by CW Browning
Michael straightened up from where he and Blake had also hit the floor with the sound of the kneeler, their years at war showing its toll as it had with Viper. He saw the mangled lectern and turned his brown eyes to hers.
“Where?” he demanded, knowing her thought process was already a few seconds ahead of him.
“The organ loft!” Viper answered, reaching under her skirt to pull the small gun out of her thigh holster. “I’ll go out the door and cover the alley. You take the inside and flush him out.”
“You’re not going out there alone,” Michael objected. “Blake can handle inside. I’m coming with you.”
“It’ll take both of you to keep track of him in this crowd.” Viper stood up, her eyes icy. “I’ll be fine.”
“What? Wait! What are you doing?!” Angela cried, snapping out of her stupor. “Was that a gunshot?!”
“Yes.” Viper grabbed her wrist and pulled her up. “Come with me!”
She turned and pulled Angela behind her as she stepped out of the pew. Panic was sweeping through the church as the words ‘gun’ and ‘shot’ echoed down the aisles. Michael and Blake raced up the side toward the organ loft in the middle of the church, their guns drawn. Viper glanced over her shoulder to see them go, then turned back toward the exit. Releasing Angela’s wrist, she sprinted toward the doors.
Someone screamed and Viper registered a muffled ‘pop’ as the Virgin Mary’s tranquil profile shattered. Angela shrieked behind her as the upper half of the statue blew into pieces, heavy cast ceramic flying in every direction. Glancing back, Alina registered the look of horror on Angie’s face and she reached out to grab her wrist again, dragging her relentlessly toward the double doors. A second later, she hit them at a run, pulling Angela through behind her.
“Lina...” Angela gasped as the doors swung closed on the chaos erupting behind them. “I don’t think...I feel....”
Alina turned and stared at the blood covering the side of Angela’s face. As she did, Angela swayed before her eyes slid closed, and she fell into Alina’s arms.
She caught Angela as she fell, her heart surging into her throat. Quickly moving to the side, she eased her down against the wall. Blood was everywhere, pouring from her temple and her shoulder. Alina quickly tilted Angie’s head, examining the gash on the temple first. It was large and deep, but on the bone, missing the dangerous soft spot by mere millimeters. A wave of relief washed through her and she turned her attention to the blood on the shoulder. Ripping open Angela’s blouse at the shoulder, she found a large chunk of the Virgin Mary embedded between her collarbone and neck.
Satisfied that neither of the wounds were life-threatening, Viper stood up swiftly and turned away. If she felt a twinge of guilt at leaving her friend unconscious in the alcove, it was quickly pushed aside.
A few seconds later, Viper was in the alley between the church and the school, running toward the steps where she entered the church earlier. If Michael and Blake did their job, the only exit available to the shooter would be that door. She could hear the commotion in the front of the church as people streamed out in panic. If the shooter made it to the crowds in the front of the church, there would be no stopping him. He’d disappear in seconds.
The door at the top of the flight of stone steps flew open and Viper raised her pistol, flipping the safety off as she did so. Blake emerged from the church and looked over the railing.
“Did you see him?” he demanded breathlessly.
She shook her head, lowering the gun.
“Damn! Where’s Michael?”
“He went to the front of the church,” he replied, jogging down the steps. “The door to the organ loft was open when we got there, so we split up.”
Viper hesitated. Her instinct was to go to the front of the church where the mass exodus of mourners swarmed, even though she knew the chances of finding him in the crowd were slim. And yet, something gave her pause.
“Angela was hit by shrapnel from a statue,” she told Blake, turning her dark eyes on him. “She’s in the alcove in the far door, unconscious. Can you...?”
Blake was already nodding and turning to head down the alley toward the door she indicated.
“I’ve got it,” he said over his shoulder. “You just find the bastard!”
Viper nodded and looked up at the church beside her. Logic dictated that he would follow the flow of people and blend in to disappear. He was a professional. He would have planned for the chaos, and planned to use it to his advantage. That was why Michael headed straight to the front of the church once he realized the shooter had already flown the nest.
The door above her opened and people began swarming out of the church. Viper glanced at the first wave of people coming through the door as she moved her pistol to her side, concealing it from their view. She glanced toward the back of the church. Michael was in the front, but he didn’t know who he was looking for. With every second, her chances of catching the assassin slipped lower and, with a curse under her breath, Viper turned to move toward the front of the alley. Sirens were sounding in the distance now. She was almost out of time.
Viper had only taken a few steps when a streak of awareness shot down her spine and her heart leapt in reaction. She snapped her head around in time to see the far door where she exited a few moments before open. A priest stepped out, a cassock covering his black pants to mid-calf. Turning his head, he looked directly at her.
Viper’s breath caught in her throat and an icy chill ran over her skin as she recognized the face from the corridor outside John’s hospital room.
They stared at each other down the length of the alleyway for a charged moment before he turned and began to stride away from the church, heading toward to the parking lot in the back. Fury, hot and swift, rolled through her and Viper darted after him. She ignored the people streaming out of the side door of the church, running through them, her eyes on the priest. As she moved, Viper took a deep breath, pushing the anger aside. Emotion had no place here. He was an assassin who targeted her at a funeral, of all places. This was business.
