by David Hosp
‘We’re leaving you here,’ Saunders said. ‘You’ll be fine. We’ll call your buddies in a few hours to come get you.’
The cop looked around and saw Cianna. ‘You . . .’ he said.
‘I’m sorry about Nick,’ she said to him. ‘He was the closest thing I ever had to a father.’
‘He was the closest thing I had to a brother,’ the cop garbled. He squinted up at Saunders. ‘You didn’t kill him, then?’
‘If I’d killed him, would I leave you alive?’ Saunders put the tape over the man’s mouth. He nodded to the box containing the Cloak. ‘That is going to lead us to the man who killed your brother. Either that, or it will lead him to us. Believe me,’ he said, ‘if there is any way we can, we will kill him for you.’ He nodded to the others and they left the cop in the kitchen and headed out to the bar.
‘What kind of resources do you have?’ Saunders asked Akhtar. ‘We have to find a place to stay, and a way to get you out of the country and back to Afghanistan. It’s only a matter of time before Fasil retraces his steps and figures some of this out.’
‘What do you mean, what kind of resources do I have?’ You have the American government behind you.’
‘I wouldn’t say the entire government is behind me on this,’ Saunders admitted.
Cianna gave him a sharp look. ‘How much of it would you say is behind you?’
‘A small bit of it.’ She continued to stare at him. ‘One man,’ he said. ‘But he’s very highly placed, and he has resources. He just may not be able to move quickly.’ Saunders looked at Akhtar. ‘How about it? What kind of help can you get us?’
Akhtar frowned. ‘I have only a phone number where I can leave a coded message, and I am sent a contact, but it takes time.’
‘How long?’
‘ To get me out of a Boston jail, a few hours; to get me out of the country,’ Akhtar shrugged. ‘Who knows?’
Saunders thought about this for a moment. ‘You have no idea who your contact is?’
Akhtar shook his head. ‘I assume he is CIA. That is all.’
‘Do you know what he looks like?’
‘I met him once, in Afghanistan, but he was wearing robes and a headscarf, so I only saw part of his face.’
‘Was he tall, with a thin face and receding hair?’
Akhtar shrugged. ‘As I say, I saw only a part of his face, and to me your white faces all look similar, but yes, that is generally what I remember.’
Cianna said, ‘What are you thinking?’
Saunders shook his head. ‘Nothing.’ He walked out of the kitchen and the other two followed him. The moon was high in the evening sky now, and it cast a broad light on the street. ‘We need to get out of here, that’s the first issue. This place draws too much attention.’ He looked at Akhtar. ‘Go get your car. Pull it behind into the alley by the back door, and we can leave here.’
‘ To go where?’ Cianna asked.
‘We can figure that out once we’re on the road. The most important thing is to keep moving right now.’
Akhtar nodded and started out toward the back door. He was still holding the box in his hands. ‘Akhtar,’ Saunders said. Akhtar turned to look at him. ‘Leave the Cloak.’
Akhtar looked down at the box, and Saunders could see the dread in his eyes at the notion of giving up possession of it. ‘Why?’ he asked.
‘Because,’ Saunders said, ‘I don’t want you out on the street alone with it.’
Akhtar stared hard at Saunders.
‘You’re going to have to decide at some point whether or not you really trust us,’ Saunders said. ‘It’s that simple.’
Akhtar nodded and set the box down on a table, turned and headed out back to the alley so he could slip out and bring his car around. Saunders and Cianna watched him go. When the door closed behind him, she turned to Saunders and said, ‘You wanted him to leave.’
He nodded. ‘I did.’
‘Why?’
‘I have a suspicion, but I couldn’t do anything to confirm it in front of him.’ He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. He considered asking Cianna to go into another room, but decided that she would not be able to decipher anything he was saying in a way that could cause any problems.
The phone rang twice before it was answered. ‘Lawrence Ainsworth’s office,’ Agnes Shoals’s melodious voice sang out.
He took a deep breath. ‘Agnes, it’s Jack,’ he said. It felt as though the phone line had frozen. ‘I need to talk to him.’
