Killer Assignment

by Black, Maggie K.

  As they soared through a break in the trees, the long, winding road leading to the Shields complex spread out beneath them. Verses from Psalm 139 fluttered to the front of her mind. “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too lofty for me to attain...”

  There was a black van underneath them speeding toward the complex. A special guest who was late for the brunch or early for the gala that night? Or just a delivery van of some sort? A sudden chill spread through her limbs, and she slid closer to Mark. The last time she’d been too close to a delivery van she’d been lucky to make it out alive. She took a deep breath and centered herself.

  “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”

  “Hey, man.” Mark tapped the pilot on the shoulder. “You’re flying a bit low. You might want to pull up a bit, or you’ll risk clipping a tree.” The pilot shrugged and ignored him.

  The road dipped sharply to the left. The van swerved hard and barely managed to stay out of the ditch. Chances were the driver had been too busy watching the helicopter to notice where the road was going.

  “If I go up to the heavens you are there... If I make my bed in the depths...”

  As she watched, the van below them skid into a tree, and a deafening bang filled the air. The van burst into flames. Ethan swore loudly. Panic gripped at Katie’s throat as she looked down to see the vehicle’s windows explode outward. Thick black smoke billowed out of the back. Tongues of fire licked out through the van’s shattered windows.

  The delivery vehicle had just caught fire. But how? Why? How did a van just blow up like that? And why were the flames coming out of the back and not the engine?

  Mark’s hand grabbed hers. His face had gone white. “I think they were carrying some kind of crude explosive device.”

  “What?” Her mind scrambled to make sense of what he was telling her.

  “I think the van contained some kind of homemade bomb. And it went off.”

  Smoke from the fire below began to fill the air around them. The helicopter pilot peered out the window, craning his neck to look at the fire below. Ethan was shaking.

  “Stop gawking.” Mark banged hard on the back of pilot’s seat. “We’ve got to get away from here! Now!”

  But it was too late. Within moments, smoke had surrounded the small aircraft, blocking their view from the windows on every side. The pilot swore and grabbed for the controls. He was flying blind. Fear gripped Katie’s throat. If he couldn’t see, they couldn’t land. “I’m just going to—” But the pilot’s words were lost in the crack of tree branches hitting the sides of the helicopter. The nose of the aircraft dipped sharply toward the ground. Mark threw his arms around her and pulled them both down into the brace position. She closed her eyes, panicked prayers pouring from her lungs.

  They were going to crash.

  FIFTEEN

  Pain exploded through Katie’s head like stars. A heavy mass of trees had broken the helicopter’s fall. The small aircraft was now suspended sideways, caught between two trees a few feet off the ground.

  “You okay?” Mark’s hand was still clutching hers like a lifeline.

  “I think so.” Thank God. She looked around, her eyes struggling to make sense of the scene around her. Ethan had been tossed between the front seats and was now wedged there. Blood was smeared against the console and splashed up against the windscreen. The pilot wasn’t moving.

  Mark kicked the door open. They had stopped about eight feet off the ground. The branches had cushioned their fall; otherwise there was no telling how fast they would’ve hit the ground. He swung his legs into the gap, unbuckled his seat belt and then dropped down onto the forest floor. Then he reached up for her. “Can you get your seat belt off?”

  “Yes. But what about the others?”

  “Once you’re out, I’ll climb back in and we can see about getting them out.”

  She struggled against the seat belt for a moment; then suddenly, it swung free. She fell a couple of feet before feeling his hand reach up to steady her. She jumped down. Thick trees filled her view in every direction.

  Mark hauled himself back in. “Your boss is alive. But unconscious. If I lower him down, can you help him onto the ground?”

  “Yeah.”

  Slowly, Ethan’s feet and legs came into view. She wrapped her arms around his waist, then carefully eased him onto the ground. Mark tossed down a pillow. She tucked it under his head. Ethan groaned.

  There was a long pause, and then Mark leaped back down to the ground again. “The pilot’s dead. He smashed his head against the console. Death would have been immediate. Probably never even knew what had happened.”

  She pressed her fingers into her temples. “There was a delivery van on the road below us, and then it exploded.” Her head was still throbbing. “You said you thought it was a bomb?”

  “A homemade, badly constructed one, yes.” He slid an arm around her shoulder. “It’s just a guess. But it’s an educated one. Especially since Detective Brandt mentioned bomb-making sites this morning. I’d hazard, something in a glass container that broke when they hit the corner. I once helped clear a clinic in Africa after rebels had mined it with handmade explosives. Crude, sloppy, small radius, but they can still pack a pretty powerful punch.”

  Ethan muttered something that sounded like “online now” before lapsing into a string of unintelligible gibberish.

  Mark wrinkled his nose. “Has he been drinking?”

  “Probably alcohol plus drugs of some sort. It’s an everyday thing with him.”

  “I’m sorry. It must make him horrible to work for.” He knelt down and pried Ethan’s eyes open long enough to get the pupil size. Ethan whined and threatened to kill him. Then he started snoring as soon as Mark let him go. “I’m guessing he has a concussion. But I can’t tell if it’s anything more serious than that until the drugs wear off. We’ve got to get him to a hospital.”

