Noah's Nemesis

by Dale Mayer

  Chapter 14

  Di could tell from the odd look on Ice’s face that something was going on. They had been sitting here, having a cup of coffee in the dining room, at a huge long table that offered comfort, peace, and family gatherings. Alfred hovered to make sure Dianne was okay and kept patting her hand, telling her to relax. But, as she watched Ice, Dianne saw something cross her features. “What’s the matter?” she asked urgently.

  Ice refocused her gaze back to the conversation. “They found him,” she said quietly.

  “And is it over?”

  “No,” she said, “a shoot-out is happening.”

  “Oh, crap,” she said, staring at Ice in horror. “Noah’s in danger?”

  Alfred squeezed her fingers and said, “Calm down. These guys know what they’re doing.”

  She stared at him blindly. “But it’s Noah.”

  “It is Noah,” he said, his gaze searching hers.

  She blinked at him. “What if he’s hurt?”

  “If he’s hurt, then we’ll do everything we can to get him back on his feet,” he said quietly. “It happens. But that doesn’t mean it’s got to be fatal.”

  She took a long slow deep breath. “No,” she said, “of course not.” But she felt herself hyperventilating, and her world was spinning. “I’m not usually this affected,” she said, “but it’s been a hell of a crazy few days.”

  “Of course,” he said quietly. “Plus, somebody you really care about is involved.”

  At that, she refocused on his face and stared. “Did I say that?”

  “You didn’t have to,” he said.

  “Well, he’s been looking after me this week.”

  “Sure he has.”

  Alfred was thinking something completely different. Then again, maybe she was too. “I’m so confused,” she whispered, as she sagged in the chair, her gaze going from his face to Ice’s. It was obvious that Ice was following something intently, as she studied the coffee cup in her hand. The earphone was just barely protruding from her ear. “Is that Bluetooth?”

  “They’re all connected right now,” Alfred explained. “It helps them to keep track of who is where.”

  “But Noah isn’t,” she cried out, looking at them in horror. “Nobody knows where Noah is. He didn’t have that.”

  “No,” Alfred said. “But remember, they did go to help him.”

  “Sure,” she said, “but Noah lost his, when he and I left the truck. And, when the bomb went off, Noah took off, wanting to chase this guy down.”

  “The team knows that,” he said. “They won’t shoot their own man.”

  “No, no, of course not,” she said, trying to calm her breathing. She swallowed hard and looked over at Ice. “I need to do something. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  She looked over, smiled, and said, “No, really nothing you can do to help at the moment.” She looked over at Alfred and said, “I’m going downstairs.” She smiled at Di. “You just stay here and rest. I’ll be back up in a few minutes.” She got up and strode away, but her footsteps were purposeful, determined.

  “Where’s she going?” Di cried out. Alfred hesitated. She looked at him. “Please don’t lie to me.”

  “She’s going to the medical center to make sure it’s prepped and ready,” he murmured.

  “So somebody’s been shot?”

  “We don’t know that. What we do know is that, if she’s prepped, then if anyone does get injured, she’s ready.”

  “Okay,” she said, staring at him, trying to remember all the things that she’d heard about Ice’s medical abilities. “Do you have a doctor here?”

  “Not technically in residence, no, but what we have is probably better,” he said. “Ice was a navy field medic. Several other people are heavily trained, and we have lots of staff with skills that far surpass a normal medical scenario. Ice can fly one of our helicopters, if someone needs to go to the hospital for emergency surgery or something equally traumatizing.”

  Dianne relaxed at that. “I keep forgetting how well equipped the compound is.”

  “And it’s just for things like this,” he said, “on the off chance that something goes wrong and that people need help. Levi and Ice always make sure their team is taken care of.”

  Di nodded, finding herself relaxing a little bit. “I know,” she said, “but those bullets, they kill.”

  “They do,” he said, “but I can’t even begin to tell you how many bullets we’ve pulled out of guys here. Lots of times the bullets don’t kill.”

  She smiled. “Have you been hauled in to help her?”

