“Don’t worry,” Alicia hefted the shotgun, “I’m Wonder Woman and this here is The Slug. We’re on your side.”
Russo grunted in resignation, then moved past her. They reached the end of the aisle and peered carefully around a crate of on-sale DVDs.
“Clear,” Russo said.
The team sprinted to the far end. Another quick recce revealed two more shoppers escaping an aisle marked DIY and the sounds of angry men shouting in a Middle-Eastern dialect.
Alicia crossed the supermarket aisles quickly. To left and right were high shelves stacked with all manner of goods, everything picked out in bright lights, red labels that shouted Reduced and Buy Two Get One Free positioned at eye level, but in truth this was an alien place to her. Alicia couldn’t remember the last time she’d visited a megastore like this.
She checked the DIY aisle with Russo at her side. Even as they glanced past an eight-foot-high stack of beer cans two men came at them, guns out as they rounded the corner. Alicia saw no alternative. She threw herself at the beer cans, toppling the entire stack just as bullets were fired. The tumbling metal cascade collapsed and slithered across the floor, smashing into the knees of their attackers.
Alicia followed it, falling among the cans herself but hitting the two men with effective force. Both staggered and went down amid the cans. That left Russo standing, skipping to the right to evade the flow. He picked the first attacker off instantly, shooting him through the head. Blood sprayed the beer cans and the man fell dead. The second scrambled at Alicia; the two slipping and sliding among the cans. Several burst then — their contents shooting up and out in forceful jets.
Crouch came around the corner to witness it.
“What on earth? What happened here?”
Russo tried to sight the second attacker. “Alicia happened,” he said.
“Say no more.” Crouch led Caitlyn and Austin down the next aisle, trying to hang on to the thieves.
Alicia ignored the sudden soaking of her legs and hair, and jabbed a fist up at her opponent’s throat. The man choked, but still held on to his gun. A shot was fired, the bullet slamming into the cans and then glancing away. More beer spewed across both of them. Alicia jumped at the gun arm, pinning it down, taking several blows to the ribs and the back of the neck, but ignoring them in favor of grabbing the weapon. Her own shotgun had slid under a nearby rack of shelving. In pain now, she broke the man’s wrist, yanked the gun away, and turned it upon him.
“Hands up.”
He lunged for the gun.
She shot him through the face. More blood mixed with the pooling beer. Alicia rose quickly, dripping, and tried to squeeze the legs of her jeans and her hair dry. She pocketed the gun and took off after Crouch.
Russo was with her, chuckling to himself.
“What?” she grumbled.
“I’ve never seen anyone stop for a beer in the middle of a fight before.”
“Fuck off.”
“You do smell better than normal though.”
Alicia shepherded a gaggle of scared shoppers away from the area and then caught up with Crouch. The thieves were running along the back wall of the store, passing the bedding aisle and then hurrying among the freezers. Alicia parallel-tracked them, taking the next aisle and ducking as bullets burst through the shelving. She didn’t fire back in case she hit Terri or Cutler.
Pure instinct saved her life then, and the lives of some of her crew. Something changed in her peripheries. It was sheer impulse; just the knowledge that they were suddenly under intense threat. She yelled out and rolled, then looked up.
A man lay over the piles of toilet paper stacked on top of the shelves, twelve feet high. Had she seen a shadow? Heard a rustle? She didn’t know, but fired instantly. The bullet missed but the man shifted in fear. The plastic-wrapped piles crumbled away from each other, sending him sprawling to the floor, landing flat on his face. The groan told her he was hurt. Austin didn’t ask, just jumped over to restrain his arms.
Alicia jumped up and made the end of the aisle in just a few seconds. The thieves were being pushed through a rear door whilst four men watched their backs. Bullets peppered the shelves all around Alicia.
She fell back quickly.
“They definitely have a plan,” she said. “They’re exiting through a fire exit back there.”
“Time to stand up and be counted.” Russo loaded his weapon.
