Blood Vengeance

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Mano Kinimaka remained by Hayden’s side as Smyth stalked out of the room to inspect the security arrangements and request a stock of ‘heavy’ hardware from someone in charge. This was a military hospital after all, the touchy ex-Delta solider argued, mostly to himself. Komodo sat with Karin in the corner of the room, hunched over his girlfriend as she sobbed her heart out. Their genius computer geek would be of no help to them for a while, and Kinimaka couldn’t blame her. It was all he could do to hold it together for Hayden after learning about the death of his mother. If their whole situation wasn’t so dire, he would be curled into a dismal ball next to Karin or on a plane bound for Honolulu.

Hayden spoke in a soft whisper, and Kinimaka had to lean over to hear the words. “Are you okay?”

He smiled, up close, and kissed her lips. Feeling the dryness, he held a glass of water for her to drag up a few sips. He smoothed the hair away from her forehead. “Here you are, shot to hell. And you ask me if I’m okay. God, I love you.”

Hayden smiled weakly. “I was only shot once. I’m a Jaye. It’ll take more than that to put me down.”

Kinimaka silently sent a big thank you out into the ether, then felt guilty because his mom had not been so lucky. Life wasn’t hinged on fate or design. Nobody out there had a complete plan. It was a giant dirty smorgasbord of chance and probability, shot through with prejudice, fanaticism and greed. Life was happenstance, nothing more, and you made of it what you could. Those who got really lucky were among the chosen few who could say they had won.

Kinimaka glanced up fast when the door opened, heart suddenly racing, and felt a rush of relief when Smyth walked in. The scowl on the soldier’s face had not diminished.

“C’mon, you guys. I could’ve been the fuckin’ enemy and taken you all out. Right there and then. Bad news is — the security in this hole sucks. Good news — they’re issuing us a few weapons. Probably relics from the Jurassic age, but all they have to do is kill bad guys, right?”

When no one answered, Smyth made his way over to the bare window. “I can’t believe Romero’s gone,” he said to his reflection. “Thought that maniac would have little Romeros of his own one day that I could train up to kick his ass.”

Kinimaka was about to slide off the bed and wander over when an unmistakable sound delivered harsh shock treatment to every set of frayed nerves in the room.

“Gunshot,” Smyth said and ran to the door.

It was muffled, probably emanating from the first floor two stories below, but was quickly followed by several more. Smyth listened as the two guards stationed outside the door received a report through their earpieces.

Kinimaka came to his shoulder. “What’s going on?”

Smyth waved towards the guards. “We’re waiting.”

The closest guard turned. “Shots fired in the parking area and now in the lobby. A large force of men—”

Kinimaka turned away, his eyes and thoughts switching immediately to Hayden. “We have to assume,” he said. “That they’re gonna get up here. We have to go. Now.”

“We can’t move her.” Komodo turned.

“We have to.” Kinimaka walked over to the bed. “We’ll all die if we stay here.” He leaned over and spoke quietly. “You ready to check outta this place, Hay?”

“I am if you are, Man.”

As gently as if he was lifting a newborn, Kinimaka picked Hayden up and cradled her in his big arms, making sure her head was nestled into his shoulder. Komodo urged Karin to her feet at Kinimaka’s insistence, supporting her with his arms. “Where do you plan to go?”

Smyth answered that one without missing a beat, “The only way is up.”

Outside the room, the guards were listening to their comms. Smyth tapped one of them on the shoulder. “You should come with us. Radio your colleagues and tell them to get the hell out. Those guys will kill you all.”

“But this is a hospital,” the guard answered. “There are patients here.”

Smyth shook his head. “They ain’t bothered about your patients, bud. They want us. And the only danger to you or your patients is if you try and stop ‘em.”

Point made, Smyth made a beeline for the nearest set of stairs. Kinimaka followed close, Hayden’s weight not causing him any bother as he padded along. Smyth cracked the doors and listened. No sounds of flying feet echoed up the stairwell.

“Three floors up,” he said. “Then to the roof.”

“Are we trapping ourselves up there?” Kinimaka asked.