  He felt in Ethan’s pockets and pulled out a cell phone. It fell apart in his hands. “The pilot’s phone didn’t survive the crash either, and the radio is down. You still got my GPS?”

  She dug it out of her pocket. The medallion was so badly dented it was bent almost in half. She dropped it into his hand. He ran his fingers over the twisted metal. He shook his head. “I can’t activate the emergency signal. But hopefully the GPS is still emitting. Can you walk?”

  She nodded.

  “Hopefully we’re not that far from the road.”

  His eyes fell onto her face. “What is it?”

  She stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m just really thankful you’re here right now.”

  “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” He looked back at the wall of trees and chuckled under his breath. “Well, obviously there are a lot of places I’d rather we were right now. But yeah, when the explosion went off, I was thanking God pretty hard that we were in this together.”

  He slid his arms under Ethan and scooped him up like a child. Ethan moaned something unintelligible and swatted at him ineffectually.

  There was the crack of breaking branches off to her right, followed by the rustle of something moving through the trees. “Someone’s coming.”

  “Actually, sounds more like a team of someone’s.” He pulled Ethan’s limp body to his chest. “Looks like someone saw our helicopter go down and sent out a search party.”

  The trees parted. Al stepped into the clearing. Billy and the two other young men she’d seen on the highway flanked him.

  Al cocked a handgun and pointed it straight at Mark’s head. “This time we’re going to do things my way.”

  SIXTEEN

  Maybe it would have been different if it hadn’t been for the gun in Al’s hand. Maybe if she hadn’t seen the motley group of arme
d young men behind him or known that Mark was holding Ethan’s semidelirious body...maybe then the fight instinct would have kicked in for Katie. Maybe she would have grabbed the nearest heavy object, barreled into Al screaming at the top of her lungs and fought for their lives. At least that’s what she’d end up telling herself on the nights she couldn’t sleep. But it all happened so fast. Al and his makeshift army had Mark surrounded before he could have possibly set Ethan down safely.

  “Katie!” Mark shouted. “Run!”

  But before she could take two steps, Billy’s hand had clamped on her wrist, yanking her back. Desperately, she grabbed his arm with her other hand and tried to twist herself out of his grasp when the sudden sound of gunfire filled the air.

  One of the boys had fired. Yanking her arm free, she spun toward Mark, relief coursing through her when she saw he was still standing. Al turned slowly toward his army, keeping his gun trained on Mark’s head.

  The boys were looking to Al with hesitation. They were all teenagers, and one seemed so drunk he could barely stand up straight. An assortment of different guns and knives were in their hands.

  So this is what you got by placing an ad online—stupid, young, angry, desperate thugs who weren’t even sure what they were supposed to be shooting at. Al was old enough to have chosen this kind of evil. But what about his followers? The kidnapper the police already had in custody was young enough to still be in high school. How old had the driver of the van been?

  “Let them go.” She stepped in front of him. “These kids? Let them all go, and please get my friend Ethan to a hospital. I don’t know what you’re after, but nobody else needs to die for it. I’ll stay—”

  “No!” Mark slowly lowered Ethan to the ground. He opened his hands and held them palms up. “Take me. Let Katie and everyone else go.”

  A hideous grin stretched across Al’s face.

  Desperately, Katie’s eyes met Mark’s. She mouthed, “I don’t want to leave you.” He shook his head.

  “Katie has done nothing to deserve this.” Mark turned back to their kidnappers. “I don’t know why you’re after her, but I promise you that you’ve got the wrong woman.” He took a step forward. “I’m Jonah Shields’s son. Whatever problem you think you have with the Shields Corp or whatever money you’re hoping to collect, take me instead. I promise if you guarantee her safety I will not fight you.”

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” Al snapped. “You so much as flinch and I’ll shoot off her hand. Keep fighting me after that and I’ll take off the other one, then feet and then I’ll start to get really creative.” He chuckled. “I just need her alive. I don’t care what state she’s in.”

  He flicked a hand toward the boys. They moved around her and encircled her. A skinny figure stepped forward and pushed the butt of his gun into her neck.

  She glanced at the boy, staring into his young brown eyes. “Please. I don’t know what lies you’ve been told. But believe me. You’re not going to get what you want this way.”

  Al snorted and shot her a withering glance. “I can assure you that by the time this is done I will have exactly what I want.” He’d stepped toward her, reached down and grabbed her by the hair, turning her face until it was looking directly into his own. “I’ve been promised a lot of money for you, and believe me, if I had known how much trouble you were going to be, I would have asked for double. Now that I have you, I am not about to let you go until I have collected every penny.” He glanced at Mark. “Then I’ll worry about what I can get for him.”

  She winced as the pain of his grip shot through her skull.

  “I’m warning you,” she gasped, “that no matter what you threaten us with, we’re not going to make it easy for you.”

  His laugh turned into a snarl. Someone yanked her hands together from behind. She heard Mark shout. Then something was pulled over her head.

