Дэвид Балдаччи - End Game

“What kind of car will Luke be driving?” asked Robie.

“He didn’t tell me.”

Robie glanced at Reel, again silently communicating.

She slipped on a headset, powered up the comm pack clipped to her belt, slid out of the car with her rifle, and flitted away into the darkness.

“Where’s she going?” asked Holly.

“I’m going to hit the button for the rear cargo door, Holly. I want you to climb over the seats and exit the vehicle that way. Then, keeping the truck between you and the road, I want you to keep moving away from here. That direction will take you back to town.”

“Mr. Robie, what’s hap—”

“Just do it, Holly,” he said firmly. “We’ll find you later.”

“But Luke.”

“Go, now, before it’s too late,” he barked.

A shaky Holly climbed over the backseat as the cargo door lifted. She got out and, keeping behind the truck and carrying her suitcase, Holly moved away into the darkness.

The Yukon was on a slight incline. Without turning the truck on, Robie shifted into neutral, and the GMC rolled backward. Even with the engine off Robie managed to maneuver the steering wheel just enough to turn the truck to the left.

Like Holly, he climbed out the back, keeping the truck between him and the approaching car. He put on a headset and turned on his comm pack.

Into the headset he said, “Talk to me.”

“Bogie’s a half mile away, coming at a slow speed. I can’t see how many are in it. It might be Luke and it might not.”

“Anything else?”

“Hold on a sec.”

A few moments went by and Reel said, “I’ve got movement at three and nine o’clock, directly in front of me.” She paused another moment. “They’re ATVs, Robie. You should be able to hear them by now.”

“I do,” he affirmed. “How many?”

“I count... eight altogether.”

“And the car, evasive maneuvers?”

“No, coming on straight and true.”

“So it’s not Luke driving.”

“No, it’s not. I guess they weren’t smart enough to think of that.”

“You got high ground?”

“High enough. Where’s Holly?”

“On the retreat behind us. Let me know when you can confirm who’s on the ATVs.”

“They’re coming fast. But they’re blowing up a shitload of dirt. It’s going to make it hard to get a sight line.”

“Roger that. Let me give you an assist.”

He hustled to the back of the Yukon and unlocked the hard-sided case. He gripped the launcher and hefted two RPGs. He slung the launcher over his shoulder after loading the grenades into a belt carrier attached to the launcher’s frame.

He ran to a spot behind a thick tree, knelt down, took out a pair of night optics, and peered through them. He could clearly see the car on the road and the ATVs on the dirt. Reel was right, they were creating quite a dust storm out there. They were now only about three hundred yards away. He would wait until they cut that distance down by half.

He knew it wasn’t the cops or the state police. They didn’t have enough bodies to fill all those vehicles. He was certain it was the skinheads.

He loaded in an RPG and said into his headset, “Fireworks are coming in ten. I’m aiming to make them stop to let the air clear so you can get a lock.”

“Roger that.”

Robie aimed the launcher at a spot in front of the wave of ATVs.

Four-three-two-one.

He hit the trigger and the RPG left the launcher, arced upward, and then came down within a foot of where Robie had been aiming.

The explosion rocked the still air, sounding like thunder from the storm bearing down on them.

The car and the ATVs did what Robie had expected. They stopped and through his optics he saw figures jumping out of the vehicles and taking cover.

Reel spoke into his ear. “Nice touch.”

“See if you can get a look in the car now.”

He could hear Reel’s steady breaths in his ear until she said, “The driver has exited. He and another man have taken up cover behind the vehicle.”

“Anyone else in the car now?”

A few seconds went by. “There’s something in the backseat, Robie. It could be a person. It could be Luke Miller.”

“That’s what I’m figuring. They brought him along alive to witness the fun before they put a bullet in his head. I need the guys outside the car to leave that immediate area but leave the car operable.”

“On it in five.”

Robie loaded his last round into the launcher and moved forward, keeping low, but also keeping his night optics on the car that was less than half a football field from his position.

He counted off the five seconds and on the fifth beat Reel’s sniper rifle thundered. Two rounds hit right next to the car. The third passed right over the trunk. The fourth kicked up dirt a foot to the left.

The two men hiding there did the only sane thing. They ran for it.

Robie was now in a full sprint.

“Robie, they’re on the move.”

“Burn ’em right after I fire. Move them all away from the vicinity of the car.” Robie stopped, knelt down, hefted the launcher to his shoulder, took aim, and fired.

The RPG flew a short distance and then hit the dirt about sixty yards to his right.

An instant later Reel’s rifle opened up and she rained bullets down on the men from right to left and left to right. Dirt, grass, and rocks flew up in the air near the men. Reel was not aiming to kill them, just to get them to move. Her rifle was her cattle prod.

Robie was sprinting once more and reached the car five seconds later.

He ripped open the door and checked the backseat.

Luke was back there, trussed up, gagged and unconscious, but Robie could find no visible wounds.

Robie checked the man’s pulse, found it, slid into the driver’s seat, turned the key, and the engine came to life.

He said into his headset, “I’m taking him to the Yukon. Disable the ATVs. Then meet me there.”

He hit the gas and the car jumped forward. Immediately, shots rang out and several pinged off the skin of the car. Robie ducked as one blew out the rear glass, with a shard of it slicing across the back of his neck. The blood dripped onto the seat.

Then Reel opened fire, and this time her rounds connected with rubber.

Eight shots later every one of the ATVs was rendered inoperable with an incendiary round smack in its gut that had ignited the fuel tanks. Explosions rang out over the darkness even as the rain started to pour. And then came the lightning, which lit the sky like detonations in the clouds, and the following booms of thunder were very nearly deafening.

And then came the hail, and the burning ATVs were quickly doused, but still unable to move.

Robie reached the Yukon at the same time Reel raced into view. Together they lifted the still-unconscious Miller into the back of the Yukon. They jumped into the front seat and Robie took the wheel.

Reel eyed up ahead. “You going to run the gauntlet?”

Robie shook his head and looked behind him. “I’m going to make a new road. We’ll pick up Holly on the way.”

He slammed the Yukon into reverse and the four-wheel-drive vehicle hurtled backward until Robie spun it into a J-turn, and with the truck pointed the other way, he hit the gas and the Yukon leapt forward.

They had gone a quarter of a mile when Reel said, “There she is.”

Sure enough, Holly was struggling along in the darkness over the uneven ground. She was now drenched with rain. She heard them coming but apparently couldn’t see it was them, because she started to run away.

Robie sped up, and once they were beside her Reel rolled down the window and called out to her. Holly immediately stopped running.

“Get in!” called out Reel.