“We’re Delta, bud,” Smyth rasped, indicating Komodo and himself. “We don’t get trapped.”

From back down the corridor came the sudden burst of automatic weapons.

“Didn’t take long,” Smyth murmured.

“Hospital is unprepared,” Kinimaka said. “They have no support. And I’m guessing this is a first. Attackers are prepared and unmatched. Only one outcome.”

Smyth stared. “CIA teach you that?”

“What?”

“That kind of ‘lie down and die’ bullshit. There’s always a chance, man. You just gotta grind it out for yourself.”

Smyth started up the stairs. Kinimaka followed at pace, Komodo urging Karin along behind. Explosions rattled out at their backs, sliced apart by the screams of the guards. Smyth bounded up two sets of stairs and came to the next floor. Without pause, he ignored the stairs and barged through the doors and into the corridor beyond.

“Where the hell’s he going?” Komodo asked. “I thought we were headed for the roof?”

Kinimaka leaned against a wall. “Just give him a minute. I have an idea what he’s up to.”

Three nail-biting minutes later, Smyth came back. In his arms he held three rifles and two handguns. Quickly, he distributed the load. “Knew they kept the armor on the third floor,” he breathed. “And shit, these friggin’ SPEAR IDs are like laminated gold bullion. One scan and you’re in. Think I’ll start using mine at Walmart.”

Karin held her head up long enough to accept her handgun, then Smyth held the last piece out to Hayden. “Wasn’t sure if you could use it, but hey,” he shrugged, “Can’t hurt to try.”

Kinimaka took the gun and fixed her hand around it. A smile lit her eyes, and Kinimaka winked. “Always happier with a gun in her hands.”

Smyth took off again, now pounding up the steps. He didn’t stop until he reached the top floor, then held the door open for the rest. “Roof access is at the end of the corridor,” he said. “We’ll have to break down the door.”

“Not a problem.” Komodo led the way now, still with Karin at his side. As the team moved into the corridor, they heard the sound of feet battering the stairs below. The attack team was minutes behind.

A shot fired up the stairwell, impacting with the wall. Smyth let the door close behind and searched for a way to block it.

“Forget it,” Komodo called. “Won’t last more’n a few seconds anyway. We need to get to the roof.”

The broad soldier looked nothing like the mild-mannered, clean-speaking, easy-going chef that Kinimaka had grown used to back at the HQ these last few days. Instead, the new image had been sloughed like an old skin, leaving the raw, hard-hitting ex-Delta soldier to take the reins. Komodo hit the stair-access door hard with his shoulder and watched it splinter, then kicked it off its hinges.

“Up.”

He urged Karin inside, then the others. Smyth passed him last as the stairwell door flew open. “We don’t have much time.”

“Shit.” Komodo ducked back in. The team climbed one more stair switchback, then pushed open a final door that led out into the night. Kinimaka pushed it wide with his shoulder, already studying the roof area. The first thing he saw were the bare tops of scaffolding poles sticking up above the rear of the building.

Komodo slammed the door shut behind them. “We have two minutes at most.”

“No cover,” Smyth took it all in. “Damn. What’s that?” He sprinted past Kinimaka and reached the edge of the roof first. “Scaffolding goes all the way to the ground,” he said, peering over. “But I don’t see a ladder. Can you jump with that load, big man?”

Kinimaka pursed his lips. “Can’t guarantee the landing. It’s risky. The whole scaffold could collapse under my weight.”

“Staying here is riskier.”

“About a minute,” Komodo warned as he took aim on the access door. “Make a decision.”

“Crap.” Kinimaka wrapped his arms tighter around Hayden’s body and walked to the edge. “I’ll protect you as best I can.” He glanced into her eyes.

The smile told him she already knew and drove another spike through his heart.

“Ready?”

“Wait!” Karin’s piercing cry froze them all. She was standing at the roof’s edge, toward the side, overlooking the adjacent building. “This would work better.”

Kinimaka was glad to hear her voice again. He’d been scared one of their most essential team members would collapse into shattered little pieces and never let herself be put back together again. But she was made of sterner stuff, this Englishwoman, and had dwelled deep in grief before.