She cleared her throat over the line. ‘Jack,’ she said. ‘You’ve been suspended. I can’t let you—’
‘Cut the shit, Agnes, I know he trusts you. You know he’s still in contact with me. I need to talk to him. Now.’
‘I have no idea what you are talking about,’ she said icily.
‘Agnes, it’s vital. I wouldn’t call the office otherwise. Please put me through to him.’
There was a pause, and then the line clicked over. For a moment he thought she’d hung up on him, but then there was another noise on the line, and Ainsworth picked up the phone. His voice was tense. ‘You shouldn’t call my office,’ he said. ‘You know that.’
‘I had no choice, Lawrence,’ Saunders said. ‘We’re in a tight spot.’
‘We?’
‘Yes, we,’ Saunders said. ‘I am still with the girl. I’m also with a young man. His first name is Akhtar. Do you know his last name?’ Saunders was making a guess, but it was an educated one. There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.
‘Hazara,’ Ainsworth said at last.
‘You win the blue ribbon,’ Saunders said. ‘You always were the wily one.’ He smiled to himself. As soon as Akhtar had said that he was working with someone in the government, he’d suspected it was Ainsworth, who always seemed to have all the angles covered. ‘We need your help, Lawrence,’ he said. ‘We’re at Spudgie’s Bar and Grill in Southie. We need transportation and protection. How soon can you—?’ Saunders didn’t get another word out as Ainsworth cut him off.
‘Don’t say anything else,’ he said. ‘You need to get out of there, and get out of there now.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Saunders said.
‘Then I didn’t train you well enough,’ Ainsworth replied. ‘You called my office. I’ll figure out a way to help you if I can, but you need to get moving without another word. Don’t call me here.’ The line went dead.
Saunders turned his phone off and put it in his pocket. ‘What happened?’ Cianna asked.
He didn’t looked at her as he cursed his stupidity. ‘Someone was listening,’ he said. ‘We need to get moving.’
Bill Toney was pacing in his office when the call came from the communications room. He’d given explicit instructions that he be contacted at once. The voice on the other end of the phone was excited. ‘He’s made contact with Ainsworth,’ it said.
‘When?’
‘Just now.’
‘What was said?’
‘Very little that we can use. Only that they have the Cloak, and that they are at someplace called Spudgie’s Bar and Grill in South Boston. Does that mean anything to you?’
Toney controlled his breathing. ‘Thank you, Lieutenant. That’s of more assistance than you know.’
‘Yes, sir. Do you want us to consider monitoring the line?’
‘Yes, Lieutenant. Now it is more important than ever.’
Toney hung up. He considered his options for a moment. Once his decision was made, he picked up the phone and dialed the number.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Cianna could see Akhtar pulling into the alley behind the bar as she and Saunders exited through the back door. They were hurrying, and he barely managed to get the vehicle stopped before they’d opened the doors and piled in. Cianna was in the front seat, and Saunders, holding the box with the Cloak, was in the back seat. Glancing over his shoulder, Akhtar winced when Saunders put the box roughly on the seat beside him.
‘What’s going on?
’ Akhtar asked.
‘Drive,’ Saunders ordered.
Akhtar threw the car into reverse and started to back out of the alley. It was a narrow lane with dumpsters lined on one side, running the length of the block. Spudgie’s was on the water-side, and the alley opened there onto Columbia Avenue, but a stack of crates and an old rusted fence blocked the alley’s exit at that end, so Akhtar had to back all the way out.
‘Faster,’ Saunders said. His voice was calm on the surface, but insistent enough to convey the urgency of the situation.
‘What happened?’ Akhtar asked again.
‘Hopefully nothing,’ Saunders replied.
As they neared the street, though, another car pulled up at the end of the alley and screeched to a halt, blocking their way. Fasil, Sirus Stillwell and the Afghan bodyguard jumped out and started toward them. They all had military-issue machine pistols drawn, and both Sirus and Fasil leveled them at the back of Akhtar’s car and squeezed off shots. The pistols fired ten rounds per second, and both volleys struck the back window, which exploded. Saunders ducked down and hoped that the metal in the car’s body would be sufficient to stop the shells. Akhtar hit the brake, and the car skidded to a stop fifteen yards from the three men.
