by Alex Lukeman
"Hey Steph," Ronnie called. "Let's go."
"Go and enjoy yourself," Elizabeth said. "Have an egg roll for me."
Outside, Stephanie got into Lucas's Audi. Nick, Selena, Ronnie and Diego climbed into Ronnie's Hummer. It was a humid July night, last light fading under a darkening sky. Flickers of lightning sent jagged streaks of light across banks of ominous dark clouds building overhead.
"Gonna rain," Ronnie said.
"Soon, I think," Selena said. "Smell the air?"
"We can use it."
They followed Lucas out of the compound and onto the highway, headed for Alexandria.
On the side of the road a man sitting in a gray sedan spoke into his radio as the cars went by.
"On their way. Two cars, a dark blue Audi in front and a black Hummer right behind them. Hell, they might all be in there. I can't tell. They got tinted windows."
"Just the two cars?"
"You think I can't count? Yeah, two. They should come up to you in about three minutes."
"Come join the party."
The man in the gray sedan started his car and pulled out onto the highway.
Ahead, traffic was heavy. Lucas reached over and turned on the radio. Soft jazz filled the comfortable interior of the car.
"How's Junior doing," he said.
"Junioress is just fine," Stephanie said.
The sex of their child was an ongoing joke between them. The truth was that they really didn't care if it was a boy or a girl.
Lucas looked over at Stephanie and thought he'd never believed he could be this lucky.
The first spray of bullets took out the windshield and the passenger side window. The car filled with pieces of flying glass. Stephanie screamed as the glass exploded. Lucas felt something rip into the side of his face. Instinct kicked in and he swerved left, away from the bullets. More struck the car with dull metallic sounds as he wrenched the wheel over. A harsh burning pain smashed into his shoulder. A tire blew. The car shot across the middle of the road and slammed into an oncoming SUV. In seconds, traffic on the other side of the highway turned to chaos in a snarling pile up of metal and glass.
"Holy shit!" Diego said.
"There," Selena said. She pointed. "On the right. That white van." Two men stood next to the van, holding AK-47s.
Ronnie's Hummer was modified with armor and a heavy grill welded onto the front. The glass was inch-thick and bulletproof against everything except a .50 caliber round. The engine had been modified far past stock. The Hummer was basically a fast tank. In this case it made a good battering ram. Ronnie cut the wheel over, floored the gas and drove straight at the van.
The assassins saw the black machine bearing down on them, swung the guns and began firing on full auto. The windshield starred in a dozen places. The 7.62 rounds weren't powerful enough to break through.
The Hummer plowed into the van and drove it off the side of the road. Ronnie kept his foot down until the van tipped over into an irrigation canal running by the side of the highway. It landed on its side, wheels spinning. Ronnie backed away and stopped. Nick and Diego were out of the car before it stopped moving, pistols drawn.
The two shooters had gotten out of the way before the van crushed them. They raised their rifles and fired. One man cursed and dropped an empty magazine. He reached for another.
Nick held his Sig straight out and ran toward him, firing fast as he went. Some of the rounds missed. Enough found the mark to send him tumbling into the ditch. From the corner of his eye, Nick saw Diego hit the dirt as bullets ricocheted off the pavement around him. Selena knelt by the Hummer, firing at the white van. Diego rolled, came up and fired at the remaining shooter until the slide locked back on his pistol. The man staggered, clutched his gut and crumpled over, his AK firing into the ground.
"The driver," Nick yelled.
He ejected, reloaded and moved toward the overturned truck. Diego came up on his left. He crouched down and moved to the front of the grill. Nick tried to see into the truck. Then Diego raised up and fired four shots at the shattered windshield of the van. Somebody screamed.
Ronnie had just gotten out of the Hummer when shots sounded behind him and a round whistled past his ear. He turned and saw a gray car bearing down on them. Someone leaned out a window, firing one-handed with an assault rifle. Ronnie crouched into a two handed stance and squeezed off rounds at the oncoming car in a steady rhythm. Holes appeared in the windshield. The car swerved right, sailed over the irrigation ditch and crashed into a field beyond. Steam rose from the radiator. Nobody got out of the car.
