“They crawled under the bus and then under the fuel truck. The cops had surrounded the bus not the fuel truck.”
“Jax let the bus run low on purpose,” Dahl said. “He wanted the fuel truck.”
“Bold plan,” Mai whistled. “They took a chance.”
“That’s pretty much all they’ve done on this job,” Alicia said. “After such a perfect robbery.”
Drake surveyed the bus station’s open lot. “Yeah, something’s up with them. They’re ticking fucking time bombs. So, where’d they go?”
Dahl was dragging the lead FBI man onto his feet.
“Hey, steady, man,” the agent spluttered.
Dahl pointed into the air. “Those are your choppers, right?”
“Yeah.”
“They didn’t notice two people crawling out from here and walking away?”
The agent’s mouth tightened. “I suspect, like all of us, they were at the other side of the bus helping the passengers get clear and waiting for the bomb to explode. They’d have pulled back.”
Dahl saw the logic in it. “They have CCTV?”
“Yeah.”
“Get on it right now. We need to know where Jax and Cara went.”
The agent didn’t waste any time barking out orders. Drake noticed several new choppers arriving, probably news outlets. There would definitely be some tense stories to be told today.
“They’re running the footage through up there,” the agent told them, “in-situ. Get ready.”
Drake guessed Jax and Cara had an eight- to ten-minute head start.
More and more police were joining them on this side of the fuel truck. Choppers beat at the skies above. Traffic streamed by on a nearby highway. Buses continued to come and go at the front of the station. Drake saw dozens of civilians pointing cameras in their direction. It was a tense, powerless few minutes. Like many others, he used them to check his weapons and other gear. He even managed to find out the lead FBI agent’s name: Cooper.
Alicia nudged him. “Still haven’t used my weapon,” she said.
“Don’t worry. I get the feeling there’s more to this than we’re seeing.”
Cooper showed them a tablet computer. “Here’s the footage.”
They crowded round. Drake saw two figures at the far end of the screen, emerging from underneath the fuel truck. They walked to the far end of the bus station where they climbed into a car. The car then drove away, joining a road that led right past the depot.
“Can you zoom in?” Luther asked.
“Yeah, we got the registration. It’s a Chevy Equinox, dark red. The upside to all this is . . . they think they got away.”
“They did,” Dahl said. “Now we have to track them down.”
“There are thousands of cameras across this city,” Cooper said. “Hundreds of thousands. We’ll find them.”
As if to confirm his words, the tablet flashed onto a new screen. Someone was feeding it remotely. They saw a photographic still. It was grainy, but it showed a car with the right registration cruising through a set of traffic signals.
“Venice Boulevard,” Cooper said. “It’s five minutes from here by air. Ten by car.”
Dahl looked up into the air. “Get those birds down fast.”
Cooper shouted more orders. Three choppers swooped down, their rotors churning the air as they bounced softly upon the depot’s parking lot. Noise surrounded them. The Strike Force team split and ran toward all three choppers, followed by the most senior FBI agents and SWAT. Cooper was radioing for more SWAT teams to meet them en route. Drake jumped into a helicopter amid the chaos and strapped in. This time Mai was at his side. Alicia ended up somewhere else, he couldn’t see.
“You coping?” Mai asked seriously above the noise as other’s jumped inside.
Drake sighed. “Yeah, she’s hard to keep up to and impossible to reason with but she has a big heart.”
Mai looked blank. “What?”
“Alicia.”
“No,” the Japanese woman grinned, “although I’m looking forward to telling her all that. You make her sound like a racehorse.”
“Shit,” Drake turned wide eyes on her. “Please don’t tell her I said that.”
Mai gave him a look he remembered well. It meant: Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. It wasn’t a good sign. “What the hell did you mean?” he asked.
“The new life followed by this. It’s had an impact on all of us.”
“Did you settle in okay?”
“I had Luther. And Chika, and Dai, and Grace. Time flew.”