  “I’ve done plenty of surgeries with her, particularly in the beginning,” he said, with a big grin. “I was a field medic myself, way back when.”

  “You must have had a wonderful life,” she murmured, studying him. He was older than Levi and Ice, but she understood that the couple had a military career together that went way back.

  “Absolutely,” he said. “And it’s not ending anytime soon.”

  And such a twinkle was in his eye that she realized how she had worded it. She flushed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

  “Don’t you worry about it,” he said, once again patting her hand.

  What a soothing motion it was, and he’d been doing it periodically since she’d arrived. Whether it was supposed to calm her or him down was the question, but it seemed to be working. She smiled. “You’re a very nice man.”

  “Thanks, I think,” he said, and then he chuckled.

  “I meant it nicely,” she said, with a shrug. “It’s always hard to know what to say to people sometimes.”

  “Hey, these aren’t circumstances that most people have a chance to repeat,” he said. “It’s best to be natural and normal and honest at all times.”

  “I can do that,” she said, with a smile. “After all, it’s what I do on a regular basis.”

  “So, my understanding is,” he said, “that you’re in the health industry.”

  “I am,” she said. “Whether it’s a good place to be or not is the question,” she said. “I was hoping to talk to Levi and Ice about it, about the potential to open a franchise store here.”

  “I’m no expert, but I can listen at least. What is the issue?”

  “I’m looking for a business point of view, like what’s happening in town and what the market looks like.”

  “More as a casual one-off kind of conversation?”

  “Well, I certainly respect Ice’s business ability,” she said. “But, yeah, just as a curiosity, somebody to banter it back and forth. They’re the ones who suggested it a long time ago.”

  “Well, if they suggested it, I’m pretty sure they think it’s a good idea.”

  “And so do I,” she said, “if all this hasn’t changed my mind. It makes me feel odd to think of coming here now.”

  *

  Noah might not have been in the same spot, but he still felt the tug of the bullet as it caught his shirt. He fired off one shot in the direction of the rifle and heard an almost silent oomph. But it didn’t sound bad enough to have stopped the gunman. Noah sent off several more, moving through the softening darkness as fast as he could, trying to move without making a sound, which was almost a lost cause out here. More gunfire sprayed in his direction, and he hit the ground, as the bullets zoomed overhead. He needed to get in closer, but this guy, with his semiautomatic rifle, was covering the area heavily with spray.

  If Noah had any way to communicate with the others, he could have told them, although this gunfire would bring them all running. He knew that some of his team were here already, but now they all would converge. He stayed quiet, searching the ground around him. But, in this darkness and now the all-encompassing fog, it was almost impossible to discern movements. He knew roughly where the gunman was because Noah had seen the flash of the muzzle, but the shooter could have already moved ten feet by now.

  Skittering on his belly, Noah moved forward about four feet, then too
k a chance at another yard or so. There was a rock, not big enough to really hide behind but enough that he could blend into, and he shifted closer, studying the terrain, finding nothing to help him discern anybody. Either the guy was prone on the ground, or he’d already disappeared. There was no grass, no trees, no brush to hide in around here. It looked like it was completely wide open. Noah saw one lone rock off to the side, and it was a little bit bigger than the one Noah had been hiding behind earlier.

  He hesitated, wondering if he should try to reach it, when suddenly the rock looked like it was breathing. He froze and smiled. It was a cool move because the gunman had managed to blend into the rest of the terrain, and nobody would actually know it was a person rather than a rock. And he had done it so well that it was very convincing.

  Noah studied the figure, wondering if it was the predator or if it was one of his own team. He assumed it was the gunman he was after, and, when he caught a shift of movement, and the rifle was lifted and pointed in another direction, ready to fire, Noah lifted his handgun and fired once. The man groaned, immediately turned in Noah’s direction, spraying the ground with bullets. The gunman had already rolled off to the side, but Noah knew that he wouldn’t have another chance if he didn’t take this guy out now.

