“Who?!”
The man tried one more time to move, but it only took a second for him to realize he wasn’t getting up.
“El jefe?” King didn’t speak Spanish, but he knew enough words to say “the boss.”
Nothing.
King shoved his gun against the man’s neck. “El jefe! Or you die!”
The gunfire was at an all-time high just outside. He had to get to the roof whether this man gave him what he wanted or not. That’s when another man came running through the door, and King flicked the barrel of his Glock upward and squeezed four times. The last two rounds did the trick. The man dropped to the ground, not far from where King was lying on his man. And that was enough to get the man beneath to talk, especially when King pressed the gun back to his head.
“Ortega! El jefe es Raúl Ortega!”
King’s suspicion was confirmed. He raised up off the man to his feet, shot him two times in the chest so he couldn’t come back for one of King’s team, then ran outside and up the ladder. As he stepped onto the roof, he swapped his Glock for the M4 and raced to the front side of the hangar. He got there in just enough time to see Juice, in the glow of the still-burning fuel tanks, covering Sam as she helped Bob into one of the Tahoes. Up ahead he could see two men coming around to flank his team, which was still sandwiched between the SUVs.
King flicked the night vision on as he raised his M4. He found the first man in the green glow, led him ever so slightly, and squeezed. As he dropped, King moved the barrel up a centimeter to find the next man. The man was moving to find King on the roof, but it was too late. King squeezed until he dropped as well. As King searched the rest of the tarmac, he realized what was happening. He didn’t fully understand why Ortega was doing what he was, but grief of a loved one and misplaced blame and anger are powerful things. And when a powerful man such as Ortega feels those emotions to the core, they tend to do crazy things. In a way, King could relate. He had felt the same way when someone gunned down his family in broad daylight all those years ago. King went a different path with his anger, but he could have easily turned it into something terrible like Ortega was if the Navy hadn’t saved him.
His team looked okay for the moment, so he had to take the time to call Director Lucas. Lucas answered on the first ring.
“Xander, Agent Grimes called from the other plane. Said they had to divert because of an explosion. What the hell is going on out there!”
“I don’t have time to explain. But I think we have it under control at the airport. But all of this here is just to stop us from their real goal. Raúl Ortega is out for revenge, and it’s his men we’re fighting here. But Marcus Christian and James Carter are planting the nukes while we’re tied up here. If you don’t find that Ford SUV we have a BOLO on, they’re going to set them off, and it’s going to be a disaster of epic proportions.”
“The other plane just touched down at another airport near you. Unless you need reinforcements, they will help run down the nukes.”
“Yes, send them for the nukes. Not here!”
“I have every law enforcement officer from state PD to conservation scouring the fault line. We are doing all we can.”
“Do more.”
King ended the call when two more men moved forward onto the tarmac. Things were bad where they were at that airport, but King knew if they didn’t find Marcus and James, it was going to get a whole lot worse.
35
King’s team below him took out the two men who’d run at them from the trees. These men had no more training than picking up a gun and firing it. King assumed Ortega had sent them there because in their little gangster circle, these guys probably were badasses. But coming up against himself, Sam, Juice, and Omari was like a high school football team taking on the NFL’s best.
Unless they had an equalizer, it wasn’t going to work. And judging by the amount of men they’d already lost, they didn’t have that equalizer. That was probably the reason they kept coming out of the trees to try to get to the plane Juice had flown in. That was Ortega’s shipment. He probably told the men there would be endless amounts of firepower on that plane and that this would be easy once they took it over. And he wouldn’t have been lying. But getting that control just wasn’t going to happen. Not now that King had a superior position on them. And the way they were just running for it, it looked like they were getting desperate.
Ortega most likely told them to come back with mission accomplished or not to come back at all. King did another sweep, and the enemy was staying put for a moment. Probably trying to change strategies, he figured. He didn’t see anyone, so he whistled down to Sam. She looked up. He held up his phone; then he gave her a second to pull hers from her pocket. He pressed her contact.
“Get everyone in two trucks. That way if we lose a tire or something, we still have another. I’ll create a diversion with these grenades. Swing around back, and I’ll drop down from the ladder. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Count to twenty.”
King starting counting as he put away his phone. He ran to each side of the hangar, checking through his night-vision optic for any sign of movement. There was none. But off in the distance something caught his eye. He took a knee, switched off night vision, and peered through his scope. Maybe a mile off, there was a motorcade of blue flashing lights. The police were coming to help. King was frustrated. He expressly told Lucas to use all manpower to find Marcus and James.
He hit fifteen seconds in his head, let his rifle rest on its strap, and pulled both grenades. He heard the SUVs’ engines start up below. He pulled the pin on both grenades, throwing one to the left side of the tarmac, close to the fuel tanks, and the other to the right, taking care to aim as much as he could for Juice’s plane. He couldn’t see the grenade once it left his hand, but he thought it was a pretty good throw. He would know for sure in just a second.
