Liberty

by David Wood

  “Hawthorne is dead.”

  The man’s eyebrows narrowed and his expression became guarded. “Come on in. Tell me everything.”

  Bunyan did, feeling the emotion welling inside him as he went. He finished fighting back the tears. “The document is gone. All is lost.”

  The man waited over a minute before answering, leaving Bunyan to hang his head in his hands. Then he said, “It is a setback to be sure. The path will be harder. But all is not lost.”

  He leaned in so his face was inches from Bunyan.

  “There is another.”

  CHAPTER ONE:

  “On the plus side, he hasn’t tried to shoot us.” Uriah “Bones” Bonebrake frowned at the reflection in the rear-view mirror as he steered the rented Mustang through Philadelphia traffic.

  Dane Maddock, the man sitting in the passenger seat, couldn’t quite bring himself to chuckle at the joke. They were being followed and he had no idea why.

  “I saw that white Ford Taurus at the airport, idling near the rental car pickup. Same driver at the wheel, same red, white and blue USA hat. With all the turns we’ve taken, there’s no way it could be a coincidence having him behind us.”

  Bones took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at Dane. “What do you mean Taurus? It’s the blue Chrysler that’s following us.”

  “It was at the airport?” Dane frowned.

  “Yeah, over by the cabs. Driver’s got a beard that would make ZZ Top jealous.”

  “You realize we could be imagining things.” Dane doubted it. For all of Bones’ failings, the man had good instincts when it came to danger.

  “Two cars are at the airport at the same time as us. We cruise through the city, grab breakfast, and the same cars are still following us when we leave the parking lot. I don’t care how good the waffles were; that’s no coincidence.”

  “So we’ve got a blue Chrysler and a white Ford on our tail.”

  Bones smirked. “All we need is a red Chevy and it’ll be like the Fourth of July.”

  The mention of the holiday triggered something at the edge of Dane’s thoughts, but he couldn’t quite grab hold of it. “Want to make a guess at who they are and what they want with us?”

  “It they’re chicks, they definitely want me. Any babe with good taste will take a good-looking Cherokee over a little blond dude.”

  “I’m almost six feet tall. That’s hardly little.” Dane shook his head. At six and-a-half feet tall and well over two hundred pounds, Bones considered most people to be small.

  “I meant little in other ways.”

  Bones ignored Dane’s profane retort, depressed the accelerator, and they shot through the red light where they had been stopped. Dane glanced in the mirror and saw that the Ford remained on their tail but the Chrysler hadn’t made it through. It now sat stuck as a line of cars crossed the intersection in front of it.

  “One down, Bones. Halfway there.”

  “I haven’t even broken a sweat yet. Now for the words that drove my mom crazy when I was a kid. Watch this!”

  Bones yanked the wheel and hit the brakes, spinning the car sideways. With a squeal of rubber he flew up a side street. He repeated a similar maneuver three more times at different intersections.

  “They still there, Maddock?” he asked, his voice tight and his eyes glued to the road.

  Dane looked in the mirror and saw no cars. He risked turning his head all the way around, and for a hundred yards behind them, the street was clear.

  “Doesn’t look like it.”

  “Cool. We still gonna check out Independence Hall?”

  Dane was amazed at how calm Bones seemed after the maneuvers with the car. Then again, compared to their SEAL training, a few tight turns in traffic hardly merited a yawn. The two had just completed the three-week Jump School phase of Navy SEAL training in San Diego and were in Philadelphia for a few days of sightseeing before meeting up with two ladies they’d met on their previous leave.

  He realized that he was glad to have Bones with him, despite the man’s seeming inability to take anything seriously. Bones cut an imposing figure, but he often exuded the joy of a teenager putting one over on the old folks. On the red-eye flight from San Diego to Philadelphia, Bones had spent most of the journey flirting with a buxom stewardess. This was after conspicuously traveling in his dress whites in an attempt to convince the gate agent to upgrade them to first class. Dane could still hear the exchange in his mind.