Ronnie and Selena came up to Nick.
"Could be more inside the van."
"Check it out," Nick said.
One of the doors in back had sprung open. Ronnie ducked and glanced inside.
"Clear," he said. "One man lying on the passenger side. There's a lot of blood. Looks like he's dead."
In the distance a siren sounded.
Nick said. "Diego, make sure they're all dead. Go through their pockets and take everything you find. Then get over across the highway. Don't talk to anyone except us."
"Copy that."
"Lucas and Steph," Selena said.
She sprinted across the highway toward the wrecked Audi.
Nick holstered his pistol.
On the highway people were getting out of their cars. Wreckage littered the road, twisted bits of metal and broken glass. Nick and Ronnie ran between cars until they reached Selena standing by the Audi, trying to open Stephanie's door. Oil and gasoline pooled on the road under the wreck.
The Audi had stopped with the hood buried in the side of a Cadillac SUV. The windows and windshield were shattered. Lucas was slumped over a deflated airbag, unconscious. There was blood everywhere. Stephanie was lying back against a broken seat. Her face was covered with blood. She was unconscious. Her breathing was harsh.
Fumes from gasoline spreading under the wreck were thick.
"We've got to get them out of there," Nick said. "This whole thing could go up in a second."
"I'll get Lucas," Ronnie said. He went around to the driver's side of the car.
Nick tried Stephanie's door. It was crumpled against the frame.
"It's jammed tight," Selena said.
"Need a hand? Looks like it might be hard to get that door open."
Nick turned. A man wearing a baseball cap who looked like he worked construction for a living stood nearby. He had thick, muscular arms and a chest like a gorilla. A faded globe and anchor tattoo decorated his forearm.
"Yeah, thanks."
"Let's give it a try," the stranger said. He grasped the upright side of the door with two hands and set his feet. "You grab the door through the window."
Nick nodded.
"Now."
The two men pulled. With a torturous sound of protesting metal the door came open.
"Steph," Nick said, "we're here. Don't worry, you'll be all right."
Nick couldn't tell how badly she was hurt. Her eyes fluttered and opened. There was blood on her lips.
"The baby..."
"The baby's fine," Nick said. He had no idea if the baby was fine or not but he wasn't going to say anything different.
"Here." The stranger handed Nick a knife. "For the seatbelt."
Nick cut the belt and handed the knife back. He reached behind Stephanie's back and under her legs and eased her out of the car. She moaned.
"Got you, Steph," he said. "It's okay. You're going to be okay."
He turned to the stranger. "Thanks."
"Glad to help."
Ronnie and Diego came around the wrecked Audi carrying Lucas. Gas spread in a thin flood underfoot. They carried Lucas and Stephanie toward the flashing lights of an ambulance coming up on the shoulder of the highway on the other side. More lights were right behind it. They'd reached Ronnie's Hummer when there was a deep thump that vibrated underfoot and a sudden burst of heat. The night lit with orange light. In seconds, the interior of the Audi was engul
fed in flame.
Steph was unconscious again. Blood oozed from cuts on her face and a wound in her chest. There was a whistling sound as she breathed.
Sucking chest wound, Nick thought. Bad news. She could drown in her own blood.
Ronnie knelt next to Lucas. He looked up at Nick, his face tight and angry.
"He's hit pretty bad."
It began to rain.
CHAPTER 22
The hospital emergency room at night was like every other city ER Nick had ever seen, and he'd seen plenty of them. The floors were covered with a kind of scuffed, neutral colored composition tile that made it easy for the orderlies to mop up blood and vomit without leaving stains. It looked like there was going to be plenty of mopping to do. Wide glass doors went out to a covered entrance where the ambulances could pull up and unload.
