THE 13: STAND BOOK TWO

by ROBBIE CHEUVRONT

  She pounded the steering wheel in frustration. She had let her guard down. All of this running around with Farid like some infatuated schoolgirl had clouded her judgment.

  She gripped the wheel tighter and punched the gas. She would take care of Milton Hayes. And then she would deal with this mistake between her and Farid.

  CHAPTER 37

  Megan pulled the car off to the side of the road in front of Hayes’s house. The guard shack was visible from where they were, but she couldn’t see the guard anywhere inside.

  “Where do you think he is?” she asked.

  “Probably went to the loo.” Eli laughed.

  “Well, he better hurry up,” Megan said. “I’m in no mood to be waiting around.”

  “We could just go over the wall again.”

  “Uh-uh. We’re going in through the front door. And Hayes is coming out with us.”

  Eli held up his hands. “Hey, like I told you. I’m just along for the ride.”

  She recalled his taking off from her at the farmhouse. “Yeah, right.”

  She started to cross the street toward the gate when Eli called to her.

  “Hey, wait a second.” He stepped to the rear door and opened it.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Just grabbing a couple extra magazines. If Hayes decides to point that hand cannon at me again, I don’t want to run out of ammo.”

  “Fine. Hurry up.” She stood by and waited for him to catch up with her.

  Suddenly Eli scrambled out from the backseat. “Megan! Get over here. Now!”

  She had no idea what was going on, but his tone was anything but subtle. He had crouched down beside the car, as if he were taking cover. Out of instinct, she drew her weapon and started looking around as she hurried back to where he was.

  “What is it?”

  “This.”

  The tracking device from earlier was in his hand. And the little red dot was blinking furiously. Her eyes went wide. “She’s here?”

  “Her car is, anyway.”

  She leaned back against the car. “Okay, we have to think this through. If she’s in there, it means one of two things. Either they’re having a private meeting…”

  Eli finished her thought for her. “Or she’s here to make sure Hayes isn’t coming with us.”

  Megan nodded.

  “So how do you want to play this?”

  She thought about it for a moment. She was too small to get over the wall on her own. “Can you scale the wall around back without me?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Okay, then you go around back. I’ll wait two minutes, and then I’ll come through the front.”

  “What about the guard?”

  She peeked her head up over the car. The guard was still nowhere to be seen. “Got a bad feeling about him. Not sure he’s going to be an issue.”

  “Okay. Give me two minutes.” He started to move.

  Megan reached out and grabbed his arm. “Hey. Keep your head down and your eyes open.”

  Eli smiled at her. “No worries. I’m the real James Bond, remember?”

  “That’s what worries me.” She pulled her sleeve up and started watching the second hand on her watch as Eli took off.

  At one minute and fifty seconds, she darted out from behind the car and crossed the street. She stayed close to the wall as she approached the guard shack. When she got there, she popped her head around the corner and then right back. Nothing.

  She stayed low and hugged the wall as it turned into the drive. The guard shack was only twenty feet away. She crept up to the side door and turned the knob. The door opened without any resistance. Inside, lying on the floor in a pool of blood, was the guard. He had been shot twice through the forehead.

  A door on the opposite side of the guard shack led to the property on the other side of the gate. She opened the door slowly, her gun pointed ahead of her. The path leading to the house was empty. And she could see now that the lights in the house were all off, except for one upstairs, and another down.

  She hurried across the circular drive, stopping once in front of the huge water fountain sitting in the grassy center of the circular drive. She tried to strain her ears to hear anything. But she couldn’t hear a sound. She popped her head around once more to make sure the coast was clear. Then she took off at a dead run for the door.

  She half expected to feel bullets whizzing by her head as she made her way to the door. But nothing came. She was beginning to wonder if maybe Hayes was having a private meeting with Sokolov. She went to turn the knob on the door but noticed that the door was already ajar. So much for the private meeting theory.

