“I am Alu Arshad, leader of this group.” He looked out toward the vast stretch of blackness before the lights of the city took over. “Shouldn’t you go help her, your girlfriend?”
“If I had to bet money, I’d say she isn’t the one who needs help.”
Then he saw two headlights switch on halfway down the hill and off to the side of the road. The second vehicle spun out and fishtailed onto the dusty trail, following the other.
Sean’s face drew long. “Then again,” he said. “Slater, keys.” Sean held out his hand.
“Oh no. If you’re going after them, so am I.”
“Alu,” Tommy said, “care to chase this guy down?”
“He will pay for killing my men.” The determined look in Alu’s eyes was almost scary. He pulled out a key fob from the folds of his clothes and pressed a button. A black Range Rover’s lights flashed in the darkest corner of the parking area. “I brought my own ride,” he said.
Chapter 15
Giza
Sean and Slater rumbled down the bumpy road with Alu, Hank, and Tommy in the SUV just behind them. Dufort’s vehicle was nearly a half mile ahead at the start with what Sean presumed to be Adriana right on his tail.
Slater’s foot kept the gas pedal to the floor, flying over humps and potholes at breakneck speed. Sean gripped the handle with white knuckles. There was a sort of troubling grin on Slater’s face as he stared straight ahead with both hands on the wheel.
“Uh, Slater? Why do I get the impression you’re enjoying this just a little too much?”
Slater never looked over at Sean, fearful that any distraction could cause him to lose control. “Been a while since I had any action like this in my life. Most of the time we’re just babysitting.”
“Miss the thrill of the chase, huh?”
Slater’s head twisted to the side like he was stretching his neck. “You know what it’s like, right?” He jerked the wheel to the left. The SUV’s back wheels slid around the turn, but Slater kept it straight.
“Not really,” Sean said. “This sort of thing seems to happen more often than you might think.”
“Really? Working for your buddy’s archaeological group?”
“The world’s full of greedy, terrible people. Sometimes they want treasure. Other times…they want something else.”
“Power.”
“Yep,” Sean said with a nod. “And power can come in many different forms.”
They were closing in on Adriana’s vehicle along with Dufort’s. Sean cast a quick glance into the side mirror and saw that Alu was having no trouble keeping up.
If Slater could have pressed the gas pedal any farther into the floor, he would have. The engine screamed as they barreled down the road in pursuit. Slater pulled the SUV alongside Adriana. Sean looked through the window and saw her, but she was preoccupied. Slater moved past her, taking the lead in the chase.
Dufort’s SUV wasn’t far ahead now, only a few hundred feet.
A bright flash came from the passenger side of Dufort’s ride. Then it popped again and again rapidly. One bullet ripped through the windshield and out the back window. Most of them missed wildly. He knew accuracy in a moving vehicle was tough, but Sean also knew Dufort and his men were desperate. They were running out of options, and with Sean and the others now closing in, things had to look bleak.
The high-speed caravan reached the edge of the city, and the packed dirt road changed into asphalt. The driver of Dufort’s vehicle jerked the SUV side to side, struggling to keep the thing on the road when the tires gained a sudden grip on the pavement.
Seconds later, Slater and the others hit the road as well and gunned their engines to catch up to the Frenchman.
The lead SUV reached an intersection where the road split in three directions. One way went into the city, which would result in a massive slowdown for Dufort and his men. Another road branched off to the right, heading due west and into the desert. The third road continued south, running parallel to the Nile just to the east.
Sean watched intently, wondering what the Frenchman would do. He’d already ruled out the city route. Too much traffic, too many people, and once he came to a stop, Sean would pounce. He knew Dufort had already thought of all those things. That left two realistic options. It would be tough to lose the pursuers in the desert. Things were too open with not enough places to hide. The road was also fairly straight. With a full tank of gas, it would be a race to see who ran out of fuel first. If Dufort hadn’t taken the opportunity to fill his vehicle, he’d be in trouble. The chase could take as long as needed until the Frenchman’s SUV petered out.