  “I think she likes me.”

  “Maybe she’s a glutton for punishment, Bones”

  “Awesome, Maddock made a joke. I told you this trip would be fun. Hey, think she wants to join the mile high club?”

  “I’m sure she’s never heard that line before.”

  “Not from me.”

  Dane was learning that despite the constant jokes, the big man was rock-solid when things got dangerous. He just hoped the apparent danger they faced now turned out to be nothing.

  Five minutes later, they approached the University of Pennsylvania, where three large buildings seeming to rise higher than the rest on campus. It always amazed Dane how the campuses at big universities were like small cities in themselves. He glanced in the mirror one more time, though he hadn’t seen anything in his previous checks.

  “Bones, they’re back! And—” Dane stopped, not believing what he saw.

  “What else, dude? Spit it out.”

  “There’s also a red Chevy with them.”

  “You know you’re going backward, right?”

  Bones hadn’t said a word when Dane mentioned the red Chevy. Instead, he’d pulled a racing one-eighty so smoothly that Dane hadn’t even needed to steady himself. Through the windshield, he could see the surprise in the faces of their pursuers.

  Bones bared his teeth. “The best offense is a good offense.”

  “I thought the best defense was a good offense?”

  “Nah, Lombardi had it wrong. I’ve got ‘em right where I want ‘em.”

  The three cars slowed as they came closer, the drivers probably uncertain what to do next. Then Bones let the Mustang swing sideways and he took a right away from the other cars. Several more turns followed, and Dane kept watching behind them.

  “Looks like we lost the Ford.”

  Bones continued down a long straightaway. When he did speak, his tone made Dane snap his head around.

  “Holy crap, Maddock. Now we got trouble.”

  The road in front of them was blocked by the Ford and yet another vehicle. Dane considered their options, time seeming to slow as he took in the surrounding area, which was dominated by the Philadelphia Zoo. Bones interrupted him.

  “No choice, dude, I’ll have to punch through them.”

  “Bones, wait! Stop the car right here on the sidewalk, I have an idea.”

  Bones glanced at Dane for a fraction of a second before complying. As they screeched to a halt, both men jumped out of the car. Bones said, “You do remember how things turned out for Custer, right?”

  “Yeah, but we have something Custer didn’t have. Just trust me and run.”

  They quickly scaled the wall of the zoo and jumped down onto the other side. Bones’ eyebrows went up. “If you’re thinking what I think you are, I take back everything I ever said about you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. We—”

  A clang sounded next to them and a hole appeared in one of the zoo signs. With no accompanying sound of a gun firing, Dane had to assume the attackers were using silenced weapons. Neither he nor Bones had brought a gun on the trip, and Dane had left his Recon 1 knife in his luggage like an idiot. Both of them dove for the ground, rolling on their shoulders before snapping onto their feet behind a small bush.

  A few feet away loomed one of the Zoo’s main attractions, the Zoo Balloon. Thousands of visitors each year began a bird’s eye tour of the city from this very spot. Dane had noticed the balloon landing just before telling Bones to stop the car.

  “Hey Maddock, I’m all for
a balloon ride, but we could just try to lose them in the zoo instead.”

  “We could, but if a bunch of guys with guns starts chasing us in here, innocent people could get caught in the crossfire. I’m sure the zoo’s not open this early, but plenty of employees are around.”

  “I’d argue with that selfless attitude, but since I get to ride in a balloon. . .”

  They sprinted the short distance to where two men were securing the gondola while two others were getting out.

  “Hey, you can’t go in there!” Someone moved to block their way. Bones nudged him aside with just enough force to do the job, but not enough to hurt the man. They bounded up to the platform and into the gondola, ignoring the shocked looks from the zoo employees.

  “Maddock , you know how to fly one of these things, right?

  “No, but we’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.”