  By this time, she was sure that Eli had made his way over the wall. She wondered if he had bothered to stop and disarm the alarm this time. She didn’t know if it really mattered or not, but if it did, she hoped he had. The last thing they needed was to alert Sokolov they were there. Especially if Hayes was still alive. She wanted Hayes for herself.

  She quietly pushed the door open and stepped inside, sweeping her weapon as she moved. Hayes’s office was just off to the right, down a short hall. She decided to clear that area first.

  She had just made it to the office when everything went wrong. She heard thumping coming from upstairs. Then shots. At least five. Then someone screaming. A man. But not Eli. No, the voice was too high pitched. It had to be Hayes.

  She turned around and began moving quickly back down the hall. More shots. She made it back out to the foyer. More shots. And glass breaking. Then, more shots. Suddenly, a loud crashing sound came from above her. The banister from the catwalk above came crashing down into the living area. And with it, a body.

  Megan screamed in horror as she realized what had just happened. “Eli—no!” She ran out into the room, firing her weapon blindly up at the catwalk. Eli lay with his leg twisted behind him and two bullet wounds through his chest.

  She had just gotten to him when more shots began to ring out from above. She raised her weapon and began firing as fast as she could at the catwalk as she ran into the kitchen. “Lights up!” she yelled. Slowly the lights began to come up. She dove for the marble-covered island that stood in the middle of the room. She had just gotten behind it when more shots rang over her head and into the cabinets behind her.

  “Nice to see you again, Ms. Taylor. It’s been awhile.”

  The voice was evil, and it sent chills up Megan’s spine.

  “I thought I killed you,” she yelled over the island.

  “Yeah. Me, too. Guess not, though.”

  More shots.

  “But you can bet on one thing,” Sokolov shouted.

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?” Another four rounds hit the cabinets behind her.

  “I’m the one walking out of here today.”

  Megan decided to take a chance and stick her arm around the side to fire. She braced herself and whipped her arm around the corner and let off a barrage of fire, almost emptying her magazine. “We’ll see about that,” she yelled.

  Nothing.

  She waited another few seconds. “Hey, Sokolov—you alive?”

  She was answered by another round of shots above her head. I guess so, she said to herself. Then, “Hey! Why won’t you just die? It would make my life a whole lot easier.”

  Another round of fire. This time, though, they were aimed right at the island. She heard the rounds splinter the wood inside. Another couple of rounds like that, and this island wasn’t going to be much for cover anymore. She needed to move. But there was nowhere to go. The closest line of escape was a hallway that led to a set of bedrooms and the formal dining room. But it was fifteen feet away. And she would have to move out into the open to get there.

  “Tell you what,” Sokolov yelled. “Why don’t you just come out here? I promise, I’ll kill you quick. I won’t just leave you here to die…like you did me.”

  Another round of gunfire came at her. This time, Sokolov hit her mark. Two of the rounds had come throu
gh the island. Megan was knocked back against the sink behind her as one round hit her in the shoulder. The other in the leg.

  She began to panic a little. She had never been shot before. But she’d heard about it. All the rumors were true. You felt the impact, but not the pain. At least initially. It was the body’s reaction to a violent injury. Shock. But it wouldn’t last for long, she knew. Within minutes, she was going to feel both of those rounds. And it wasn’t going to be pleasant. She had to move. Now.

  She raised the gun over her head, above the island, and fired until she had emptied the magazine. She quickly ejected it and slammed a fresh one home. She stood up and started firing as she ran for the hallway. She made it halfway there when something like a freight train slammed into her chest. It knocked her down to the floor. She couldn’t breathe. What was happening? Her vision was beginning to blur.

  She tilted her head in the direction of Sokolov. She saw the assassin step out from behind the half wall that separated the kitchen from the living area and begin walking toward her. She had a twisted, noxious smile painted on her face. She raised the gun and pointed it at her head.

  “Well, Ms. Taylor. It looks like I win this round.”

