“Actually, I do,” countered Stone. “The rear-flank guy almost always goes down. That’s the nature of the beast. And your friends aren’t coming back through here to make their escape. But I bet they told you they were.”
The other man’s shoulders tensed. He snorted and said, “So now you know all about our plan?”
Stone kept staring directly at him. “The motorized outer wall to the bank is key-operated. Charlie had one key. You don’t have it because I saw your leader take it. He also took the other key behind the tellers’ stand. So you can’t open the door to get out.”
“Yeah, but he can.”
“Do you know what those things were he was having positioned on the overhead door to the bank?” asked Robie.
The man glanced at him but said nothing.
Stone said, “They’re either Semtex or C-4 hardwired to a detonator. They’re armed and I bet they’re configured so they can’t be disarmed except remotely. A handful of Semtex can take down a jumbo jet. What do you think those packs will do to this bank and everyone in it? Including you.”
Robie added, “And why put those up if they were planning to exit that way?”
Before the man could say anything Stone said, “Because they’re not coming back this way. Why would they? Cops will be waiting. It’s been long enough that people will know something is up.” He glanced at the bank employees and customers. “All these folks have people who will be missing them. Won’t take long to realize something is off.”
“Shut up,” said the man, but his gun hand was trembling slightly.
Stone said, “A vertical shaft up a building allows for lots of possibilities for escape. Lots of floors. That’s what I’d do. And I’m sure that’s what your friends are planning to do. While you stay behind here. For the cops to arrest. Or kill.”
The man’s gaze darted in the direction of the shaft, confirming for Stone that his speculation had been correct.
He continued, “They have the plans for the building. That will tell them the best place to branch off the shaft after they’ve completed their mission. Different floor, masks and jumpsuits come off. They walk away and out of the mall. Gone. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers.
“But not you,” said Robie. “You’re stuck here with us. And when someone tries to open the door to the bank, we’ll be vaporized. All of us. You included.”
One of the female tellers started to moan. A customer choked back a sob and began whimpering.
The gunman started nervously licking his lips.
Stone said, “So that’s what I meant when I said the short straw. You’re the sacrificial lamb. Maybe the cops will think you were acting alone. I mean, there won’t be anyone alive to say otherwise. That way your buddies get away free and clear. While your ass gets sacrificed. For the cause. Whatever that might be.”
The gunman pointed his weapon at Stone’s head. “I said, shut up. Or the next person to be dead will be you.”
The next moment the man was falling forward, the door having struck him from behind.
Robie and Stone surged forward together. Robie ripped the gun free from the man’s fingers. Stone slammed an elbow into the man’s neck, sending him down to the floor, where he stayed.
The door opened all the way and there stood Harry and Reuben.
Reuben eyed the fallen man. “Now I’d say that was pretty damn good timing.”
“Perfect timing,” corrected Stone.
Harry quickly cut all the hostages loose.
Reuben said, “There are C-4 packs strung across the entrance to the bank. No one’s leaving that way until the bomb squad comes in and clears them out.”
“I take it no one was in the front part of the bank,” said Stone.
Reuben nodded. “That’s right..”
Harry nodded. “But there’s a hole in the wall.”
“We knew they were trying to get from here to somewhere else. Do you know where they’re going?” asked Robie.
“A fund-raiser on the top floor,” replied Reuben. “Lots of elite types attending. Annabelle managed to get in.”
“And the target?” asked Stone.
“The vice president of the United States,” answered Harry.
Stone and Robie glanced worriedly at each other.
Robie said quickly, “Does the Secret Service know?”
Harry said, “Alex is on the protection detail, but Annabelle hasn’t been able to make contact with him yet.”
Reuben hiked his eyebrows and smiled. “VP. Just your run-of-the-mill stuff. Keeps us from getting rusty in our old age.”
CHAPTER 11
The climb up the vertical did not take long. The ascent had been practiced many times on a mockup at a facility in rural Maryland. And now, for real, the trip was measured and swift.
They made only one stop.
At the fourth floor.
It took a few minutes to cut the opening in the wall there, and then they were on their way again. Better to have cut the hole now. When they were fleeing from here they would not want to waste time doing it.
As the four of them climbed, Chase gave final instructions. They would not have long after it was done to make their escape.
The shaft was well insulated from the outside as the building had been constructed around it. Still, Chase did not want to make any unnecessary sounds. The timing would be tight. They had lost precious minutes when the power had gone out in the bank. But he had built in a contingency because things never went exactly according to plan.
He checked his watch as they climbed. It would be okay, he thought. They would make it. They had better make it.
They reached the top floor and Chase motioned to the person directly below him. Everyone stopped. Chase eyed the drywall in front of him and checked the construction plans for this part of the building that he’d downloaded onto his phone, confirming the location. He pointed to the wall and the person directly below him rose up beside him while holding on to one of the girders. Both men withdrew cutting blades from their belt holders and began to carefully slice away.
It would not take long now.