  * * *

  Mark’s heart was beating so hard he could feel each painful beat as it banged against his chest. He watched as the boys pulled a pillowcase over Katie’s head. Then they bound her hands behind her back with a zip tie.

  Oh, God, what do I do?

  Everything in him wanted to charge the men and fight them for her life. But he also knew sudden movement could get Katie shot.

  Katie kicked and thrashed as two of the boys tried to grab her legs. Al had only three teenagers with him now. None of the boys looked strong enough to carry Katie by themselves, and there was no way they’d be able to carry all three of them.

  “Let her walk,” Mark shouted, “or are you planning to carry us all that way?”

  Al held up a hand. Katie stopped kicking and went limp.

  Good job. As long as they left her legs untied, there was a chance she could still run. A slim chance, but he’d take anything that increased her chances of survival. Ethan groaned and crawled onto his hands and knees. Grabbing on to Mark, he dragged himself to his feet like a toddler leaning on a parent.

  Al smirked. “Fine.” He gestured to Ethan. “You help Billy carry that one. I’m sure I can find use for another hostage. If you put him down, I will shoot her. If you do not walk where I tell you, I will shoot her. If either of you try to run, I will shoot her.”

  Mark nodded and slid an arm under Ethan’s shoulder. At least he wasn’t being asked to let Ethan die. No matter what he had been like as a boss, no one deserved that.

  One of the boys yanked a pillowcase over Mark’s head. Then Al instructed them to march. Mark stepped forward, shrugging his shoulders just lightly enough to create a millimeter gap between the pillowcase and his chest. Okay, now he could see the ground.

  They were walking through the forest. He and Billy were half dragging, half carrying Katie’s boss as he stumbled along between them. Hands shoved Mark forward. A rifle butt jabbed hard into the small of his back. Mark kept his breath steady, focused on the patch of ground at his feet, and he listened for the sound of Katie’s breath. As Zack had often pointed out, patience had never come easily to him. His impulse was to run, to fight and to jump into action without thinking. Much as he’d left home without even thinking through how it would hurt his sister.

  Now, if he started running recklessly, he was risking the life of someone he loved.

  Okay, God. I’m listening. Waiting on you.

  One of the boys was arguing with Al now. It was apparent he was having second thoughts. But when Al threatened to shoot him, the boy fell silent again.

  It was clear who was the boss of this operation. And he was either foolish enough or greedy enough to take more hostages than he could probably manage to ransom. But Al’s methods had been sloppy from the beginning, and his mistakes might have been all that had kept them alive so far. It was also clear from what Al had said earlier that he’d been acting on the orders of someone else. Someone else wanted Katie kidnapped. Al was just the hired gun.

  Tell me what to do. Tell me how to save her. Show me when to act.

  The gun barrel pushed him forward. He focused on the tiny gaps of terrain at his feet. Judging by the scuff marks, they were tracing the same ground the men had walked to find them. The ground sloped down slightly. He heard the soft lapping of water brushing the shore. Then suddenly, they left the woods and stepped out onto soft green turf.

  The golf course. Oh, thank you, God. He knew where they were.

  They followed the grass until it turned to cobblestone. Of course, the abandoned clubhouse. It was outside the main walls, and from what Sunny had said, it was unlikely Shields’s security would be wasting their manpower on monitoring it too closely.

  Their kidnappers propelled them up a flight of wide stone steps and through the front lobby. Come on, Mark, think. You’ve got this. You know where you are. Ethan was yanked from his grasp, and Mark heard him cry out in pain. Then his voice disappeared behind a slamming door. So Al was separating the
m. Mark focused on Katie’s breath, fast and shallow and just a few steps ahead of him. They turned right, down a hallway, through a door and then up another flight of stairs to the service level.

  A door creaked open to his right. The storage closet. Of course. The claustrophobic space with built-in shelves probably looked like the perfect makeshift cell.

  At least, to an inattentive eye.

  “Stick her in there,” Al said. “We’ll put him in the freezer.”

  He heard Katie gasp and then the sound of her falling. Dear Lord, please give me the speed. Mark yanked the pillowcase off his head and dove toward the storage cupboard. The teenager behind him fumbled with his gun, then fired, the bullet flying so close to Mark’s back he half expected to feel the searing pain of a bullet pierce his skin. Instead, the recoil seemed to have thrown the boy off balance, sending the bullet into the door frame. Pushing Katie in deeper, Mark slammed the heavy door behind them and braced his weight against it. Dim light was filtering in through a skylight high above. Yanking his belt off, he wrapped it around the inside door latch and tethered it to the built-in shelves.

  There, that should keep them from being able to open the door until he could think of a more permanent solution.

  There was the sound of Al yelling, the door rattling, the hammer being yanked back on a gun. Mark threw his body over Katie’s as someone started firing into the cupboard. The metal door was pretty strong, but it would hardly hold up forever under that kind of punishment.

  “Stop!” Al ordered. “You’re wasting ammo.” The bullets stopped. “They’re not going anywhere. You there, watch the door and keep your gun pointed at it.”

  Mark rolled off Katie. “It’s okay. It’s me. We’re safe.” Pulling her into his arms, he eased the pillowcase off Katie’s head.