The Identity Mine

XXXVIII

‘They’re on the move.’

Hannah watched as Vaughn slipped the Lincoln into drive and moved smoothly into the flow of traffic headed north. Ahead, three SUVs and two unmarked police pursuit vehicles had just departed the site of Vantage Aviation Hire, which had been ringed with police cordon tape and a couple of patrol cars parked outside to prevent prying eyes.

Even then, two TV cameras had been showing up just as they had left the scene.

‘Traffic’s going to be hell within an hour or so,’ Vaughn pointed out as they drove, keeping a reasonable distance behind the police convoy. ‘Once the dignitaries start showing up on Pennsylvania Avenue the whole city will go into gridlock.’

It was a good point, and one that had been occupying Hannah as they had waited for Ethan Warner and his team to make their next move. With the Capitol on lockdown due to the imminent Trans Pacific Partnership event at the White House, rush hour to begin at the same time as the President’s arrival at the ceremony and with so many tourists, patriots and sightseers all keen for a glimpse of the President and his entourage on the South Lawn, getting anywhere fast was going to present a major headache.

‘Warner knows about the event,’ she said as they drove. ‘He’s going to want this whole thing resolved before it begins.’

‘Then he hasn’t got long,’ Vaughn replied, ‘and we don’t have the first clue as to where Abrahem Nassir is. More to the point, we don’t know where Mitchell is either.’

Hannah felt her jaw ache as she clenched it instinctively at the mention of Mitchell’s name. The need for revenge against the assassin, which was what she had come to believe him to be, was almost overwhelming. In her mind the best kind of revenge would be to put a bullet from her pistol straight between his eyes, but she knew in reality that she would much prefer to bring the man to justice, her evidence of his blood at the scene of Stanley Meyer’s murder her undisputable evidence of his crime and of their innocence of the homicide in Hong Kong. That, and the fact that Mitchell had supposedly died two decades before.

‘He’s here,’ she said with clairvoyant certainty. ‘Mitchell’s as tied up in this whole thing now as the rest of us and he was working to uncover the identity of the abductors of those four NSA agents in China too. Whoever he’s working for, DIA, NSA, CIA, I don’t care. He’s going down for what he’s done and I’ll stop at nothing to find him.’

Even as she said it Hannah felt a sharp pain behind her eyes and she winced as a throbbing pulsed through her skull. It felt as though her head was in a vice and somebody was alternately compressing and releasing her skull.

‘You okay?’ Vaughn asked.

Hannah blinked as she saw stars sparkling in front of her eyes and then the pain eased and she rubbed her face.

‘I’ll be fine,’ she replied.

‘You haven’t slept properly in thirty six hours,’ Vaughn insisted. ‘You need to get some rest.’

‘I’ll sleep when this is done,’ Hannah insisted. ‘Right now we have a terrorist to catch and I want to get to him before Warner does. You got any idea where we’re headed?’

‘Can’t be sure of anything other than they’re heading out of the district, toward Bethesda I guess.’

Hannah glanced at the road signs, and as she did so the sunlight caught her eye as it flickered through trees lining the road. A weighty lethargy weighed her down and her eyes closed slightly as warmth enveloped her. She sank back into her seat, and then something flashed into her mind and she sat bolt upright as she sucked in a deep breath.

‘What is it?’ Vaughn asked.

Hannah spoke without conscious thought. ‘District Container Storage, Lot Four. He’s in Bethesda.’

Vaughn stared at Hannah for a moment. ‘Say what now?’

Hannah blinked, trying to understand what had just happened. ‘I saw it,’ she said, already becoming aware of how ridiculous she sounded. ‘Lot Four, District Storage. Take a left onto Wisconsin and hit the gas, we’ll beat Warner and his team to it.’

Vaughn did not reply as he peeled off from following the SUVs and then slammed the accelerator down and lit their pursuit lights up. The Lincoln surged forward as Hannah shook her head in an effort to clear it. Vaughn shot her a sideways glance.

‘So, you’re using the Force now?’