* * *
Robie, Stone, and Harry peered inside the hole revealing the shaft.
“Pretty dark in there,” said Harry. “And stale air.”
Robie said, “And the higher we go the darker and staler.”
Harry opened his duffel bag. “I only have two pairs of night optics.”
Robie held out his hand. “I’ll take one.”
Harry glanced at Stone and said, “I’ll take the other.”
Stone considered this. It was obvious from his face that he too wanted to go up the shaft. Finally, he deferred to their youth. “Keep me posted.” Then he whispered to Harry, “And watch my lobbyist friend.”
Harry nodded and said, “If they get by us, don’t let them get by you.”
Stone gripped the pistol Harry had given him. “They won’t. But keep in mind that what goes up doesn’t necessarily come down. Or at least all the way down.”
As the two men prepared to go inside the shaft, Stone took out his phone and punched in the number. He spoke for one minute. When he clicked off he said, “Good luck.”
* * *
Annabelle looked desperately around the room after her call from Stone. He had filled her in on recent developments, which had only heightened her anxiety in having still not located Alex Ford.
She felt a hand on her arm and almost screamed.
It was Bob, the man she had come with.
“Been looking for you. Have someone I want to introduce you to.”
Annabelle caught her breath and said, “I really hope it’s the VP. Been dying to meet him.”
Bob smiled. “Then it’s your lucky day, Annabelle. Just don’t use the ‘dying’ word around him. Gets the Secret Service in a tizzy.”
She looked at him. “This is so exciting.” But she was thinking, You really have no idea how exciting.
“Hey, stick with me, I’l
l take you places.” He gripped her by the elbow and propelled her forward.
They turned the corner and there was the VP.
And on his right-hand side was Alex Ford.
When Alex’s gaze caught on her, his lips parted and his eyes widened. Her panicked look immediately drew his suspicion.
But Bob stepped forward. “Mr. Vice President, I would like you to meet my new best friend, Annabelle Conroy.”
The nation’s second in command held out his hand, his smile wide and inviting. “Ms. Conroy, let me just warn you about this guy. Watch yourself around him.”
Bob laughed. Annabelle managed a titter. She glanced at Alex. He was staring directly at her.
She said, “I know this is silly, sir, but can I take a picture? I have my phone. I can take it myself. I know this is a fund-raiser and I’m probably supposed to be charged for a photo, but it really would mean the world to me.”
The vice president smiled more broadly. “I think we can make an exception.”
Annabelle slid out her phone, stood next to the vice president, held up the phone, and took a shot.
She stepped back and quickly hit some keys. “I’m just sending it to my mom. She’ll never believe this.” But she was actually typing a text. She hit send.
A few moments later Alex’s phone buzzed. Annabelle stared directly at him and then her gaze dropped to his pocket where his phone was buzzing. He slid it out. On the screen he saw multiple missed calls from Annabelle. But the text was what drew his immediate attention.
Assassination attempt coming. Up abandoned shaft from bank. Oliver there. Go!
CHAPTER 12
Adam Chase cut out the last piece of drywall and insulation, and revealed to him was the back of an ordinary wall outlet with electrical lines running to it. He unscrewed the back of the box and handed it to the person next to him. He looked down at the other two people just below him and held a finger to his mouth. He leaned in close and peered between the slits of the outlet plate on the other side of the wall.
He saw people’s ankles and legs at first. When he peered up he saw torsos, and then heads.
He registered on one torso and one head and he couldn’t help but smile. His inside source had been worth every penny. It was fortunate for him that political events like this were so heavily scripted while trying mightily to seem impromptu. But they were organized down to the second and, most importantly, location. It was photo op time and the photo ops, according to the event schedule, were to take place in this very room for the next thirty minutes.
He used duct tape to attach the canister to the back of the wall and pointed one end of it inside the outlet slot. The person beside him cut the duct tape with scissors so as to make no noise and handed the strips to Chase.
They worked away until the canister was solidly supported. The other person checked a small electronic box attached to the canister and then hit a switch on the box. It instantly powered up and he gave Chase a thumbs-up.
Chase placed one last bit of duct tape near the nozzle of the canister, ensuring that it remained directly pointed through the outlet slot. He gave it a pat and smiled.
Then he looked at the other three people with him and pointed down.
They started to descend.
They wanted to be nowhere near this place when it happened. No sane person would.
* * *
Many feet below, Robie put a hand on Harry’s arm and pointed up. Harry looked up and saw a rope dangling barely five feet above his head. He looked at Robie. Both men drew their weapons and continued their climb up the exposed steel girders.
The two groups met just above the fourth floor, one ascending and the other descending. It was a memorable collision.
Adam Chase and his team had superior numbers. But they had been surprised.
Harry and Robie had not.
The few extra seconds this allowed Harry and Robie cost Chase’s team dearly.
Chase cried out and slipped the remote from his pocket. He pointed it upward and was a sliver from pressing the button when it happened.
Two rounds fired by Robie hit him in the head and heart.
