Cullen stood, jerked on Maggie’s leash and yanked her to her feet. “Have you ever played Russian roulette, Ms. Douglas?”
“No.” Maggie gulped the word, as emotion lodged in her throat.
She had promised Egan that she could handle this, that she could be strong and brave. That she wouldn’t break. He had promised her that he would save Bent. She had to hold on to that promise. She had to believe that he could fulfill his pledge to save their child.
“Well, we’re going to play a little game of it now,” Cullen told her, then motioned for a young soldier, who rose out of the audience and came forward to do his master’s bidding.
Cullen snapped his fingers and Sherman produced a revolver, which he handed to the young soldier. “This could all be over quickly, without any suffering. I’m willing to let fate be the judge of whether we end this now or we enjoy ourselves for a few more hours.”
Maggie held her breath. What was this madman going to do? she wondered. God, help us!
“Hold the gun to your temple,” Cullen ordered the soldier, who obeyed without question. “Now, pull the trigger.”
Maggie gasped. The soldier did as he’d been told. A distinct click reverberated in the hushed stillness of the arena. Cullen snatched the weapon from the boy’s hand, then patted him on the back. “Well done.”
Cullen dragged Maggie with him as he headed toward Egan. He held the gun to Egan’s temple, a wicked smile on his lips. Maggie trembled from head to toe. She closed her eyes and pleaded to God to intervene. Another loud click. Breathing a sigh of relief, she slumped her shoulders and said a quick prayer of thanks.
How much longer until the attack? a frightened voice within Maggie’s mind demanded. Cullen’s games had only just begun and already she was on the verge of hysteria. The Dundee agents were supposed to already be inside the fortress and federal agents were supposed to be on their way here. What were they waiting for? Help us, now!
Cullen’s laughter echoed inside Maggie’s head. When he drew in the chain leash, bringing her closer and closer to him, she cringed. Holding the gun to her temple, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. Her instincts told her to scratch his eyes out, to kick and claw. But she did nothing. Her breathing grew ragged when she felt the cold steel of the gun barrel against her skin.
“I hope there isn’t a bullet with your name on it, Maggie. I do have such delicious plans for you.”
“Wait!” Egan yelled.
Cullen’s lazy glance in Egan’s direction chilled Maggie to the bone.
“Wait for what?” Cullen asked.
“I’ll take Maggie’s turn,” Egan said.
“Do you hear that?” Cullen rubbed the tip of the gun barrel around in circles on Maggie’s temple. “Isn’t that gallant? What do you say, Maggie, do you want Egan to take your turn?”
“No, I—” Maggie said.
“Yes, dammit, yes!” Egan said.
“Well, we have quite a quandary, don’t we?” Cullen’s self-satisfied smile etched his face with deep laugh lines. He snapped his fingers. “I have the perfect solution. We’ll let Bent take his mother’s turn.”
“No!” Maggie and Egan screamed in unison.
Egan checked his watch. Five minutes. Five freaking minutes! The moment the attack began, Cullen would assume he had everything under control. He’d probably be in no hurry to dismiss his audience, but if he allowed his military training to rule his actions, he’d order these soldiers to join their comrades on the front line. But whether the Dundee squad had to face a handful of Cullen’s men or an even two dozen, they knew what had to be done.
Egan had to play for time. And he had to get Maggie away from Cullen before the Dundee squad made their move. Once Cullen realized what was happening, he’d kill Maggie instantly and go for Bent next.
“Such devoted parents,” Cullen said snidely. “Aren’t you a lucky boy.”
Cullen hauled Maggie with him across the dais to where Bent stood shackled to the pole. When he laid the gun against Bent’s cheek, Maggie keened loudly. Cullen smiled at her. “Tsk-tsk. Mustn’t get so upset. After all the odds are in his favor. There really is only one bullet in this gun.”
“I’ll take my turn,” Maggie pleaded. “And I’ll take Bent’s turn. Please let me take my son’s turn!”
“You’re too eager,” Cullen told her. “Besides, using the boy will make this so much more painful for Cassidy. He’ll not only die a thousand deaths waiting for the sound of the gun to fire, but he’ll be in agony watching you suffer.”
“You’re a monster!” Maggie lunged at Cullen, knocking him off balance enough so that he lost his tight grip on the revolver.
