidnapped. Nothing like the bad guy permanently checking out to give you a warm and fuzzy sense of relief. Toni still had her arms around my neck. I looked down at her. “How you doing?” I asked.

  “Better.”

  “You see that?”

  “I heard. Serves ’em right.”

  “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”

  “I’m good now. There was a pretty good fight when they showed up. I nailed a couple of them, but then someone behind me hit me on the side of the face and knocked me down. Before I could get up, that bald-headed guy put a gun to my head and told me to settle down. That pretty much ended the fight. Then they injected me with something, and I’ve been out ever since.”

  “Good thing you’re tough,” I said. “Marlowe said you sent two of his guys to the hospital.”

  She smiled. “Good, the bastards. You taught me well.”

  I laughed. “This is true.”

  I looked at her. Even covered with soot, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I’d made a huge mistake, letting her go off by herself. And I almost lost her because of it. I needed to step up my game if I was going to stay in this business.

  The thought of almost losing Toni made my heart ache. Now that she was safe, I had to close my eyes for a second to hold back tears.Thank God the reality was she was here, lying in my arms.

  “Are you crying?” she said.

  I opened my eyes and looked down at her. She was looking up at me.

  “Smoke,” I said. “I got smoke in my eyes.”

  She looked at me. I’m not a very good liar, and she’s a damn good lie detector. I didn’t fool her. But she was cool. She didn’t say anything.

  “You saved me,” she said.

  “Yeah. It’s what I do.”

  “Really. Thank you.”

  I nodded. “You’d have done the same. Besides, I screwed up. I sent you into that mess by yourself with no buddy. I broke the rule.”

  She thought about this. “That’s true. You did set me up. What’s the matter? You don’t like me anymore?”

  I smiled. “I used to,” I said, “but now you smell like smoke.”

  She smiled and closed her eyes and hugged me tighter. “Umm,” she said. “You, too.”

  “And you can turn loose of me anytime now,” I added.

  She shook her head and smiled, her eyes still closed. “No way,” she said. “I’m not lettin’ go. I’m savoring this.”

  Chapter 25

  WE HEARD THE sirens a few seconds before they came into view. A caravan of green-and-white Skagit County sheriff’s cars, unmarked cars full of FBI agents, and medical vehicles rolled down the long driveway toward the house, lights flashing and sirens blaring.

  “Here they come,” Doc said. He waved to them as they drove up.

  Richard was first in line. His car skidded to a stop on the gravel driveway, and he hopped out like someone fifty years his junior. “Are you guys okay?” he yelled, running up to us.

  “I’m good,” Doc said. “Toni and Danny are going to need the medics, though. She got drugged, and he got hit in the head.”

  Richard looked at me and saw that I was okay. “Again?” he said.

  “Yep,” I said. I pointed. “Same spot.”

  Doc said, “Opened up his stitches. I saw him bleeding pretty good back there, but then they hit him with a couple of buckets of water to wake him up, and it kind of cleaned him off a little.” He looked down at Toni. “I think maybe they both got a little smoke inhalation, too.”

  A car full of FBI agents stopped next. Jennifer Thomas and Ron Jennings ran up to us. “How many?” she asked. “How many were there?”

  “Eleven total,” Doc said. “I watched through a crack in the barn. I think I saw them all leave. They were in four vehicles—two black SUVs and two sedans—Toyotas, I think.” He looked at Marlowe’s empty SUV across the field. “There’s one of your SUVs,” he said, pointing to the vehicle on the road north of us. “Marlowe and his guys were in that one. They left here, swung around over there, got out, and jumped into the helicopter. I guess there was more room to land over there.”

  “Marlowe?” she asked. “Marlowe was in the helicopter?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh my God,” she said. She turned and passed the information about the number of Marlowe’s men to another agent who apparently was in charge of the effort to clear all six buildings on the property, making sure none of Marlowe’s bad guys still lingered around on the scene.

  After she’d given the assignment, she turned and studied the burning wreckage. “What happened?”

  “We saw the helicopter as we were driving up,” Jennings said. “We saw it blow up. One second it was there, hovering—the next it was a ball of flames. Thank God none of you were on it. We were worried.”

  “Got that right,” I said.

  An agent cut in. “I just heard that we’ve got an SUV stopped a mile south of here now with four guys in it,” he said. “Apparently, they’re part of Marlowe’s crew.”

  “Good,” she said. “Don’t forget about the two dark-colored sedans.”

  “Right. No word on them yet.”

  “How about the jet at Skagit Regional,” I asked. “Did you get that?”

  Jennings shook his head. “There was no jet at Skagit Regional,” he said.

  “Really? Then Marlowe must have been a step in front of us again. He must have figured we might be onto that. He’s probably got his jet parked at another close-by airport and planned to get there with his helicopter.”

  Jennings nodded. “There are only a few other airports nearby. We’ll start checking them out. But first, tell us what happened.”

  The paramedics reached us right then and began checking us over. Jennings backed off. The medics seemed mostly concerned about smoke inhalation, even though I told them we’d been tied up and sitting on the ground, beneath the smoke, until it was time to escape. Then we simply held our breath. Didn’t seem to register with them.

