Polar Quest

63

Kilkenny and Tao circled around the château and approached from the south side. They kept to the shadows to avoid being silhouetted by the fire, Kilkenny leading with Tao covering their rear. The burning generator house created an artificial dawn and the large house cast a wide, exaggerated shadow across the sloping landscape that Kilkenny and Tao used to conceal their closing advance.

They ran up behind a gazebo placed in line with the château’s symmetrical rear façade. The circular wooden structure straddled the outer edge of a brick-paved terrace surrounded by a low stone balustrade. Glock and eyes tracking as one, Kilkenny scanned the terrace from side to side looking for threats in the shadows behind the windows.

Kilkenny scooped up a pair of potato-sized stones from a landscaped bed and handed them to Tao. She looked at him quizzically, but followed as he dashed through the gazebo and across the terrace. They pressed up against the masonry walls of the château near a French door on the west wing. Kilkenny pointed at the stones in Tao’s hands, then at two windows about fifty feet away. He held up his fingers for a three-count and Tao nodded.

On three, Tao hurled the stones at the windows. As the stones struck, Kilkenny shattered a pane in the glass door beside him with the Glock. Kilkenny reached through and popped the lock.

Inside, Kilkenny scanned the room, eyes and Glock probing the darkness in search of a target. He glided sideways along the near wall with Tao behind him, still searching the shadows for any sign of movement. Outside the room, they heard two distinct sets of footsteps — one set upstairs and the other rushing toward the rooms with the broken windows.

Kilkenny signaled that he was moving to the next room. He passed through a wide archway into a large space that spanned the width of the main section of the house. Two windows on the north wall danced with fire-light. The room had four entry points, two archways on each end of the long walls facing opposite each other. Kilkenny swept left to right, then back again slowly, their footsteps silent as they edged along the wall.

We’ve got time, Kilkenny reminded himself. No need to rush.

He stepped past a large fireplace in the center of the wall and detected movement. He turned toward the archway on the opposite wall and locked on a target. As he squeezed off a double tap, his target fired and Kilkenny felt a bullet tear through his left shoulder.

‘Jeezus!’ Kilkenny hissed under his breath.

Both of Kilkenny’s shots landed in the kill zone and the guard fell backward onto the marble floor of the foyer.

‘Here,’ Kilkenny said, handing Tao the pistol.

‘How bad?’

Kilkenny gingerly felt his upper arm and found the entry and exit wounds. ‘Hurts like a sonuvagun, but it passed through. You take the lead.’

Tao cleared the next room ahead. When they reached the foyer, they found the body of the guard who had exchanged bullets with Kilkenny. Kilkenny picked up the man’s pistol. They continued their methodical sweep of the main level, finding only dark and empty rooms. In the servant’s wing, Tao carefully opened a door to a narrow staircase.

‘What do you think?’ Tao asked quietly.

‘The rest are upstairs and it looks like there’s only two ways to get there. It’s stupid for us to split up. I say we block this door and take the main stair.’

‘Agreed.’

Tao wedged a chair in front of the door. They moved back through the dining room and into the two-story foyer. The main stair swept up in a wide gentle curve. Glocks and eyes scanning the upper landing, Kilkenny and Tao began their ascent.

As they neared the top, Kilkenny’s visual sweeps focused on the two doorways that faced each other on opposite ends of the upper floor landing. Both doors were ajar, and the light from the fire that illuminated the foyer only served to make the rooms beyond the doors seem that much darker.

Which one? Kilkenny pondered, studying the narrow view he had into the rooms.

Just as his eyes cleared the edge of the upper floor landing for a better look, a muzzle flash illuminated the dark opening to his right. Kilkenny and Tao dropped back, three rounds splintering the woodwork, just missing his head. Kilkenny reached his right arm up over the top step and returned fire. Rounds slammed into the wall and door with little hope of finding a target. Kilkenny and the unseen attacker continued to trade rounds in an apparent stalemate.

‘What’s the plan?’ Tao asked.

‘Move up behind me. On three, drill a few shots into the right side of that doorway. I’ll run up along the left side, bolt through the door, and pop him. As soon as I hit the door, you follow me in.’

‘Shouldn’t I be taking the run?’

‘You ever done this before?’

‘No.’

‘I have. You cover my tail in case this plan goes sideways on us. Ready?’

Tao moved into position and recited a slow count. On three, she fired into the dark opening to cover Kilkenny’s charge, then held her fire. The door on the opposite side of the landing flew open. Tao rolled across the top tread, caught sight of Udall Walker raising his pistol, and fired. She emptied the Glock into Walker’s chest, driving him back through the doorway.

Kilkenny kicked the door wide open and lunged into the darkened room, his back pressed against the door, the Glock held at eye level. Starting a quick right-to-left sweep, his outstretched hands struck something, then a muzzle flashed directly in front of him and a bullet slammed into the door beside his head. Kilkenny’s left cheek stung with burning fragments of spent powder, his ear echoing painfully with a high-pitched ringing.

The residual image of the muzzle flare robbed Kilkenny of his night vision, but he didn’t need it — the shooter was standing right in front of him. As he squeezed off his final shots, something struck his right arm, pushing his aim off target. Two pistols flared in the darkness in front of him. To his left, a window exploded into tiny shards of glass.

Kilkenny dropped his empty pistol and grabbed hold of the arms in front of him. One of them felt warm and moist. He snapped a short kick, waist high, and connected with something solid. The shooter doubled over and leaned into the dim light by the doorway. Duroc.

Duroc lunged, ramming his shoulder into the left side of Kilkenny’s chest. He pinned Kilkenny against the door and pulled his arms free. Kilkenny felt two of his floating ribs break against the door’s decorative brass knob. Duroc shifted to the side, placing Kilkenny between himself and the doorway. Both men were gasping for air. Duroc straightened up, his height just shy of Kilkenny’s, and leveled his pistol at Kilkenny’s chest.

Kilkenny reached out and grabbed Duroc by the wrists and drove a knee into his groin. Duroc folded over. Pivoting left, Kilkenny turned and Duroc followed, locked in orbit. Picking up momentum halfway through the spin, Kilkenny released his hold on Duroc’s wrists and let him fly. The tall multipaned window shattered into pieces of broken glass and splintered wood as Duroc sailed through it. His body made a soft thud when it impacted on the terrace below.

Kilkenny glanced out the window. Duroc’s body lay still on the patterned brick surface, his neck bent at an impossible angle.