Run and Hide

by Alan McDermott

  “And if they are watching?” Farooq asked, the only one in the van unaccustomed to firefights.

  Colback handed him a pistol. “Kill as many as you can.” He showed Farooq how to switch magazines and ready the weapon. “There’s no safety on a Glock, just point and squeeze, don’t pull.”

  Farooq handled the weapon as if it were a poisonous snake, its purpose clearly at odds with his world of ones and zeros.

  “Next right,” Eva said, reading from the satnav app on her phone. To Farooq she said, “Don’t hesitate if you get one of them in your sights. They’re not here to invite you to the prom.”

  After another minute of driving around, this time heading east, Eva told Smart to pull into the parking lot of a Dollar General and park in back. The store was closed and they had three exits to choose from should West’s men make an appearance.

  After five minutes, it was clear they weren’t being tracked from the sky. That didn’t rule out choppers showing up at any moment, and Eva wanted to be on the move and clear of Louisville before that happened. She tucked her pistol into the waistband of her skirt. “I’ll find a new vehicle. You guys stay here and get acquainted.”

  “How long should we give you?” Smart asked.

  Eva liked the way he thought. “Fifteen minutes. After that, you’re on your own.”

  She was back in twelve.

  Eva parked the newly boosted Toyota Highlander next to the van and helped to transfer the bags, then told Sonny to take the wheel with Len riding shotgun. The rest of them hunkered down in the back seat as the onboard navigation system directed Sonny to the freeway.

  Eckman told his men to report in, and the news wasn’t good. Of the sixteen that had started the mission, six were already dead. They still had seven vehicles though, and they were all out patrolling the streets in search of Driscoll and her cronies. He’d given West the plate number and it had been added to an alert, but Driscoll had probably stolen another car by now. He’d also informed his boss that Driscoll’s complement had been boosted to four, and that at least one of the newcomers knew how to handle an assault rifle.

  The clean-up teams were en route, but too late to prevent local attention. Police and news teams were already at the Beechwood, and the scene of Eagle Four’s crash had been cordoned off too. The only good news for Eckman was that West would be the one to deal with the fallout from above.

  Eckman checked the screen on his tablet and saw the positions of all seven vehicles, his included. Since most of the men were in new vehicles, he’d redesignated them, assigning the name to the car rather than the men. He retained the Eagle Two call sign for himself.

  Driscoll had doubled back on herself after the encounter with Eagle Four, which suggested she wanted to keep going east. That made sense, as that was where several freeways wound together like strands of spaghetti. She could travel in any direction from there, which was why Eckman had sent a couple of vehicles to the area to keep an eye out for her.

  He wasn’t optimistic.

  Driscoll had proven time and time again to be as slippery as they came. Finding her would be no mean feat, but he had to try. There had been no word from Hannagan since his blue rinse, and Eckman didn’t want to be the next one to disappear into the void. But his allotted time was quickly ticking down.

  His remaining men were now spread out south of the river, checking out parking lots and back alleys—places Driscoll was most likely to have abandoned the van.

  The break he needed came minutes later. Eagle One reported finding the abandoned Dodge behind the Dollar General, and Eckman immediately called West for assistance. He gave his boss the store’s address and asked him to scour closed-circuit cameras in the area to see if they showed anything. Three minutes later, Eckman had the make, model, and license plate of a vehicle that had driven behind the store and come back out two minutes later. It’d had one person on board initially, but it had left the parking lot with two up front.

  It had to be Driscoll.

  West’s team back at the control center hadn’t been able to identify the driver or passenger when the Toyota left the parking lot. They had the perfect angle into the cab, but both were wearing baseball caps with the brims pulled down to conceal their faces. The only thing they could discern was a marked difference in size, and that both appeared to be male.

  Still, it was a start. And two minutes later, things got better.

  “They’re eastbound on I-64,” West said over the phone. “They just passed exit twelve. I’ve got a chopper in the air, but it’ll take twenty minutes to get to you.”