Alicia accepted a gun Crouch had collected from one of the fallen thieves. “Austin, stay back. The rest: We ready to save America?”
Crouch nodded with determination. “We chased the bloody treasure this far. How much further can it go?”
“And watch out for those two thieves,” Alicia said. “They might be scared, but they could be tricky too.”
Russo sniffed at her. “C’mon, beer breath. You’re stinking up the store.”
Alicia moved out.
CHAPTER SIX
Russo stormed the fire exit door, shooting bullets that sprayed all around the frame. Guards stationed there jumped through the exit just in time, retreating under the onslaught. Alicia backed Russo, ranging to the right. Together, they approached the exit and peered through.
The door was open wide, banging against the wall. It led to a rear parking area and a row of enormous delivery bays. Alicia fell to one knee, sighting on several fleeing men, but then her attention was taken by an altercation to their right. Terri Lee and Paul Cutler were making a break for it.
Cutler had dislodged the banner from his shoulder, turned, and leapt upon a guard. The two men wrestled around the floor. Terri was on her knees, trying to unbuckle the rear catch that held the banner to her own shoulder before any other guards noticed. Cutler fought his man — the thief looked immensely strong but possessed no real fighting skills. The gun rattled away. This alerted another guard, who then trained his weapon on Cutler. Terri jumped up and ran at him, arms outstretched. Even from here Alicia could hear the scream:
“Noooooo!”
Sounds like she cares for Cutler.
Storing that one away, she fired at the guard targeting Cutler. Bullets flashed all around him, making him scuttle away quicker than Terri ever could. On the floor, Cutler succumbed to a blow to the head. The guard rose and started screaming at both of them, motioning that they retrieve the fallen banner.
Alicia surveyed the rest of the area. The thieves or terrorists or guards — or whatever the hell they were — numbered six strong and were ranged across the parking lot, sheltering behind concrete stanchions and a single parked truck.
“Too exposed,” Russo muttered. “We wouldn’t make it ten feet under gunfire.”
“Neither will they,” Crouch said. “But we do need backup. Let me try these goddamn muppets again.”
Alicia watched the men outside scrambling for cover and pulling the two thieves back into line. The banner itself was right there, as clear as day under the bright lights, not twenty meters from her. It might as well have been three hundred. They couldn’t advance without more firepower.
Crouch cursed. “Now they understand our situation,” he spat. “But are under incredible pressure of their own. They told me to handle it.”
“Wait,” Caitlyn said. “What’s that?”
A small car was arrowing its way across the parking lot, coming from behind the thieves but aiming straight at them. The driver looked vaguely familiar.
“Shit, that’s Will Austin,” Crouch groaned. “I told you — enthusiastic but stupid.”
“He’s gonna take some fire,” Alicia warned. “When they turn, we shoot.”
It happened very quickly. Austin targeted the first enemy shooter who only realized in the last few seconds that there was a vehicle behind him. Its front fender clipped his hip, making him scream and sending him tumbling away to the left. Austin then redirected his aim to the next who had already heard the commotion and turned to see him coming. The man rose and took aim at Austin’s windshield.
Russo squeezed his own
trigger first. The bullet struck cleanly in the center of the man’s back, propelling him forward onto the hood of the car and right over the top. The windshield smashed, the car veered wildly, but then zeroed in on the next gunman.
“Way to go, Willy,” Alicia whispered, copying Russo’s actions of a moment before and killing another gunman just a few seconds before he fired at Austin.
That left just three, including the two near Terri and Cutler.
Austin concentrated on driving at the third, but Alicia could see immediately that he was too far away. The gunman was stationed behind an enormous truck tire, giving her no shot.
Austin didn’t see that.
“Shit,” she said. “That Austin’s either got some big balls or a tiny brain, but from now on — his name’s gotta be Willy.”
She broke cover, but the other two gunmen pinned her down, sending her back inside. Now would be the perfect time to get some help from Terri or Cutler but it seemed the mega-thieves had been cowed into docility. Austin urged the car forward and then took the first bullets through the windshield. Alicia saw the car veer and then swerve, its back end swiping around and striking the front of the truck.
