Дэвид Балдаччи - The Escape

They were outside the house now and heading to the car. Knox’s voice had risen, and Robert, who had heard this part, quickly glanced at his brother.

“I’d rather put a bullet in my head than lay one finger on you,” said Puller.

“I know you wanted me. You can’t deny that. And it’s not like I’m unattractive.”

“Sure you are, Knox. On the inside. You could be the poster child for ‘beauty is only skin deep.’ My gut on you was right. I couldn’t trust you, because you have no spine.”

“I was wounded on behalf of my country,” she snapped.

“So was I. But I never let scum like her”–he pointed at Reynolds–“talk me into betraying my oath. You’re weak, Knox. Weak. You’re nothing.”

Now Knox’s superior look faded. She stopped walking, turned to Robert, and shoved the muzzle of her gun against his head. “Get on your knees!”

“What?” said a startled Robert.

“On your knees. Now!”

Robert got down on his knees. Knox placed her gun muzzle against the back of his neck and looked at Puller.

“You want to apologize for that comment? Or he’ll get a bullet in his head.”

Puller looked down at his brother and then back up at Knox. “You really want to do this?” he said quietly.

“I have a better idea. I can shoot him with your throwaway.”

She slipped the revolver out of her pocket, pulled back the hammer, and placed the barrel against Robert’s skull.

“You have three seconds to say you’re sorry to me, Puller, or big brother is no more. One, two–”

“I’m sorry,” said Puller.

Knox fired anyway. But she had angled the muzzle to the left so that the round didn’t hit Robert. He yelled out and dropped to the ground clutching his head.

Puller started to rush to his brother, but Reynolds pointed her gun in his face.

Robert sat up and glowered at Knox. “I think you blew out my eardrum.”

“Better than blowing your brains out. I hear you’ve got a big one. Now get up!”

Robert struggled to his feet, still clutching his ear.

When they reached the Lexus, Knox said, “Let’s secure them.”

Reynolds nodded and used zip ties to bind the Pullers. They all climbed into the Lexus. Knox drove. The Pullers sat in back and Reynolds in the passenger seat with her gun trained on them both.

They headed back into D.C. and, following Reynolds’s directions, Knox pulled into an underground parking garage. It was well after midnight and the parking garage was full of cars because it was a residential building.

Knox used a knife to cut the zip ties. “If we meet anyone along the way and you make any attempt to communicate with them, you’re dead and so are they.”

They rode in an elevator to the main floor, and then took a private elevator up to the twelfth floor, for which Reynolds had a key card. The car emptied into a wood- and granite-lined vestibule. Knox nudged Puller in the back with the muzzle of her pistol. They walked into the first room of the vestibule, which turned out to be a large space with walls of windows that offered sweeping vistas of the downtown D.C. area. The lights in the room were dimmed.

Puller looked around. So did Knox and Robert.

However, Reynolds was not at a loss. She stared into one corner of the room where there was situated a desk.

Someone was sitting behind the desk. Only his silhouette was visible.

Reynolds turned to Knox. “I wasn’t going to bring you here,” she said. “Until you did what you did to those two,” she added, indicating the Pullers. “You scared Robert shitless and humbled his egotistical brother. What could be better?”

Knox eagerly eyed the figure behind the desk. “May I be formally introduced?”

Reynolds switched on a light. It barely illuminated the room. Everything was cast in shadows. But there was one thing they could see clearly.

Knox gasped. Puller took a step closer.

Robert said nothing, but he stared at the man sitting rigidly behind the desk.

From the shadows, James Schindler stared back at them, his eyes wide and penetrating. He seemed to be silently appraising the situation.

Knox pulled her gaze from Schindler and looked at Reynolds. “I have to hand it to you, your access goes right to the top.”

Reynolds smiled. “For what we’re planning we needed it.”

“And now I can help you execute that plan.”

“Which is why we’re here. But first things first.” She pulled her gun, slid a suppressor on the muzzle, pointed it at Robert Puller, and said, “You can’t believe how long I’ve waited for this.”

Before she could fire Knox kicked the gun out of her hand. Then she whirled and clipped Reynolds’s legs out from under her. The woman fell hard to the floor.

A moment later Knox tossed two guns. A stunned Puller caught one and Robert the other. The brothers looked confusedly at each other.

Puller said, “Knox, what the hell is–”

Knox yelled out, “I’ll explain later. Keep your guns on Reynolds. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

Robert aimed his gun at Reynolds, who was still on the floor.

When Puller looked over at the desk, Schindler hadn’t moved a muscle. He still just sat there. Puller’s jaw went slack as the truth hit him.

Knox pointed her pistol at Schindler. “You’re under arrest. Get up! Now!”

“Knox!” Puller called out. “Something’s way off.”

Knox shot him a glance. “What?”

The glass behind Schindler shattered as the high-powered round crashed through it.

The Pullers and Knox dropped to the floor.

“That shot came from the building across the street,” yelled out Puller.

Another shot shattered a second section of glass. Then more high-velocity rounds poured through these openings, slamming into walls and the floor. One hit the light fixture and it exploded, throwing them into near-complete darkness.

“What the hell is going on?” shouted Knox from behind the chair where she had taken cover.

“Just stay down,” Puller called back.

“Wait a minute, where’s Reynolds?” cried out Robert.

They all looked around the darkened room.

“I think I heard the elevator when the shots were going off,” said Robert.

They looked around but no one moved. Puller waited for more shots to be fired, but none were.

A moment later Puller rose cautiously and peered at the shattered windows. When Knox started to get up he said sharply, “Stay down. The shooter might still be out there.”

Robert had crawled over to the desk to examine Schindler, who still had not moved, even when the shots had started. “John!” he said frantically.

Puller shot across the room to kneel next to his brother. “What is it?”

Robert pulled back Schindler’s jacket.

As soon as Puller saw it he grabbed his brother and pushed him toward the elevator. “Go! Go!”

He next shouted at Knox. “Run, Knox!”

The three sprinted for the elevator, but when Knox hit the button it did not light up.

“Reynolds might’ve disabled it,” said Robert.

Puller looked left and then right and spotted the door at the end of the vestibule. It was locked when he tried the handle. He pulled his M11 and shot the lock off.

“What is it?” yelled Knox before Puller pushed her through the opening and then did the same with his brother.

“Move!”

He closed the door behind him and sprinted down the steps toward the first landing. Knox and Robert reached it first, turned, and headed down the stairs to the second landing.

Puller had almost reached the first landing when the detonation occurred. The concussive force blew the door to the stairs off its hinges and the compressed air surged downward like a million-mile-per-hour tidal wave.