Chase

by Sidney Bristol

  Gabriel wrapped his arm around Nikki and kicked off the car, propelling them toward the surface. He hugged her tight, refusing to give up hope. She was stronger than this. She would make it.

  They broke the surface of the water. Above them people stared down, and in the distance sirens blared. He gasped for breath, spitting salt water out of his mouth.

  “There’s another body in the car,” he yelled.

  Nikki coughed, but it was weak.

  He reached out, pulling at the water, and kicked, heading toward a dock attached to a private residence. It was the easiest way out of the water since he couldn’t go up the way they’d come. He latched onto the wooden dock with one arm and hauled Nikki to the ladder. She grasped the rungs and he tossed his waterlogged firearm onto the dock. It wouldn’t do him any good right now.

  “Get Hillary.” She gulped down big breaths, but held steady to the ladder.

  None of the onlookers had leapt to their rescue.

  Not good for Hillary.

  Gabriel sucked down oxygen and pushed off the dock, swimming back to where the car had gone into the water. The current pulled at his jeans, weighing him down.

  One more deep breath and he dove back under. Plumes of silt rose around the car, where it had settled on the bottom of the canal, but no oxygen bubbles. Dread settled low in his gut.

  He grabbed the busted-out passenger window and ducked his head into the car.

  Hillary floated against the top of the vehicle, lifeless, little trickles of blood oozing out from a dozen different injuries.

  Gabriel hooked his arm in hers and pulled her from the car.

  Hillary hadn’t been the best person, but she didn’t deserve to die like this.

  He hauled her corpse to the surface and backstroked to the dock. Nikki was already out of the water and helped haul Hillary up. By the time Gabriel climbed the ladder, Nikki had begun chest compressions.

  “Nikki.”

  “Breathe.”

  “Nikki.”

  “God damn it.”

  “Nikki.” He grasped her shoulders and pushed her back onto her heels. “She’s gone.”

  Nikki covered her face with her hands. Red lines circled her wrists.

  “She was alive a minute ago.” Nikki’s voice broke.

  “I know. Did she crash the car?”

  “No, I was trying to run it into the concrete. I didn’t know it would go over the rail.” Nikki’s dark eyes were desperate. “I didn’t mean . . .”

  “Mi cielo, she chose her path.” He grasped her hands and kissed her fingertips. Hillary had chosen this life. She’d had opportunities and the means to do better, and she’d still chosen drugs and crime.

  “What—what do we do? What about the bombs?” Nikki sat down hard on the dock. Tendrils of hair stuck to her forehead.

  “Nico disabled all but two at the track, but got caught in the first blast. Another man who was blackmailed into this was able to get the second up into the stands, away from people.”

  “Hillary didn’t know about the bombs. She freaked when that happened. I think she knew something was going to happen, that’s why we were waiting, but I don’t think she realized he was making bombs.”

  “Where was she going?”

  “I told her Wilson had another woman he was keeping in a condo. I didn’t know what else to do. We were going to Roni’s.”

  “Good call. Come on.” He pushed to his feet. Someone would have called 9-1-1 by now. The authorities would have to deal with Hillary’s body and the wreckage.

  “Where are we going?” She held up her hands and he hoisted her to her feet. There wasn’t time to be gentle.

  “There are more bombs. I’m hoping the others found the other deserters like Nico. They might know what his next target will be. I can drop you at a hospital—”

  “No.” Her spine straightened.

  “All right then. Let’s hoof it back up to the car.” He didn’t relish the idea of walking on the sunbaked asphalt, but his boots were up on the canal bridge.

  They walked up the dock to the waterfront property. Despite all the commotion, no one had emerged from the residence to see what was going on. If they were lucky it was just a couple of snowbirds, already gone.

  “What do we do about Hillary? Policy dictates I should stay here.” Nikki glanced over her shoulder.

  “If you’re able to keep going, I need you with me.” They were shorthanded as it was. Besides, she was the only one with credentials. The cops were just as likely to arrest him as they were Wilson’s people.