Colonel Sherman jumped to the rescue, snatching the gun off the floor the minute it landed. Cullen jerked Maggie’s leash, pulling her close, then pressed his nose against hers. “I like spirit in a woman. It makes the conquest all the sweeter.”
“Leave my mother alone!” Bent yelled.
“Ah, the protective son heard from.” Cullen handed Maggie’s leash to Sherman and took the gun from him. “Walk Maggie over to stand by her lover. They can watch together.”
The young colonel dragged Maggie off the dais so quickly that she almost lost her footing, but she somehow managed to remain on her feet. The moment Sherman shoved her up against Egan, she gritted her teeth and whispered to Egan, “Do something!”
Egan checked his watch. One minute and counting.
“Hang on, Maggie. Hang on,” he said, his voice a low rumble.
Cullen held the revolver to Bent’s temple. “Any last words?”
“Yeah,” Bent said. “Go to hell!”
My baby. My baby. Oh, Bent! The silent cries shrieked from Maggie’s heart.
A barrage of artillery bombarded the fortress. A loud explosion shook the very foundation of Cullen’s hideaway. Egan suspected that Cullen’s private helicopter had just gone up in smoke. The boy soldiers in the audience mumbled loudly as they jumped to their feet. Egan grasped one of Maggie’s trembling hands.
Cullen eased the gun away from Bent’s head and smiled at Egan.
“By the time they blast their way into here, you’ll all be dead and I’ll be long gone.”
“You seem awfully sure,” Egan shouted over the roar of nearby artillery fire.
“I am,” Cullen said, then turned to Colonel Sherman. “Take all but half a dozen men. They’ll be needed out there—” Cullen inclined his head toward the doorway. “Report back to me when you’ve assessed the situation.”
“Yes, sir!”
Sherman followed orders, leaving behind six soldiers, who spread out around the room, their rifles ready.
“If Cassidy makes a move, shoot him,” Cullen said, then motioned to Maggie. “Come here.”
Maggie didn’t budge.
“You can buy some time for yourself, as well as your son and Egan, if you cooperate,” he told her. “I had hoped we’d have more time, but I won’t need more than a few minutes to—”
“Don’t you touch her!” Bent cried. “Don’t you dare—”
“Shut up!” Cullen slapped Bent with the back of his hand.
Maggie moaned when she saw the trickle of blood oozing from Bent’s bursted lip.
Cullen stomped off the dais, heading straight toward Maggie. She stood frozen to the spot, waiting, counting the seconds. Before he was halfway to her, the doors flew open and five black-clad commandos stormed the inner sanctum. Taken off guard, the boy soldiers didn’t react immediately. Cullen yelled for them to fire.
Egan shoved Maggie to the floor and quickly covered her body with his as bullets whizzed overhead.
“Kill the boy!” Cullen shouted.
“No!” Maggie screamed.
Chapter 8
Egan held Maggie down, knowing that if he let her go, she would run headlong into the middle of the gunfire between Cullen’s soldiers and the Dundee squad. Her maternal instincts had shifted into overdrive. Her only thoughts were of protecting her child. But her pa
nic could get her killed and interfere with Bent’s rescue. Egan had no choice but to subdue her. She struggled to free herself, crying, begging him to help Bent before it was too late.
“Joe and Hunter will take care of Bent,” he told her, praying he could get through to her in her panicked state of mind. “He’s their first priority.” How did he make her understand that Bent’s best chance of survival rested in the hands of the two Dundee agents and that neither he nor she could get to Bent in time?
Maggie trembled, shudders racking her body. Egan grabbed her and rolled them under the nearest bench. Hot metal zoomed all around them as the sound of repetitive shooting became deafening. After endless moments of intense warfare, a deadly silence prevailed.
“Cassidy!” a loud female voice shouted.
“Stay put,” Egan told Maggie, then scooted out from under the bench just enough to see Ellen Denby scanning the room, while Wolfe and Jack Parker kept her covered. Egan lifted his arm and signaled to Ellen.
The moment Ellen noted his location, she held out a handgun and with effortless ease tossed the Glock to Egan. He caught the weapon in midair. After quickly checking the magazine, he chambered a round.
“We’ve got Bent!” Joe Ornelas shouted.