That left the road south, heading along the riverbank. Sean knew little about the road. What he did know was that there were several places along the way where Dufort could pull off and try to hide. There were ruins, pyramids, temples, and many other locations that—during the day—were occupied by tourists and research teams. In the evening, however, things were much quieter and the spots essentially vacant.
Slater must have read Sean’s mind. “He’ll take the south road.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“Great minds.”
“I don’t know about great, but for a couple of guys who used to do this sort of thing for a living…yeah, we’re on the same wavelength.”
They hit the intersection, and Dufort’s driver did the exact opposite of what the two Americans expected. The lead SUV veered left on the road heading back into the city.
Sean frowned and stole a glance at Slater, who had the same bewildered expression on his face.
“So much for experience,” Slater said. He spun the wheel to the left and tucked in behind Dufort’s vehicle on the bridge crossing the river.
The gunman in Dufort’s vehicle popped out again and squeezed off another sequence of shots. Slater yanked the steering wheel to the left, then right, attempting to zigzag clear of the bullets.
“Anytime you want to shoot back is fine with me.”
Sean was a step ahead, rolling down his window and bracing himself to lean out the window. “No sudden movements,” Sean said, “or I’ll be nothing but hamburger meat on the pavement.”
“Roger that.”
He stuck his head out the window and wedged one foot on the seat and the other on the floor to keep his balance. He pointed the weapon at Dufort’s vehicle, lined up the back window, and fired. The first shot sailed wide. He squeezed the trigger again. This time, the round punctured the back window, splintering it into a hundred cracks. A second later, Dufort’s driver jerked the vehicle to the left—a reaction to the bullet hitting the glass. The SUV hit a pothole, and the window shattered, scattering shards of broken glass all over the pavement.
Slater’s tires crunched the pieces on the road and kept going. Dufort’s shooter moved back into the interior of the SUV. Sean could see the man climb into the far rear seat, which was a much better place to shoot from than hanging out a window.
Sean fired again, but Dufort’s driver was keen to his attack now. He kept the vehicle weaving back and forth as Sean continued to empty his magazine at the Frenchman’s ride.
The gunman in the back opened fire again. Slater had to hit the brakes to keep out of range and whipped the wheel to the right, nearly losing control as the rear end fishtailed from side to side.
Behind them, Tommy and the others watched from a safe distance in their SUVs, staying close enough to follow but far enough away to not interfere.
Another bullet found its way through the windshield of Slater’s vehicle and plunked into the leather in the backseat.
“That was too close,” Slater said. “These guys are really starting to piss me off.”
Sean knew he only had a few rounds left, plus one more magazine. The chase was closing in on the city up ahead. Once they were there, things would slow down. There were traffic lights and pedestrians, not to mention a bunch of cars still on the road. No chance Dufort was going to lose them there.
�
�Pull back a bit,” Sean said. “Let them think we’re trying to stop them, but don’t give them an easy shot.”
“Once we’re in the city they won’t be able to lose us,” Slater said, finishing Sean’s thought.
“Exactly.”
Slater gently applied the brakes and weaved the vehicle to the right lane and back to the left, keeping up the appearance of evasive maneuvers. Sean leaned out the window again and fired another shot to keep Dufort’s gunman honest.
Then Slater saw something strange in the left lane.
“Sean? Did you notice there’s no more traffic coming from the city?”
“What?” Sean shouted back over the wind noise.
“The other road coming out of town. There were cars coming, but now there aren’t.”
“I wonder….” Sean stopped short in mid-sentence. He looked through the cracked windshield at the road on the left. “What in the world?”
He realized what was happening before it was too late. Two SUVs, much like Dufort’s, were blocking both lanes, parked sideways on the asphalt. Three men were waiting with automatic weapons pressed into their shoulders and barrels leveled.