  “If it were up to me, you could have all the time you want, but our star spangled friends are getting close. Plus, I think the zoo guys are preparing a more forceful request for us to leave.”

  Dane fiddled with the controls in the gondola. More air started filling the canopy, and the restraints holding them to the platform opened. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the balloon started to rise at a pace that would have made a glacier impatient. As inches became a foot, Dane turned to Bones.

  “I forgot to tell you about the next part of my—”

  His final word succumbed to a staccato wave of bullets ripping into the basket and the canopy.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The balloon rose forty feet in the air before the destruction was complete enough for it to start falling. Strands of gondola webbing had snapped, leaving gaps big enough to expel a body. The stainless steel on the bottom held up better, riddled with bullet holes but fundamentally intact. The major problem was the holes in the canopy. It only took a few seconds to hit the ground once the descent began.

  “Good thing we weren’t on that balloon, dude.”

  Bones glanced back one last time as he made his way over the wall out of the zoo. Dane had already reached the ground and was scanning for additional threats. Right as the bullets started flying, he and Bones had slipped over the side of the gondola, landing on the ground with the platform hiding them from their pursuers. They could have been seen, but Dane was counting on the tendency of people to assume the obvious, in this case that Dane and Bones were trying to escape via hot air balloon. His ploy had worked.

  Bones’ feet hit the sidewalk next to him. “Do we go after those guys?”

  Dane shook his head. “I don’t think so. Even if we got our knives from the car, it’s foolish to go after three armed men on unfamiliar ground with civilians around. They just showed that they don’t care about collateral damage.”

  “We need to figure out who these jerks are, though.”

  “Yep. Follow me.”

  Dane and Bones quickly went to each of the four cars that were blocking the Mustang. “We each need to remember two of the license plate numbers.”

  “No problemo, but how are we gonna trace them?”

  “I’ll tell you when we’re back in the Mustang. Those guys have figured out by now they’ve been had, so we need to leave pronto.”

  Seconds later, Bones revved the engine of the Mustang and pulled along the sidewalk to get around the blocking vehicles. The zoo quickly disappeared in the rear view mirror.

  “Where to?”

  “Independence Hall, right?”

  “Why not? Can’t let a little thing like being shot at ruin our day.”

  “I don’t know. Last time we checked out a historic site together, we were attacked by a group of extremists who believed George Washington was visited by an angel. And that was their least crazy idea.”

  Bones smiled. “Relax, Maddock, that was in Boston. That’s hundreds of miles away. Though it wouldn’t take that long in a car like this. Let’s see how fast this baby can go. What do you think, a buck thirty, a buck forty?”

  Dane groaned. “How about we at least wait until we’re out of the school zone to find out?”

  “If you say so.”

  Dane would have just taken the subway or a bus to get around for their trip, but Bones had insisted on renting a convertible despite the early December chill. He barely fit behind the wheel of the Mustang, but his grin was as wide as the horizon when he first turned the ignition. A kid in a candy store, except the kid was almost eighty inches tall.

  “So Bones, you remember Jimmy Letson?”

  “The reporter who helped us out in Boston? Looks like Weird Al?”

  “That’s the one. I’m thinking we should put his computer hacking skills to use.”

  “I see where you’re going and I like it. He’ll bust into the government computers and find out what we need. Hey, can you tell him while he’s in there to check on Area 51? I’ve got a theory that they’re keeping the aliens hidden because they’re all hot. Like young Lieutenant Uhura hot.”

  Dane smiled. “For someone who likes to make wisecracks about nerds who read books in high school instead of getting laid, you’ve got some sci-fi knowledge.”

  “I’ve got hot babe knowledge. Big difference.”

  “Whatever. Anyway, those were Pennsylvania and Maryland plates. All he’ll have to do is get into the DMV computers.”

  Bones’ face fell. “Bummer.”

