The Solomon Scroll

CHAPTER 21

Everyone liked Chinese food and occasional meals meal at the Happy Family Chinese restaurant were a chance to unwind and socialize outside of work. Stephanie's car was in the shop. Lucas had come to pick her up. Elizabeth usually went with them. Tonight she'd begged off to catch up on work. Stephanie was trying to persuade her to come.

"You know you want to," Steph said. "Come on. A couple of hours, that's all. Lucas will drive you back."

"I can't, Steph," Elizabeth said. "This report has to go to the White House tomorrow."

"Hey Steph," Ronnie called. "Let's go."

"Go and enjoy yourself," Elizabeth said. "Have an egg roll for me."

Outside, Stephanie got into Lucas's Audi. Nick, Selena, Ronnie and Diego climbed into Ronnie's Hummer. It was a humid July night, last light fading under a darkening sky. Flickers of lightning sent jagged streaks of light across banks of ominous dark clouds building overhead.

"Gonna rain," Ronnie said.

"Soon, I think," Selena said. "Smell the air?"

"We can use it."

They followed Lucas out of the compound and onto the highway, headed for Alexandria.

On the side of the road a man sitting in a gray sedan spoke into his radio as the cars went by.

"On their way. Two cars, a dark blue Audi in front and a black Hummer right behind them. Hell, they might all be in there. I can't tell. They got tinted windows."

"Just the two cars?"

"You think I can't count? Yeah, two. They should come up to you in about three minutes."

"Come join the party."

The man in the gray sedan started his car and pulled out onto the highway.

Ahead, traffic was heavy. Lucas reached over and turned on the radio. Soft jazz filled the comfortable interior of the car.

"How's Junior doing," he said.

"Junioress is just fine," Stephanie said.

The sex of their child was an ongoing joke between them. The truth was that they really didn't care if it was a boy or a girl.

Lucas looked over at Stephanie and thought he'd never believed he could be this lucky.

The first spray of bullets took out the windshield and the passenger side window. The car filled with pieces of flying glass. Stephanie screamed as the glass exploded. Lucas felt something rip into the side of his face. Instinct kicked in and he swerved left, away from the bullets. More struck the car with dull metallic sounds as he wrenched the wheel over. A harsh burning pain smashed into his shoulder. A tire blew. The car shot across the middle of the road and slammed into an oncoming SUV. In seconds, traffic on the other side of the highway turned to chaos in a snarling pile up of metal and glass.

"Holy shit!" Diego said.

"There," Selena said. She pointed. "On the right. That white van." Two men stood next to the van, holding AK-47s.

Ronnie's Hummer was modified with armor and a heavy grill welded onto the front. The glass was inch-thick and bulletproof against everything except a .50 caliber round. The engine had been modified far past stock. The Hummer was basically a fast tank. In this case it made a good battering ram. Ronnie cut the wheel over, floored the gas and drove straight at the van.

The assassins saw the black machine bearing down on them, swung the guns and began firing on full auto. The windshield starred in a dozen places. The 7.62 rounds weren't powerful enough to break through.

The Hummer plowed into the van and drove it off the side of the road. Ronnie kept his foot down until the van tipped over into an irrigation canal running by the side of the highway. It landed on its side, wheels spinning. Ronnie backed away and stopped. Nick and Diego were out of the car before it stopped moving, pistols drawn.

The two shooters had gotten out of the way before the van crushed them. They raised their rifles and fired. One man cursed and dropped an empty magazine. He reached for another.

Nick held his Sig straight out and ran toward him, firing fast as he went. Some of the rounds missed. Enough found the mark to send him tumbling into the ditch. From the corner of his eye, Nick saw Diego hit the dirt as bullets ricocheted off the pavement around him. Selena knelt by the Hummer, firing at the white van. Diego rolled, came up and fired at the remaining shooter until the slide locked back on his pistol. The man staggered, clutched his gut and crumpled over, his AK firing into the ground.

"The driver," Nick yelled.