The ER was having a busy night. Nick watched a parade of injuries and cops come through the doors. All of them looked like they needed emergency treatment, including some of the cops.
Elizabeth came through the big doors. She dodged around a parked gurney and headed over to the uncomfortable chairs where Nick and the others sat.
"How bad?"
"They're both in surgery. Lucas took a hard hit in his shoulder," Nick said. "He veered away when the shooting started. It changed the trajectory of the bullets or they'd both be dead."
"Stephanie?"
Nick looked down at the floor and sighed. He looked up again. "There are a lot of superficial cuts on her face and scalp from flying glass. None of that is serious. A round went through her right lung and she lost a lot of blood. They won't tell us anything more than that."
Elizabeth was whiter than usual. "What about the baby?"
"Like I said, they won't tell us anything. I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope."
"There's always hope," Elizabeth said.
"The police gave us a lot of trouble. You're going to be hearing from them and probably the president too. Some civilians were hit by those assholes who shot at us and the cops are wondering if it was us. We only got out of there because of the presidential ID."
"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of the cops. And the president."
Elizabeth sat down.
"What do we know?"
"Not much. The shooters knew where we were coming from and what vehicles we were driving. They must've had someone watching the compound. They had radios. When Lucas came up to where they were waiting, they opened up."
"That's it?"
"I went through their pockets before the cops got there," Diego said. He pulled out a wallet he'd taken from one of the dead men. "This is all there was. The others didn't have anything on them."
"Pros," Nick said. "Except for one."
He opened the wallet and showed it to her. It held twenty new one hundred dollar bills and a New York driver's license under a plastic window. The picture was of a man with a narrow face, receding black hair and close set blue eyes. His ears stuck out from the side of his head like handles.
"Patrick O'Malley. It gives an address in Brooklyn."
"Irish?" Elizabeth said.
"I don't think he's Russian with a name like that."
"I'll get..." She stopped and took a deep breath.
"What were you going to say?" Selena asked.
"I started to say that I'd get Steph to run the ID through Interpol. I'll do it when we get back to the compound. We can trace the bills. That might give us a lead."
"We'll get these bastards," Nick said. "They have no idea what they've started."
They waited. It was three hours later before Ronnie said, "There's a doctor coming."
They stood up as the doctor approached. The man looked tired, as if he been up for days.
"Who's in charge?" he asked. His name tag ID'd him as Miller.
"I am," Elizabeth said. "You can talk in front of all of us."
Doctor Miller looked at the group and at the holstered guns.
"Are you police?"
"Something like that," Elizabeth said. "Stephanie works for me and she's our friend. I need to know how she is."
"Are you a relative?"
"Doctor Miller, I work for the president. I suggest you tell me immediately how she is."
Harker's tone left no room for argument
Miller looked at his clipboard.
"The bullet entered the right thoracic cavity slightly posterior and lateral to the middle lung, causing internal bleeding and collapse before exiting through the front of the chest wall under the breast. The internal damage was extensive. We've managed to repair it. You got her here in time. Another half an hour and she wouldn't have made it. She's in intensive care."
"She'll be all right?"
"Barring complications, yes. She's a healthy young woman. She won't be running a marathon anytime soon, but in a couple of months she should be fine."
"What about the baby?" Selena asked.
He shook his head. "I'm sorry. The hydrostatic shock was too much for the fetus. She had a miscarriage. If there's any good news in this, she can have another. Assuming there are no further complications. Best not to worry about it."
"What about Lucas?"
"That was close. The bullet that hit him nicked the subclavian artery. He almost bled to death. It missed everything else that was vital and shattered the shoulder joint and clavicle as it exited out the front. There are bone fragments and a lot of tissue damage. He won't be using that arm for quite a while. He's sedated and in recovery."
An announcement paged Miller.
"I'm sorry, I have to go. If there's nothing else..."
"Thank you, Doctor," Elizabeth said.
After Miller was gone they sat down again.