  They were getting an oxygen mask ready to strap on me, so I finally said, “Stop! Cut it out! Work on her first,” I said, pointing to Holly. “We’ll be ready to go in a few minutes. Right now, I need to talk to these people.”

  The paramedics looked at me.

  “Alone, if you please,” I said.

  It must have finally registered with them because they backed off and started tending to Holly.

  * * * *

  While I was fending off the paramedics, Ryan Freedman, Julia Harrison, and Andrew Hayes joined us. I turned to Jennifer. “You already tell them what I told you last night?” I asked.

  “Yes, of course,” she said.

  “Okay. Good. Then you all know that two days ago we found where Marlowe’s guys had broken into our office, stolen the combination to our safe, and broke in. We were confused at first because nothing seemed missing. Later, we checked again. We found that they’d swapped the authentic Starfire Protocol box for an identical box, except that it was loaded with C-4—they put a bomb right in the middle of our office. It had a cellphone detonator that could be remotely triggered from basically anywhere. Then yesterday, while we were all busy running around at Starbucks, they kidnapped Toni and Holly. I'm not sure, but apparently, Holly must have called them and given away the location. Late yesterday, Marlowe called and proposed a swap—Toni for the box and the key. Last night, my guys and I concocted a plan to rescue the girls.” I went on to explain Operation Yankee to them in detail.

  “Then,” I said, “when Jennifer called last night, I wasn’t going to lie to her, so I brought her in on Operation Yankee. She offered for you guys to take part, so we modified our plan a little to take advantage of having you guys on our side without turning over operational control.”

  “But what happened here?” Jennings asked. “What h
appened this morning? How’d we end up where we are now?”

  “Once we knew that Marlowe was ready to blow us up—bolstered by the fact that he planted the bomb in our office—we pretty much assumed that he wouldn’t honor his commitment to make a simple swap. We figured he’d try to screw us. That’s why we did two things in advance. First, as Jennifer may have told you, we put a tiny little switch on the detonator of the bomb to protect ourselves in the meanwhile. Second, we inserted Doc into the scene here very early this morning when he could take advantage of the dark.”

  “How’d he get in?” Jennings asked.

  “He swam the Skagit River over there at two o’clock this morning and came in the back door,” I said.

  “You swam across the river?” Toni said, looking at Doc. “In the middle of the night? For me?”

  Doc smiled at her but didn’t say anything. He reached down and squeezed her hand.

  “Then,” I continued, “Doc took up a strong position for reconnaissance and started giving us intel reports. By the time we got here this morning, we knew their numbers, their strengths, their deployments, and their weapons. Also, with Doc in position, we had a close reserve in case things went wrong—which, like I said, we expected would be the case.

  “True to form, Marlowe tried to double-cross us. Rather than just make the simple swap, he had his goon sneak up behind and hit me on the head while he and I were arguing. While I was out, they handcuffed me to a rail. Then, Marlowe tried to kill us by doing two things. First, he set the barn on fire around us. Then, he took what he thought was the real Starfire Protocol device and the key while he deliberately left the counterfeit device—the one that was actually a bomb. I guess he thought that if the fire didn’t kill us, he could either detonate the bomb himself and blow us up or the fire would detonate it for him—really ‘clean up the loose ends,’ as he put it.

  “But—too bad for him—the box he took wasn’t the real one. He didn’t count on Doc being here and changing the whole plan right in the middle. Doc’s role was to be fluid—go where necessary, fight if required. Instead, he was able to rely on stealth like the true Apache that he is.”

  “Right on, dude,” Doc said, nodding.

  I continued. “Doc—tricky guy that he is—was hiding inside the barn the whole time. He switched the boxes on Marlowe when they weren’t looking. Then, when Marlowe swung by in his helicopter to blow us up, he didn’t know that the bomb was actually sitting right there at his feet while he made the call. When he tried to blow us up by making the cell phone call, he blew himself to kingdom come.”

  The Feds simply looked at us for a few seconds.

  “Astonishing,” Andrew Hayes said. “And you’re certain that it was Marlowe in the chopper?” he asked.

  “No doubt. He drove around to where you see the vehicle over there right now.” I pointed to the empty SUV. “The helicopter came up from the south and landed right over there by the SUV. We watched Marlowe and his guys hop out of the SUV and jump in the helicopter. They took off and then, rather than scoot, Marlowe must have had his pilot fly right over there so that he could watch the barn blow up. By the way, the pilot was the bald-headed guy who whacked me with the baseball bat in my office a couple nights ago.Anyway, they went into a hover and turned so that Marlowe could get a better view of the barn. We could see him clearly. He had a cell phone in his hand, the bastard.”

  “Outstanding,” Hayes said, rubbing his hands together. “Sounds just like him. How ironic that we chase this man all over the world—him always one or two steps ahead of us. Then, just as we get close, he goes and blows himself up while attempting to thwart us once again. I suppose I’d call that poetic justice.”

  “Indeed,” Julia said, smiling broadly. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer chap.”

  “And, as to Starfire, am I to understand that you still have the original Starfire box?” Hayes said.

  “Yes,” I said. “I carried it out of the barn. We have it. It’s safe.”