‘Drive!’ Saunders shouted, slamming his fist against the back of the front seat. ‘Forward!’
Akhtar put the car in gear and stepped on the gas. The car lurched ahead with a squeal just as another round of gunfire slammed into its rear, knocking the bumper off and causing the back of the car to skid into the building to the left. Akhtar ducked down to avoid being shot. The car lurched back to the right and slammed into a dumpster. Fortunately the giant steel container caromed off the building and spun out into the alley, providing a partial shield from the next volley of gunshots. One ricocheted off the dumpster and smashed the window next to Cianna’s head.
‘Fuck this!’ she said, as she pulled out her pistol, spun on the front seat, and took aim out the shattered back window. She squeezed off three quick shots and saw all three of the men in the alley dive out of the way. It would buy them a moment, but not much more. Fasil was yelling to the other two, and he and Sirus ran back to the car. They got in and spun it around so that it was headed into the alley. The third man stood back up and continued firing, stopping only when the car pulled alongside him to let him in.
‘They’re coming this way!’ Cianna shouted. She fired two more shots, leaving her with only one more.
‘Keep going!’ Saunders shouted to Akhtar.
‘There is nowhere to go!’ Akhtar shouted back.
Cianna and Saunders looked up to see the crates and fence at the end of the alley coming up fast. Akhtar seemed to hesitate just for a moment, and Cianna sensed the indecision. She turned back around in the passenger seat and swung her left leg over so that she was straddling the center console. She stepped down hard on Akhtar’s foot, pushing the accelerator down to the floor. The car lurched forward as Akhtar screamed, his fingers digging into the steering wheel, trying to keep the car under control.
‘Duck!’ Cianna shouted.
The car hit the crates first, and they were all relieved when they realized they were empty. The wood shattered, and splinters flew across the car and into the alley behind them.
The fence, however, was more solid. Notwithstanding its wretched appearance, it was well-constructed, and the car jolted as it hit. Cianna saw the hood buckle near the right headlight. For a moment she thought they were not going to make it through, but after the initial impact, the gate snapped and the metal pole that held the fence in the ground broke off. The car burst through and onto Columbia Avenue, a quiet two-lane street that followed the contours of the harbor’s shore, separated from it only by Day Boulevard, a larger four-lane thoroughfare directly on the shore, and a greenway of grass and trees that ran between the two roads.
Cianna was thrown back into the passenger seat, and her foot came off the accelerator. Akhtar strained to keep control of the steering wheel as the car bounced and jostled on Columbia, but managed to turn the wheels sufficiently to keep the car from slamming into a tree. Cianna’s relief at the near miss was short-lived, though, as she heard the car behind them burst through what was left of the fence and crates.
‘They’re still on our tail!’ Saunders yelled, as he leaned over the back of the rear seat and squeezed off several rounds. Cianna saw the car behind them swerve, but it, too, stayed on the road.
‘Faster!’ she hollered at Akhtar. He hit the gas again, and the car gathered speed. Cianna looked behind them and saw that the other car was gaining, nevertheless. ‘Can’t this thing go any faster?’ she demanded.
‘Not with that on it,’ Akhtar responded, nodding toward the front of the vehicle.
Cianna looked out the front windshield and understood instantly. The pole that had held the fence in place had sliced through the front bumper and become lodged in the grill. She could hear it dragging on the street as the car struggled against it. ‘Can you get it off?’ she asked.
Akhtar had no time to respond before the pursuing car slammed into the back of the rental, snapping her head back. She heard Saunders fire off two more rounds, and then recognized the sound of automatic gunfire. She ducked her head down and grabbed the wheel, yanking it to the right.
The front wheels collided with the curb and the car jumped onto the greenway, mowing down carefully landscaped shrubs as it cut over toward the more heavily trafficked boulevard. Horns blared as the car skidded into two oncoming headlights before quickly finding the right side of the road. Cianna looked over and saw the other car weaving through an intersection to get over onto the highway after them. There was a loud popping sound, and Cianna looked at the hood to see the pole come free and disappear beneath the speeding car.
‘That should be better,’ she said.