Hannah stared out of the windshield into the middle distance as the Lincoln turned right and accelerated as its tires squealed, Vaughn pushing the vehicle hard, swerving in and out of the traffic.

‘I don’t know what happened but I saw the building and I know where he is. If I turn out to be wrong you can shoot me yourself.’

Vaughn did not reply as they raced over the District and Maryland border. Hannah glanced right in the hope of seeing Warner’s convoy across to the north east, but she could see nothing as they raced toward the storage facility.

‘We’re almost there,’ Vaughn warned her. ‘What the hell do we do when we arrive? If by some miracle Abrahem’s there, which will for sure freak me out by the way, we can’t call for back up. We’re not even supposed to be here.’

Hannah reached for her pistol and checked it before she glanced at her cell phone. She knew that if Abrahem was in the building she would have to call for support of some kind — the terrorist presented too great a threat to let inter — agency squabbling get in the way of his arrest.

‘Be ready to call in,’ she said to Vaughn finally. ‘If this goes south, we’ll have to use Warner for support.’

‘Warner?!’ Vaughn gasped. ‘You’re going to call the person we’re supposed to be apprehending?!’

‘Let’s see if we can’t grab Nassir first, okay?’

Vaughn said nothing as he shut off the Lincoln’s lights and slowed down as they approached the lock — ups, located on a large lot surrounded by a twelve foot chain link fence. Hannah saw two potential exits, both open, and a number of vehicles parked in the lot.

‘Stay clear of the lot,’ Hannah said. ‘Let’s park around the block and move in on foot.’

‘If they see us coming, we won’t have an effective escape method,’ Vaughn cautioned.

‘Warner and his team will be here in minutes. We either get Abrahem pinned down or we’ll lose the collar and access to the case. Let’s move.’

Vaughn drove around the corner of the block and pulled in, several other cars lining the sidewalk ahead and a small number of business workers standing outside in the sunshine, perhaps on their lunch breaks, some smoking as they chatted.

Hannah got out of the Lincoln and began walking back toward the lock — ups. A high pitched wolf whistle from behind her made her turn to see a small group of male workers on the opposite side of the street watching her with leering smiles. Hannah pulled the side of her jacket back to reveal her FBI shield and pistol and immediately the men turned away and shrank back inside their workplace.

‘I’ll go in,’ Hannah said. ‘You cover me from outside in case they make a run for it.’

‘You’ll be outnumbered,’ Vaughn insisted.

Hannah pulled her pistol from its holster and held it low by her thigh as they reached the lot’s main entrance.

‘It’s worth it Vaughn,’ she said. ‘Just cover me, okay?’

Hannah’s lethargy had fallen away from her like ice melting beneath the warmth of the summer sun, and she could feel adrenaline coursing through her body as she turned into the lot and saw immediately a large 4 on a storage building further inside the lot and to her left. Outside the building was parked a white van and a jeep with private plates and glossy black paint.

Hannah kept her breathing under control as she walked toward lot number 2 instead, hoping to delay any suspicion until the very last moment. Even as she strode through the lot she saw two men of Middle Eastern origin head toward the black jeep. Her legs felt as though they were guiding themselves, carrying her along without conscious effort, and then without any thought she turned directly toward Lot 4.

‘Hannah?’ Vaughn whispered in despair from nearby.

Hannah heard nothing, saw nothing except her targets as they looked up and noticed her approaching. Both of their eyes locked onto the pistol in her hand and they responded instantly, both reaching beneath their jackets.

Hannah raised the pistol and without hesitation she fired twice. The gunshots cracked the air like thunder and the closer of the two men took the first round straight through his chest and was hurled back against the jeep even as Hannah fired her second shot.

The second man ducked behind the vehicle and yelled something in Arabic as Hannah kept moving, firing round after round into the side of the jeep. She heard Vaughn screaming from somewhere behind her, but her focus was entirely on the rounds smashing into the side of the jeep’s doors. She knew instinctively that vehicles were no real defense against bullets at such close range, and she was rewarded with the sight of the second man tumbling to the ground, blood pouring in torrents from the back of his head.

