Chasing Gold

CHAPTER SIX

Russo stormed the fire exit door, shooting bullets that sprayed all around the frame. Guards stationed there jumped through the exit just in time, retreating under the onslaught. Alicia backed Russo, ranging to the right. Together, they approached the exit and peered through.

The door was open wide, banging against the wall. It led to a rear parking area and a row of enormous delivery bays. Alicia fell to one knee, sighting on several fleeing men, but then her attention was taken by an altercation to their right. Terri Lee and Paul Cutler were making a break for it.

Cutler had dislodged the banner from his shoulder, turned, and leapt upon a guard. The two men wrestled around the floor. Terri was on her knees, trying to unbuckle the rear catch that held the banner to her own shoulder before any other guards noticed. Cutler fought his man — the thief looked immensely strong but possessed no real fighting skills. The gun rattled away. This alerted another guard, who then trained his weapon on Cutler. Terri jumped up and ran at him, arms outstretched. Even from here Alicia could hear the scream:

“Noooooo!”

Sounds like she cares for Cutler.

Storing that one away, she fired at the guard targeting Cutler. Bullets flashed all around him, making him scuttle away quicker than Terri ever could. On the floor, Cutler succumbed to a blow to the head. The guard rose and started screaming at both of them, motioning that they retrieve the fallen banner.

Alicia surveyed the rest of the area. The thieves or terrorists or guards — or whatever the hell they were — numbered six strong and were ranged across the parking lot, sheltering behind concrete stanchions and a single parked truck.

“Too exposed,” Russo muttered. “We wouldn’t make it ten feet under gunfire.”

“Neither will they,” Crouch said. “But we do need backup. Let me try these goddamn muppets again.”

Alicia watched the men outside scrambling for cover and pulling the two thieves back into line. The banner itself was right there, as clear as day under the bright lights, not twenty meters from her. It might as well have been three hundred. They couldn’t advance without more firepower.

Crouch cursed. “Now they understand our situation,” he spat. “But are under incredible pressure of their own. They told me to handle it.”

“Wait,” Caitlyn said. “What’s that?”

A small car was arrowing its way across the parking lot, coming from behind the thieves but aiming straight at them. The driver looked vaguely familiar.

“Shit, that’s Will Austin,” Crouch groaned. “I told you — enthusiastic but stupid.”

“He’s gonna take some fire,” Alicia warned. “When they turn, we shoot.”

It happened very quickly. Austin targeted the first enemy shooter who only realized in the last few seconds that there was a vehicle behind him. Its front fender clipped his hip, making him scream and sending him tumbling away to the left. Austin then redirected his aim to the next who had already heard the commotion and turned to see him coming. The man rose and took aim at Austin’s windshield.

Russo squeezed his own trigger first. The bullet struck cleanly in the center of the man’s back, propelling him forward onto the hood of the car and right over the top. The windshield smashed, the car veered wildly, but then zeroed in on the next gunman.

“Way to go, Willy,” Alicia whispered, copying Russo’s actions of a moment before and killing another gunman just a few seconds before he fired at Austin.

That left just three, including the two near Terri and Cutler.

Austin concentrated on driving at the third, but Alicia could see immediately that he was too far away. The gunman was stationed behind an enormous truck tire, giving her no shot.

Austin didn’t see that.

“Shit,” she said. “That Austin’s either got some big balls or a tiny brain, but from now on — his name’s gotta be Willy.”

She broke cover, but the other two gunmen pinned her down, sending her back inside. Now would be the perfect time to get some help from Terri or Cutler but it seemed the mega-thieves had been cowed into docility. Austin urged the car forward and then took the first bullets through the windshield. Alicia saw the car veer and then swerve, its back end swiping around and striking the front of the truck.

The passenger door flew open. Austin fell out.

Alicia sprinted toward him, not heeding the peril. Russo and Crouch laid down precise fire at the other two gunmen, trying not to hit the thieves. Alicia slid in right beside Austin’s head.

“You daft fucker. Are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah, just a scratch.”

Alicia dragged him away from the car and then underneath the truck before the man who’d shot at him could see them. From this vantage point she could see his legs as he stalked slowly around the front of the truck and peered underneath the car. He didn’t see them so far back, and rose again. Alicia rolled toward the side he was on, preparing to leap out.

Crouch broke comms silence. “Bollocks! That’s what they were waiting for.”

