Under the Gun

by Lyn Stone

  He positioned her over his right shoulder, hooked one arm around the backs of her knees and grabbed the railing with his left hand.

  Carefully and quickly, he descended with her and felt his way outside. He heard the first floor collapse inside just as they exited.

  Exhausted and coughing, he deposited her on the ground as far away from the house as he could carry her. Frantically he ran his hands over her head, shoulders and chest, checking for burns or wounds.

  Her hair was singed. He could smell it. Her shirt was ripped at the shoulder.

  Sliding his fingers carefully along her ribs beneath her heavy shirt, he progressed to her waist and hips. She had lost her weapons and headset.

  Again his mind flooded with a euphoria that felt manic, evil. As if from a short distance away, he suddenly pictured himself and Holly sprawled there on the grass.

  He tensed the same second she grasped his arm, her fingers biting into his muscle.

  “Will,” she said, her voice deadly quiet with warning.

  She didn’t need to define the problem. He knew who it was.

  Chapter 13

  “Playing blindman’s bluff, Griffin?” The deep voice, somehow familiar, taunted him. Odin.

  “He’s armed,” Holly muttered.

  “And dangerous,” Odin added with a chuckle, striding forward so that he stood between them and the burning house, a menacing black shadow. Harbinger of death. “Though I did take a bullet,” he added, sounding proud of it.

  “Probably your own,” Holly said with a snort.

  “Who’s going to know? As soon as I shoot you and Griffin, I’ll toss this weapon in the front door. That place will be an ash heap in no time. They’ll find the three of us out here in the yard. You two dead, and me unconscious from my shoulder wound.” He laughed. “All the villains and their toys inside, burning to a crisp, but they’ll be identifiable enough for my purposes.”

  “And what would those purposes be? Why in the world are you doing this?” Holly demanded.

  “Glory and reward, sweetheart. But I don’t mind sharing the renown a little. I’ll explain how you blundered in there with a blind man, got me shot and screwed my chance to prevent Turkel from firing the Stinger. We’ll all be famous.”

  “Infamous,” Will corrected. He felt Holly’s fingers easing the Glock from the back of his belt, so he played for time and gathered what info he could. This was not likely to end with a prisoner to question. “Why give up the whole shipment of Stingers at the airport? Why keep only three?”

  “Ah well, I’m not a monster. I never had any intention of using more, so I stored my little cache somewhere else. Those three seemed enough to rally outrage and patriotism again. Bring us together, so to speak.”

  Will fought the urge to lunge at the man and choke the life out of him. “Who the hell do you think you are, anyway, some kind of god? Who are you really?”

  “Don’t you know me, William? Your own beloved godfather?”

  Will barely controlled his shock. “Jim Fielding?”

  “James Odin Fielding, one and the same. I couldn’t resist using the middle name Mother saddled me with, since it seemed so appropriate, a god both benevolent and merciless.”

  Will had not seen the man, a friend of his father’s, since high school graduation. “I guess you sort of slacked off on the job,” he commented. “Not to mention that you killed your other godson. Why, Jim?”

  “You both knew me. You were a threat. Neither of you would have understood why I’m doing this.”

  “Did you know we’d be at the airport that night?”

  “I had a word with Matt’s AIC. It was my idea to request you since you and Matt worked so well together before.”

  “And Arbin? How did he fit in?” Holly asked.

  “The good colonel played right into my hands, arranging everything while I fed him information and gave him good advice.”

  “You’ve been running Arbin all this time?”

  “Absolutely. He had no idea I was the Odin he was supposed to be after, but he and I had worked together before when he was on active duty. He trusted me to advise him and keep him informed, while he obligingly did the surveillance work.”

  “What a mistake that was,” Holly scoffed.

  Fielding smiled. “Arbin turned out to be the perfect patsy, bless his heart. He’ll make a fine Odin substitute, don’t you think? However, I did regret having to shoot you two that night, Will,” he said with patently fake contrition. “I knew all about Matt’s little psychic gift, you see. He made me a believer very early on. Who knows what he might have sensed? And you, Will, do you have it, too?”

