Net Force - Tom Clancy [122]
She didnt waver, started to make the throw-
He pulled the trigger.
The recoil twisted the gun from his grip, and the sound was so loud it was like a bomb going off next to him.
A long moment held. Aeons passed. Nobody moved.
The knife flew-but clattered to the floor five feet away.
Hed hit her. Right in the middle of the back. The woman dropped to her knees, tried to reach the wound in her back with one hand, could not. She turned to look at him, her face puzzled more than anything. Then she toppled over onto her side.
***
Toni ran to where Alex lay. Alex!?
Im okay, Im okay, she just got me in the leg.
The sound of approaching and excited voices rolled over them.
Youre hurt, he said.
Just a cut. Looks worse than it is, she said. Stay there, Ill get us some towels.
Im not going anywhere.
She got to her feet. Remembered Rusty. She hurried to where he lay. His eyes were open wide, not blinking. He had a bloody wound in the center of his chest-wasnt breathing-there was no pulse in his neck.
Two of the men from the gym ran in. He needs help! she said, pointing at Rusty. She dropped to her knees.
The two men were joined by a third. We got it, Toni, one of them said. Go wrap up that cut.
Alex had dragged himself to where the woman lay. He rolled her onto her back. The assassin moaned. She looked at him. Toni moved back toward Alex and the assassin, found a towel, pressed it against the wound in Alexs leg.
Ow. He looked at Toni. Thanks. Then he looked back at the woman.
Son-of-a bitch, the woman said. Her voice was burbly. Probably bleeding into a lung.
Alex said, Who paid you to kill Steve Day?
The woman was dying. But she laughed, a bubbly, liquid noise. Who?
Day. Steve Day.
Dont know the name, she said. I never forget a target. Hes not one of mine.
You didnt kill Steve Day? Alex said.
You deaf? I was hired to do you. I-Genaloni. I did him. And some others. I dont-
And just like that, she blinked out. Whatever shed intended to say was chopped off in mid-sentence. There was a final outrush of bubbly air, and she was gone.
Alex and Toni looked at each other. Somebody from Medical ran in. The place seemed filled with people. Toni felt an overwhelming urge to hug Alex. She did.
He let her. And he hugged her back.
38
Friday, October 8th, 1:02 p.m. Quantico
Bureau Medical had a doctor and several nurses on staff in the main compound, and their own ambulance for anything they couldnt handle on their own. The in-house medic sutured the cut on Tonis arm-it took eighteen stitches inside and out-sprayed it with clear statskin, gave her a tetanus shot, and told her to have the sutures removed in five days. X-rays of Michaelss leg showed that his bullet wound was a through-and-through. It had hit him slightly to the outside of the right thigh, glanced off the femur without breaking it and exited just under the outer edge of his buttock, all without doing any major damage-except for a couple of holes the size of his little fingers tip. The doctor cleaned and bandaged the wounds, but didnt sew them up; gave him a tetanus shot and a pair of crutches, and advised Michaels to avoid playing soccer for the next couple of weeks. He had his nurse give them samples of pain tablets, and told them they would hurt more tomorrow than they did right now. If they wanted to go and spend a couple of hours in the local ER to get a second opinion, that was up to them.
Both Toni and Michaels declined the ER trip.
Instead, they were back in Michaelss office. He sat on the couch, resting on his good hip. Toni stood by the door.
Something bothering you, Alex?
Other than getting shot?
Yes.
He said, I didnt feel particularly heroic in that locker room.
Excuse me?
I should have done more.
You came to help me. You charged a killer with a gun and you were unarmed. You managed to shoot her after you were wounded. How heroic do you think you need to be? You planning