King turned to run for the ladder. As soon as his hand hit the rail, the first grenade went off. A man’s scream followed. He’d at least hit something. As he glided down the ladder and readied himself to jump onto the roof of the oncoming SUV, the second grenade ignited. And it was an explosion of epic proportions. It was clear he’d hit the plane. The SUV slowed just enough for him to leap onto the roof, and he lay down on his stomach, holding on to the roof rail toward the front of the roof. He patted loudly on the sunroof, and the SUV sped toward the exit.
King was afraid as he was riding on top of the roof of the SUV, but not of a stray bullet that one of Ortega’s thugs might shoot his way. He was scared to death to look to his right, toward the middle of the tarmac, because he was afraid his airplane might no longer be there. The explosion was big enough that it could have engulfed his plane too. But he put his forehead to the roof and decided he would find out later whether she survived or not.
Their exit was met with no resistance. By that point Ortega’s team of men had been severely depleted. What was left of them had never seen such an explosion, so they were probably too shocked to move. The SUV continued down the road away from the airport for a minute, then came to a quick stop at the light to the main road. King slid down off the roof, and Omari opened the back door for him. As soon as King jumped in, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
“Turn right, there are police coming this way and we need to head them off.” Then he took a gaze around the truck. Sam, Thomas, Omari, Bob, and his copilot John were all inside. “Everyone okay?” King asked as he noticed it was Director Lucas calling. He put the phone on speaker. He saw everyone nod. “That was a wild one, huh?” Then he answered the phone. “I need good news, Lucas.”
Sam pulled away and sped in the direction the police were coming from. The police would see their SUV in a matter of seconds.
“Glad to hear you made it out.”
“We made it.”
“Well, I do have good news,” Lucas said. “But I’m not sure how long it will last.”
“I’ll take it.”
“We think
we know where Marcus is.”
“You think?” King said.
“Yeah, infrared is funny like that, you can’t tell who people are. But we have a drone up high enough it can’t be heard from the ground, and it found two humans moving along the river in the northern part of what’s called the Mississippi Embayment.”
“I’m assuming that’s where seismologists suggest the most active area of the zone would be?”
“You got it. At least that’s what our expert is saying.”
King saw the flashing blue lights of the motorcade coming at them through the front windshield.
“How far is he and how fast can I get there?” King was ready.
“We’ve got a team close, but they are awaiting my instructions. We’ve also got a crew coming toward you, and they’ve been briefed to help you get where you need to go.”
“They are approaching us now. Wish me luck.”
“One more thing, X. The other group already found one of the nukes. It’s already offline.”
“Now that is good news. Let me know when they find the second. I’ll let you know when I get the third.”
“Oh and, King?”
“Yep?”
“The nuke was on a timer. So even if you find Marcus, you still have to get a bomb specialist to diffuse it.”
“Great. I work best under pressure. Any idea how much time was left on the one they diffused?”
“Yeah. An hour.”
“Looks like I best get moving then.”
King ended the call to the rest of the team cheering the fact that one nuke had been taken offline. Everyone except for Sam. She was hanging on to the last words Director Lucas spoke. And she knew that it didn’t just take the danger up a notch; she knew it pretty much meant King was walking right into death itself. The police cars were right in front of them now.
“Stop the truck,” King said. “Let me get with them fast so we can get on our way.”
Whether the nuke they defused would have set off an earthquake or not, it was good to know there was one less possibility. It was only going to get harder from here.
36
King had kept the briefing from the agent with the police true to its name. He was only out of the car for a minute. And to him, it was a minute too long. But he listened while the agent told him what they saw and showed him live footage on an iPad of the glowing men picked up by the infrared drone camera. However, once he was back in the SUV, he wished he’d ridden with the police.
Sam kept looking back over her shoulder as she followed the police to Marcus’s general location. It was only a four-mile drive, but for King it may as well have been a hundred.
“So what’s the plan, X?” Sam said. There was vitriol in her tone. “You just going to run in there and jump on the nuke, thinking you can stop it from causing an earthquake?”
“Sam,” King warned.
“I’m serious. You’re a lot of things, but you’re no bomb expert!”
“No, but the man going in with me is.” King tried to keep things calm.
Sam whipped her head around. “Oh bullshit! How do you know? Did you vet him out?”
King sighed. “No, Sam, I didn’t. But if this man is willing to trust a stranger like me enough to walk into the fire with him and keep him from getting shot, just because people say I’m a ‘keep people from getting shot’ expert, then I’m willing to do the same for him and let him kill this bomb when I get him there. They already took one out, didn’t they?”
“Yes. But this isn’t the same guy.”
“Okay, Sam.”
“Okay, X.” She was really upset. “You do realize that if this bomb does cause an earthquake, your sister and you niece are far enough away. It won’t hurt them.”
King lost his cool. “No, Sam, I don’t know that. I’m not an expert. But the experts say it can be felt as far as a thousand miles away. Lexington is only about three hundred. So don’t act like you’re an expert either!”
