Cliff Ryder - Aim And Fire

“Yes, Mom.”

Kate’s screen flashed, signaling an incoming call. The ID said it was Tracy Wentworth. “Finally.” Kate hit her earpiece. “Agent Stephanie Cassell.”

Tracy’s voice was faster than normal, but still in control.

“Stephanie, Nate and I set a trap at the hospital to try and lure one of the terrorists, but they blew up a hospital room, and almost got me with it. We took one out and are chasing—watch that minivan, Nate!—the other north-northwest. We’re trying to set up a roadblock to stop him in the next mile.”

“How close are you to him?” Kate asked.

“About twenty yards behind.”

“Okay, press star-nine-star-five-star-one on your phone.

Do it right now.”

Kate heard the beeps, and on her satellite map of the chase, the pursuing truck was now the centerpoint of a red circle that moved with it, enveloping the fleeing car in the crimson field, along with several others that they passed.

“What did that do?” Tracy asked.

“You’ve just jammed his cell communications, along with everyone else’s in a fifty-yard radius—we don’t want him alerting his bosses that we’re on to him.”

“My phone just did that? But mine still works—”

“Yes. Tell Nate he needs to take this guy out now,” Kate said.

Tracy relayed the message and heard a furious Texas drawl in the background. “What in the hell does she think I’m doing, playing tag with him?”

Kate smiled grimly at the border agent’s tone. “Hardly.

Look, we’ve uncovered a company that we think may be involved in the plot. Spaceworks, Incorporated. Do you think he’s headed back there?”

“If he’s got half a brain in his head, he won’t lead us back to his HQ—oh, good, we’ve got two cops behind us.

Nate, let them know who we are.”

“Already on it—whoa!”

Kate heard the screech of tires, then the loud bang of plastic and metal impacting. She looked up to see the sedan they had been chasing had stopped in the middle of the lane, and Nate’s truck had almost plowed through it, but just ended up smacking it instead. The police cars swerved to avoid the pile-up, but the sedan was already moving again.

“Tracy? Are you all right?” Kate asked.

“Nate, get down!” she heard in her ear, along with the distinctive sound of a submachine gun firing.

“Goddammit, this ain’t happening again!” Nate shouted. The truck leaped forward, whizzing past other cars, the rise and fall of police sirens accompanying them.

“There’s a clear patch coming up. Hold on, I’m gonna give him a little tap.”

“That might not be such a good—shit!” Tracy screamed.

Kate heard the screech of tires again, followed by a loud thud and the roar of a revving engine. On-screen, she watched as the truck approached to the right rear of the sedan, then swerved, hitting it on the left rear body panel.

The sedan spun wildly, tires screeching as the driver fought for control. Still spinning, he roared down an embank-ment and stopped at the bottom.

“Suspect’s car has stopped. All units, approach with caution, subject is heavily armed and may be carrying explosives on his person.” Nate’s voice carried loud and clear, then Kate heard the sound of a car door opening, and traffic rushing by.

“Department of Homeland Security. Come out with your hands up!” Kate heard his voice, electronically modified as if he were speaking through a bullhorn. In the distance, she heard a faint cry.

“Allahu Akb—!”

The shout was cut off by an explosion that made Kate snatch her earpiece off her head, gasping in shock. As she watched the satellite image, the sedan erupted in a glowing, gold ball of flame forcing everyone to retreat. Kate inserted the earpiece again. “Tracy? Tracy, are you there?”

“Yeah, Stephanie—yeah, I’m here. Jesus, he just blew himself up. Must have been a grenade or a bomb or something, I don’t know. But he’s gone and he took any evidence we might have found with him.”

“Listen, you have to get over to Spaceworks—they’re a rocket company. We think al-Kharzi is planning a low-earth-orbit strike to spread an EMP wave over the eastern United States.”

“Could these guys have come from there?”

“Right now it’s our strongest hunch. Did you manage to get a look at the car’s license plate?”

“There wasn’t time, but the camera in the Silverado probably got it. Nate, we need to get out of here.”

“I’m downloading the address and directions from your location now. Try to coordinate the Border Patrol and any other DHS agents in the area if you can, but go in quietly— we can’t tip them off, or they might launch early. Brief everyone there on keeping the press out of this for now— we don’t want to cause a panic.”

“Got it. Nate, let’s roll!”

“Oh, one more thing,” Kate said.

“Yeah.”

“Reverse that code, one-five-nine, to turn off the cell-jamming program.”

“Thanks, Stephanie, we’ll be in touch once we’re at Spaceworks.”

“We’ll be watching over you,” Kate said.

Before Kate hung up, she heard Nate say, “Hey, that isn’t too far from here, maybe about fifteen minutes southwest.”

I hope that’s quick enough, she thought, turning her attention to crafting a message that would bring every law-enforcement officer in the area running, and hoping to God that she wouldn’t have to broadcast it.

Nate kept his eyes on the road while Tracy skimmed through the camera data, searching for the license plate.

“Here it is. Call the plate number in,” she said.

He read off the plate number to the DHS office and requested a priority response. A few minutes later it came back as a personal vehicle belonging to Zakariya Malik Jasfari. “Where does this guy work?” Nate asked. He heard keystrokes in the background. “Okay, that’s everything we need. Thanks very much,” he said. He turned to Tracy and said, “Bingo!”

He switched channels while he punched up the address for Spaceworks, Inc. “All units in the area, I need immediate backup at the following address on a code thirteen.

I repeat, this is a code thirteen.” Nate used the common law-enforcement code to refer to a possible disaster situation. “Request hazmat team respond, as well. All units converge at the junction road that leads to the target area.”

He replaced the mike and nodded to Tracy. “At least these guys are in the middle of the desert, and not right in town.

I’d get on the horn with your feebee buddy and get us a search warrant for the entire premises, if she can.”

Tracy was already dialing. “Shouldn’t be a problem, especially since we only have to mention the nuke word.” She connected in a few seconds. “Stephanie? We’re following up on the Spaceworks lead, and our fleeing terrorist apparently worked for them…. Yes, a search warrant—you’re already working on it? Great, fax it to the El Paso DHS office, and we’ll have someone run it out here…Will be in touch as soon as we’ve secured the area.” She disconnected.

“Okay, we’re almost there.” Nate scanned the barren desert on both sides, looking for the dirt road driveway.

“Come on, where the hell are you?”

“Right there.” Tracy pointed at a narrow road to their right, which barely looked like anything special compared to the rest of the stark landscape.

“Hmm, not even a sign pointing out the road to anyone coming out here. Not a very effective way to advertise your company, is it?”

Tracy looked at the dirt road that climbed a hill and disappeared over the crest. The glow of bright lights could be seen in the distance. She glanced back at Nate. “I hope you don’t want to handle this like the illegals back at the farm.”