  “They blew something up on South Beach.”

  “I heard.”

  “Any fatalities?”

  “Maybe Nico. He was hurt pretty bad.”

  “Oh no.”

  They skirted the house and made it all the way to the side street that connected with the main drag Nikki had sailed the Mustang from. Gabriel steeled himself and set one foot on the sidewalk. The heat of a thousand suns radiated up through the sole of his foot, into his leg, and straight to his head. He hissed and back stepped onto the grass. The water dripping down his jeans almost outlined where his foot had been.

  “You aren’t wearing any shoes,” Nikki said.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll get the car. Wait here.”

  “Nikki—”

  “You want to argue this?”

  “Be easy on the accelerator.”

  “I’ll coast.”

  She let go of his hand and strode up the sidewalk. Her soaked shorts and shirt stuck to her body. She was beautiful to behold. He’d just pulled her from a sinking car and it hadn’t even made her pause. Oh, there’d be fallout later, but she’d be alive. And he’d be there by her side, because that was where he belonged. With her. Forever.

  The moments ticked by. It was completely ridiculous that the lack of shoes, of all things, meant he was stuck. At least one cop car had passed the street entrance already, and he was willing to bet there were more on the scene. He was eyeing a couple elephant ear fronds, wondering if he could fashion shoes out of them, when an all-too-familiar engine revved.

  His blood pressure probably spiked in that moment.

  He trained his eyes on the entrance to the street and waited, gripping the edges of his pockets with both hands.

  The Skyline whipped around the turn, fishtailing slightly, windows down. It stopped in a skid of burned rubber a few feet away.

  “Nikki . . .”

  She popped out of the driver’s side door and tossed his boots at him.

  “Hurry. Wilson’s next target is that student rally. The one we were at. It’s supposed to kick off in twenty minutes.”

  “What? The rally?”

  “Higher concentration of people. Kids. Not as spread out. Come on!”

  Gabriel caught the boots and shoved his feet into them. He jumped into the driver’s seat and was shifting into drive before Nikki even got in.

  “Gabriel, you there?” Emery’s voice spoke through the car speakers.

  “Yeah.” He concentrated on his mental map, drawing up the fastest route to the rally. It might start in twenty minutes, but Wilson’s people would want to set it off ten or twenty minutes after it started. Students weren’t punctual, and if they wanted the biggest bang for their barrels, they’d wait.

  “This is the target. The big one. Nico’s buddy, Bryan, is en route with the others, but I’m not sure they’ll make it in time.”

  “Who is Bryan? What do you want us to do?” Nikki asked.

  “Bryan is Mari’s husband. I don’t know what you should do.” Emery’s voice was grim.

  “Have the authorities been warned? Are they evacuating?” Nikki strapped in and clung to the door as he pushed the car to really perform.

  “The Florida field office has stepped in. Finally. Merlo doesn’t want the rally called off in case Wilson’s people decide to target something else or detonate early. There’s something like a couple thousand kids there.”

  “They
’re setting a lot of people up to die.” Gabriel could feel Nikki’s gaze on him. This was almost as bad as it could get.

  “Oh, God. Okay.” Nikki rubbed the heel of her hand across her eyes. “We need to get there. If I’m there, I can pull rank. This is my case, they have to listen to me.”

  “Do we know who or where the other guys are? We’ve got their families. They’re going to want them back.” Gabriel didn’t like using people, especially children, as leverage, but in the bigger picture it was all they had.

  “Bryan said the other two were in different groups. He’s hoping they got his message and will be able to help, but for now, don’t count on them. What route are you taking? I’m going to give you green lights the whole way if I can. The bomb squad is on their way, but they won’t get there any time soon.” Emery typed furiously in the background.

  Gabriel listed off the intersections he anticipated turning at. A grand total of six. It was a long distance to cover, but the traffic was lighter today. Maybe people were aware of crazy shits blowing stuff up and decided to stay home instead. Whatever the reason, it was shaving precious seconds off his drive time.