Chase’s team had been using ropes and pulleys to more efficiently descend after stringing the block and tackle across two girders higher up. The dead Chase hung from one of the ropes for a moment before his grip failed as he died. His body and the remote sailed past Robie and Harry, bouncing off the walls twice before he hit the floor inside the bank with a thud.
A shot blew past Robie’s head and smacked into the wall, where it stayed.
Harry drilled the shooter right through his optics lens.
Another body fell.
However, this time was different. The falling body hit Harry, causing him to lose his grip. He fell off the girder and would have also plummeted to his death, if an iron grip had not encircled his wrist.
He looked up to see Robie holding on to him, his other hand gripping one of the ropes that dangled down.
Suspended in midair, Harry started to swing back and forth using Robie as his fulcrum until his feet once more touched a metal girder. He regained his balance and breathed a sigh of relief.
Both men looked up, their guns pointed in the same direction.
“Shit,” muttered Robie.
There was no one there.
* * *
Stone had seen the two bodies hit the floor of the shaft in the bank. His gun pointed at them and praying it was neither Harry nor the “lobbyist,” he ducked inside the shaft. He was vastly relieved to see that it was not either of them. He took the masks off, revealing two men. Though he didn’t know his name, one was Adam Chase. The other was a young man in his twenties. Stone checked the neck of the younger man but did not find what he was looking for.
He was alone in the bank right now. Reuben had led all the hostages out through the hole in the wall that connected to the public restroom in the outside corridor. The police and FBI had been summoned. Stone expected them on the scene at any moment.
Stone’s phone buzzed.
It was Harry.
He said, “We got two and missed two, Oliver.”
“So there were four total?”
“Yes. I saw them. Did you expect there to be?”
“Actually, yes.”
“I think the pair went out through the fourth floor. And whatever they were doing up there, I don’t think it happened. I’m going up there to make sure. The other guy you sent with me is following them out from up here.”
Stone clicked off and pushed aside the bodies until he saw it.
The remote.
He gingerly picked it up. It was battery-operated. He slipped the back off and took the batteries out.
Then Stone was on the move. He couldn’t leave through the bank entrance. He didn’t have the key and it was booby-trapped with C-4. So he left the same way Harry and Reuben had entered and the hostages had escaped—through the hole in the wall to the adjoining men’s room.
* * *
As soon as Alex Ford had gotten Annabelle’s text he had launched into full-scale protection mode. Alerting the other agents to the threat, they lifted the vice president off his feet and literally carried him out of the apartment, leaving the other guests stunned.
Annabelle said, “Everyone, please exit the apartment. Don’t run, don’t panic, just leave now.”
But of course everyone did panic. And everyone did run. Annabelle noted that her escort, Bob, trampled over two older women on his way out.
Annabelle helped the ladies to the door and ushered them out. She made sure the place was empty and then closed the door behind her.
* * *
The canister duct-taped to the back of the wall outlet remained silent, the remote meant to engage it safely neutralized. Two minutes later Harry Finn reached it. When he saw the label on the side, his eyes went wide. They had been lucky. Very lucky.
CHAPTER 13
Stone raced up the stairs to the fourth floor. When he reached i
t he slowed down and started watching. The people he was after had seen him back at the bank. He had not seen them. Well, actually he now knew he had seen one of them.
The bank manager had not been in the bank when the other hostages had been led out. That meant he had gone up the shaft with the other three gunmen, leaving the last man on the team down below.
That meant the bank manager was in on it, of course.
That’s why he had been taken out of the room. Not as a hostage, but as part of the assassination attempt.
Stone dropped back a bit when he saw Robie emerge from down one hallway. Robie looked quickly around, seemed to spot something, and darted off to the right.
Stone kept his gaze moving until it settled on some people nearing an exit door. The two men were dressed in suits. One was slightly larger than the other. They passed a woman pushing a stroller, startling her a bit in their haste.
Stone headed in that direction. His hand was on the butt of the pistol in his pocket. The two men were past the woman and nearly at the exit door. Stone picked up his speed.
The men were through the door.
Stone raced up behind the woman and said, “Please keep your hands in view. If you don’t I will shoot you.”
He pushed the muzzle of the gun into her back. “Do you understand?”
She nodded.
He stepped forward and looked down into the stroller. He drew the blanket back. Revealed inside it were climbing equipment, the clothes she had been wearing, and a machine pistol. The collapsible stroller must have been in the laundry cart they had pushed into the bank, along with the rest of their equipment.
Stone looked up at her and then glanced at her neck. “In your line of work, it’s not advisable to have such a distinctive tattoo. It sort of gives you away.”
* * *
Robie had come out on the fourth floor through a hole cut into a storage closet.
Despite what he had said to Stone earlier, Robie was very familiar with the mall. He had been reconnoitering the location for nearly a week. He couldn’t be sure his target wasn’t lying at the bottom of the shaft back at the bank. But now he had to make sure.
Bullseye: Willl Robie / Camel Club Short Story Page 5