The Edge of Armageddon

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

Drake rushed into the ravaged precinct, Alicia at his side. The first movement they saw was from Moore as he whirled at the balcony above and drew a gun on them. Half a moment later his face flooded with relief.

“At last,” he breathed. “I guess you guys got here first.”

“We had a little advanced warning,” Drake said. “Some clown called Gator?”

Moore looked blank and beckoned them up. “I never heard of him. Is he the leader of the fifth cell?”

“We think so, yes. He’s a fucked up wazzock with a gob full’a shite, but he’s in charge of that nuke now.”

Moore stared open mouthed.

Alicia translated. “Gator sounds madder than Julian Marsh after ten gallons of coffee, and I’d have said that was impossible before I heard what he had to say. Now, where’s Hayden and what has happened here?”

Moore laid it all out for them, commenting on the fight between Ramses and Price and then the escape. Drake shook his head at the condition of the station and the inadequate scattering of agents.

“Could he have planned this? All the way from that bloody castle in Peru? Even whilst we were scouting the bazaar?”

Mai looked skeptical. “Sounds a little farfetched even for one of your theories.”

“And it doesn’t matter,” Alicia said. “Does it? I mean, who cares? We should stop gassing and start looking.”

“For once,” Mai said. “I agree with Taz. Perhaps her latest lover has actually pounded some sense into her.” She flicked a nifty glance at Beau.

Drake cringed as Moore looked on, now even more wide-eyed. The Homeland agent stared at the four of them.

“Sounds like some party, guys.”

Drake shrugged it aside. “Where did they go? Hayden and Kinimaka?”

Moore pointed. “51st. Followed Ramses, eleven of his followers and that prick, Price, into the smoke. I lost sight of them after only a few minutes.”

Alicia gestured at the bank of screens. “Can you find them?”

“Most of the feeds are down. Screens destroyed. We’d be hard pressed finding Battery Park right now.”

Drake walked up to the broken balcony rail and surveyed the station and the street outside. It was an odd world that lay before him, in conflict with the city he envisaged, rocked back on its heels at least for today. He knew only one way to help these people recover.

Keep them safe.

“Do you have any more news?” Moore was asking. “I guess you’ve been talking to Marsh and this Gator guy.”

“Only what we told you,” Alicia said. “Did you get the deactivation codes checked out?”

Moore pointed at a blinking icon that had just started flashing on one of the surviving screens. “Let’s see.”

Drake now returned as Beau headed over to the water cooler for a drink. Moore read the email aloud, which quickly got to the point and authenticated the deactivation codes.

“So,” Moore perused. “The codes are actually kosher. I have to say that that’s surprising. Do you think Marsh knew he was going to be usurped?”

“Could be any number of reasons,” Drake said. “Security for himself. Brinksmanship. The simple fact is that the man is six bullets short of a full mag. If this Gator didn’t sound so wappy I’d actually feel safer right now.”

“Wappy?”

“Batshit crazy?” Drake tried. “I dunno. Hayden’s better at talking your language than I am.”

“English.” Moore nodded. “Our language is English.”

“If you say so. But this is a good thing, folks. Genuine deactivation codes are a good thing.”

“You do realize we could have reached out for them anyway once the boffins have determined the origin of the nuke?” Beau said, returning and sipping from a plastic cup.

“Umm, yeah, but that hasn’t happened yet. And for all we know they changed the codes, or added a new trigger.”

Beau accepted that with a slight nod.

Drake checked his watch. They had been inside the precinct for almost ten minutes now with no word from Hayden or Dahl. Today, ten minutes was an eternity.

“I’m calling Hayden.” He plucked out his cellphone.

“Don’t bother,” Mai said. “Isn’t that Kinimaka?”

Drake whirled to where she pointed. The unmistakable figure of Mano Kinimaka lumbered steadily along the street, bent over, clearly in pain, but jogging doggedly toward the precinct. Drake swallowed a dozen questions and instead raced straight for the man who could answer them. Once outside, the team caught Mano at the rubble-strewn intersection.

“What happened, mate?”

The Hawaiian’s relief upon meeting them was tempered by some terrible heartache sitting just below the surface. “They have Hayden,” he whispered. “We took three of them down, but didn’t get close to Ramses or Price. And then they ambushed us at the end. Took me out of the game and, when I climbed out from under a ton of rubble, Hayden was gone.”

“How do you know they got her?” Beau asked. “Perhaps she is still giving chase?”

“My arms and legs might’ve been impeded,” Kinimaka said. “But my ears heard just fine. They disarmed her and dragged her away. The last thing they said was…” Kinimaka swallowed with a heavy heart, unable to go on.

Drake caught the man’s stare. “We will save her. We always do.”

Kinimaka winced. “Not always.”

“What did they say to her?” Alicia pressed.

Kinimaka looked to the skies as if seeking the inspiration of sunshine. “They said they would give her a close look at that nuke. They said they were gonna strap it to her back.”