  Eckman used closed comms to redirect his remaining six vehicles in the direction of I-64. The two units that had been watching the freeway on-ramps were closest and had a five-minute head start on the rest of them.

  The ideal scenario would be to get ahead of them and block the highway, so Eckman radioed the closest unit, Eagle One, with instructions.

  “Heads up,” Smart said from behind the wheel. “We’ve got a vehicle closing fast.”

  Eva and Sonny flicked off the safeties on their rifles. Through the rear window, they could see headlights reining them in.

  “Wait for my signal,” Eva said, and no one argued.

  The approaching Jeep was two lanes over, and the driver flashed by without so much as a glance in their direction. First impressions suggested someone in a hurry to get home, but Eva didn’t like it. The second big Jeep of the evening seemed more than a coincidence.

  As the taillights fled into the distance, she decided to play it safe.

  “Wait until he’s clear, then pull over and kill the lights. I want everyone out of the vehicle and under cover the moment we stop.”

  Seconds later, the Jeep crested a rise in the highway and was swallowed up by the darkness.

  “Now.”

  Smart pulled onto the shoulder, doors flew open, and all five occupants piled out, a couple of them carrying bags as they ran into the trees. Ten yards in, Eva dropped her bag at the foot of a tree and stood behind it, her rifle raised and pointing toward the abandoned Toyota.

  Silence descended, and as the seconds ticked by, her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. To preserve her night vision, she closed one of them as a white beam hit the concrete median wall that separated the highway. The light brightened as a vehicle approached, its engine tone telling her it was slowing.

  Eva realized she hadn’t warned the others not to open fire unless she did. Now it was too late and all she could do was hope they kept their nerve. In the time she’d spent with them on the long road trip from Atlanta, Baines and Smart had talked a good game, and in the last hour they’d proved they were the real deal. She hoped they didn’t spoil their reputation in the next few seconds.

  A new, black Jeep stopped ten yards behind the Toyota, and Eva saw a man get out. He held up a suppressed pistol in a two-handed grip as he carefully approached her vehicle. Seeing it empty, the figure turned his attention to the woods. He said something inaudible into a mic, clearly calling in backup.

  The man waited by the side of the road, pistol pointing into the darkness, until an SUV pulled up and decanted its two occupants. The new pair had flashlights and they played the beams into the trees.

  As the light inched toward her position, Eva opened fire. One of the men holding a flashlight spun and fell, and by the time he hit the ground, three other rifles had joined in and found targets.

  “Move!” she shouted, picking up her bag and running to the Toyota. She used the butt of the rifle to smash out its taillights, then got behind the wheel as more headlights appeared in her rearview.

  “Are you sure this is a wise move?” Smart asked. “The one who passed us will be waiting ahead.”

  “More coming from behind,” said Eva with a shrug, as she gunned the SUV back onto the highway. “If we stay in the woods, we’re dead. We have to clear the area, and fast.”

  “Then why not take one of the Jeeps? They’re a lot faster.”

  “They�
�ll have trackers installed,” Eva told him. “Now, roll your windows down and get ready to blast anyone who gets in our way.”

  She coaxed the fully laden vehicle up to ninety, and as she reached the high point in the road, flicked on her brights.

  Two lanes of the freeway were blocked by the Jeep that had passed them earlier, and the man taking cover behind the engine block was already firing in their direction. Rounds pinged off the grille and took out one of the headlights, but Eva kept her foot on the accelerator as Sonny, Smart, and Colback returned fire, peppering the Jeep with lead, blowing out the tires, and destroying the windows. The shooter had to take cover from the barrage, and Eva swung around the stricken SUV doing more than a hundred. She turned off the headlights and weaved from lane to lane, making the Highlander a difficult target, but they didn’t escape unscathed.

