Cliff Ryder - The Finish Line

"I was just wondering why your vehicle is sitting outside the Gare du Nord train station?"

Anthony risked being seen by standing on his tiptoes to keep her in sight. She had been stopped by two men, and was producing her passport. He'd bet her life they weren't French customs officials, either. "Just a minute." He switched to his walkie-talkie mode. "Liam, get up here immediately. Carl, Gregor, assume trailing position at head of train. Wait until you see us to move." He switched back to his caller. "You said the rest of the afternoon was mine, so I decided to take a drive through the French countryside. Why, has something come up?"

"You always were a smart one. We're having — trouble contacting Aleix." The pause was slight, but definitely audible.

Anthony grinned. "Do tell. As it so happens, I'm standing in the train station right now, about three meters from our missing lassie, and Aleix is nowhere in sight. Why don't you let me handle this — as you should have done in the first place — and I'll be in touch once I've got her." He cut his connection just as Liam came up on his right side, not looking at Anthony as he spoke into his wireless earpiece.

"I'm in position. Target is with two hostiles, confirm?"

"Confirmed. Incapacitate only. On my mark." Anthony walked through the crowd, approaching the trio, getting close enough to hear the woman's rising voice.

"I don't know what your problem is, I've just gotten here, and already I'm being hassled…"

She does have guts, to try and brazen this out like that, Anthony thought. He heard one man reply as he edged even closer. "Mademoiselle, I'm sure if you will come with us, we can clear all of this up. If you would be so kind…"

Anthony caught Liam's eye and nodded.

He and Liam stepped up, one on either side of the woman, and each brought up small aerosol sprayers, which they aimed at each man's face. A small cloud of concentrated, atomized sedative puffed out into the men's faces. Coughing and spitting, they reached under their suit coats, but the fast-acting mist was already taking hold, and both men slumped to the floor, out cold. The strange event engendered a few puzzled looks from passersby, but Anthony and Liam were already moving, each taking one of their target's arms and firmly propelling her away from the scene. She made a token attempt to twist away, and Anthony took great pleasure in jabbing the pistol in his left hand, hidden under the newspaper, into her ribs hard enough to make her groan.

"Ms. Britaine, I would appreciate it if you would just keep walking and not make any kind of disturbance or attempt to draw attention to us. It's been a long day already, and I am most certainly not in the mood."

She looked over at him, and nearly sagged off her feet in fear, held upright only by his strong grip on her. "You're the man from London — you're with Mercury, aren't you?"

"Correct, and if you do exactly as I say from now on, you're going to be just fine." Of course, Anthony was lying through his even teeth — he planned to extract a vengeance from this bitch that would brand his face in her memory for all time, assuming she survived it in the first place. But first he had to complete his mission, and that meant getting her back to HQ in one relatively undamaged piece. When they were through with her, then it would be his turn.

"Carl, Gregor, we are heading to the main entrance. Follow at distance."

Although a crowd had gathered around the two fallen men, Anthony, Maggie and Liam had almost made it to the main doors when they hissed open, and five people walked in that Anthony hadn't expected to see. They were led by that grinning bastard who had stopped him from getting her back in London.

David's reaction, along with the rest of his team, was immediate. His right hand darted into his open bag to grab the butt of his pistol and casually aim it at the two men. Around him, Robert, Tara and Kanelo also reached into their bags, the four of them looking like a group of salesmen interrupted in the middle of their sales pitch. David heard Robert muttering into his earpiece, and knew he had alerted Cody, who had taken his customary position high above everything, and was observing events through his rifle scope.

David only had eyes for the brown-haired man, who had immediately moved behind the woman, one hand on her shoulder, and his other one obviously holding some sort of weapon hidden behind her back. The other man stood a few feet away from his partner, hands at his side, his gaze boring a hole in the Midnight Team members. For a moment, all eight of them stood in the entryway, oblivious to the stream of people flowing around them, many throwing dirty looks their way as they passed.

"Hold up, gentlemen." David raised his bag slightly, making sure both men saw it. "I'm afraid we can't let you take her out of here. Let her go, however, and you can walk away, no questions asked."

The brown-haired man had the temerity to grin in reply. "That is just as impossible, since we have just met. We are leaving, and since we have her, you will not be stopping us, unless you want to be taking just her body back."

David shook his head. "Ah, that's where you're wrong, since we don't need her alive — but apparently you do. So I already know you're bluffing. And since we outnumber you, that really takes the decision out of your hands."

"You're a confident little arse, aren't you?"

"Runs in my family. This is your last chance. Release her and walk away, or we're going to take her from you," David said.

The man gripped her shoulder even tighter, making the woman gasp in pain. "Looks like you're caught between two big fucking rocks, lass. And since things have a way of changing ever so quickly…"

His head darted behind the woman's for a moment, while David tried to figure out what he meant. Dropping his left hand behind his back, he signaled Tara and Kanelo to watch for flankers.

As he did that, Robert's head snapped to one side, and a spray of pink-and-gray matter splattered over David. It was followed by the cough of a silenced pistol, and the wiry Welshman fell to the floor, his normally nonstop mouth still hanging open in surprise.

"Cover!" David still kept his eyes on the two men even as his team scattered for whatever concealment they could find. He heard more coughs, followed by the impacts of subsonic bullets. A pained grunt came from nearby, then a scream as a civilian was hit and collapsed in the entryway.

The obviously dead man had a galvanizing effect on the nearby people, who screamed and scattered, the fear radiating outward as they turned in a blind, panicked mob, seeking cover or flight away from the danger.

"M-Two, report," David heard in his ear.

"M-Four is down. Repeat, M-Four is down! Watch for hostiles coming out the main doors. We have engaged at least three of them inside. Have not recovered the target yet." More bullets thudded into the bank of pay phones David had taken cover behind, smashing open one of the machines and scattering coins across the floor.

"Do you have the target in sight?" M-One asked.

"Negative, I can't see her…shit!" A bullet careened off the floor near David's foot coming from behind and to the left of him. Scooting over to his right, he looked up to see a tall man standing on a green-railed balcony with a perfect sight line over the entire lower level. David raised his pistol and triggered three shots, aiming below the railing at the man's crouched form. He saw the man convulse, and knew he'd hit him at least once, but a fusillade of return fire made him duck back behind the phones.

Next to him, David saw Tara behind one of the tall green columns that supported the roof high above them, which was now scored from bullets ricocheting off its surface. "You got anyone?" he asked.