‘Not much,’ Akhtar said, nodding at the hood. The pole was gone, but now there was steam coming out of the front of the car where it had been only a moment before. ‘We will not outrun them with that,’ Akhtar said. He looked at her, then in the rear-view mirror at Saunders. His expression was one of defeat. ‘They cannot be allowed to have the Cloak,’ he said. ‘That is of the greatest importance.’
‘I agree,’ she said. ‘If you have any suggestions, we’re all ears.’ As she said this, the other car swerved into the lane behind them and accelerated into them. Akhtar maintained control.
‘You two must get out,’ he said after a moment, his face serious.
‘As tempting as that is,’ Cianna said, ‘I don’t think it’s going to happen. This car’s not going that slow.’
‘We’re not leaving the Cloak,’ Saunders shouted from the back seat just before firing two more shots.
‘No, I agree,’ Akhtar said. ‘You are taking it with you.’
Cianna looked at him in disbelief. ‘What are you talking about?’ she demanded.
‘You said it yourself, Mr Saunders,’ Akhtar said. ‘I must choose whether or not I will trust you. I have decided that I will.’
‘I’m not sure that will help us at this point,’ Saunders said, ‘but it’s a nice gesture.’
They were approaching an intersection, and Akhtar spun the wheel hard to his left. The car cut through the intersection, leaving a long thick trail of rubber as the tires screamed. He held onto the wheel and guided the car back onto Columbia, headed in the other direction. Cianna could see that the other car was still following them, but it had lost ground.
‘I will find a way,’ Akhtar said. ‘A moment is all it will take. Just long enough to slow down in a place where they cannot see you. You two jump out and take the Cloak with you. I will drive on, and they will follow me.’ Cianna turned back to him, still incredulous. ‘It is the only way the Cloak will be safe.’
Cianna looked behind her at Saunders. He nodded. ‘It’s the best chance we have to keep the Cloak out of their hands,’ he admitted.
‘There is a place up ahead,’ Akhtar said, ‘where there are thi
ck trees and bushes between the two roads. I will cross onto the grass just before that. We should have enough space that they will not be able to see us for several seconds. That is when you must jump. I will slow down as much as I can, and then try to outrun them.’
‘You’ll never outrun them with the car in this condition,’ Cianna said.
He nodded. ‘I will give you as much time as I can, but it will not be long. You must get out of here quickly. They will come back when they realize you are no longer in the car.’
‘What will you do when they catch you?’ Cianna asked.
Neither Saunders nor Akhtar said anything for a moment. ‘I took the policeman’s gun,’ Akhtar said after a while. ‘I will use that.’
‘They have machine pistols, and there are three of them,’ Cianna said. ‘You have a much better chance of surviving this if we stick together.’
‘But the chances of protecting the Cloak are better if we split up,’ he said. ‘I have known my whole life that I have one task in this world, and one alone. That is to protect the Cloak. It has been the great honor of my family for three hundred years. If I am martyred for that cause, I will die a happy man.’
‘No martyr really dies happy,’ Cianna insisted. ‘It’s a myth.’
He smiled bravely at her. ‘You have not heard the descriptions of the afterlife for martyrs in my religion?’
‘You don’t really believe all that, do you?’
His smile disappeared. ‘I believe that my country will be better off if Fasil is prevented from returning with the Cloak. My country will not survive another reign of the Taliban. You must jump when I tell you to?’
Cianna looked back again at Saunders. ‘We have to,’ he said. He turned back around to spot Sirus’s car. It was gaining ground again. Saunders took aim and fired off a shot, and the pursuing car shimmied as one of its headlights exploded. It kept coming, though.
‘The trees are coming up here!’ Akhtar advised them. ‘Get the Cloak and be ready.’
Saunders picked up the sturdy box and held it under one arm. Both he and Cianna put their hands on the door handles. The car hopped and shook violently as Akhtar guided it over the median curb once again, and it slowed naturally on the soft grass. Akhtar spun the wheel so that the car followed the tree-line on the Day Boulevard side of the divider, and the lights from Sirus’s car disappeared behind the tree. The car was in a skid as it made the turn, slowing it even more, and Akhtar had only to tap on the brakes to get their speed under twenty miles an hour. ‘Now!’ he shouted.