Quantum

45

Kilkenny sped to the far end of the development where Kelsey’s condo overlooked a wooded ravine. As he approached her unit, he saw a full-sized dark green Ford van with smoked windows backed up in her driveway — the driver was the large black-haired man he’d seen at Sandstrom’s lab and the Grad Library.

‘Damn it!’ he shouted as he braked and turned hard to the left.

The screech of rubber dragging over asphalt echoed loudly off the walls and windows of the surrounding condos. Kilkenny brought the SUV to a stop in the center of the narrow drive, nearly perpendicular to the road. As he rolled out of the driver-side door onto the road, a fusillade erupted from Kelsey’s front door. Bullets tore into the exposed side of the SUV, puncturing metal and shattering the windows into pebble-sized chunks of glass. An explosion shook the vehicle as one of the bullets struck the compressed gas cylinder of the air bag in the passengerside door.

Kilkenny crouched behind the front tire with his weapon drawn, glass fragments raining down on him and bullets ricocheting off the road beneath the SUV. The ML 320 lurched away from him as the tires on the passenger side ruptured and the vehicle fell onto its rims.

‘Nolan!’ he heard Kelsey scream.

Glancing up over the hood, Kilkenny saw a pair of men firing submachine guns while two others forcefully moved Kelsey and Elli into the van. Orchestrating the attack and kidnapping was the tall blond Russian. As Nolan took quick aim at their leader and fired, a short burst riddled the hood. Kilkenny fell back, hot metal fragments biting into his face and arms.

Leskov felt a burning sensation across his forehead, followed by an intense rush of pain. Instinctively, he clasped his hands over the wound just as blood began to ooze from the groove dug in the skin by Kilkenny’s bullet.

‘Grigori, Evgenii, kill him!’ Leskov shouted as he staggered toward the van, his hands and face now soaked with blood.

Without a word, the two shooters began leapfrogging toward the bullet-riddled SUV — one firing while the other moved ten feet forward, then reversing roles until they covered the distance.

Hop and pop, Kilkenny thought as he listened to the regular, short bursts of approaching gunfire. Question is, Which side of my truck are you two gonna try and nail me from?

Crouching down, Kilkenny moved along the side of his truck until he was able to grab hold of the rear door handle, and opened the door.

Evgenii caught the opening of the rear door as Grigori ran past his position and reached the shredded rear wheel. Using hand signals, he informed his partner that Kilkenny had moved into the backseat. Grigori nodded, and shifted his crouch to better position himself to fire into the shattered rear window.

Evgenii then ran toward the front of the SUV, firing until he came to a stop, crouched against the front wheel. Beneath him, a widening puddle of sickly sweet smelling antifreeze spread slowly over the asphalt.

Both men nodded that they were ready. Evgenii held his fingers up and mouthed a three count.

Kilkenny waited for the pause in the gunfire. Staying low, he moved around the rear corner of the vehicle, then rose up with his pistol aimed through the shattered rear window.

The two Russians came into Kilkenny’s view simultaneously. Both were focused on the rear seat when he fired a two-shot burst into Evgenii’s forehead. He then swept right and drilled another pair through Grigori’s temple. Both men collapsed on the ground without firing a shot at him.

‘Fuck!’ Josef cursed.

The Ukrainian put the van in gear and punched the accelerator — the large V-8 roared loudly as he drove straight at Kilkenny.

‘What the fuck is happening?’ Leskov shouted, wiping the blood from his eyes.

‘Grigori and Evgenii are dead,’ Josef reported. ‘We have to get out of here now.’

Leskov saw two of his men lying in the street and Kilkenny turning to fire on the van.

‘Kiril, shoot him!’ Leskov shouted.

Leaning out the passenger window, Kiril aimed his submachine gun and opened fire, pinning Kilkenny down behind his damaged truck as Josef drove over the shallow curb and across the lawns of Kelsey’s neighbors.

‘Shit!’ Kilkenny cursed, unable to find a clear shot at anything.

As the van rounded the corner, he saw only the shadowy forms of the people inside through the vehicle’s smoked glass. Kilkenny didn’t dare shoot for fear of hitting Kelsey or Elli.