  “In spades,” he told him, biting off the words. “I got right inside your sick mind, you son of a bitch.”

  “Ah, such language! But you didn’t realize who I was, after all, did you? I can’t tell you what a relief that was.”

  Now Will knew why the man’s voice had sounded so familiar. Though they’d had only a few conversations when he and Matt were growing up, Jim Fielding had been born and raised in the same area as their dad, had been educated with him and had the exact same accent.

  Will couldn’t see his godfather clearly now, backlit as he was by the fire, but he recalled what Fielding looked like. Physically fit, dark hair, deep-set eyes and bushy brows. A clotheshorse.

  He drank Scotch, Will remembered. Swilled it down like water. Matt had joked about getting their alky godparent to introduce them to the gods of booze. Too bad Fielding wasn’t soused now. He sounded stone-cold sober. “It has been a few years. I’d almost forgotten you existed,” Will said.

  “I’m afraid the Company has kept me pretty busy,” Fielding explained.

  “You’re CIA?” Will was not all that surprised.

  “Just like your dear old dad.”

  Now Will was not only surprised, but positively shocked, though he managed not to show it.

  Suddenly all his parents’ frequent absences made sense.

  So did their refusal to discuss much about their freewheeling lifestyle and why they had always distanced themselves from the twins and their extended families. Even the posting as attaché to the embassy in Italy fell into place.

  “Are you saying my father’s in on all of this?” Will had to know.

  Fielding laughed. “Hardly. But he will be, after the fact. I’m certain he’ll be happy to use his influence to get me a prime position once he hears about my heroics tonight. I could always depend on old Matthew, Senior, to do the right thing.”

  Will felt a surge of relief that his father wasn’t involved.

  He knew Holly had his pistol now. He had to draw the bead on himself, in case Fielding was aiming at her. She needed a chance to get off a shot.

  “Oh, God, I’m going to be sick,” Will groaned.

  He sat up, doubled over slowly and groaned again, listing forward and to his right, away from Holly. He clutched his stomach. As he curled, he felt the flare gun in his pocket. Slowly he pulled it out, keeping it hidden with his body.

  “I’ll put you out of your misery, don’t worry,” Fielding assured him. “Just so you know I’m not a bad godfather after all, go ahead and say your prayers. Time is running short and I really should—”

  Will jerked up the hidden flare gun and fired at Fielding’s shape.

  Holly’s ears rang. Her hands were numb on the pistol after firing six rounds. “Will, are you all right?” she asked.

  “I’m good. You weren’t hit, were you?”

  “Nope, his shots went wild, thanks to you. I’m just a little shook up. I’ll be back in a second.”

  She crawled the dozen feet or so over to Odin’s body, her leg aching like crazy. The noxious stench of the flare searing through the fiber of the protective vest Odin wore, combined with burned flesh, made her nauseous. He had also taken a few rounds from her Glock. Though he was clearly dead, Holly automatically leaned over and checked for a pulse. Then she crawled back beside Will and collapsed on the grass. />
  “Is he dead?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah.”

  “What about the others? In the house?”

  “One guard secured over there in the side yard. The rest, including Arbin, were upstairs.”

  She looked at the flames devouring the building she had escaped, then surveyed the lower floor and surrounding grounds.

  Something moved, snaking its way from the front door.

  “Will! Someone else made it out of the house!” How long had he been there? “Help me get up!”

  He pushed himself up, then grabbed her hand and helped tug her to her feet. She put weight on her bad leg and found she could stand, though it hurt like hell. She leaned on Will and limped, telling him which way to go.

  She had the Glock ready as they slowly approached the prone figure, now facedown and unmoving. When they got close, she could see by the clothing who it was.

  “It’s Arbin! Help me get him farther away from the fire. Here are his arms. I’ll take him by the feet and lead, okay?”

