Liberty

CHAPTER ONE

“On the plus side, he hasn’t tried to shoot us.” Uriah “Bones” Bonebrake frowned at the reflection in the rear-view mirror as he steered the rented Mustang through Philadelphia traffic.

Dane Maddock, the man sitting in the passenger seat, couldn’t quite bring himself to chuckle at the joke. They were being followed and he had no idea why.

“I saw that white Ford Taurus at the airport, idling near the rental car pickup. Same driver at the wheel, same red, white and blue USA hat. With all the turns we’ve taken, there’s no way it could be a coincidence having him behind us.”

Bones took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at Dane. “What do you mean Taurus? It’s the blue Chrysler that’s following us.”

“It was at the airport?” Dane frowned.

“Yeah, over by the cabs. Driver’s got a beard that would make ZZ Top jealous.”

“You realize we could be imagining things.” Dane doubted it. For all of Bones’ failings, the man had good instincts when it came to danger.

“Two cars are at the airport at the same time as us. We cruise through the city, grab breakfast, and the same cars are still following us when we leave the parking lot. I don’t care how good the waffles were; that’s no coincidence.”

“So we’ve got a blue Chrysler and a white Ford on our tail.”

Bones smirked. “All we need is a red Chevy and it’ll be like the Fourth of July.”

The mention of the holiday triggered something at the edge of Dane’s thoughts, but he couldn’t quite grab hold of it. “Want to make a guess at who they are and what they want with us?”

“It they’re chicks, they definitely want me. Any babe with good taste will take a good-looking Cherokee over a little blond dude.”

“I’m almost six feet tall. That’s hardly little.” Dane shook his head. At six and-a-half feet tall and well over two hundred pounds, Bones considered most people to be small.

“I meant little in other ways.”

Bones ignored Dane’s profane retort, depressed the accelerator, and they shot through the red light where they had been stopped. Dane glanced in the mirror and saw that the Ford remained on their tail but the Chrysler hadn’t made it through. It now sat stuck as a line of cars crossed the intersection in front of it.

“One down, Bones. Halfway there.”

“I haven’t even broken a sweat yet. Now for the words that drove my mom crazy when I was a kid. Watch this!”

Bones yanked the wheel and hit the brakes, spinning the car sideways. With a squeal of rubber he flew up a side street. He repeated a similar maneuver three more times at different intersections.

“They still there, Maddock?” he asked, his voice tight and his eyes glued to the road.

Dane looked in the mirror and saw no cars. He risked turning his head all the way around, and for a hundred yards behind them, the street was clear.

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Cool. We still gonna check out Independence Hall?”

Dane was amazed at how calm Bones seemed after the maneuvers with the car. Then again, compared to their SEAL training, a few tight turns in traffic hardly merited a yawn. The two had just completed the three-week Jump School phase of Navy SEAL training in San Diego and were in Philadelphia for a few days of sightseeing before meeting up with two ladies they’d met on their previous leave.

He realized that he was glad to have Bones with him, despite the man’s seeming inability to take anything seriously. Bones cut an imposing figure, but he often exuded the joy of a teenager putting one over on the old folks. On the red-eye flight from San Diego to Philadelphia, Bones had spent most of the journey flirting with a buxom stewardess. This was after conspicuously traveling in his dress whites in an attempt to convince the gate agent to upgrade them to first class. Dane could still hear the exchange in his mind.

“I think she likes me.”

“Maybe she’s a glutton for punishment, Bones”

“Awesome, Maddock made a joke. I told you this trip would be fun. Hey, think she wants to join the mile high club?”

“I’m sure she’s never heard that line before.”

“Not from me.”

Dane was learning that despite the constant jokes, the big man was rock-solid when things got dangerous. He just hoped the apparent danger they faced now turned out to be nothing.

Five minutes later, they approached the University of Pennsylvania, where three large buildings seeming to rise higher than the rest on campus. It always amazed Dane how the campuses at big universities were like small cities in themselves. He glanced in the mirror one more time, though he hadn’t seen anything in his previous checks.

“Bones, they’re back! And—” Dane stopped, not believing what he saw.

“What else, dude? Spit it out.”

“There’s also a red Chevy with them.”

“You know you’re going backward, right?”

Bones hadn’t said a word when Dane mentioned the red Chevy. Instead, he’d pulled a racing one-eighty so smoothly that Dane hadn’t even needed to steady himself. Through the windshield, he could see the surprise in the faces of their pursuers.

Bones bared his teeth. “The best offense is a good offense.”

“I thought the best defense was a good offense?”

“Nah, Lombardi had it wrong. I’ve got ‘em right where I want ‘em.”

The three cars slowed as they came closer, the drivers probably uncertain what to do next. Then Bones let the Mustang swing sideways and he took a right away from the other cars. Several more turns followed, and Dane kept watching behind them.

“Looks like we lost the Ford.”

Bones continued down a long straightaway. When he did speak, his tone made Dane snap his head around.

“Holy crap, Maddock. Now we got trouble.”

The road in front of them was blocked by the Ford and yet another vehicle. Dane considered their options, time seeming to slow as he took in the surrounding area, which was dominated by the Philadelphia Zoo. Bones interrupted him.

“No choice, dude, I’ll have to punch through them.”

“Bones, wait! Stop the car right here on the sidewalk, I have an idea.”

Bones glanced at Dane for a fraction of a second before complying. As they screeched to a halt, both men jumped out of the car. Bones said, “You do remember how things turned out for Custer, right?”

“Yeah, but we have something Custer didn’t have. Just trust me and run.”

They quickly scaled the wall of the zoo and jumped down onto the other side. Bones’ eyebrows went up. “If you’re thinking what I think you are, I take back everything I ever said about you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We—”

A clang sounded next to them and a hole appeared in one of the zoo signs. With no accompanying sound of a gun firing, Dane had to assume the attackers were using silenced weapons. Neither he nor Bones had brought a gun on the trip, and Dane had left his Recon 1 knife in his luggage like an idiot. Both of them dove for the ground, rolling on their shoulders before snapping onto their feet behind a small bush.

A few feet away loomed one of the Zoo’s main attractions, the Zoo Balloon. Thousands of visitors each year began a bird’s eye tour of the city from this very spot. Dane had noticed the balloon landing just before telling Bones to stop the car.

“Hey Maddock, I’m all for a balloon ride, but we could just try to lose them in the zoo instead.”

“We could, but if a bunch of guys with guns starts chasing us in here, innocent people could get caught in the crossfire. I’m sure the zoo’s not open this early, but plenty of employees are around.”

“I’d argue with that selfless attitude, but since I get to ride in a balloon… ”

They sprinted the short distance to where two men were securing the gondola while two others were getting out.

“Hey, you can’t go in there!” Someone moved to block their way. Bones nudged him aside with just enough force to do the job, but not enough to hurt the man. They bounded up to the platform and into the gondola, ignoring the shocked looks from the zoo employees.

“Maddock, you know how to fly one of these things, right?

“No, but we’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.”

“If it were up to me, you could have all the time you want, but our star spangled friends are getting close. Plus, I think the zoo guys are preparing a more forceful request for us to leave.”

Dane fiddled with the controls in the gondola. More air started filling the canopy, and the restraints holding them to the platform opened. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the balloon started to rise at a pace that would have made a glacier impatient. As inches became a foot, Dane turned to Bones.

“I forgot to tell you about the next part of my—”

His final word succumbed to a staccato wave of bullets ripping into the basket and the canopy.