The harshest lesson to learn was also the simplest one — sink or swim.

Karin told them her plan. Within seconds, Smyth had rushed off and jumped down onto the scaffold to grab hold of one of the scaffolding planks. With Komodo’s help he managed to heave and haul it onto the roof. Together, they laid it across the gap between both buildings, forming a makeshift, unsteady bridge.

Then bodies hit the inside of the access door, each blow accompanied by shouts.

“Crap.” Smyth raced across the bridge, arms out, swaying as he ran and adjusting to the warped wobble of the long, rough plank. As soon as he was over he took cover, lining up the access door with his rifle and calling the next person across.

Kinimaka stepped up. The black night above him was no more than a reflection of the yawning abyss below, and a sharp crosswind gusted past his bulk. He fixed his concentration on the two-foot-wide plank of wood that rested unevenly before him, but countless overriding factors tore at his concentration. Questions made a pincushion of his mind.

A stiff gust buffeted his body, sending him off balance. His heart juddered. The access door crashed open and Komodo opened fire. Kinimaka almost turned and unslung his weapon, but then the quietest of sounds broke through his turmoil, a sweet whisper on the wind.

“Mano, it’s okay. Whatever happens, I love you.”

Kinimaka looked down at her. “I will always protect you.”

“I know.” Hayden’s eyes closed, sending daggers through his heart. The Hawaiian stepped up and walked resolutely across the shifting plank. When its unsymmetrical base rolled to the left he saw it coming; and, concentrating hard, when it shifted suddenly to the right he shifted with it. When the wind slammed him halfway across, as he knew it would, he leaned in and kept moving. Before long, he stepped off the other end and laid Hayden carefully down onto the hard ground.

“We made it.”

No answer.

A bullet whizzed past his head. Kinimaka barely noticed, but quickly took Smyth’s testy advice and ducked.

“Hay?”

Her lips moved. “I’m okay. Just… resting.”

Kinimaka breathed a heavy sigh and took the opportunity to ease out the muscles of his arms. He might not get another chance for a while.

“They need your help,” Smyth hissed through the corner of his mouth. Kinimaka turned. Komodo was kneeling, firing steadily at the steel door, its surface already peppered with holes. Two attackers lay half-in half-out the door, weapons discarded, unmoving. Blood had splashed the rusty frames. Karin had taken cover behind the big man’s back, two feet behind, and was aiming her revolver around the side of his head.

Kinimaka sucked in a breath. Shit, he thought. They’re confident.

“Gotcha covered!” he yelled, and Komodo waved a hand, ordering Karin away. The young woman shouted back at him, clearly agitated, and Komodo immediately began to edge away with her. Kinimaka spotted a man’s head sneaking around the far doorframe and fired a couple of rounds to keep him at bay. They were lucky the access was small and impossible to protect, but he had no doubt that pretty soon the freak of an albino would come up with some kind of gnarly plan.

Karin balanced on the scaffold plank and fairly skipped across. Komodo jumped on straight after, and then the night exploded. The little access door bloomed outward, chased by shrapnel and fire. Its surrounds shattered under the detonation, spinning and skimming off into the night. Komodo paused before he negotiated the plank, unsure what would come next.

But Smyth knew. “Run!” he cried.

Too late. The enemy swarmed up through the widened gap, firing as they came. Smyth and Kinimaka ducked beneath the brick parapet as bullets thudded all around them. Karin remained kneeling, shooting hard, hitting one man’s arm and sending his gun soaring, kneecapping another and sending him down hard. Komodo charged across the plank, at the last minute leaping for the edge of the other building as the deformed wood rolled. His hands caught the edge, scrabbling for purchase. Bullets struck brick all around and between his flailing legs.

“Fuck me!”

Smyth and Kinimaka popped up and laid down covering fire. Komodo heaved his bulk up over the edge, landing hard. Once safe, the team wasted no time in retreat, first upending the scaffolding plank and letting it fall to the ground far below.

Kinimaka, staying low, scanned the roof. “I hate to say it, but this roof ain’t any better than the one we just almost died on.”

“Sure it is.” Smyth crawled past him at speed. “The bad guys aren’t on it.”