Drake nodded.
“You only had Alicia.”
He looked up. “I’m not rising to that bait.” He held on tight as the chopper rose. “I missed this,” he said. “Missed the team. The banter. The company. I’m not sure I’m cut out for vacation time.”
“Vacations are harder than I thought,” Kenzie said from the seat opposite. “But I am enjoying being part of the new task force.”
“Yeah.” Drake nodded at her. “I never would’ve predicted that.”
“My family’s headed to Stockholm soon,” Dahl said from the fourth seat. “So I guess I know where I’ll be vacationing next time.”
Drake held Dahl’s eyes but didn’t say anything. There were few words that could help any man or woman at that point of their lives. Dahl knew they were there if he needed them.
The helicopter flew over Rosa Parks Freeway toward Culver City. The vast city spread out in all directions with the ocean to their left. The chopper dipped as it crossed Jefferson and then Culver. Three more birds flew along with them. The pilots were shouting into their radios and checking their navigation.
Soon they were swooping over Venice Boulevard.
“How we doing?” Drake leaned forward, asking Cooper in one of the front seats.
“I can see them.”
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Four choppers swooped through the skies, noses down. On board, SWAT, FBI agents and the Strike Force prepped weapons and gear. Everyone could see Venice Boulevard now, four lanes wide at this point, bordered by strip malls, office blocks and houses as it arrowed west toward the ocean. Gas stations and car dealerships boasted bright, multi-colored signs, along with fast-food restaurants. Drake saw traffic signals hung on long metal arms that crossed the street, making helicopter flying hazardous. Still eyeing the Chevy Equinox, he saw cop cars and motorcycles streaming in from side streets, red and blue lights flashing. This was about to get very dangerous and very loud.
The occupants of the Equinox caught on. The vehicle put on a burst of speed and weaved through traffic. Drake’s helicopter swooped as low as the pilot dared, almost skimming the top of the traffic signals. By now, they were over the Equinox.
“Six black-and-whites,” Mai said. “Four bikes, and four helicopters. I doubt even the One Percenters planned for that.”
“They’re not stopping,” Kenzie said.
Drake tapped his comms button to make sure it was working. The police cars below were practically tailgating the Equinox as it swept through traffic. Ahead a signal was at red. Drake cringed as the Equinox raced straight through, causing a collision between three other cars that had to swerve. The police were forced to slow, the motorbikes weaving their way through moving cars.
“It’s bedlam,” Alicia said on the comms. “Get me down there.”
Drake knew that wasn’t an option. They’d lose all touch with the chase by the time they landed and found another vehicle. They were airborne until the Equinox stopped.
Cooper glared down through an open window at the front. “That’s just fucking crazy.”
The Equinox slewed to avoid a car that flew out of a side-street without checking, clipped another car’s rear end, and veered into the opposite lane. For long seconds it dodged oncoming vehicles, swinging left and right, before crossing the middle of the road once more and resuming its sprint. Its pursuers lost more ground, but the choppers kept up, especially Drake’s which slid around an ei
ght-foot-high sign with a golf ball on top, almost sideways, like a car would drift around a corner.
Drake let out a whistle of appreciation. “That was good.”
“Drake,” Alicia came onto the comms. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Your chopper’s awesome.”
Drake managed to keep the smile off his face. Mai didn’t acknowledge the words.
Cooper’s cell rang. He held it to his ear and listened for a few minutes. Drake saw his shoulders droop as he shook his head.
“That’s not possible,” he said twice in a row. “That’s just not possible.”
Drake’s wariness soared. Mai glanced at him, worry in her eyes. Another minute passed before Cooper ended the call.
“What is it?” Dahl asked.
“You won’t believe it,” Cooper appeared to be in shock. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What?” Drake asked.
“They got away.”
Drake stared at him in astonishment, then turned his eyes to the Equinox below. “You mean they’re not driving?”
