Chasing Gold

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Still the miles raced past as midnight became a memory and a full moon began to pick out the approaching town of Black Jack.

Surely, they were now just a few hours behind, Alicia assumed. Two or three? Sometime during the night, they had been contacted by an offshoot of the St Louis police and assured a detachment of men and a helicopter would be made available. Eagle Springs golf course was being staked out.

Nothing to report yet.

Alicia sat on the edge of her seat, unable to relax. The long hours were torturous. Even compartmentalizing Crouch’s constant danger and the threat to the Star-Spangled Banner didn’t help much. Austin guided the car into the small city of Black Jack, rolling down a wide single roadway dissected by twin yellow lines. Clean looking shops and stores stood on both sides of the road. The entire place was well lit, the sidewalks empty in the early morning. Austin followed the route to the golf course, driving straight past before allowing Caitlyn to contact the local law enforcement.

“No signs of life,” the man reported. “And no newcomers in town today either. All hotels, motels, hostels checked. Could be in one of the trailer parks I guess, or just stopped in the woods.”

Alicia imagined the man shrugging helplessly. “More likely that they have friends in the area,” she said. “Do you have anyone on the watch list living around here?”

“Nope. If they’re helping these guys they’ve been keeping low until now.”

Alicia believed it. The op had been so carefully planned all along that whoever was in charge wouldn’t risk using a known criminal. They’d be doubly careful.

“Is that chopper ready?”

“Fuelled and waiting.”

“We have to assume they’re resting somewhere around here,” Caitlyn said. “Just keep your eyes open.”

The officer clicked off without saying a word. Alicia knew he’d be feeling patronized, but in a mission as important as this she didn’t care. For a woman who’d been suspicious of her boss in recent adventures, she sure as hell missed having him around now. In truth, she was beginning to feel guilty about those suspicions. Everyone strayed a little — didn’t matter how perfect or coddled or capable you were. The world was designed to make you stray.

Redemption rested in how quickly you made it back to real life, and all its obligations.

She checked her watch. It was a little after four, and she was heavy eyed. Maybe they should take this opportunity to get a little sleep. They couldn’t just drive around the city hoping to see a golden candle in the window.

She suggested it. They stopped and pulled over. The car ticked itself silent as first Russo, then the others stood watch in turn. Alicia ate fruit and energy bars, and drank water when it came to her stint, and watched dawn break out on the far horizon, just a blush of deep yellow brightening the dark skies.

The onset of dawn came with something else. A low whump that could have been anything at this distance, but to Alicia’s trained ear was gunfire.

Russo jerked awake. “What’s that?”

It was the soldier’s trained reaction. Alicia shook the other two into consciousness. “Something’s happening, guys. Let’s get into that golf course.”

Austin wiped his mouth and eyes and switched on the car. Caitlyn coughed and drank water as it sped off, spilling the contents into her lap. Alicia took hold of her gun.

They rounded a bend with both sides of the road hidden by high trees. The entrance was about fifty meters ahead. Austin spun the wheel hard and jabbed at the gas pedal to take a sliding arc off the road and into the driveway, making gravel spit up from the sides of their tires. The gravel road inclined steadily up ahead, the rise blocking any view they might yet have of the golf course.

Alicia sat forward again, hands clasped around Austin’s headrest. Slowly, the terrain came into sight.

The golf course spread out to both sides, hillocks and humps, dips and valleys, with tiny white sticks and flags marking the various holes. A clubhouse stood some way to the right, a single-story brick building with many windows, situated so that it could look out over the grounds. Behind it stood what appeared to be a small lodge, a place where golfers could mingle, drink… and perhaps stay the night.

“I bet they didn’t check the bloody golf club lodge,” she said.

Six cars were parked in front of the lodge, but they weren’t the focus of her attention. It was the course itself, somewhere close to the first hole, where three police officers knelt, guns out and sighted at something just a hundred meters in front of them.

Austin drove closer, ignoring the road now and bouncing over the grass.