By the time she had navigated the crowd, Kyle had disappeared from sight around the back of the church. With a low curse under her breath, Viper broke into a full sprint, flying down the alley. Her heart settled into the steady, rapid rhythm she knew so well and her senses tuned to everything around her. The smell of the old stone church beside her, the sound of her heels on the pavement beneath her, and the distant chaos ensuing from the church behind her all faded into the background, noted but set aside for the time being. The only thing that mattered was getting to the assassin before he disappeared.
She rounded the corner of the church, and emerged into the large parking lot, her eyes scanning the rows of parked vehicles.
There! A dark head was just ducking into a sedan at the far end of the first row.
Viper ran to her right, both hands on her pistol, her eyes on the late model sedan. The engine roared to life and it backed out of the spot quickly. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the driver’s side window open and sun glinted off metal.
Viper dove between two vehicles on her left as the shot rang out. She hit the side of a black Cadillac Escalade as the bullet whizzed past. The Cadillac’s alarm began shrieking and she ducked down, dropping onto her knees and rolling under the SUV as tires squealed and Kyle gunned the sedan. Viper settled on her stomach and waited, the gun pointed toward the expanse of pavement. A second later, the sedan’s front tires came into view and she fired.
The shot was deafening under the Cadillac, but her aim was true. The bullet ripped into the front left tire and the sedan swerved as the vehicle pulled to the left. Kyle kept control, however, and the sedan skidded around the end of the row of vehicles, heading for the exit at the back of the parking lot.
Viper rolled out from under the SUV and jumped up, darting between cars to emerge into the wide aisle leading to the exit. She raised her pistol, firing three rapid shots. One hit the right taillight and another hit t
he back windshield, but Kyle was almost to the exit. She lowered her gun as the approaching sirens wailed less than a block away, watching as the sedan swung into the empty street.
He was gone.
Alina flipped the safety on and tucked the gun back into the holster on her thigh. She turned back toward the church as lights from the first police cars lit up the front of the alley between the school and church. Viper glanced at the crowds filling the alley and front of the church and turned to weave her way through the rows of parked vehicles to her right. Moving quickly, she passed the back of her old elementary school on her left, then the convent beside it. The parking lot narrowed and Viper used the trees along the edge to help shield her as she moved rapidly, emerging onto another side street. She turned right and went halfway up the street to where her black Rubicon was parked along the curb.
Kyle wouldn’t get far before the tire she shot expelled all its air. He also stuck out with a shattered back windshield. He would dump the sedan as soon as he could.
Viper opened the driver’s door and climbed into her Jeep. She started the engine, slamming the door closed behind her. With any luck, she’d find him before that happened.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Michael turned away from the ambulance containing Angela and Stephanie, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. Blake was accompanying them to the hospital. Neither was critically hurt, but both had lost significant amounts of blood. Surprisingly, Stephanie was the worst of the two. The bullet in her leg was dangerously close to the femoral artery, prompting the medic to call ahead for the surgeon.
Michael tapped a button on his screen and lifted the phone to his ear, walking away from the ambulance as it slowly rolled down the alley into the parking lot. The phone rang twice before it was picked up.
“Yes?”
Relief washed through him at the sound of Alina’s voice.
“Where the hell are you?” he demanded, his voice sharper than he intended.
“In Pennsauken. Our shooter dumped his car. I just finished going through it.”
Michael raised his eyebrows.
“You followed him?” he exclaimed. “How did you find him?”
“I saw him leave the church. I couldn’t stop him, but I slowed him down.”
“Did you find anything in the car?”
“No. How’s Angie?”
“On her way to the hospital with Stephanie,” Michael said, walking toward the parking lot. “Stephanie took a bullet in her leg. Blake’s with them. I managed to go through the organ loft before the cops got there.”
“And?”
“Nothing. It was clean.” Michael pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Where in Pennsauken? I’ll come meet you.”
“For what?” Alina sounded amused. “He’s long gone.”
“Hey, anything to get away from here. The only reason I’m walking free is because I have a badge that trumps the Feds. Everyone else is being held in the church until they can be interviewed.”
“Go to the hospital and check on the girls.” He heard a door close and an engine start. “Call me as soon as you have an update.”
“Where are you going?” he asked, but there was no answer. She had already disconnected.
Viper disconnected and glanced at the torn piece of paper in her hand. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. She dropped it into her cup holder and pulled out of the empty parking lot.
She had told Michael an outright lie. She’d found two things in the sedan, missed by the assassin when he dumped it. The first was the torn scrap of paper, extracted from between the driver seat and the carpeted floor board inside the door. It wasn’t surprising Kyle had missed it. It was completely obscured by the frame under the seat. The other item was more obvious, and she had no good explanation for why the assassin would have left it to be found. Whether he was in a hurry, or simply didn’t think it was something included with an older model sedan, he had failed to remove the GPS chip from the on-board computer.