  “I’ve got him. You go ahead of us and we’ll let his feet drag. Can you walk by yourself?”

  “If we take it slow.”

  Will struggled to get a better grip. “Hop if you have to, but let’s hurry and get away from here.” Smoke was pouring through the open door, flames licking out the lower windows, the heat ferocious.

  Holly led the way as Will hauled the colonel to the far side of the yard where they had been before, next to the trees and upwind of the smoke.

  “How bad’s…he hurt?” Will asked, coughing deeply between words.

  “Let me see,” she ordered, ripping the flashlight from her belt loop and directing the beam.

  She examined the colonel. “Two entry wounds, one near the top of his shoulder that’s exited. Seems superficial. The other’s under his arm and missed his vest by not more than an inch. Rapid pulse. Unconscious. How in the world did he get out of there? The upstairs was an inferno. I don’t see how anyone could have survived that.”

  She had seen Arbin take a hit just before the explosion. The blast had knocked her clear of the doorway, but the door itself had blocked the worst of it for her. Still, she had landed against the opposite wall of the hallway and somehow banged her leg against something. Her crawl to the stairs had been painful and slow as fire roared through the roofless section she had just left.

  “No way I could have gone back in,” she told herself out loud, feeling guilty that she had left the man for dead. While trying to figure out how he had managed to save himself, she yanked off her long-sleeved shirt and was padding Ardin’s wound with it.

  “Where the heck is everybody? They should be here by now,” she muttered.

  She felt chilled wearing only her sleeveless tank top. Chilled right down to her soul, and jumpy. Her nerves were right there on the edge. How close she had come to dying, not once but twice tonight. And both times, Will had saved her. What were the odds?

  She realized he had been feeling around on the ground and located his discarded headset with the attached mike. He pressed it to talk. “Jack? Will. You read me?”

  “Thank God!” Mercier’s voice boomed, even with the volume turned down. “Status?”

  “Mission accomplished. All the eggs in the basket. We need an ambulance for Arbin. The snakes are all dead but one.”

  “We’re two minutes away, strung out like a damn parade. Fire trucks, ambulances and everything in the state with a badge. Is Holly all right?”

  Will smiled at her. “Better than fine.”

  “Great. I’m turning off Blaketon now.”

  In less than a minute the yard filled with vehicles. The first ambulance headed straight for them, stopping only a few yards away. The paramedics quickly stabilized Arbin and loaded him in the back.

  “Are you all right, ma’am? Sir?”

  “Get him to the hospital or you’re gonna lose him,” Holly told the paramedic. “We can wait.” They watched the ambulance pull away.

  Will laid down the headset. “I’m going to kiss you senseless now because I’m so damn glad you’re alive.”

  “Yeah, me, too!” Holly threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. She couldn’t afford to make it last the way she wanted to. They had to hurry. The yard teemed with official vehicles and personnel, but she needed this kiss more than anything.

  She needed him more than anything, this man who had saved her life repeatedly and trusted her ability to do the same for him. He needed her, too, whether he was ready to admit it or not.

  His mouth ate at hers as if he were starving for it. Reluctantly Holly pushed away, giving his Kevlar-covered chest a couple of firm, reassuring pats. This definitely would be continued.

  “Here, help me get up,” she said.

  “Should you stand? I think you ought to get that leg x-rayed first.”

  “Can’t be broken, the way I’ve been hopping around on it. Probably just banged up a little. I don’t want to look like one of the wounded, okay?”

  “All right, if you promise to lean on me.” Grudgingly, he took her hands and pulled her to her feet, grasping her elbows so she could keep her weight off her leg.

  The sirens finally stopped wailing. Cars were still piling down the drive, competing for places to park as the fire crews scrambled around the two trucks, preparing to contain the blaze. It seemed pretty hopeless.

  “I’m not done with you, Griffin,” Holly said, gazing up into his face. Never had he looked more heroic, more capable of doing anything he set his mind on.