  The visuals at Independence Hall weren’t what interested Dane. It was more the feel of the place. Over two hundred years ago, in this very spot, the foundation of the American system of government was laid. It took several months, and politicians back then weren’t much different than they are now. People yelled, people got fed up and left, three people even refused to sign the final document. When it went to the states, several refused to ratify unless a Bill of Rights was added.

  In other ways, though, Dane knew most of them were different than the people in D.C. today. They had lived through a tyrannical monarchy and a bloody war, followed by almost a decade of disorganized government. They knew they needed something better and they produced it. That’s what made this place special, its history of men rising to the needs of their nation. He knew it was corny, but that same desire lay behind his joining the Navy and trying to become a SEAL.

  Bones must have felt the same way, because the big man kept his irreverent quips down to a dull roar during their tour.

  “So Bones, who was the founder you most admire?”

  “You’re asking the wrong guy. You know what most of these guys thought of Indians?”

  “Come on Bones, you wouldn’t have joined the Navy if you didn’t respect some of this stuff.”

  Bones raised his eyebrows when he met Dane’s eye. “Ben Franklin. More curiosity than almost any man in history. And not afraid to change his mind or admit he was wrong.”

  “I seem to recall he modeled his ideas for the U.S. government after the Iroquois tribes.”

  “Yep, he was one smart dude. Even smarter than you think you are, Maddock.”

  As they made their way back from Independence Square to where the Mustang was parked, Dane looked at his watch. “11:30, I’m ready for lunch.”

  “You gonna give Letson a call first?”

  Dane had called Letson from a pay phone before they went into Independence Hall. The hacker had been pleased to hear from them and assured him that getting DMV information was child’s play. Dane had allowed the earlier attack to slip from his mind during the tour, but now he agreed with Bones that they needed to find another phone.

  Letson answered on the first ring. “Maddock, I got what you need.”

  “Keep that quiet or Bones will get jealous.”

  “I still can’t believe you two are tight. Some kind of yen and yang thing?”

  “I suppose. He’s not so bad once you get to know him.”

  “Hey, it makes no difference to me. Anyway, I looked up the cars. The two Maryland plates are registered to the same Maryland Corporation called G. Mason Incor
porated. Appears to be a consulting firm, but I found no record of it anywhere other than the corporate papers with two officers’ names on it. One of them is a lawyer, probably one of those guys who’ll agree to be an officer for a fee. Another is a Graham Mason, age thirty-five. Probably the source of the corporation name. Haven’t had the chance to get the full scoop on him, but he lives in Baltimore and he’s never been arrested.

  “The two Pennsylvania cars are registered to individuals who live in Philly, James Roberge and Carl Stilton. These guys you want to watch out for. One conviction for an armed robbery which they pulled off together. Suspected of a dozen others, but not enough evidence to go to trial. They did seven years and then got out early for good behavior four years ago. I have the addresses on file with their parole officers from a year ago when parole ended.”

  “That’s awesome, Jimmy, we owe you.”

  “You do. I’m partial to Wild Turkey if you’re in the giving mood.”

  “I don’t think we’ll make it to D.C. this trip, but the drinks are on me next time I see you.” Dane hung up and looked at Bones. “We have an address. You want to check it out or have lunch first?”

  Bones opened his mouth in mock horror. “Blow off lunch just so we can go beat up on some bad guys?”

  “Bad guys who tried to kill us,” Dane reminded him.

  “Even so, I think they can wait. Man cannot live on revenge alone.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “So are you going to be the good cop or the bad cop?” Bones failed to keep the grin off his face.

  Dane looked at him. “In what universe could someone who looks like you play the good cop?”

  Bones feigned hurt. “Hey man, I’m just a big teddy bear. Okay, so bears can kill you, but still.”

  “Don’t worry Bones, I suspect we both get to be the bad cop on this one.”

  “Works for me.”

  The winter sun was setting and he and Bones stood on the sidewalk a block from the last known address of James Roberge. Roberge’s car had been one of the four chasing them, so this was their best lead. Assuming Roberge still owned the car and assuming he still lived here.