The passenger door flew open. Austin fell out.
Alicia sprinted toward him, not heeding the peril. Russo and Crouch laid down precise fire at the other two gunmen, trying not to hit the thieves. Alicia slid in right beside Austin’s head.
“You daft fucker. Are you all right?”
“Yeah, yeah, just a scratch.”
Alicia dragged him away from the car and then underneath the truck before the man who’d shot at him could see them. From this vantage point she could see his legs as he stalked slowly around the front of the truck and peered underneath the car. He didn’t see them so far back, and rose again. Alicia rolled toward the side he was on, preparing to leap out.
Crouch broke comms silence. “Bollocks! That’s what they were waiting for.”
She heard it too. The approach of a heavy chopper. A good pilot would be able to land it easily in the vast, empty parking lot, slotting it between column lights.
A few minutes and that banner’s bloody history.
But there were only three gunmen left.
The chopper thundered straight at the parking area, nose down, lights blinding. Alicia rolled back under the truck as the gunman who’d been stalking them gave up and started running toward the chopper. She still had Austin by the waist and heard him groan.
“You okay?”
“Yes, you’re making me feel sick.”
“Ungrateful bastard. Most people would be happy for a roll under a truck with me.”
She left him there, jumping up on the blind side to the approaching helicopter. Russo, Crouch and Caitlyn were already approaching.
“Go, go, go!” Alicia shouted. “Save the damn flag!”
They raised weapons and moved to the front of the truck. Alicia followed them, limping a little. Something was bruised in her lower leg, but she quickly walked it off. Ahead, the thieves were being dragged bodily toward the chopper’s landing point, guns trained on their heads. Russo tried to line one of their guards up, but the constant movement made it risky at best.
“They will use Lee and Cutler for shields,” Crouch said. “You can’t chance it.”
“We can’t let them get away.”
“We won’t. C’mon.”
Crouch ran around the truck and jumped into the car that Austin had clearly hotwired. Everyone piled in. The vehicle was running in seconds, and then Crouch jammed his foot down on the gas pedal. Alicia expected a head-jerk, but it wasn’t that powerful, setting off with a pained whine and a tiny slipping of rubber. Crouch increased speed as he approached the gunmen.
They saw the threat and aimed their weapons.
“Hang on!” Crouch cried out.
With a heave on the manual handbrake and a twist of the wheel, he sent the small car into a skid. The back end plowed into the gunmen just as they opened fire, sending them sprawling. Bullets laced the air. Alicia had her head down and heard glass shattering and slugs hitting the metalwork. The car came to a head-jerking sudden halt.
Alicia looked up, grappling with the door. Both thieves were inches from the back window, eyes wide and lips moving as if they were screaming for help. Alicia pushed the tiny door open and stepped out. Two gunmen lay on the ground, faces bloody and arms broken, their weapons scattered.
The single surviving gunman stood training his weapon on Terri and Cutler, the barrel wavering an inch from the back of their heads. His figure darkened as the huge chopper touched down directly behind him, rotors still whirling fast as if it wanted a quick getaway. The skids touched down and then the doors flew open.
“Now or never,” Alicia said.
“Bollocks.” Crouch was caught between impossible choices. He couldn’t trade a life for a flag, no matter its worth.
“Leave them and take the banner,” he cried. “We won’t stop you.”
The single gunman didn’t react; clearly waiting for reinforcements. Alicia saw them coming now, four more armed men jumping out of the chopper. The situation was rapidly deteriorating, both for America and for the thieves.
“How fast are you, Russo?” Caitlyn asked.
The big man shrugged slowly. “I can’t guarantee hitting the terrorist, if that’s what you mean.”
Alicia was watching the thieves. Though they were clearly scared, they were both staring hard at her. They’re waiting for a signal.
“I think we have a chance here—” she began, but then everything changed.