  He fired twice more, racing forward from the side, even as the gunman took both body hits, shifting to the ground, his rifle firing into the air, as he tried to swing it up and around. Just as the muzzle neared Noah, facing him, Noah kicked out with his boot and caught it, shifting the angle so the bullets missed him. Or at least he hoped they did. He felt a tug on his thigh, but he couldn’t worry about it, as he was coming down hard, his fist connecting with the predator’s jaw, again and again and again.

  Finally the man offered no more resistance and lay flat on the ground. Noah took a long slow deep breath, picked up his phone, and sent out an immediate call for help. Using Flashlight mode on his cell, he checked out the man’s face and froze. This wasn’t Maxwell, not unless he was in a damn good disguise. Noah quickly sent an image to Levi and checked the gunman over, when he felt a cold hard muzzle up against his back.

  “Thought it was just me, didn’t you?” said the stranger with a laugh.

  Noah froze and swore silently in his head. They had always assumed it was just the one guy. And that was the problem; don’t ever assume. “Who’s this guy then?” Noah asked Maxwell.

  “A hired gun. Somebody to give me a hand and to work as a decoy.”

  “Did he know you set him up as bait?”

  “He knew what the score was,” he said. “Nobody is innocent in this life.”

  “Well, some are,” he said. “Some definitely are.”

  “BS,” he snapped. “Everybody deserves to die.”

  “Well, everybody will die,” Noah said. The gun nudged him harder, and he wondered what his chances were of pivoting, grabbing the gun, and taking it away. Probably not very good. He was looking at a bullet through the chest for sure. He had already sent out the call to Levi, knew they would locate his position, but he could only hope that somebody was coming real soon. Yet it was also a matter of making sure nobody came in too fast because, if that were the case, this guy would start shooting, and somebody would get hurt.

  “Did you kill him?” Maxwell asked.

  “No, your patsy’s not dead,” Noah said.

  “Stand up,” he said.

  Noah slowly stood and shifted away from the body beside him. He also aligned himself sideways against the gun muzzle.

  Maxwell looked down at his partner. “Too bad,” he said. And before Noah had a chance to even react, the man fired one bullet into his partner’s head.

  Stunned, Noah snapped, “Did you have to kill him?”

  “Absolutely. He was almost dead anyway. He should be thanking me.” Maxwell stared at Noah, with a toothy grin. “But you?” he said. “You don’t get to die quite so fast.”

  “Really?” Noah said, eyeing him carefully. He could take one bullet, maybe two, depending on how artfully they were placed. But after that it would be much harder to survive. He shifted on the balls of his feet.

  “Yeah, I have to incapacitate you first.” Maxwell shrugged. “You will be the bait that brings Levi in.”

  “Thanks for that,” Noah said. “No problem.”

  Splat!

  A bullet slammed into his leg. Noah swore, and, since it was the leg he had most of his weight on, he went down. He immediately tried to stop the bleeding, his hands pressing hard on the wound, as he stared up at the gunman. “Great,” he said. “So now that I’m wounded, what now?”

  “Levi will come in and try to rescue you,” Maxwell said, with an airy wave of his hand. “After all, it’s what he does.”

  “Right,” Noah murmured. “And how do you know he even has a clue what’s going on?” The trouble was, Maxwell was right. Levi would come. Noah just had to wait for the right moment to take out this asshole. Even with the bullet in his leg, no way Noah would let this guy live.

  The man laughed. “Judging by the look in your eyes right now,” he said, “if you had a chance, you’d wrap those hands of yours around my neck and squeeze until I couldn’t breathe anymore.”

  “Well, you did just shoot me,” Noah said, grinning through the pain.

  “Yep, and if you don’t shut up and be good,” he said, “I’ll shoot you again.” And, with that, Maxwell turned to look around at the general area and called out, “Hey, Levi. Your sitting duck is here. I took him out with a bullet in the leg,” he said. “If you don’t show yourself, I’ll put one in his head too.” There was only silence all around.