  “Good,” Ryan Freedman, the NSA man, said. “Unfortunately, you say Marlowe took the key—the key is lost. And I suppose that brings us back to square one regarding the Starfire Protocol.”

  “That’s right,” I said. “Without the key, there is no Starfire.”

  “I wonder if it can be re-created,” Freedman said, rubbing his chin.

  “Maybe,” I said. “After all, Thomas Rasmussen was able to do it once.”

  He glanced at me but said nothing.

  “I think we’re going to leave it at that for now,” Jennifer said, giving a sharp look to Freedman. “These guys need to see the medics. We can talk later.”

  * * * *

  Several fire engines appeared on Campbell Road. They found a dirt road and were able to get close to the burning wreckage. They started to unroll their hoses to extinguish the flames. Meanwhile, the paramedics were more insistent with us.

  “We’ve got to transport you now,” one of them said. “You need to get to the hospital.”

  Toni had never loosened her grip around my neck. Instead, now it tightened. “Go with them,” I whispered to her. “They’ll take care of you. I’ll hook up with you later—maybe at the hospital.”

  She nodded. “Okay. You make sure they look at your head, too.”

  “What, this?” I said. “It’s just a scratch.”

  “Danny,” she said menacingly.

  “Okay. I’ll have them check it out.”

  “You’d better.”

  They placed her on a gurney and strapped an oxygen mask on her before loading her into a waiting ambulance.

  I stood up but instantly became woozy. I started to stagger forward when one of the paramedics caught me.

  “Whoa there, man,” he said. “Take it easy. Looks like you took a pretty good knock to the head.”

  “I did,” I said, allowing myself to be guided onto a gurney.

  “Doc,” I called out just before they strapped an oxygen mask on me. He looked at me. “Dude, I owe you. Again.” I held my hand up.

  He grasped it. “No, you don’t, man. You’re my bro. Bros don’t owe.”

  They started to load me into the ambulance.

  “Danny!” Doc called. I raised my head and looked at him. He stood tall and proud, his right hand raised into the air with a clinched fist. “Sadnleelda’ya’deenzho!” he called out in Apache.

  I didn’t know the meaning of the Apache words, but the triumphant message was still clear. I made a fist with my right arm and raised it in return.

  PART 4

  Chapter 26

  I WOKE UP the next morning with bright sunlight streaming through the windows of my hospital room. I was on the same floor at Harborview as I’d been a few nights ago. When I arrived the day before, the same doc as last time—Dr. Malik—attended to me. “So much for being careful, eh?” he’d said, the concern in his voice obvious. “How’d you manage to get hit in the exact same spot? Even tore out some of my stitches.” He admitted me for observation. He sewed up my head again. They X-rayed me, CAT-scanned me, poked and prodded me. Eventually, Dr. Malik made the same diagnosis as last time—mild concussion.

  The clock on the wall read seventhirty. I can’t remember the last time I slept until seventhirty. Then again, I don’t generally spend my time in a hospital bed connected to a bevy of machines. Aside from a slight headache, I felt pretty good. But regardless, I don’t like hospitals, so I decided I was ready to leave.

  I felt a touch on my left arm. I looked over to see Toni seated in a chair beside my bed. She smiled when she saw that I was awake, and then she yawned. “You’re awake,” she said. She rubbed at the corner of her eyes so as not to disturb her makeup.

  I nodded. “I am.” I looked around at the room, and then back at her. “How long have you been here?”

  “A while,” she said, stretching her arms. “Happy Saint Pat’s.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “You, too.” Toni wore faded blue jeans with holes in the knees and a billowy green t
op. I noticed a pillow in her chair. “What’s that? Did you spend the night here?”

  She looked at me. “Well,” she said, “someone had to stand guard, right?”

  I smiled. “I appreciate it,” I said, “but I think the case is over. Remember, the bad guys blew themselves up. They’re probably checking in at hell’s front desk by now. Room for four. Close to the fireplace.” I paused and stared at her. She had a dark-purple bruise high up on her left cheek. From my perspective, it did nothing to diminish her beauty. “When’d you get here?” I asked. “I remember you leaving last night.”

  “Yeah. I went home and got cleaned up. I hadn’t had a shower in two days. I called my mom and let her know I was okay. Then I came back here. You were already out.”

  “You’re crazy,” I said. “But thanks for coming back and sitting with me.”

  “Sure,” she said. “What are friends for, right? How you feeling this morning?”

  “I feel good,” I said. “A little headache, but pretty good.” I looked at her. “You know, spending a night in a hospital chair watching me sleep is a little beyond the call of duty, wouldn’t you agree?”

  She looked at me, smiling. Then she changed the subject. “Looks like we’ve got the Rasmussen case all wrapped up.”

  “Good riddance,” I said. “Next time my dad calls wanting me to meet someone, I’m going to think twice. I’m tired of getting jumped by bald-headed Englishmen.”

  “Yeah, really,” she said. “But look at the bright side. Katherine said she’d double our fee if we identified Thomas’s killer. We not only ID’d the guy, we also risked life and limb so that he could ultimately take himself out. That oughta count, right?”