Unlucky 13

Chapter 78

After the high-pitched feedback squeal from the sound system just about uncorked the top of Brady’s head, salsa music jumped out of the speakers on the Pool Deck bar. The dance-y Latin music was incongruous, crazy, and from Brady’s perspective a good thing.

The music seemed to change the mood of the terrorists. He hoped it might make them a touch complacent. Dance fever covered low conversation.

Brady said to Yuki, “What a mindfucker that guy is. He could write a book on it. Don’t believe a word he said.”

Brady knew that crowd control was one of the terrorists’ biggest problems. The nineteen shooters were overwhelmingly outnumbered by the combined thousand passengers and crew. But Jackhammer’s brutal, successive, random killings had created paranoia, enforced compliance, and put thoughts of rebellion down cold. He’d overwhelmed their ability to fight back. He’d undermined their sanity.

Brady wrapped both his arms around his wife and held her tightly. Yuki was a strong person, but the direct threat to her life had shaken her hard and he wasn’t sure how much more mind control and terror she could take.

A lot of pictures came into his mind, and not the kind of thoughts he usually had. He thought about grabbing one of those AK-47s and just going Rambo.

Yuki squeezed his hand.

“I’m okay,” he said.

No, he wasn’t. He was a cop. He couldn’t let these guys keep shooting people while he just hoped that the accountants and bankers would come through for a bunch of people they didn’t know.

Brady had to do something about this. He was fatter now. Years of smoking had cut his wind. But he still had a strategic mind and the will to kill. He would protect Yuki.

What he had to do was stay focused, look for an opportunity, have a workable plan ready to go. And pray for the physical strength and the reflexes to carry it out.