Executive orders - Tom Clancy [432]
O'DAY WAS JUST trying to get up when two men came through the door, both armed with AKs. He looked around the room, now full of stunned, silent kids. The silence seemed to hang for a long moment, then turn to the shrill screams of toddlers. One of the men had blood all over his leg, and was gritting his teeth in pain and rage.
OUTSIDE, THE THREE men from Car 1 surveyed the carnage. Four men were dead, they saw, as they jumped out of the car, but they'd done for the covering group and-
- the first one out the right-rear door fell facedown. The other two turned around to see a black man in a white shirt with a gray rifle.
Eat shit and die. His memory would fail him on this occasion. Norman Jeffers would never remember saying that as he shifted to the next target and squeezed off a three-round burst into his head. The third man of the team which had killed his two friends dropped behind the front of his car, but the car was stuck in the middle of the playground with open air to the left and right. Come on, stick it up and say hi, Charlie, the agent breathed-
- and sure enough he did, swinging his weapon around to shoot back at the remaining bodyguard, but not fast enough. His eyes as open and unblinking as an owl's, Jeffers watched the blood cloud fly back as the target disappeared.
Norm! It was Paula Michaels, the afternoon surveillance agent from the 7-Eleven across the street, her pistol out and in both hands.
Jeffers dropped to one knee behind the car whose occupants he'd just killed. She joined him, and with the sudden negation of activity, both agents started breathing heavily, their hearts racing, their heads pounding.
Get a count? she asked.
At least one made it inside-
Two, I saw two, one hit in the leg. Oh, Jesus, Don, Anne, Marcella-
Save it. We got kids in there, Paula. Fuck!
SO, MOVIE STAR thought, it wasn't going to work out after all. Damn it, he swore silently. He'd told them there were three people in the house to the north. Why hadn't they waited to kill the third? They could have had the child away from here by now! Well. He shook his head clear. He'd never fully expected the mission to succeed. He'd warned Badrayn of that-and picked his people accordingly. Now all he had to do was watch to make sure-what? Would they kill the child? That was something they'd discussed. But they might not fulfill their duty before they died.
PRICE HAD BEEN five miles out when the emergency call had come over her radio. In less than two seconds, she'd had the pedal to the floor, and the car accelerating through traffic, the flashing light in place, and siren screaming. Turning north onto Ritchie Highway, she could see cars blocking the road. Immediately, she maneuvered left onto the median, the car side-slipping as it clawed its way across the inward-sloping surface. She arrived a few seconds ahead of the first olive-and-black Maryland State Police radio car.
Price, is that you?
Say who? she replied.
Norm Jeffers. I think we have two subjects inside. We have five agents down. Michaels is with me now. I'm sending her around the back.
There in a second.
Watch your ass, Andrea, Jeffers warned.
O'DAY SHOOK HIS head. His ears were still ringing and his head sore from the hit on the wall. His daughter was next to him, shielded by his body from the two terrorists who were now sweeping their weapons left and