  Suddenly, Megan caught movement right behind Sokolov, as someone slammed into her from behind. Sokolov’s gun pitched forward and slid across the tile floor of the kitchen. Sokolov scrambled to her feet and turned to see her attacker. Eli was there, on his knees with his Glock pointed at her. He let off a string of shots as Sokolov dove for cover. Megan heard her shriek. Eli must’ve hit her. He kept firing until his magazine was empty. Then he fell back to the floor in front of her.

  Megan heard a door slam, then the sound of a car’s engine. Then tires squealing. Sokolov was gone.

  Megan forced herself up off the floor and tried to drag herself over to where Eli lay. She had felt for her sat-phone in her pocket but remembered she had tossed it in the console when she and Eli had started checking out hotels, trying to find Sokolov. Her breathing was becoming labored now. She felt weak. She only had a few more feet to go. If she could get there, maybe Eli had his sat-phone in his pocket. She almost got there before her arms gave out. She slammed back to the floor. She was so tired.

  Maybe she would just close her eyes for a second.

  CHAPTER 38

  Raleigh International Airport (RDU)

  Raleigh, North Carolina

  The steps to the G-5 lowered as Keene and Boz stood by the door ready to move the moment the stairs hit the ground. Keene had been trying to reach Megan on the sat-phones Jennings had given her and Eli for almost two hours now with no luck.

  Keene had called Jennings on the way to pick Boz up and told him that they needed a plane. And they needed it now. He filled Jennings in on the call from the Prophet. Jennings made a few calls and told him that a G-5 would be waiting for them.

  The flight was quick—they were only in the air thirty minutes. And Jennings had a car waiting for them when they arrived. Jennings had also caught Keene up to speed on what Megan and Eli had been doing for the last two days. When Keene heard they had been tailing Judge Hayes, he decided Hayes’s place was where they would start.

  The steps finally finished extending. Keene took them two at a time. He threw his bag into the back of the big Suburban and waited for Boz to jump in. Boz, once inside, opened a map and began barking out directions to him.

  “I’m really worried, Boz. It’s been two hours.”

  Boz kept his head on the map. “Everything’s going to be fine, Jon. We’ll be there in less than twenty minutes.”

  Raleigh International Airport was only about fifteen miles from Hayes’s house in Cary. But that didn’t make Keene feel any better. He remembered what the Prophet had said. “Megan’s in trouble.” He punched the gas and ran a light that was turning red.

  At this time of night, there was almost no traffic. The fifteen-mile trip took right at twenty minutes. As Keene drove down the street to Hayes’s address, he tried Megan’s sat-phone once more. “It’s still going to voice mail!”

  “Jon, let’s just get to Hayes’s and see what’s going on. We’ll ask him the last time he saw them and go from there.”

  Keene slowed down as they approached the address. He immediately saw the car parked on the street. “They’re here!”

  Boz looked up. “Yeah, that looks like a fed car to me.”

  Keene screeched the tires as he whipped the big SUV into Hayes’s drive. He slammed on the brakes when he realized he was about to run over the gate. It had been apparently crashed and was now barely hanging from its hinges.

  Keene didn’t even wait for Boz. He jumped out of the truck with his weapon up, sweeping the grounds. He started toward the house and watched as Boz came around the back of the truck and checked on the guard shack.

  “Guard is down, Jon. Go! Go! Go!”

  Keene took off at a dead run down the rest of the short drive. He took the small set of stairs leading to the front door in one leap. He kicked the door in on his way through. And immediately began yelling. “Megan! Eli!”

  He looked to his left up a wide sweeping staircase that led to a catwalk. In front of him, the foyer opened up into a large living area. He saw the wood from the balcony lying on the couch in the middle of the floor. It still had part of the railing and spindles attached to it. Quickly he ran into the room and looked around. There, fifteen feet to his left, as the living area gave way to the kitchen, two bodies lying next to each other on the floor. “Boz! Get in here! Now!”