Viper frowned, slowing for a stop sign. It was a rookie mistake, and one she hadn’t expected him to make. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully and she glanced at the chip sitting on the passenger seat. Why did he leave it behind? He had to know she was right behind him. Her lips tightened and she returned her gaze to the road. He’d ditched the car fast enough.
Alina turned right and headed toward the highway. The torn scrap of paper was part of a parking garage receipt. Unfortunately for him, the address was still visible.
Fury was simmering below the surface and Alina took a deep, steadying breath. Now was not the time for emotion, yet it was there, threatening. It was bad enough John’s final send-off turned into a complete fiasco, but now Stephanie and Angela were both in the hospital, victims by association. Viper pressed the gas, accelerating with more force than necessary to pull onto Route 130.
When she came back to New Jersey, she knew the risks involved to herself. In her opinion, the possibility of getting one step closer to the invisible puppet master in Washington, DC outweighed those risks. What she hadn’t taken into account was the toll on her friends, or the unexpected arrival of Michael and Blake. Because of that miscalculation, Stephanie and Angela were both caught in the crossfire. Not only that, Joanne and Bill had their final good-bye to their only son disrupted by the actions of the very assassin that killed him!
Viper veered off onto an exit heading toward Camden and the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia. Perhaps Hawk was right. Perhaps she should have stayed away from Jersey. As soon as the thought entered her mind, however, Alina shook her head. She came back to New Jersey with a plan, and that plan had not changed. Her hand tightened on the steering wheel. The plan was flawless, even with the unexpected additional players. She had to stop letting emotion get in the way. The plan was the plan, and the only way to keep them all safe was to follow it.
And kill the enemy so well-hidden in Washington.
Alina rubbed her forehead and flew along in the far left lane, speeding toward the tolls for the bridge. The letters Dave had sent John twelve years ago held all the clues to the identity of her arch-nemesis, but she was unable to decipher them without the attachments. Her hand dropped back to the steering wheel. Without the attachments, she had no way of pinpointing the traitor behind all of this.
The frustration and fury she’d been carefully repressing for the past two weeks tightened her gut, and made Viper’s throat constrict. Not only did her brother die trying to get the information out to someone, but now that information was lost forever. John was dead, Hawk was shot, she was being hunted, and Stephanie and Angela were hurt and it was all because of her brother’s curiosity and her job. Her lips tightened. It would all be for nothing if she couldn’t figure out who was behind it. Kyle was just a pawn, another puppet on a string. It was the puppet-master she wanted.
Her phone broke the silence in the Jeep, ringing through the speakers and pulling Alina from her thoughts. She pressed a button on the steering wheel.
“Yes?”
“Go secure,” Charlie’s voice filled the Jeep.
Alina pressed a button on the screen of her phone.
“Done.”
“What the hell just happened?” he demanded. “There was an active shooter at John’s funeral?”
Viper’s lips twisted humorlessly.
“Someday you have to tell me how you know everything,” she said, switching lanes for EZ pass. “It can’t have hit the news yet.”
“It hasn’t. Tell me what’s going on.”
“A sniper was in the organ loft,” said Alina, slowing to roll through the toll booth. The light flashed green and she pressed the gas again. The bridge loomed ahead of her, and beyond it, the Philadelphia Skyline. “He took a shot, but missed and hit the lectern.”
“You were the target?”
“Yes.” Viper glanced over her shoulder and moved into the middle lane to cross the bridge. “Someone knocked a kneeler and I hit the deck. The round went over me. He tried agai
n, but I was moving and he hit a statue.”
“Did you see him?”
“Yes.”
Silence greeted that and Alina was halfway across the bridge before Charlie spoke again.
“I’m assuming he got away since you’re not telling me it’s been contained.”
“He did, but he won’t get far.”
“You sound confident. Why?”
Viper’s eyes narrowed.
“When have I ever failed?”
Charlie chuckled reluctantly.
“Fair enough,” he murmured. “You have a lead?”
“No, but I’m working on it,” she lied. “Do you have any information on your leak?”
“Yes,” he said unexpectedly. “It’s worse than we thought. Assets are being targeted all over the globe.”
“How many?” Viper demanded, approaching the end of the bridge.
“As of this morning, I have four confirmed dead and three missing,” he said. “It’s not just you anymore. I’ve warned the rest and they’re going dark.”
Alina swore.
“Is it confined to the Organization?”
“It appears to be. There are no signs of any other agency being targeted.”
“Who have you pissed off, Charlie?” Viper demanded, turning right off the bridge and taking the exit to Center City. “Are you any closer to finding out if the leak is in our house or someone else’s?”
“I am.”
“Don’t forget–”
“I won’t,” he said, cutting her off. “They’re all yours when I have a name.”
Viper nodded, navigating the narrow city streets of Philadelphia skillfully. She was skirting around the edge of Center City, cutting through neighborhoods of row homes pressed together just feet from the curb. When this all began and she was chased across Europe a few weeks ago, Charlie promised her he would send her when he found the leak. It was beyond business now. It was personal.