She heard it too. The approach of a heavy chopper. A good pilot would be able to land it easily in the vast, empty parking lot, slotting it between column lights.

A few minutes and that banner’s bloody history.

But there were only three gunmen left.

The chopper thundered straight at the parking area, nose down, lights blinding. Alicia rolled back under the truck as the gunman who’d been stalking them gave up and started running toward the chopper. She still had Austin by the waist and heard him groan.

“You okay?”

“Yes, you’re making me feel sick.”

“Ungrateful bastard. Most people would be happy for a roll under a truck with me.”

She left him there, jumping up on the blind side to the approaching helicopter. Russo, Crouch and Caitlyn were already approaching.

“Go, go, go!” Alicia shouted. “Save the damn flag!”

They raised weapons and moved to the front of the truck. Alicia followed them, limping a little. Something was bruised in her lower leg, but she quickly walked it off. Ahead, the thieves were being dragged bodily toward the chopper’s landing point, guns trained on their heads. Russo tried to line one of their guards up, but the constant movement made it risky at best.

“They will use Lee and Cutler for shields,” Crouch said. “You can’t chance it.”

“We can’t let them get away.”

“We won’t. C’mon.”

Crouch ran around the truck and jumped into the car that Austin had clearly hotwired. Everyone piled in. The vehicle was running in seconds, and then Crouch jammed his foot down on the gas pedal. Alicia expected a head-jerk, but it wasn’t that powerful, setting off with a pained whine and a tiny slipping of rubber. Crouch increased speed as he approached the gunmen.

They saw the threat and aimed their weapons.

“Hang on!” Crouch cried out.

With a heave on the manual handbrake and a twist of the wheel, he sent the small car into a skid. The back end plowed into the gunmen just as they opened fire, sending them sprawling. Bullets laced the air. Alicia had her head down and heard glass shattering and slugs hitting the metalwork. The car came to a head-jerking sudden halt.

Alicia looked up, grappling with the door. Both thieves were inches from the back window, eyes wide and lips moving as if they were screaming for help. Alicia pushed the tiny door open and stepped out. Two gunmen lay on the ground, faces bloody and arms broken, their weapons scattered.

The single surviving gunman stood training his weapon on Terri and Cutler, the barrel wavering an inch from the back of their heads. His figure darkened as the huge chopper touched down directly behind him, rotors still whirling fast as if it wanted a quick getaway. The skids touched down and then the doors flew open.

“Now or never,” Alicia said.

“Bollocks.” Crouch was caught between impossible choices. He couldn’t trade a life for a flag, no matter its worth.

“Leave them and take the banner,” he cried. “We won’t stop you.”

The single gunman didn’t react; clearly waiting for reinforcements. Alicia saw them coming now, four more armed men jumping out of the chopper. The situation was rapidly deteriorating, both for America and for the thieves.

“How fast are you, Russo?” Caitlyn asked.

The big man shrugged slowly. “I can’t guarantee hitting the terrorist, if that’s what you mean.”

Alicia was watching the thieves. Though they were clearly scared, they were both staring hard at her. They’re waiting for a signal.

“I think we have a chance here—” she began, but then everything changed.

A faint scrape behind her transmitted the stomach-churning knowledge that somebody was still in the car, and that somebody was maneuvering it quickly to change the situation.

“Oh, crap, that’s Austin—”

The vehicle shot past, accelerating noisily. Four new attackers ran toward it, guns leveled. The helicopter waited. The thieves threw themselves to the ground just a millisecond before their guard opened fire.

The bullet missed Cutler by millimeters, thudding into the ground, although the noise of it clearly made him scream. Alicia saw the figure sitting at the wheel of the car and cursed heavily.

“We’re gonna have to tie that idiot to a fucking trolley.”

It was Austin, once more taking it to the enemy in a car with no power, with tiny tires that slewed and failed to grip properly.

He missed the guard, then veered at the new gunmen. Crouch yelled a warning and set off like a sprinter, chasing the car. Alicia shook her head as she ran too. The guard retrained his weapon on Terri, but Russo ended all that, firing a round into his sternum. Caitlyn stopped beside the thieves, falling to her knees to check they were okay. Between them, the rolled-up banner hampered their movements and appeared to be slightly creased in the middle.

Gunfire rang out as the newcomers saw the tiny vehicle speeding at them and formed a line to make it stop.

Will Austin drove straight into it.

Crouch, alone and unprotected, ran right behind him.