  Two 18-wheelers lumbered side by side, taking up the width of the road.

  “Watch out. Watch out. Watch out!” Nikki braced a foot against the floorboard and an arm against the hood of the car.

  Gabriel swerved into the street parking and gassed it, shooting past the Mack trucks. He came abreast of the cabs as they crossed into an intersection. Ahead, the sides of the street were lined with cars. He pressed the pedal harder and flipped the NOS switch. The car shuddered the moment the nitrous oxide hit the system, propelling him forward, far ahead of the trucks. At the last second, right before he would have slammed the Skyline into a parked car, he cut over in front of the truck.

  “Another thought, Emery. We need to bury as many details about Hillary and Andrew’s deaths as we can. The last thing we need is to start something with Jesse or the Cubans.”

  “I’m on it. ETA?”

  “Five. Nikki, under your seat there are two backup Glocks. Load them.” He still had his second Desert Eagle and Nikki’s SIG Sauers.

  She bent and dug the additional firearms out from under her seat. In an ideal setting, they would be wearing body armor, going in with the full crew and additional backup, but they were working with what they had.

  “What’s the plan?” Nikki asked.

  “What makes you think I have a plan?”

  “You haven’t asked me if I have one.”

  Emery made a strangled, chuckling sound in the background.

  “You won’t like it,” Gabriel admitted.

  “Just tell me.” She moved on to their backup primary weapons, ensuring those were fully loaded. They just might need every bullet they had.

  “We need to get the students out of there. I’m going to drive straight into the rally, scatter people and see who sticks around.”

  “That’s . . . not a plan.”

  “You have a better one?”

  Nikki didn’t look at him. “No.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Emery, do we know where Smith is?” Gabriel asked.

  “Matt’s at the South Beach site.”

  Gabriel turned the car down the same street they’d traveled earlier, before anyone was there. Now the sidewalks were full of people, most of whom strolled toward the park up ahead. Part of the street was barricaded and students milled around. Loudspeakers blared pop music.

  “They haven’t started yet,” Nikki said.

  “There.”

  A man in a bulky flannel shirt pushed a dolly with two kegs stacked on top of each other.

  “It could be a vendor.”

  “Yeah, but why would a vendor wear that much clothing in Miami?”

  “Look over there.” Nikki pointed at a rolling gate sliding slowly up. From their angle, they could see pallets and stacks of blue barrels inside.

  “There’s no way to tell what is what.” He hit the steering wheel with his palm.

  “Drive into the crowd.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then I’m going to do something stupid.”

  He couldn’t argue with that. They needed to clear the area. He hadn’t anticipated this many people attending the student rally. Just by the concentration of bodies, even the cooler bomb would do ten times the damage here.

  Gabriel pressed the accelerator and focused on the space between two barricades. The foot patrol officers would try to stop him. There were probably FBI agents stationed among the crowds who would move in and try to put an end to it.

  Nikki leaned out of the passenger window. In the mirror he could see part of her arm pointing straight down.

  One, then two gunshots rang out. He heard the bullets hit the pavement and at least one bounce off the car.

  The crowd seemed to flinch. Crime was high in Miami these days. Everyone knew the difference between a gunshot and a car backfiring.

  The cops at the barricades reacted first, but the car flowed past them, crashing into the barricades. People were already scattering, running, taking cover.

  He slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel. At such a low speed, the momentum didn’t carry them far. He accelerated, sending the car up and over the curb, into the cobblestone area where the crowd had been thickest.

  Cops rushed up behind them, guns drawn.

  “Shit,” he muttered. This was going to get hairy, and fast.

  A gunshot from the rear took down one officer, sending him sprawling onto the pavement.

  “Shots fired.” Gabriel tore the seat belt off and pushed his door open.

  “I think that came from the rooftop,” Nikki said.

  The remaining three officers couldn’t seem to decide if they should aim at him or wherever the shooter was.

  He kept his gun drawn, but the shooter was out of sight. Movement to his right drew his attention. He pivoted just as a man wearing a hunting vest and a trucker hat stepped out from behind a palm tree, a shotgun in his hands.