  “You can make book on that. Want to take a little R and R when we’re done here, maybe run up to Schroon Lake with me and feed the loons?” he asked, matching her volume.

  “Feed the loons?” she repeated, grinning. “And?”

  “Open up the cabin. Chop some wood. Maybe pop a little popcorn. Finish what we started, this time without an audience?”

  Tempting. She planned to take him up on it. A figure striding in their direction caught her eye. “Uh-oh. Boss is headed this way and looks like he’s ready to choke us both. What’d we do?”

  “We? I didn’t do anything. I’m just along for the ride.”

  She leaned in close and stood on tiptoe, not caring who saw them getting cozy. “You hauled me out of that house. You put a flare right in the middle of Odin’s chest.”

  “I hope the bastard’s still smoking,” Will said bitterly. “Damn traitor. There ought to be a special place in hell for people like him.”

  Holly looked over at the body on the ground, now surrounded by technicians, then back at Will. She grasped his hands in hers and held them to her. “You got him, Will.”

  “Now I can go see Matt,” he said, glancing away. “I can say goodbye.” He paused, swallowed hard, then looked down at her, his gray eyes glinting, not quite meeting hers. “Will you come with me?”

  “You gotta ask? Where else would a partner be at a time like that?”

  “Back to partners again that quickly, huh? Just like old times.”

  “Ah yes, the good old days. Now we have this new complication,” she said, her tone wry. “You think you love me. Unless you were joking.”

  “And I think you love me, too. How funny is that?”

  “It’s nothing to laugh about,” she said. He was too right.

  “No joke. How close is Jack to us? Can I kiss you again?”

  Someone cleared his throat noisily. “I’m too close. If you two will unlock for a few minutes, I’d like to know what the devil happened here.”

  Holly swiveled around, her chin raised in challenge. Jack’s frowning features were flickering in the myriad strobes of the vehicle flashers. “Well?” he prompted.

  “Holly needs to have her leg x-rayed,” Will interjected. “It might be fractured.”

  “No, it’s not,” she assured Jack. “I’ll see about it later.” She hurriedly changed the topic and began to brief him. “The Stinger was fired from the top floor there.” She broke off. “Was it intercepted?
”

  “No time, it hit a low-flying chopper from one of the local news stations. They must have gone up to investigate when they picked up radio traffic. God knows there was plenty of it on our end.” He sighed heavily and shook his head. “I guess they didn’t think the ban on air traffic applied to them. What happened next?”

  She filled him in and then pointed to the body on the ground. “That’s Odin. He was a Company man. J.O. Fielding. He’d had it with working in the background. Took a little power trip. Wanted recognition.”

  “Helluva way to get it.” Hands clasped behind his back, Jack walked over, parted the techs who were examining Odin’s body and looked down. Then he came back. “I’ll put Clay on this. Find out all we can.”

  “I…I knew him, but not well. He was a friend of my father’s,” Will said. “My godfather.”

  Jack shared a glance with Holly, then switched his regard to Will. “I’m sorry. I’m sure your father had no idea what sort of man he was.”

  “I hope not. Fielding said not. Still, I know you’ll have to check that out.”

  Suddenly his gaze narrowed on Jack, as if something significant occurred to him. “You knew my father was CIA?”

  “Yes,” his boss admitted.

  “All this time. But no one saw fit to tell me,” Will said evenly. Holly knew exactly who he meant by that.

  “Need to know rules applied,” Jack reminded him. “He was in deep cover.”

  Again Jack looked at Holly with a wince of regret. Obviously Will had deduced that if Jack knew about his dad, she did, too.

  She had been the one who had done Will’s background investigation before Jack had hired him, and she was thorough. Even though Matthew Griffin, Senior, worked under deep cover, and his records were not supposed to be available to anyone checking, Sextant had total access.

  “So I’ll be on suspension until this is cleared,” Will guessed.

  “No, you’re on medical leave until your eyes improve,” Jack told him. “Then I’ll expect you back on the job, regardless of how the investigation goes.”