  Noah knew that Levi’s motto was never to play the hostage game. And, even as Maxwell continued to scan the area, Noah shifted restlessly on the ground, making his shooter spin to look at him. But Noah was just trying to move his injured leg into a more comfortable position.

  “Don’t try anything,” Maxwell warned.

  “What am I supposed to try?” Noah asked.

  At that, Maxwell laughed and nodded. “That’s right,” he said. “You’re mine now.” He turned and yelled back out, “Levi, get your ass over here. Ten minutes and I start popping him.”

  At that, Noah’s blood ran cold. He looked around for a weapon. He’d been disarmed of his handgun, and it was at Maxwell’s feet, not very far away. That might be worth reaching for, but, as he put his hand down to shift the weight off his leg again—which was really booming with pain now—he noted rocks were all around here. He quickly slipped a half dozen into his pocket, moving silently. With one in his right hand, he waited for his chance.

  As soon as another five minutes had gone by, Maxwell let out another roar into the darkness. “Levi, you got five minutes left.” And he lifted his semiautomatic in the air and said, “If you don’t believe me, look what I’ve got.”

  Since the gun was over Maxwell’s head, Noah took aim, and, with one of the biggest rocks, he pitched it as hard as he could into the air and right at the man’s temple. Adrenaline then drove Noah forward, helping to black out the devastating pain in his leg.

  As Maxwell stumbled to the left, stunned by the rock, Maxwell was up in a flash and over at Noah’s side, bringing the rifle down, even as Noah grabbed the end and butted him hard in the face with it, then hit him hard again with two more heavy slams to the jaw. Even as he finished the second one, he was suddenly surrounded by Levi and the team.

  Maxwell groaned, as he shifted to his knees and then lunged with a knife, trying to attack Noah, Maxwell’s focus only on Noah now, but he easily dodged the knife.

  Levi tried to get his attention. “I’m here,” he said. “Now what the hell do you want?”

  “I want this asshole,” Maxwell said, desperately trying to strike at Noah.

  But again Noah slammed the gun butt hard against Maxwell’s chest, sending the older man back, coughing now. “You’re not taking me out. A bullet in my leg is one thing,” Noah said, “but taking me down permanently is something
entirely different.” He kicked his own handgun away from the guy, in case he thought he would pick it up. With the others now taking over control, the gunman continued to cough several times, then heavier.

  Nothing was normal about that cough. Noah looked over at Levi, who studied Maxwell curiously.

  “What’s that, lung cancer?” Levi asked.

  “Stage four,” Maxwell said, spitting out a great big chunk of something nasty looking onto the ground. There was enough light to see but not clearly “Shoot me. I don’t care,” he said. “I’m dead anyway.”

  “So, you chose to spend your last few months full of hate?” Levi asked. “Your last few months trying to hurt others, instead of enjoying what little life you had left?”

  “There’s no enjoying life when you’ve lost the only thing you care about,” he snapped.

  “You could have made a different choice,” Levi said.

  “There is no different choice. This is it. Go ahead and shoot me,” he said. “It’ll save me the last few months of pain.”

  “No, we won’t do that,” he said. “When it comes to pain, that’s for you to bear. I’m a little tired of you bothering innocent friends of mine.”

  “She wasn’t innocent,” he said. “And she was just a means to an end anyway. What do I care? She’s just another person out there. One of many who have hurt me over the years.”

  “Dianne didn’t hurt you or your son. Neither did any of my friends. Yet, instead of spending the last few months trying to find something good in life, all you’re doing is pouring hate and revenge and acid onto your soul.”

  “My soul’s already rotten,” he said. “There’s no salvation for me.” He looked up at Noah. “And you’re the asshole who kept interfering,” he said. “I should have shot you in the chest.”

  “You should have. I know I hit you a couple times.”

  “Yeah, but I’ve got on a bulletproof vest,” he said, laughing. And, with that, he pulled the knife toward him. “And I’m not dropping this either.”

  “Well, we can’t move you with it in your hand,” Levi said.

  “It’s fine. I said you could just shoot me.”