‘Hannah, stand down!’ Vaughn yelled.

Hannah reached the jeep and circled around it even as the door to the storage lot opened and a man rushed out screaming, an assault rifle in his grasp. Hannah saw the barrel come up but she continued walking and fired from almost point — blank range.

The shot hit the gunman in the shoulder and he spun aside and slammed into the wall of the building, then whirled and aimed again. Hannah pulled her trigger and the pistol clicked as she realized that she had emptied the magazine.

The gunman aimed his rifle at her, and an ear — shattering gunshot thundered in her ears as her world spun wildly and she collapsed onto the hot asphalt.

‘Shots fired at District Storage, Bethesda!’

The call came across as Ethan saw the lot and the low rows of storage buildings ahead and he almost screamed at the driver.

‘Go, now! All units, go!’

The vehicles screeched into the parking lot, the police driver aiming straight for lot number 4. Ethan could already see bodies strewn across the asphalt and a man crouched over one of them with his pistol in one hand and a cell phone in the other.

Ethan leaped out of the SUV even before it had stopped moving and dashed toward the crouching man. Already he could see that the body lying before him was a woman, her long auburn hair snaking across the ground. Special Agent Vaughn looked up at Ethan as he sprinted toward them and pointed frantically.

‘Four men, running out back!’ he yelled. ‘Go!’

Ethan dashed past the black jeep, Vaughn and Hannah Ford as he saw the bodies of three foreign looking, armed men lying in pools of blood around the entrance to the storage building.

He kept moving, sprinting hard and pumping his arms to keep his chest open and air flooding into his lungs as he built up speed and rounded the far corner of the storage buildings.

He immediately saw three men clambering up and over the fences toward a small copse of trees that led into the parking lot of what looked like a nearby shopping mall. One of them was already over the fence, something on his back in a rucksack, and for a brief moment the man looked up and saw Ethan running toward him. Dark eyes, a broad jaw thickly forested with black growth, closely cropped hair and the glitter of radicalism flaring like a distant supernova in his gaze.

Abrahem Nassir.

Ethan ran harder but the two men on the fence jumped back down and pulled weapons from their jackets. Ethan changed direction for the parked vehicles to his right and threw himself down into cover as a hail of gunfire showered the cars. Ricochets zipped up over his head and pinged off hot bodywork as he rolled out of sight and pulled his pistol out.

The two men were twenty yards away and at that range they could hardly hope to hit Ethan, the bodywork of the vehicles strong enough to slow and catch the rounds being fired before they got to him.

Moments later a thunderous broadside of assault rifle fire erupted from Ethan’s left as his support team rushed to his aid. Ethan broke cover, coming up over the hood of one of the parked vehicles and aiming at the two men in time to see them cut down by the savage gunfire.

‘Hold your fire!’ he yelled.

The rifles fell silent as Ethan saw Abrahem Nassir and an older man hurry out of sight across the mall’s parking lot and vanish into the crowds. Ethan spoke quickly into his microphone as he emerged from behind the vehicles, the DIA team advancing on the fallen gunmen.

‘Suspects on foot, headed north through the mall lot, Abrahem Nassir and Tariq Adel confirmed. All available units pursue immediately.’

Ethan cursed as he heard sirens wailing across the city and jogged back toward where Vaughn was still crouched over Hannah.

‘What the hell was that?!’ he demanded.

Vaughn stood up, his hands open toward Ethan. ‘I don’t know. She just went for it, almost got herself killed and now she’s out cold. She wasn’t even shooting straight, just aiming at anything that moved, and then she kind of woke up and just stood there as someone was aiming a rifle at her. I barely got the last guy before he took her down. She wanted to arrest Abrahem Nassir before you guys got here.’

Ethan looked down at Hannah for a moment and saw blood trickling from her nose.

The sound of an engine starting caught his attention, and he turned to see a white van pull away from the sidewalk nearby and begin accelerating down the street.

Ethan broke into a run without conscious thought as he sprinted out of the lot exit and onto the street.