Cooper shook his head. “I don’t mean Jax and Cara. I mean the other three.”
Drake struggled to get his head around it. “The other . . . wait, you mean in Las Vegas?”
“Kushner, Faye and Steele. They escaped.”
“It’s not possible.”
“This Faye, she’s a computer genius. Apparently, they knew which police station they’d be taken to in advance—the closest one to Caesars. She’d built a redundancy into the station’s system for a certain time. When that time came around all the systems shut down. Cell doors opened. Every door opened. Building went black. The One Percenters were ready for it and made their escape.”
“That’s why they were researching that station.” Drake remembered their first few clues.
“Yeah, some street fighting gang got them the station’s info. They had men on the inside, prisoners, that gave them the layout. Faye just spliced into the mainframe and shut it down. They escaped along with a dozen others.”
“Any clues as to where they’re headed?” Kenzie asked.
Cooper looked at the Equinox below. “Best guess? To meet up with these two dickheads.”
“When did it happen?” Mai asked.
“Over an hour ago,” Cooper said. “The cops in Vegas have been chasing their tails, sorting shit out at their own end trying to capture dangerous convicts. Three thieves didn’t register so high until they heard about all this.”
“So if they’d prearranged a private plane?” Drake voiced the most obvious scenario.
Copper checked his watch. “They’ll be landing any minute.”
Drake called Hayden. “You heard, love?”
“Yeah we just heard the news. We’ll be with you soon.”
“You will?”
“There was no point hanging around Vegas, so we jumped on a plane.”
“Cool, we’ll be somewhere between Santa Monica and Hawaii.”
Hayden laughed. “Is it that bad?”
“Oh, it’s much worse.”
Drake described the situation as their helicopters flew above the speeding vehicle. A barrage of cop cars flew after it, spread out over ten city blocks. Their gaudy red and blue lights painted buildings and signs and windows for miles around. Motorcycles nipped in between them, two even now motoring right up to the Equinox.
The speeding car veered sharply. One rider was struck, his bike falling and sliding with him still on board, hitting a curb and then vaulting up and across a garden, leaving a wide, ragged trail of mud in its wake. The second bike swerved and had to jam on its brakes to avoid a head on collision. Two cop cars pulled out of the chase to help.
“Why aren’t they blocking the road?” Hayden asked.
“They did. Jax just drove onto the other side of the road and almost killed two people. It’s too dangerous and he’s going too fast.”
“He has to run out of road soon.”
“Yep, or he’s got a submarine waiting.”
Hayden promised to seek them out as soon as they landed. Drake wondered what more could go wrong. Had they lost all the One Percenters and the eggs?
Where was Jax going?
One of the choppers tried to swing around in front of Jax’s car, its skids practically touching the windshield. They were trying to put Jax off, a risky move at this speed. Ahead, a junction came up fast, this one blessedly without a stop light. Drake’s chopper swooped down to the left of the car as another slammed against its roof, four motorcycles blasting along just behind its rear fender.
They blasted through the junction at speed. Traffic had been stopped and Drake saw people getting out of their cars, openmouthed at the spectacle of speed-racing through their city.
Drake’s pilot backed off. The Equinox plowed down Venice toward the ocean, now only minutes from the beach.
“It’s one way ahead,” the pilot said.
“You think they care about that?” Cooper said. “Stay on them.”
From their aerial view, Drake saw a wide, paved walkway ahead fronting a vast expanse of warm yellow sand and then the sparkling blue ocean. Jax was headed right toward it.
“It’s very odd,” Dahl said.
“They’re communicating with someone,” Cooper told them. “Phone’s been hot for fifteen minutes.”
“I can’t imagine what they could do next,” Mai said.
Drake glared at her. “C’mon, Mai. Don’t bloody jinx it.”
As if in answer, their world went crazy.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The sparkling ocean burst into full view ahead, spanning their vision to left and right. A flat expanse of gray paving and then sandy beach led right to it, dotted by palm trees, bike stands and a refreshments shack.