“Get him out of here!” Ellen ordered.
Egan caught a glimpse of Bent, flanked by Joe Ornelas and Hunter Whitelaw, as they took him out of immediate harm’s way.
Maggie grasped Egan’s shirtfront. “Bent’s safe?”
Maggie’s teardrops hit his hand—the hand that held the 9-mm. “Yeah, honey, Bent’s safe.” He didn’t bother qualifying his statement, explaining that the squad had to get Bent out of the fortress before he would be truly safe. Or that the only way to obtain Bent’s safety one hundred percent now and in the future was to eliminate Cullen permanently.
“Room’s cleared,” Ellen said. “Let’s get moving while we can.”
“We have to get out of here,” Egan told Maggie. “I’m going to remove this damn dog collar from your neck—” he unsnapped the catch “—and then we’re going to ease out from underneath this bench and make a run for the doors on the right. Stay with me. Understand?”
“Yes,” she managed to reply, her voice shaky as Egan removed the collar and tossed it aside.
When Egan and Maggie reached the hallway, Ellen Denby, an MP5 in her hands, motioned for them to wait. Three Survivalists charged up the hallway, shooting repeatedly, as if they thought firepower alone could protect them. Bullets splintered wood and sent shards of concrete flying. Overconfident as only the young and inexperienced could be, they walked right into the ambush. The threesome wouldn’t know what hit them, Egan thought.
From their vantage points on either side of the curved corridor, Parker aimed his AK-47 and Wolfe did the same. The blasts reverberated down the hallway as they took out all three of Cullen’s soldiers. Parker waved an all clear. Ellen nodded to Egan, who clutched Maggie’s arm and shoved her into motion. Guiding her around the dead bodies, Egan urged Maggie forward, as Ellen covered them from the rear.
While they hurried down the corridor, ever mindful of the unknown waiting around each turn, Egan felt proud of Maggie. Not only was she keeping pace with them, but once she’d known Bent was safe, she had kept her composure during the maelstrom of battle. Maggie didn’t possess Ellen’s training, expertise or hard-ass attitude, but in her own way she was every bit as brave and strong.
“Where’s Cullen?” Egan asked.
“Two seconds after we showed up and he realized he couldn’t shoot at Bent without risking his own life, he made a hasty exit out a back entrance of the throne room,” Ellen said.
“Think he’ll try the escape tunnel?” Parker asked.
“Don’t think so.” Egan’s breathing remained even as he raced along the hallway. “My bet is he hasn’t figured out exactly what happened. Until he does, he’ll keep fighting.”
Occasionally checking the rear for any sign of the enemy, Ellen kept pace with the others. Suddenly Wolfe stopped and dropped. As he did, a bullet zinged over him, piercing the wall at the exact level his head had been a millisecond before. Just as the lone shooter came into view, Wolfe took him out with one fatal head shot.
“Time’s a-wasting, boys and girls,” Parker said, his Texas accent decidedly distinctive at the moment. “Once Joe and Hunter have Bent aboard the chopper, O’Brien will wait exactly ten minutes—if he can—and then they’re gone and so is our transportation out of Cullen’s private little hell.”
“We’ll make it,” Ellen said. “We’re nearly to the stairs. Too bad we can’t take a chance on the elevator, but we don’t dare risk getting caught with nowhere to run.”
Within minutes, the five of them were in the stairwell headed to the subterranean level. But they had two flights to descend before reaching their goal. Their stomping boots clanged the metal steps as they scurried ever downward. The stairwell remained clear all the way to the third level. Apparently Cullen hadn’t yet figured out how the Dundee squad had gained access to his fortress, Egan thought. But it was only a matter of time before he put two and two together and realized he had a traitor in his midst—someone who had allowed the intruders entrance through the secret tunnel.
Every good commando knew that you had to get in, do your job and get the hell out before the enemy knew what had hit them. Egan grunted. Maybe, just maybe they were going to make it out alive—all of them.
When they reached the vault, deep within the mountain, Parker and Wolfe took the lead, followed by Egan and Maggie. Ellen brought up the rear. Things are going too good, Egan decided. There hadn’t been a hitch in the operation. Bent was probably already aboard the chopper and within minutes they would be joining him. The feds were keeping Cullen’s troops busy. But where exactly was Cullen? Egan’s gut instincts told him that that wily bastard would have a few tricks up his sleeve, even after a surprise attack. But what sort of tricks? And when would he strike?