He ejected, reloaded and moved toward the overturned truck. Diego came up on his left. He crouched down and moved to the front of the grill. Nick tried to see into the truck. Then Diego raised up and fired four shots at the shattered windshield of the van. Somebody screamed.

Ronnie had just gotten out of the Hummer when shots sounded behind him and a round whistled past his ear. He turned and saw a gray car bearing down on them. Someone leaned out a window, firing one-handed with an assault rifle. Ronnie crouched into a two handed stance and squeezed off rounds at the oncoming car in a steady rhythm. Holes appeared in the windshield. The car swerved right, sailed over the irrigation ditch and crashed into a field beyond. Steam rose from the radiator. Nobody got out of the car.

Ronnie and Selena came up to Nick.

"Could be more inside the van."

"Check it out," Nick said.

One of the doors in back had sprung open. Ronnie ducked and glanced inside.

"Clear," he said. "One man lying on the passenger side. There's a lot of blood. Looks like he's dead."

In the distance a siren sounded.

Nick said. "Diego, make sure they're all dead. Go through their pockets and take everything you find. Then get over across the highway. Don't talk to anyone except us."

"Copy that."

"Lucas and Steph," Selena said.

She sprinted across the highway toward the wrecked Audi.

Nick holstered his pistol.

On the highway people were getting out of their cars. Wreckage littered the road, twisted bits of metal and broken glass. Nick and Ronnie ran between cars until they reached Selena standing by the Audi, trying to open Stephanie's door. Oil and gasoline pooled on the road under the wreck.

The Audi had stopped with the hood buried in the side of a Cadillac SUV. The windows and windshield were shattered. Lucas was slumped over a deflated airbag, unconscious. There was blood everywhere. Stephanie was lying back against a broken seat. Her face was covered with blood. She was unconscious. Her breathing was harsh.

Fumes from gasoline spreading under the wreck were thick.

"We've got to get them out of there," Nick said. "This whole thing could go up in a second."

"I'll get Lucas," Ronnie said. He went around to the driver's side of the car.

Nick tried Stephanie's door. It was crumpled against the frame.

"It's jammed tight," Selena said.

"Need a hand? Looks like it might be hard to get that door open."

Nick turned. A man wearing a baseball cap who looked like he worked construction for a living stood nearby. He had thick, muscular arms and a chest like a gorilla. A faded globe and anchor tattoo decorated his forearm.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Let's give it a try," the stranger said. He grasped the upright side of the door with two hands and set his feet. "You grab the door through the window."

Nick nodded.

"Now."

The two men pulled. With a torturous sound of protesting metal the door came open.

"Steph," Nick said, "we're here. Don't worry, you'll be all right."

Nick couldn't tell how badly she was hurt. Her eyes fluttered and opened. There was blood on her lips.

"The baby…"

"The baby's fine," Nick said. He had no idea if the baby was fine or not but he wasn't going to say anything different.

"Here." The stranger handed Nick a knife. "For the seatbelt."

Nick cut the belt and handed the knife back. He reached behind Stephanie's back and under her legs and eased her out of the car. She moaned.

"Got you, Steph," he said. "It's okay. You're going to be okay."

He turned to the stranger. "Thanks."

"Glad to help."

Ronnie and Diego came around the wrecked Audi carrying Lucas. Gas spread in a thin flood underfoot. They carried Lucas and Stephanie toward the flashing lights of an ambulance coming up on the shoulder of the highway on the other side. More lights were right behind it. They'd reached Ronnie's Hummer when there was a deep thump that vibrated underfoot and a sudden burst of heat. The night lit with orange light. In seconds, the interior of the Audi was engulfed in flame.

Steph was unconscious again. Blood oozed from cuts on her face and a wound in her chest. There was a whistling sound as she breathed.

Sucking chest wound, Nick thought. Bad news. She could drown in her own blood.

Ronnie knelt next to Lucas. He looked up at Nick, his face tight and angry.

"He's hit pretty bad."

It began to rain.