Chasing Gold

CHAPTER FOUR

Alicia sought cover behind a large SUV as the new men appeared and started firing. Ducking down, she peered around a wide tire and saw the heated debate between the thieves and the shooters. Clearly, something was wrong. At that moment Crouch, Caitlyn and Austin came running up, dropping beside them.

“Authorities can’t help for now,” Crouch panted. “They’re not exactly pinned down back there, but are prioritizing the lives of civilians around the Smithsonian and, obviously, the National Mall. The damn shooters are not relenting. We’re on our own for a bit.”

“They know we’re chasing the banner, right?” Alicia growled.

“Oh, yeah, they know.”

“You sound out of breath. Too much easy living whilst I was gone?”

“Well, I do have a new love in my life — maple bacon sundaes.”

Alicia stared. “What the fuck?”

“They’re nicer than they sound.”

Austin stared between them. “How can you do it? There’s bullets flying left, right and center, and you guys can’t stop chatting.”

Alicia peered around the large wheel again. The thieves were being dragged away now, guns held to their heads. An interesting development. She mentioned it to Crouch as she watched. Slowly then, the shooters backed away, finally disappearing around a corner.

“We ready?”

They broke into a run, traveling the distance to the corner in just a few seconds. A man stood there, checking his rifle as if he’d taken this chance to do so. Alicia walked up to him, grabbed the stock of his gun and smashed the top half into his nose. Blood flowed; the man’s head whipped back and struck the wall behind. He didn’t fall though. Alicia forced the gun again, smashing it across his cheek, and used her right knee, sending it in hard just under his ribcage. Still, he struggled. The final blows were to his temple — three heavy elbow strikes. The man was unconscious before the third.

“Secure him, Austin,” Alicia said. “And catch up.”

She peered carefully down the new street, saw their quarry hightailing it about one hundred meters distant — disregarding all precautions in favor of speed.

“They’re running,” she said. “Must have some kind of timetable to keep. We have to run too!”

Darkness shrouded this street, making pursuit even more dangerous. Alicia led the way, using every ounce of her experience and fully focused on the job. After just two minutes she proved she was right to do so — a shadow rose up from behind a parked car, aiming a shotgun at her. Alicia rolled and leapt up at him, grappling close together. When the others came up she snarled out an order.

“I’ve got this. Keep them in sight. I’ll catch up.”

Knowing her well, they rushed ahead.

Alicia wrestled with her opponent, allowing him a little leeway just to create space. When he fell back to bring the shotgun around again he left himself totally exposed. She dropped to one knee, delivering four solid blows to his stomach, then rose with an uppercut, catching him under the chin. The shotgun, when it fell, ended up in her outstretched hands.

“Well, would you look at that.”

The man had fallen to his knees. Now he looked up with fear on his face. “Don’t worry.” Alicia smashed him across the temple with the steel barrel. “I won’t treat you like you’d have treated me.”

She watched him collapse into unconsciousness and tied his hands.

Then she looked up, and set off in pursuit. The comms were still working so she asked for a sit-rep.

“D Street,” Crouch puffed back. “Under fire.”

Alicia tapped it into her maps app and took off fast. There was nothing odder than using an app to find a battle, she thought, but hey, that was modern warfare. She soon found D Street and saw the combatants ahead.

At the top of the street a random driver panicked at the sight of several men waving guns, and crashed his car into several parked vehicles. Alarms sounded, and shouts went up. Shots were fired. She saw the two thieves still being dragged, the banner balanced across their shoulders. She saw Crouch and the others, creeping between vehicles and advancing slowly. The shots were aimed at them, but plowed into cars and walls. Alicia saw an angry, half-asleep man stalk out of his front door, wearing a bath robe, and motioned him back inside with a wave of her gun barrel.

“Street’s a health risk,” she said. “Stay inside.”

He disappeared fast. Alicia couldn’t risk firing with the clumsy shotgun, so stayed low and quickly joined her friends. The men ahead were jumping over the hood of the crashed car to escape, highlighted just for a second. Russo picked one off with a headshot.

“Still no joy from the cops,” Crouch reported. “Most of DC’s law enforcement are ranged around or converging on the mall.”

“It’s still happening.” Her comment was a statement, not a question.

“So, the mall thing.” Austin’s face scrunched as he tried to make sense of it. “That’s just a diversion, allowing these guys to escape?”

“It feels like more than that,” Crouch admitted. “Though, either way, it is doing the job.”

They moved out, again using vehicles for cover, and raced down the rest of the street. Another arrow-straight street bisected this one, with the enemy already halfway along. Crouch radioed in once more and received only a terse reply.

“I get it,” he sighed as he replaced his radio. “I really do. The mall event will be seen as a terrorist attack. They have to give it top priority.”

“Where the hell are they going?” Russo wondered, watching the runners.

“Doesn’t matter,” Alicia said. “It’s easy. Just keep them in sight.”

The thieves and their guards just kept running, meandering down the streets as if searching for a lost car, but Alicia knew they had to have a plan. By now, they were a fair way from the mall. Maybe this was all about creating distance. She threw the shotgun she’d appropriated to Austin just to see how he handled it.

The young recruit almost dropped it at first, then caught hold and tried to appear confident.

“Whatever you do,” she said. “Don’t use it.”

“What? Wait… I…”

“It’s for show,” she said. “You use it and I’ll be forced to hurt you.”

“He’s not ready for a gun,” Crouch said, moving at her side.

“Not ready… then why the fuck is he here?”

The older man shook his head. “Ah, it’s a long story.”

“Long-lost son? Kid you didn’t know you had? Oh shit, don’t tell me it’s Russo’s toyboy?”

Crouch laughed as Russo choked and almost tripped over his own legs. “Nope, none of those. I’ll explain later but, for now, keep him out of it.”

Alicia grunted, but took the shotgun back. By now they were traversing another street and the area around them was pitch black. Somewhere far ahead they could hear a low rumbling and the sound of car horns.

“Freeway of some kind,” Crouch said.

“You think they’re planning to use it to escape?” Caitlyn asked, tapping at her map app.

“Who knows what they’re planning? It’s all very unorthodox.”

“But one thing is for sure,” Alicia added. “This thing they’re doing — it’s working.”

They continued the chase, Crouch flagging and now even Russo starting to slow. Alicia grinned at the big man, clapping him on the back.

“Hey Robster, you wanna lean on me a while?” she drawled.

“Fuck. Off,” he panted.

“What? No ‘bitch’ at the end? I’m disappointed.”

“I. Don’t. Have. The. Energy.”

“Those thieves,” Crouch said as they kept pace with their assailants. “Does anything look off about them to you?”

Alicia nodded, ducking fast as one of the men targeted them for a bullet. “Looks like they’re being coerced,” she said. “Like I said before. But that’s not a bad thing. Means we have friends on the inside.”

“Maybe,” Crouch said, returning fire. “I guess we’ll see. That’s a big old space up ahead.”

Alicia saw it for the first time. An enormous structure surrounded by a vast parking lot, floodlights brightly lit, the endless open bays offering no shelter and no protection.

“Move in, close up,” she said. “This is our chance.”