"Best not to worry about it," Selena said. "Easy for him to say."
"Stephanie will be all right," Nick said. "That's the most important thing."
"It might not be to Stephanie."
"One of us should stay with her," Elizabeth said.
Nick looked at her. There were deep shadows under her eyes and lines of strain etched into her pale face.
"We'll set up shifts," he said. "Everybody needs sleep. It's not going to do any good if we're all too tired to find out who came after us."
"I called Langley. Hood is going to post guards," Elizabeth said. "We can't do it by ourselves and whoever is behind this might try again. One of us should still be here for them."
"I'll take the first shift," Ronnie said. "Let's do a four hour rotation."
"Okay." Nick looked at his watch. "It's pushing midnight now. I'll relieve you at four. Selena, you take eight to noon and Diego noon to four in the afternoon. Then we'll do it all over again."
"You left me out of the rotation," Elizabeth said.
"You need sleep, Director. It would be better for you to come and go as you please. You've got damage control. You can get Interpol on our Irish shooter. "
"What about Lucas?" Ronnie said.
"They'll move him to a room once he's out of recovery."
"I'll see if I can arrange for them to be in the same room once Steph is out of the ICU," Elizabeth said.
"Whoever is on shift can look in on him once in a while. Tell him what's going on when he wakes up. I know Lucas. He's going to be pissed. The main problem will be keeping him in bed."
"I wonder if this has anything to do with what happened in Lebanon?" Selena said. "But that doesn't make sense. Why would someone come after us for taking out a lowlife like Abidi?"
"I don't think they would," Elizabeth said, "unless it's about the scroll. Then they might."
"Whoever they are, they're going to regret it," Nick said.
CHAPTER 23
Nick sat in a chair outside Stephanie's cubicle in ICU. Hood had sent over two men from Langley. One now stood guard outside the unit. The other was assigned to Lucas.
Nick could see Stephanie through a large glass window, hooked up to monitors with moving digital readouts. An IV dripped clear fluid into one of her arm
s. Her face was marked with bandages and orange antiseptic. They'd shaved part of her hair away from her forehead.
Each time he looked at her fed his anger. Someone was going to pay for this.
A nurse came up to him, pretty. She was small like Harker, with curly blonde hair. A name badge identified her as Lois.
"Mister Monroe is out of recovery and awake if you'd like to speak with him. They've moved him to room 332."
Lois looked through the window at Stephanie.
"She's not going to be conscious for quite a while. You should get some rest after you see your friend."
"Thank you."
Nick stood and felt fatigue embrace him, like an insidious lover.
"332 you said?"
"That's right. Take a left when you go out the doors. The elevator is on the right about halfway down the corridor. When you get to the third floor go past the nurse's station and 332 is on the right."
"Thank you," Nick said again.
The elevator was stainless steel and big enough to hold a gurney with a body on it. It rose with silent efficiency. On the third floor Nick turned left past the nurse's station. There was no one there. A man sat down the hall, watching him approach. He stood as Nick came closer. Nick flashed his ID at Langley's man and went in.
Lucas was propped up in bed, his right arm immobilized. Both his eyes were blackened from the airbag. Like Stephanie, an IV fed something into his veins. Unlike Stephanie, he was awake and angry.
"Nick." Lucas cleared his throat. His voice was weak.
"How are you doing?"
"I've been better. What do you know about Steph?"
"She's stable. They've got her sedated in ICU. She's going to be okay. What did they tell you?"
"About the same, along with details about the surgery. She lost the baby."
"I'm sorry, Lucas."
"Damn it, Nick, what the hell happened? Did you get the bastards?"
"They're all dead, Lucas. One of them had ID on him. Harker is following that up. We'll find out who sent them and when we do, we're going to drop the hammer on them."
"They might've been targeting me," Lucas said.
"I don't think so. It doesn't feel right. Why wait until you were over at our compound to go after you, if you were the target? There are easier ways to get at you. I think they wanted to send a message to us. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time."