“Oh no,” Sean said.
The men opened fire as he ducked for cover. Slater slammed on the brakes and yanked the steering wheel to the right. Bullets tore through glass and metal. Some struck the grill and plunked into the engine block. The SUV skidded sideways for a second before the whole world turned upside down.
The tires on the left side caught hard, and momentum did the rest, flipping the SUV up over its side, onto its top, and again two more times before it came to a stop on its wheels. The body rocked back and forth for a moment before coming to rest.
Tommy watched in horror. Adriana saw the whole thing behind the wheel of her SUV. Fear filled her mind, and her heart dropped into her gut. A second later, rage—irrational and righteous—coursed through her. She veered the vehicle into the other two lanes as the gunmen reloaded their weapons. They saw the oncoming vehicle speeding their way. Panic filled their eyes, and they hurried to get the new magazines into the guns.
One man finished before the others and raised his weapon to fire, but it was too late. Adriana plowed into him as the muzzle erupted in several rapid flashes. His head snapped back and then forward, striking the hood of the car before she smashed into one of their SUVs.
The other shooters dove clear of the deadly battering ram, rolling out of the way in the nick of time.
Adriana’s airbag deployed on impact. Her face smacked into it, and for a second everything around her went black. Her ears rang, and after a moment of dazed confusion her vision began to clear. She looked around and heard men shouting. The shooters. Things suddenly came back to her. There had been three men.
She looked out the cracked windshield at the dead man crushed between her grill and the side of the other SUV. Where were the other two?
Gunfire blasted from somewhere nearby. She looked out the window to her left and saw one of the men approaching her with a gun raised. He spun to his right in the direction of the shots, but his reaction was too slow. Bullets pounded him in the chest. One found his neck and punched out the other side in a pink mist. He fell to his knees, desperately clutching his throat at the mortal wound.
The last gunman opened fire on the other shooter. Adriana couldn’t see who it was, but she knew they’d be scrambling for cover. She unbuckled her seatbelt, silently opened her door, and climbed out. Things were still a bit woozy, but her equilibrium balanced quickly.
She moved stealthily across the pavement on the balls of her feet. The gunman’s full attention was on an SUV parked sixty feet away. He was peppering it with rounds from his weapon and stalking toward the friendly shooter’s position. Now Adriana was slightly behind the enemy. By taking the offensive, he’d opened himself up to an attack from behind.
Adriana ran, still staying on her toes to minimize noise. She closed the gap between herself and the gunman within seconds. When she was within range, she leaped into the air, leading with her knee.
The guy never saw it coming. The next thing he felt was Adriana’s hard knee bone crunching into the middle of his spine. He let out an involuntary grunt as the nerves in his body screamed out in pain.
Her weight combined with momentum drove him to the ground, where his face smacked the pavement. Most people would have been debilitated by the attack, but he was clearly a pro. The gunman felt Adriana straddle his back and swung the butt of his weapon around behind him, striking her on the right cheek.
The blow knocked her off balance and for a moment brought back the dizziness.
She rolled to her feet and lunged forward just as the gunman stood and raised his weapon to end the fight with one pull of the trigger. He was fast. Adriana was faster. She jumped, whipped her leg around, and drove the tip of her boot into the side of the man’s weapon. The jolt knocked the barrel away as he pulled the trigger and fired a round harmlessly into the air. He tried to bring it back around to his target, but she was already on to her next attack. She spun around, leading with her left leg, and drove the heel of her boot into the side of the man’s head.
The high roundhouse kick hit the enemy in precisely the right spot—or wrong spot for the villain. He collapsed to the ground and twitched for a few seconds before his body went limp. His eyes locked on the far wall across the other lanes on the bridge.
Adriana stood over him for a second, thinking the guy might be faking. She nudged his arm with the tip of her boot, but he didn’t move. Tommy arrived first. He skidded to a stop near the dead man and stared down at him with his weapon pointed at the guy’s head.