  Farooq’s scream filled the car and Eva looked at him in the rearview mirror.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m hit.” He grimaced, clutching his left shoulder.

  She could see a dark liquid oozing between his fingers. “Len, check it out.”

  Smart moved Farooq’s hand and used a knife to slice the shirtsleeve so that he could see the wound. “It’s a nick, that’s all. It missed the bone.”

  “It hurts like a bitch,” said Farooq.

  “It will, for a few days.” Smart tore off the rest of Farooq’s sleeve and used it to stem the flow. “Keep pressure on it. We’ll have to clean it up as soon as we get the chance.”

  The pinpricks of light from the shooter’s rifle ceased as Eva took them out of range, but they weren’t safe yet. She spotted the headlights of another vehicle in her mirror and it was quickly followed by another.

  “How many are there?” Sonny asked as a third vehicle joined the chase.

  “Three,” Farooq said. “Make that four now.”

  “We have to split them up if we can,” Smart said. He took out his phone and opened up the map application, allowing it to pinpoint their current location. “Get off at the next exit, then take a right. There are plenty of side roads to disappear into.”

  “If the satellite’s watching, hiding won’t do any good,” said Farooq.

  “It’s better than trying to outrun them on a straight road,” Sonny said.

  “I agree,” Colback said. “I’d rather choose the battleground and make a stand.”

  Eva took the next off-ramp and blew through a set of red lights, heading south.

  “Take the second right,” Smart told her. “After a hundred yards, take a left. There’s a dirt road that leads into the woods.”

  The pursuing vehicles were still on the freeway when Eva spun the wheel onto the side road, and moments later she was forced to reduce their speed to a crawl as they bounced onto a dirt road in pitch darkness.

  “There,” Smart pointed. “See if you can get in among the trees.”

  Eva eased between a couple of oaks and managed to get a few yards farther in before the woods became too dense to continue. As soon as she cut the engine, Smart, Sonny, and Colback got out and took up positions at the tree line. She took a rifle from the bag and inserted a fresh magazine, then stuffed a spare into her waistband and jogged over to join Smart.

  “Get Sonny to gather some branches and hide the car,” he said without turning. “I’ll take first watch with Rees. You guys get some rest.”

  Eva nodded. “Let’s give it an hour. If they’ve got overhead coverage, they’ll be here by then. If not, wake me and I’ll take a walk into town to get some new wheels.”

  Eva went to pass on instructions to Sonny, then got into the car and lay across three seats, listening for sounds of approaching danger. All she heard was the morning chorus of songbirds and the remnants of a cricket choir.

  As the adrenaline from the chase faded, fatigue hit her like a train. Seconds after closing her eyes, she was asleep.

  Eckman saw the needle on the speedometer slip past 130 as Castleton coaxed every ounce of power from the Jeep’s giant engine.

  According to his tablet, they were still six miles—three minutes—from Eagle One’s location. Eckman had ordered the driver to pass Driscoll’s vehicle while other units closed from behind. Once in position, Eagle One would block the road and take Driscoll and her people out.

  A simple plan, which they had quickly managed to fuck up.

  Eagle One had passed Driscoll’s stolen Toyota and stopped across two lanes a few miles down the road, giving the others a chance to close in. Only Driscoll hadn’t taken the bait. Rooks One and Two had stopped to investigate the apparently abandoned Highlander before suddenly going quiet. As Castleton drove past their stationary vehicles, it was clear why they were no longer responding. All three men lay dead by the side of the road and the Toyota was gone.

  “Eagle Two, Eagle One. Eyes on!”

  Eagle One, the blockade vehicle, had Driscoll in sight, which meant they were less than ninety seconds down the road.

  “Stop them if you can. If not, at least slow them down. We’ll be there in one minute.”

  The wait for a reply felt interminable.

  “Eagle One, respond.”

  “They got through and my car’s shot to shit. Stop and pick me up.”