Alicia saw them up ahead. They were scrambling and crawling between two small hills and the dip in between, where another flag was situated. She saw three mercs at first, then a fourth and another figure she thought might be Terri Lee. It was too far and too quick, but the cops appeared to have them pinned down.

“Faster!” she shouted. “Drive faster!”

The car bounced, the wheels spun hard. The cops turned around and one took aim, but then appeared to recognize the vehicle and re-joined his colleagues, focused on the mercs. Alicia could see four or five at a time — none were firing their weapons now — and guessed there had to be at least eight.

More than would fit in most cars if you included Crouch, Terri and Cutler. It appeared they had found reinforcements already then.

“Straight at them or stop?” Austin asked suddenly.

Alicia grimaced. “What?”

“Do you want me to drive straight at them? Or stop by the cops?”

Alicia narrowed her eyes. She had about five seconds to decide. There was an awful lot of potential firepower ahead and great risk to her friend. Frustrated once more, she chose the latter.

“Slow down.”

Then the mercs rose, four together, and loosed a volley across the golf course. The cops ducked down. Austin swung the wheel and the car slewed, sliding sideways across a dip, leaving muddy furrows in its wake. Everyone ducked down; Alicia crawling on the floor and pushing open the rear door away from the one the mercs were targeting. She scrabbled out quickly, followed by Caitlyn. More bullets smashed into their car and plowed a furrow in front of the cops’ hiding place. Alicia scrambled away and rolled down a small incline, putting more distance between herself and the car. She waited for the others to join her.

“Think we pissed them off?” Russo asked.

Alicia was about to reply in the affirmative when the deep, rumbling sound of rotor blades started booming among the clouds. At first, she thought it was their own chopper arriving but then understood what was happening.

“Shit, they’re getting ready to go. The mercs were clearing us away.”

“Still are.” Russo doubled over as more bullets turned the turf bank above them into swiss-cheese.

Alicia fastened on to the approaching chopper. It appeared out of the far distance, to the back of the golf course, sinking slowly toward the grounds as it approached the mercs. It was a large black beast, and she saw at least one man sitting in a gap where the door should be, an ominous object laid across his lap.

When the current spate of shooting stopped she rolled out of hiding.

Four mercs stood facing them, positioned atop a hillock. Four more ran out of the delve behind them, giving a thumbs-up to the pilot. Alicia then saw two more mercenaries pushing Terri Lee and Paul Cutler between them.

And another figure — Crouch!

“He’s here!”

The helicopter drifted down. Alicia saw the cops bob up and loose off a few rounds. One of the standing mercs cried out and fell backward, prompting the rest to unconcernedly open fire. One of the cops took a bullet to the shoulder and rolled down the hill. Another scrambled after him.

Alicia sighed and picked off one of the shooters, planting her bullet in the center of his forehead. At this stage the rest started to yell and fire indiscriminately. The chopper swung lazily around as it dropped lower and lower through the skies.

The lone gunman on board raised his ominous looking weapon with difficulty. Alicia’s eyes widened, and she rolled quickly behind the nearest hill, screaming at everyone to get down.

Large caliber gunfire filled the new day, bullets smashing through their car, mincing the metal to shreds. Enormous piles of dirt flew into the air where they struck the ground, showering Alicia and her colleagues with gravel and soil. It lasted thirty seconds, but felt like three hours.

Alicia had been waiting for the moment when the chopper fell too low to be able to utilize the large gun. Now, she rolled back out, sighting immediately and ready to run. Russo was with her. They saw two mercs already on the chopper, reaching back to haul Terri and Cutler aboard. Four more surrounded Crouch and made him run between them, pointing their weapons toward the cops and Alicia.

“Fuck!”

Feeling helpless, she readied to make a dash for it. Crouch was so close; she couldn’t risk losing him now. Taking a firmer grip of her gun and bending her knees, she prepared to attack.

Russo gripped her hand. “Wait.”

He nodded over her shoulder.

Alicia turned to see their own chopper approaching and grinned. “That’ll do.”