  Gabriel fired first.

  Trucker hat went down clutching his chest.

  They weren’t all wearing body armor. Maybe none of them were. He couldn’t be certain.

  Gabriel ran to the fallen officer. The man was curled up on his side, clutching his thigh. Blood oozed from the wound far too fast for Gabriel’s liking.

  Another gunshot, again from the vicinity of the roof across the street, broke through the screaming turmoil. Gabriel ducked and threw himself over the body of the fallen officer.

  “I’ve got you,” Nikki yelled between returning fire.

  “Where are the FBI?” Gabriel yelled at the officer. He grabbed the man’s dropped weapon and shoved it into his hands.

  “Stage right,” Nikki cried out a moment before firing.

  “FBI? They aren’t here yet.” The older officer was pale, his skin ashen.

  “Shit.” Gabriel flinched as a bullet bounced off the pavement not two feet away.

  He pushed up, grabbing the officer under the arms, and dragged him back to the Skyline.

  “Shoot anyone in plainclothes with a gun,” Gabriel said.

  “Who are you?” the officer asked.

  “The other FBI. The ones Matt Smith works with.”

  That explanation would have to be enough. He turned, focusing on where the last shot had come from. Where were the three officers? Had they scattered as well? Or had the militia already taken them out?

  Their position was terrible. No defensive potential, out in the open. If he’d expected a gunfight, he certainly wouldn’t have driven in here.

  “Over here,” Nikki yelled.

  Gabriel glanced at the fallen officer.

  “Go.” He waved Gabriel off.

  Gabriel jogged toward Nikki’s voice left of the stage. He peered around the stage and his stomach dropped. Nikki had the top to a metal barrel partially pried off.

  “What are you doing?” He rushed to her side a
nd snatched her back, away from potential danger.

  “It’s one of the bombs.” She backpedaled with him.

  The hair on the back of Gabriel’s neck rose. He threw them sideways a second before bullets ripped through the air right where they’d been. They landed on the stones, Nikki under him.

  “We need to get out of here,” she said.

  “We can’t leave them here with the bombs.” He pushed to his feet, dragging her with him. They skirted a side tent and some temporary bathrooms.

  “Where is the FBI?” Nikki walked backward, gun trained on the ground.

  “The cops said they haven’t made it here yet.”

  “What the hell are we doing?”

  “Keeping them occupied. Let the cops surround us, sort it all out later.”

  The speakers crackled to life.

  “Supervisory Special Agent Nikki Gage,” a man said through the PA system.

  “Oh, shit,” Nikki muttered.

  Gabriel peered around the stinking porta-potties at the back of the stage. There was a small collection of heavily armed men clustered together, most in casual clothing, a few with hunting gear strapped to them. Was that where the voice was coming from?

  “Agent Gage, you are becoming a nuisance. Do you know what I do with nuisances? I put them down.”

  “Wilson?” Gabriel asked Nikki.

  “Yeah.”

  “Agent Gage, I’m going to start killing people unless you come out here, understand? The first to go will be—what’s your name?” Muted voices muttered over the speaker. “The cop goes first. Where are you, Agent Gage?”

  “Oh, God.” Nikki put her back to the plastic restroom and stared up at the sky.

  Gabriel stepped in front of her and leaned in close until she had to look at him.

  “We end this, okay? Now,” he said.

  Nikki nodded, but there was fear in her eyes, fear and dread and more. But he couldn’t think about that. Not right now.

  “They can’t operate without Wilson. I shoot him, this whole thing goes to shit. Step out there, get his attention, I shoot. That’s it. Take cover immediately, okay?”

  “Five,” Wilson intoned over the speakers.

  “Oh, God, Gabriel.” Nikki breathed through a sob.

  “Don’t. Don’t think it. We do this. We get out. Understand?” He cupped her cheek and kissed her lips. He wouldn’t allow this to be the end for them. It just wouldn’t.