Patriot games - Tom Clancy [240]
The team leader emerged on the front porch, his shotgun pointed at the floor, and pulled off his black mask before he waved the others in. His hands moved back and forth across his chest in the universal wave-off signal. The Lieutenant and the senior FBI agent ran across the street as he wiped the sweat away from his eyes.
"Well?"
"You're gonna love it," the team leader said. "Come on."
The living room had a small-screen color TV on, sitting on a table. The floor was covered with wrappers from McDonald's, and the kitchen sink held what looked like fifty neatly stacked paper cups. The master bedroom-it was a few square feet larger than the other two-was the armory. Sure enough, there was an American M-60 machine gun, with two 250-round ammo boxes, along with a dozen AK-47 assault rifles, three of them stripped down for cleaning, and a bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight. On the oaken dresser, however, was a scanner radio. Its indicator lights skipped on and off. One of them was on the frequency of the Howard County Police. Unlike the FBI, the local police did not use secure-that is, scrambled-radio circuits. The FBI agent walked out to his vehicle and got Bill Shaw on the radio.
"So they monitored the police call and split," Shaw said after a couple of minutes.
"Looks like it. The locals have a description of the van out. At least they bugged out so fast that they had to leave a bunch of weapons behind. Maybe they're spooked. Anything new coming in at your end?"
"Negative." Shaw was in the FBI's emergency command center, Room 5005 of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. He knew of the French attempt to hit their training camp. Twice now they've escaped by sheer luck. "Okay, I'll get talking to the State Police forces. The forensic people are on the way. Stay put and coordinate with the locals."
"Right. Out."
The security people were already setting up. Discreetly, he saw, their cars were by the pool, which had been filled up only a couple of days before, and there was a van which evidently contained special communications gear. Jack counted eight people in the open, two of them with Uzis. Avery was waiting for him when he pulled into the carport.
"Good news for a change-well, good and bad."
"How so?" Ryan asked.
"Somebody phoned the cops and said he saw some people with guns. They rolled on it real quick. The suspects split-they were monitoring the police radio-but we captured a bunch of guns. Looks like our friends had a safehouse set up. Unfortunately for them it didn't quite work out. We may have 'em on the run. We know what kind of car they're using, and the local cops have this area completely sealed off, and we're sweeping the whole state. The Governor has even authorized the use of helicopters from the National Guard to help with the search."
"Where were they?"
" Howard County, a little community south of Columbia. We missed them by a whole five minutes, but we have them moving and out in the open. Just a matter of time."
"I hope the cops are careful," Ryan said.
"Yes, sir."
"Any problems here?"
"No, everything's going just fine. Your guests should be here about quarter to eight. What's for dinner?" Avery asked.
"Well, I picked up some fresh white corn on the way home-you passed the place coming in. Steaks on the grill, baked potatoes, and Cathy's spinach salad. We'll give 'em some good, basic American food." Jack opened the hatch on the Rabbit and pulled out a bag of freshly picked corn.
Avery grinned. "You're making me hungry."
"I got a caterer coming in at six-thirty. Cold cuts and rolls. I'm not going to let you guys work all that time without food, okay?" Ryan insisted. "You can't stay alert if you're hungry."
"We'll see. Thanks."
"My dad was a cop."
"By the way, I tried the lights around the pool, but they don't work."
"I know, the electricity's been acting up the last couple of days. The power company says they have a new transformer up, and it needs