  Eckman saw the shredded Jeep moments later. The driver was waving his hands in the air, but there was no time to pick up passengers.

  “Don’t stop,” he told Castleton, and the ruined vehicle flashed past in a blur.

  At least he now knew where Driscoll had been for the last day or so. Somehow, she’d managed to recruit a couple of new faces and acquire a powerful arsenal. He wondered what other surprises she had in store.

  The sign for the next exit loomed in the distance.

  Eckman was down to four active vehicles, including his own, and Driscoll could head north, south, or continue east on the freeway. The latter was unlikely, given the power advantage the Jeeps had over the Toyota. No, she would take to the quieter rural roads and try to lose them.

  “Rook One, Rook Two, one of you pick up Eagle One, then take exit 28 and head north. Eagle Three, you and I go south. She’ll go to ground at the first opportunity, so think like her and check out any likely hiding places.”

  Castleton hit the off-ramp doing eighty, then slowed to fifty as he turned right onto an unlit road. The speed increased once more as he put his foot to the floor, but the road ahead remained empty.

  After a few minutes, Eckman received news that the helicopter was overhead. He got a direct link to the pilot and told him to back up the units to the north, while he and Eagle Three continued their own search.

  It proved fruitless.

  After an hour and constant calls of no joy from the others, he told them to abandon the search. Driscoll had obviously turned off the main road soon after leaving the freeway, but there was no way they could cover every possible route. Even with a dozen cars it would be a pointless exercise.

  Eckman reluctantly phoned West once more and asked that he circulate the Toyota’s plate with local law enforcement. He listened as West threatened his very existence if Driscoll weren’t eliminated by the end of the day. He told West that four vehicles had zero chance of success, and involving the local police was the only option now. His measured tone had the desired effect. West promised to put out an APB on the Highlander with orders to report sightings only: no attempts were to be made to apprehend the occupants.

  “We’ve still got the plate linked to the traffic camera network, but my people tell me coverage in that area is sparse.”

  No shit.

  He had to hand it to Driscoll. She’d become the proverbial needle in a haystack.

  Eckman ended the call and radioed his men to rendezvous at a motel he’d passed a little earlier. There was little they could do until local police reported a sighting, apart from taking on food and grabbing a little shut-eye.

  CHAPTER 34

  Anton West screwed up his eyes as the early evening sun, barely above the horizon,
burned into his retinas. After three days of napping in his office chair, he’d decided to drive home for a shower, shave, and change of clothes. A few hours in his own bed didn’t seem like a bad idea either.

  The satellite had finally been freed up and placed under his control, but so far, no sign of Driscoll’s Toyota Highlander. Kentucky police hadn’t seen it, and the alert he’d put on the traffic camera system had also reported no hits.

  It was obvious by now that Driscoll had found new wheels, and with every passing second she was putting distance between herself and his men. He’d ordered his team at the control center to research every vehicle theft in the state, as well as any car sales within fifty miles of Driscoll’s last known location, but that had yet to yield results.

  The more concerning development was that Driscoll had managed to find some hired help. Neither of the two men seen in the stolen Toyota had been identified, due to their crude disguises. The only thing known about them was that they knew how to handle weapons and vehicles. He’d considered instructing his team to contact every security company looking for recent hires, but it was a task that would take far longer than they had, and learning the men’s names would do nothing to advance the search. He’d have to wait until Driscoll was finally captured before learning their identities.

  When he pulled into the cul-de-sac and up to his house, he saw that the light was off in the living room. That meant his wife had done as he’d asked and canceled her bridge evening. The last thing he wanted was a gaggle of women keeping him awake.

  West put his key in the door and opened it.

  “Janine?”

  It immediately struck him that it wasn’t just the living room light that was off: the whole of the first floor was in darkness.

  Guessing that she was sulking in bed because he’d canceled her card game, he dumped his briefcase by the door and took off his jacket. He threw it over an armchair, then turned toward the stairs.