A faint scrape behind her transmitted the stomach-churning knowledge that somebody was still in the car, and that somebody was maneuvering it quickly to change the situation.
“Oh, crap, that’s Austin—”
The vehicle shot past, accelerating noisily. Four new attackers ran toward it, guns leveled. The helicopter waited. The thieves threw themselves to the ground just a millisecond before their guard opened fire.
The bullet missed Cutler by millimeters, thudding into the ground, although the noise of it clearly made him scream. Alicia saw the figure sitting at the wheel of the car and cursed heavily.
“We’re gonna have to tie that idiot to a fucking trolley.”
It was Austin, once more taking it to the enemy in a car with no power, with tiny tires that slewed and failed to grip properly.
He missed the guard, then veered at the new gunmen. Crouch yelled a warning and set off like a sprinter, chasing the car. Alicia shook her head as she ran too. The guard retrained his weapon on Terri, but Russo ended all that, firing a round into his sternum. Caitlyn stopped beside the thieves, falling to her knees to check they were okay. Between them, the rolled-up banner hampered their movements and appeared to be slightly creased in the middle.
Gunfire rang out as the newcomers saw the tiny vehicle speeding at them and formed a line to make it stop.
Will Austin drove straight into it.
Crouch, alone and unprotected, ran right behind him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alicia saw Austin twist the wheel again, making the back end spin around. This didn’t harm the gunmen, but it did save his life. Bullets thudded into the side of the car rather than the front, embedding into the metal or passing straight through. Crouch ducked and dived after him, getting ready to act. Austin threw open the passenger door and scrambled over. Alicia raised her weapon and sighted it on the gunmen.
It was a desperate situation.
Russo fired high, hoping to add to the distraction. Alicia screamed at him to fire on the chopper, but then a man appeared at one of the doors, hanging out with a large machine gun in his arms. The initial rattle was deafening, and its bullets tore a track through the asphalt between Alicia and Crouch.
Almost everyone stopped exactly where they were. The exception was Crouch, who dragged Austin out of the car and then pointed him toward Alicia. The young man started to backpedal slowly as Crouch stopped and
raised his hands.
Russo sighted on the new gunmen, just like Alicia, to even the odds.
“We want the banner!” a voice cried out. “The rest of you can leave!”
Crouch turned and shouted: “Give them the damn thing. It’s not worth getting killed for.”
The four new gunmen then passed right by him, guns lowered, and pulled Terri and Cutler to their feet. Without a moment’s pause they began to shove the two thieves in the direction of the chopper.
“Hey,” Crouch shouted. “That’s not what we agreed. Take the bloody banner, leave those two.”
“They come with the banner,” a man called. “That’s the deal we have with them.”
Alicia watched the thieves’ faces closely. The stark fear registering there was telling. No matter how they may have phrased it, it seemed the man was telling the truth. Crouch hesitated as the thieves were marched toward the chopper with no protest.
“Wait,” he said, and for the first time Alicia saw how dangerously alone he was, just ten meters from the idling chopper.
“Wait… you don’t need them. They did their job. You have the banner. What could you possibly need from them now?”
“You talk a lot.” The man aimed the huge machine gun toward Alicia and Russo now. “Shut your goddam face.”
Russo nudged Alicia. “I think I could take him out before he gets off a shot.”
Alicia gauged the distance. “Now’s the time, Robster, while the gun’s aimed at us. What could possibly go wrong?”
His lips stretched into a tight smile. “Words a soldier lives by.”
It all happened very quickly. Russo hefted his gun, took half a second, and then fired. His shot flew true; the bullet slamming into the machine-gun-man’s arm and making the weapon tumble to the floor.
“Get their leader!” a screamed snarl rang out.
Two of the four gunmen herding Terri and Cutler grabbed them by the necks and dragged them viciously up to the chopper, brooking no protest. The banner crumpled and creased between them, and they were forced to unclip it before shoving it onto the chopper.
Chasing Gold Page 4