“We have speedboats waiting on the water,” Cooper said.
There was nowhere for Jax to go. Their plan was unfathomable. Were they just desperate, driving as far as they could until their colleagues caught up? They’d learned there was a private landing strip just a twenty-minute drive from here, and helicopter pads even closer, so expected the imminent arrival of the other three One Percenters.
What they didn’t expect was what happened next.
Skimming the palm trees to their right came five more helicopters, flying side-by-side, spanning the width of the beach.
Cooper voiced his surprise and turned to the back. “Anything to do with you?”
Drake was stunned and looked it.
“They must be here for Jax,” Mai said.
“No way,” Cooper said. “No fucking way.”
It all twisted out of kilter again. The Equinox veered onto the paved walkway, heading straight for the oncoming choppers. From out of the chopper doors appeared a deadly array of guns.
“What the . . .” Dahl muttered.
There were no warning shouts. The new arrivals opened fire. Drake cringed. Bullets crashed around the fleeing car, into the concrete paving, and among the stores to the right. Jax somehow kept to a straight line.
“Look out!” Kenzie cried.
The attacking birds flew straight at their own, peeling away seconds before impact. The occupants continued shooting, firing at both the Equinox and Drake’s helo. Bullets ricocheted off the metal frame. Alicia’s helicopter went high and Dallas’s went low. For one long minute there was total mayhem.
“There’re choppers everywhere!” Alicia cried.
“Normally,” Mai said, sighting her weapon. “You’d be up for that.”
The new birds swung around in pursuit of Jax, swooping toward the ground, their noses angled. They skimmed the concrete walkway just yards above its surface. Everywhere, civilians ducked and dived away, falling amongst scattered chairs, tables and clothes racks, or ran for the beach. Drake’s helo followed about thirty feet higher up.
“Anyone have the slightest clue what’s going on?” Cooper asked.
“Not the foggiest, mate,” Drake said, “but I think you’re gonna ne
ed more men.”
Cooper plucked out his phone. Mai fired on the new choppers from one side and Dahl did the same at the other. The stream of police and motorbikes was coming up behind them now, down to three cars and four bikes.
Ahead, bullets strafed the Equinox, punching holes through the back screen and the roof. The vehicle wobbled, spinning a full three-sixty before racing off again, its tires squealing, leaving rubber on the concrete. Mai hit one of the choppers, but her attack seemed to have no effect.
Two then swept down hard, striking the ground in front of the car with their skids before bouncing back up. Shots were punched into the car’s windshield. The driver stamped on the brakes and sent it into a spin. The front end smashed through a shop window, still traveling straight, bringing the entire building down.
Then it stopped, shuddering, shot through with holes.
The doors flew open. All but one of the attacking choppers landed. That one stayed in the air and swung around toward the police choppers.
Cooper urged their helicopter to the ground. Drake leaned forward, trying to get a clearer view of what was happening. Two people jumped out of the red Equinox, a large, broad-shouldered man with stubble for hair, and a slim, blond-haired girl. That had to be Jax and Cara. Both wore backpacks. They carried weapons but threw them onto the floor. Cara was shouting something at Jax.
Drake peered harder.
The woman was flinging her arms around; her body language radiating anger. Jax was shouting back at her. The enemy choppers landed and disgorged their cargo. Drake counted a dozen men jumping out and running for the Equinox.
Their own skids hit the ground and settled. To left and right others did the same, and people prepared to exit. The collection of cop cars and bikes was screeching to a halt several yards behind.
Drake flicked his comms. “I don’t know who we’re supposed to be attacking here?”
Luther came back: “The eggs. Get the eggs. Destroy anything that gets in the way.”
Typical Luther: destroy! But Drake agreed. He hefted his gun and jumped onto the concrete. At that moment a new voice entered his head.
The Faberge Heist Page 15