“He gone?” Tommy asked.
Adriana wiped her lips with her forearm. There was a thin line of blood oozing from her lip. She hadn’t realized she was bleeding until the fight was over.
“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “I must have hit him in the right place.”
Then she turned her attention to the totaled SUV behind her. She ran over to the passenger’s side and started to open the door when she heard the mechanism click inside. The door clicked before she could pull the handle. It cracked open for a second, and then Sean pushed it out the rest of the way. The hinges creaked, bending a piece of metal that had warped off of the door and into the sill.
He had a cut on his head and a burn mark on his face from the air bag. Sean set one foot onto the pavement and started to climb out. His eyes were open, blinking rapidly, but it was clear to Adriana that he was a little out of it.
Tommy arrived on the scene a moment later and put his hand out to brace his friend. He did so just in time. As Sean’s other foot hit the road, he started to fall forward. Tommy and Adriana held him up for a second and then let him down slowly.
“Call an ambulance,” Tommy said.
Sean was woozy, but he managed to move his head back and forth as he stared at the pavement just beyond his feet. “No. Don’t call them.”
“Sean, you’re hurt. You need medical attention,” Tommy insisted.
“I’m fine. Just get me out of here.”
“Who’s the driver?” Adriana asked Tommy.
“A guy named Slater.”
“See if he’s okay. I’ve got Sean.”
Tommy gave a nod and rushed around to the other side of the vehicle. It took more than a few tries to pry open the door. The crash had severely dented the roof along the seam where the door met the frame. By planting his feet on the back door and putting all his weight into it, Tommy yanked the door open wide enough to get inside.
“Slater, you okay?”
Slater’s head was tilted to the side at an awkward angle. He didn’t respond.
“Slater? Hey, man. You all right?” Tommy leaned to the left to get a better look at the guy.
His chest wasn’t rising, and his eyes were closed.
“Slater?” Tommy nudged the driver’s shoulder with his finger. Then he pressed two fingers to Slater’s neck and waited a moment.
Slater was dead.
“He’s gone,” Tommy announced.
Alu and Hank trotted up to the scene of the crash and took in everything that was happening within a few seconds.
“What?” Hank asked. “Did you say he’s gone?”
Tommy pulled back his hand and looked over his shoulder at Hank. “Yeah. He’s dead. Sean’s alive, but he’s pretty banged up. We need to get out of here. And Sean might need a doctor. He says no.”
“He’s right to,” Alu said. “The police will be here any minute. Lots of witnesses. We need to get out of here. If your friend is hurt, I know someone who can help him.”
Tommy was dubious, and he didn’t try to hide that in the expression he let Alu see. Tommy also realized he didn’t have many options. Sean didn’t want to go to the hospital, either out of pride or fear he and the others would be caught by the cops or someone worse. Dufort had the ability to sneak people into secure places. It wouldn’t take much for an assassin to get into a hospital. Alu’s offer was their best chance.
“Okay,” Tommy said. “Take us to your friend.”
Chapter 16
Cairo, Egypt
Cody stumbled through the hotel room door with a grimace on his face. The bruise stung like a needle piercing his skin, while at the same time producing a throbbing pain in his chest.
He was lucky he’d been wearing a Kevlar vest when the woman attacked him and planted a round in the center of his torso. The blistering desert heat had caused him to consider not putting the protective equipment on, but he’d opted for safety over comfort. It turned out it was the right decision and one that saved his life.
He dropped the vest onto the floor and stumbled over to the bed, where he collapsed onto his face.
“Where have you been?” a familiar, edgy voice asked.
Cody blinked a slow, heavy blink. He rolled over and sat up on the edge of the bed. “She…she came out of nowhere,” he said, fighting to find the words. His throat was parched. It felt like someone had shoved sandpaper into the back of his mouth. “Watkins is dead.”
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