She’d touched a nerve.
“And besides,” King continued, “I’d eat the fuckin’ bomb if I thought doing so had even the slightest chance of saving you!”
That was the last thing that was said. All that could be heard in that SUV for the last mile of the drive was the tires rolling on the road and King trying to calm his breathing. As soon as Sam pulled the truck to a stop beside the police cars on the side of the road, King was out the door and into the humid night. One cop car had its lights left on so they could see what they were doing in the dark.
“Let’s get this thing rolling,” King said as he practically jogged over to the policemen standing outside their cars. “Where’s my bomb guy?”
A short and skinny guy turned around, pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose, and extended his hand. King grabbed it with a fervent squeeze.
“Terry Sinclair,” the man said with a shaky voice.
“Hello, Terry.” King held on to his hand and looked him deep in the eyes. “Today is your lucky day.”
Sam and the rest of King’s team walked up. Terry smiled nervously as he looked around like, “What the hell is this guy talking about?”
“It-it is?”
“Hell yeah, it is.” King was putting on. “You’re gonna get your name in the paper tomorrow morning. And your face on the news. You got a girl, Terry?”
“N-no sir, I—”
King dropped Terry’s hand. “Well, make sure you shower tomorrow and put on your best shirt before you go out, ’cause you’re going to have your pick when we’re through.”
“What are you doing, Xander?” Sam said.
King didn’t want to have the conversation with Sam. He knew what he was walking into, and he was ready to go.
“Mount up, Terry. You know how to use the SNM detector, or whatever it’s called, if we need it?”
“Yes, I have been trained—”
“All I needed to hear. You stay behind me until I get you to the bomb, and then I’ll stay behind you after that. Sound good?” King didn’t wait for a response. “Good. Now I just need some night-vision goggles, and, Sam, I need you and Omari on that drone monitor walking me in. Omari, this is what we do.”
“Hoorah,” Omari said.
“That’s it. He gets it.”
A man walked over and handed King the night-vision goggles and an earpiece.
King pointed to the earpiece. “This will keep me online with them?” He pointed to Sam and Omari who were being handed an iPad.
“Yes, sir. They both will be in your ear.”
“Roger that. I’ll see you two in a few.”
King didn’t wait for either of them to respond with any words or gestures. Terry was rushing to throw his backpack on and grab the detector so he could keep up with King. King slowed up enough for Terry to jog up beside him.
“You know this terrain, Terry?”
“I-I’ve been studying pictures and a map for the last hour.”
King looked over, but he really couldn’t see Terry’s face. It was that dark. “You’re a man who likes to do his homework, aren’t you?”
“Well, yes. That I am.”
“Perfect. We’re going to get along just fine. Tell me what we’re walking into.”
“We are getting ready to pass into the trees. We won’t be in them long. They’ll guide us down an embankment, then we’ll hit patches of sand and bedrock. It will definitely not be even footing.”
“Been there, done that.”
“After a while on that footing, we will come to the river. Last I saw the two infrared men, they were on our side of the river. Thank God.”
“Don’t thank Him yet. We’re probably going to want to be on the other side.”
“What?”
“You’re not afraid of a little water, are you?” King said.
“No, it’s just that, why would—”
King stopped and grabbed Terry’s arm. Not in an aggressive way, but King wanted to get his attention. “Listen to me, Terry. Do you want to
live through this?”
“Yes.”
“Have you had any form of tactical training?”
“Yes—well, no, not in the military sense.”
“Understand what I’m saying to you. We live and die by the decisions I make for the next hour. Then we live and die by the decisions you make in that next sixty seconds after we find that bomb. You got me?”
“Yes.”
“This is the only job I’ve ever had in my life. Tracking down bad guys and making them wish they were good. Let me do my job, and I’ll let you do yours. That sound good?”
“It does.” For the first time, Terry’s voice wasn’t shaky. “Because I’m really good at what I do too.”
“Great. That’s what I’m talking about. We are going to make a damn fine pair, you and me. Now, they give you night-vision goggles?”
King pulled his down on his head, and he could see that Terry’s were pushed up and sitting on the top of his head.
“Yes.”
“All right. Now is the time to use them.”
“Can I just say what I was going to say a minute ago about the river?”
“Might want to hurry, Terry. There are millions of lives possibly at stake here.”
“Yes, it’s just that the tide is really pulling right now from all the rain earlier in the week. It will really be—”
“Noted. Now that’s all I want to hear from you. You are about to hear me and my experts talking back and forth on your earpiece. Just stay behind me, keep up, and keep quiet. Got it?”
“I got it.”
“Now, let’s go make you a hero.”
37
“Awfully inspiring speech you gave the bomb expert,” Sam’s voice rang through King’s earpiece. “Quite different from your antics before you walked away.”
Power Move (Alexander King Book 4) Page 15