As they emerged from the tunnel, the bright daylight momentarily blinded them, but within seconds Egan’s eyesight returned. In the distance he could hear the roar of the chopper’s motor and as he scanned the area, he noted the whirlwind effect blowing through the trees and shrubs. They congregated just outside the tunnel—Egan, Maggie, Wolfe, Parker and Ellen.
“What are we waiting for?” Parker asked. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Take Maggie with you,” Egan told Ellen.
Maggie balked. “What do you mean—”
“I have to find Cullen,” Egan said. “Go with Ellen.”
“You can’t stay here!” Maggie grasped Egan’s shirtfront. “I’m not leaving you here. You’re coming with us!”
Just as Egan started to shove Maggie away, Wolfe let out an earsplitting warrior’s yell, warning them of danger. A good twenty-five feet above them, perched on an overhang, Winn Sherman manned a machine gun. Grant Cullen stood at his side.
No time to think, only to react. Egan dragged Maggie with him as he headed for the closest cover behind a massive boulder near the heavily wooded area to the south. Ellen and Parker dropped and rolled toward Wolfe, who had already made a mad dash and a leap into a gully at the edge of a pathway leading to the chopper. Wolfe, Parker and Denby aimed their weapons.
Rapid machine-gun fire peppered the ground, snapped off spindly tree limbs and chipped off chunks from the boulder. Egan surveyed the situation quickly and realized he and Maggie were cut off from escape, trapped between the wilderness and the fortress.
The three Dundee agents returned fire, but were at a great disadvantage. Egan realized that the smartest thing for them to do was get to the chopper as fast as possible. He had wanted Maggie to go with them, but it didn’t look as if that was possible now. After checking the time, Egan realized that O’Brien would be taking off in two minutes, with or without the others.
Get your men aboard that chopper, Denby! Egan’s mind issued the order. Ellen would take care of things on her end, and it woul
d be up to Egan to handle things here. He knew that he and Maggie had only one chance to survive.
While the machine gun riddled the boulder, Egan grasped Maggie’s chin. She stared at him, a look of sheer terror in her eyes. “We can’t make it to the chopper,” he told her. “And I won’t risk your life letting you stay here until I can eliminate Cullen.”
“You were going to stay here and kill him, weren’t you, even if it meant dying yourself?”
“Plans have changed,” he said. “Eliminating Cullen will have to wait. Right now, getting you to safety is far more important.”
The whine of the chopper’s engine reached an earsplitting roar as the motors revved. The aircraft lifted, hovering above them. A force of strong air whipped over the towering trees and the resonance of the helicopter’s rotating blades hummed noisily. A steady stream of gunfire blasted from the machine gun nest, preventing the chopper from getting anywhere near Egan and Maggie. They were, for all intents and purposes, cut off from any hope of a rescue.
Within minutes the chopper disappeared over the mountain ridge. Egan glanced up at the overhang where Sherman had manned the machine gun. Sunlight glinted off the powerful weapon, but no shooter was in sight. That probably meant Sherman and Cullen had realized Egan and Maggie hadn’t escaped with the squad and were preparing to search for them.
“We have to get moving,” Egan told Maggie. “There’s a good chance they’ll be following us, so we’re going to have to move fast and keep going as long as possible.”
She nodded, her head bobbing repeatedly, fear widening her eyes. They crawled away from the boulder and into the nearby brush, then Egan jerked her up behind a stand of tall ponderosa pines. He checked the area all around them. North. South. East. And west.
“We can’t go down the mountain the way we came in, so there’s no hope of getting to our supplies. Cullen knows the route we took coming here,” Egan explained. “And I don’t think there’s a chance we could get through to the feds, without getting caught in the cross fire and this battle could go on until nightfall. Maybe longer. Cullen will come after us. Our only choice is to find our way back to civilization and contact Ellen.” Gazing into Maggie’s eyes he saw weariness, uncertainty and understanding. And a fear she could not hide. “I won’t lie to you. It’ll be rough going. We don’t have a compass or supplies of any kind, including food and water. If we don’t find a town before night, we’ll have no shelter.”
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