  Keene ran over to where Megan and Eli lay. He quickly felt for a pulse on both of them. He had no idea how long they had been lying there, but the acrid smell of gunpowder still hung in the room. Fifteen, twenty minutes maybe? There was nothing on Eli. He couldn’t find one on Megan either at first. But then he felt a faint blip, as he moved his fingers around her neck. He quickly ripped Megan’s shirt open. “Thank You, God!” She was wearing a vest. He saw a hole just above her collarbone and one in her left shoulder. He reached around her back and felt the exit wounds for both. But there wasn’t much blood, so there had to be something else. He lifted her left arm above her head. That’s when he saw it. Just on the inside of her chest wall, underneath her arm, another hole. He felt around on her lower back for another exit wound. There was none. The bullet was still inside. He needed to get her to a doctor.

  By this time, Boz was beside him, working on Eli. He had Eli’s shirt off and was performing CPR.

  “Boz, anything?”

  “There’s a pulse, but it’s faint.”

  “Megan’s got a hole with no exit wound. She needs to get to a doctor fast.”

  Boz looked at him. “Eli, too. Two wounds to the upper chest. I don’t think it hit anything major, but he’s losing a lot of blood. Neither one of them are going to make it if we don’t get them help. And I mean like now.”

  Keene knew Boz was right. They couldn’t stay here and wait for an ambulance. He pointed at Eli. “You get him. I’ve got her.”

  Together, they grabbed their friends and carried them back out to the Suburban. Keene pulled out the sat-phone and jumped in the front as Boz jumped in the back with the two patients, where he grabbed the first-aid pack from under the backseat.

  “Lights and sirens the whole way, Jon.”

  “Roger that.” Keene punched the speed dial for Jennings and slammed the gas on the big SUV, which fishtailed as he backed out into the street.

  “This is Jennings.”

  “Megan and Eli have been shot. They’re both critical. I need a medic at the tarmac in fifteen.”

  “I’ll have him there.”

  Keene punched the button and threw the phone in the seat beside him. “What’s going on back there, Chappy?”

  “I’m working on it. Just punch it and go.”

  Keene already had the pedal pretty much to the floor. The only time he’d let off so far was when they had to take a curve. The sat-phone began buzzing in the seat. Keene picked it up. �
�Yeah?”

  It was Jennings. “RDU has trauma EMTs on staff. They’ll meet you at the hangar. You need to stay out of their way and let them work when you get there, Jon. You hear me?”

  “Got it.”

  “You’ll be landing at Andrews. I’ll meet you there. They’ll take them to Malcolm Grow until they can get them stable. Then I’ll have them moved to Bethesda.”

  “I’m two minutes from the tarmac. We’ll see you in thirty minutes.”

  Again he clicked off the phone and threw it in the seat. “How are they, Boz?”

  “Just get us there.”

  Keene mashed the gas pedal as hard as he could.

  When he pulled up to the plane, an ambulance was sitting outside. The steps were already down and a group of EMTs came running out to meet them. They threw open the doors to the Suburban and pulled Megan and Eli out, placing them on gurneys, then folded the gurney wheels under and hustled up the steps. Keene and Boz followed. Less than a minute later, the plane was in the air.

  The EMTs had Megan and Eli in the back of the plane, where the galley opened up into a kitchen area. They were working feverishly on both of them. Keene couldn’t tell who was doing what to whom. He and Boz just stood in the front of the plane, watching the chaos happening before them. Finally, Boz turned to him.

  “Jon, we should pray.”

  Boz’s voice jarred him back. “Wh–what?”

  “Pray, Jon. We should pray for them.”

  “Ah, yeah. Sure.”

  Keene had been so caught up in what was happening, he hadn’t even thought that praying was something he should be doing. He looked over to his friend who was already on his knees with his elbows in the chair in front of him. Keene knelt down beside him. “I’m still new at this, Boz. I don’t know what to say or how to really do this.” He hung his head as he felt Boz’s arm come around him.

  “You just talk to God, is all. That’s it. Tell you what, you just pray silently. Just say whatever’s on your heart. And I’ll pray out loud for both of us. Okay?”