Kinimaka scooped up Hayden’s body, feeling the shallow breaths she was taking vibrate up his arms, and scrambled after Smyth. Komodo and Karin thwarted their assailants by discharging a measured, slow and steady stream of bullets.

Kinimaka reached the far end of the roof. More scaffold poles poked up over the edge and, beyond them, a bright yellow crane. When Smyth glanced over the parapet he gave out a loud cheer.

“There’s a ladder. Double wide, so even you should fit, big man.”

Kinimaka stared at him. It was clear that, if they survived tonight, the ex-Delta soldier and he were going to have to talk. Hawaiian hula girls and surfer chicks had previously gotten away with calling him ‘big man’. Dudes did not.

This time Smyth motioned Karin and Komodo to go first. Without pause they jumped down onto the scaffolding, feeling the whole structure rock, and headed for the ladder. Kinimaka went next, securing Hayden tightly and with great care, then leaping and landing on two feet. The planks groaned under his weight, the metal poles whining under the pressure, but the construction held.

“No fuckin’ about,” Smyth yelled. “They’re coming across now!”

He picked off the first few as they laid a fresh plank, but the hail of covering fire he withstood soon sent him scrambling over the edge of the building. Nevertheless he tarried, still firing, mindful that their attackers carried grenades and could quite easily and happily blow the scaffolding apart before the team reached the bottom.

The sound of Komodo’s clattering came to an end, then Karin’s. Kinimaka was understandably slower. Smyth fired a last volley as the enemy leapt onto the roof, then turned and sprinted for the ladder. It was wide, with platforms at every level, and switch-backed, so provided a decent amount of protection. Smyth saw Kinimaka’s bulk hammering at the stairs far below, then a shout came from above.

“Say hi to your little friend!”

Smyth glanced up through the gaps. Faster than him, quicker than even the Special Forces man could calculate, the vicious albino had raced to the parapet and now perched there like some nightmarish gargoyle.

In one hand he held a pineapple-shaped grenade.

Smyth put his head down and ran hard. In less than a second, he heard the clatter as the metal object hit wooden planks and knew he had no chance of outrunning the explosion. No chance at all. But he had managed to cover his team’s escape.

In that last second he ran faster than ever before.

The grenade exploded with an ear-splitting clap of thunder, sending out a supercharged blast of fire and energy. Part of the brick wall of the building crumbled inward. The scaffolding all around was blown away, poles and planks shooting like arrows into the darkness, causing the whole structure to collapse.

Smyth felt the entire configuration shifting beneath his feet, swaying away from the wall and crumbling into oblivion. He flew, fleet of foot, with a fire at his heels.

One more second… one more step…

The scaffold collapsed in on itself with a clang and a roar. The albino’s cackle sounded above it all. Smyth took one more step, then launched his body away from the disintegrating structure and out into empty space.

Sheer blackness and a drop of almost thirty meters lay directly below him.

He hit the bright-yellow crane hard. His forehead smashed into an upright, making him see stars, but his hands found purchase on a cross support, arresting his fall. Smyth stared up, meeting the shocked eyes of the albino.

“Mother—”

The rest was lost as the albino opened fire. Smyth placed his feet to either side of the stanchion he was clutching and let himself freefall, using his thickly-clothed arms and legs to control the descent.

He landed hard, crumpling and groaning, thankful that at least he had landed on grass and not the concrete.

Komodo held out a hand, looking impressed. “Nicely done. Thought you were a goner.”

Smyth managed a rare grin. “Yeah. I bet even Mai Kitano couldn’t have pulled that off.”

Komodo led him away at a jog. “Mai? Are you kidding? She’d have caught the grenade in her teeth and spat it right back into the bastard’s face.”

Smyth acceded gracefully. “Good point.”

“I mean, crap,” Komodo went on. “Torsten Dahl would probably have just chewed it up and spit it out. This ain’t Delta anymore, Smyth. These fuckers are the meanest, most expensively trained fighting machines on earth. They ain’t normal warriors.”

“I get it, I get it,” Smyth grumped. “Where the hell are we going?”

“We’re getting the fuck outta here.”