Клайв Касслер - Marauder

MacD took a calculated stumble into the man in the middle, windmilling his arms in the process. He smashed the beer bottle into the head of the terrorist on his right, who dropped the towels he was holding. Two Daewoo K7 submachine guns clattered to the ground.

MacD swung the broken bottle in the other direction, plunging it into the chest of the second man.

Raven charged the third man as he drew a K7 from his bundle. She kneed him in the groin and jabbed the ceramic knife into his throat.

Before she could pick up one of the weapons, a fist slammed into her back like a pile driver. She dropped to her knees and saw Sinduk pick up one of the guns. He ran toward the waterslide with one of the other men from the van.

The third terrorist with Sinduk tackled MacD, and they began trading punches as they rolled around on the pavement.

The wind had been knocked out of Raven’s lungs, and she struggled to catch her breath. At the sight of the fighting, blood, and guns, chaos erupted among the nearest parkgoers, with some running and shrieking and others craning their necks to see what the commotion was.

Raven finally stood and picked up one of the K7s to chase after Sinduk, but a hand reached out to trip her. She fell forward and saw that it was the man who’d been hit in the head by the bottle. Blood streamed down his face as he dragged Raven toward him.

The rubber flip-flops wouldn’t do much damage, so she didn’t bother trying to kick him. Instead, she whipped the K7 around by the barrel and bashed his head with the stock. This time he went limp.

Three terrorists down, with another still fighting MacD. Sinduk and his companion made a run for the Senators’ families to complete the assassination mission.

The civilians took priority over helping MacD. In any case, Ocean Land security staff were sprinting from the entrance to break up what they thought was a simple brawl involving some of the guests.

They immediately pounced on MacD and the terrorist he was battling. Raven didn’t stay to watch the outcome. She cycled the bolt on the K7 to make sure there was a round in the chamber and took off after the jihadists, who were waving their guns and weaving through the terrified crowd toward the Crazy Eights.

THIRTEEN

The terrorists weren’t expert marksmen, but they had Eddie pinned down from behind concrete poles holding up the roof of the Raging Rapids loading area. Every time he stuck his head up to take a shot, he had to duck back down under the withering cross fire.

Escaping the control room to either side was impossible without taking a bullet. Eddie couldn’t stay where he was. He had to find Linc and get back out to the park to help Raven and MacD.

Out of the back door of the control room, he saw his one opportunity. An empty raft was passing by on the conveyor belt.

He crawled out of the building and flopped into the moving raft. He pressed himself to the floor as it passed out of the shadow of the control room.

He waited until the raft was nearly at the end of the loading zone, picturing the angles to where the terrorists were positioned. Eddie was counting on them still focusing their attention on the control room.

Once he had a clear view, Eddie popped up between two of the headrests and aimed at the terrorists from the side as they concentrated on the now empty building. He fired three-round bursts at each of them, and they crumpled to the ground.

Eddie scrambled out of the raft before it was launched into the river. His best chance for catching Linc was from the rider line bridge over the waterway.

He ran down the path until he reached the bridge. He spotted Linc’s raft as it came around a bend toward him.

The raft was bobbing and wheeling as Linc fought against the two terrorists, who seemed to be trying to pitch him out of the raft. Linc was an expert brawler, but the unstable footing against two opponents who were smaller and more agile meant he was taking kicks and punches from both sides.

Eddie took aim, but the swirling raft made it impossible for him to get a clean shot without the risk of hitting Linc.

The bridge had a wire mesh screen to keep people waiting in line from dropping objects on the passengers fifteen feet below. Eddie climbed along the downriver side of the mesh. He had only a few seconds before the raft passed underneath the bridge.

He flipped down the outside of the barrier until his feet were dangling at the bottom of the bridge over the thirty-foot-wide chasm. As soon as he saw the lip of the raft emerge from beneath the bridge, he let go. At the same time, the raft was caught in an eddy and spun to the side. Eddie landed on the edge of the step into the boat, and he pitched backward to keep from falling out.

He landed right at the feet of Linc, who was pinned by the two terrorists. They looked down in astonishment at the new passenger.

“Nice of you to drop in,” Linc grunted.

Eddie sprang to his feet and threw an elbow at the head of the closest terrorist, who barely dodged it. He twisted around, but Eddie latched onto his neck and put him in a headlock. The man clawed at Eddie’s arm, helpless.

Now that Linc had only one foe to contend with, he used his colossal strength to wrestle the man over the side of the raft. The terrorist grasped the headrest to keep from falling into the foaming white water, but the boat lurched sideways as it hit a current, and he was crushed against the concrete wall.

The jolt forced the raft under a jet of water used to playfully drench the riders, but the combination of impacts allowed the terrorist to push Eddie back, and the two of them tumbled over the side.

Eddie still had his arm around the terrorist’s throat as they fell, and the force of the impact as they hit the water was enough to snap the man’s neck. He went limp, and Eddie let go as he swam to the surface.

He saw they were approaching the roughest leg of the journey, with whitecaps breaking and churning the water like a washing machine.

The raft bumped his head from behind, and he grabbed hold of the rubber tube. He tried to pull himself up, but the surface was too wide and slick. It was just a matter of time before he would be crushed between the giant raft and the canyon walls.

“Need a lift?” said a deep voice above him.

Eddie looked up to see Linc reaching down to him. He took hold of Linc’s hand as the raft spun yet again, tilting toward a sure impact with the side of the channel.

As easy as if he were lifting a prize trout from a river, Linc yanked him out of the water and into the raft.

“And here’s the catch of the day,” Linc said as he leaned back against the closest seat to steady himself and catch his breath.

Eddie clutched one of the safety bars to keep from getting tossed around as they continued down the rapids.

“Thanks,” he said. He keyed the mic with his tongue. “MacD, report please.”

There was no response. He tried again with the same result.

All he and Linc could do now was wait in frustration until the raft was carried back to the end of the ride.

FOURTEEN

If the crowds of shrieking guests hadn’t been in Raven’s way, she would have shot Sinduk before he reached the Crazy Eights. The terrorist leader and his comrade were making slow progress as they dodged panicked tourists, allowing Raven to make up ground as she ran after them through the cleared path they’d created behind them.

Halfway up the stairs of the waterslide, the Senators’ families peered over the railing to check out what was causing the chaos below. Raven feared they would come back down the stairs right into Sinduk’s path. She tried waving at Muñoz, Schmidt, and their two teens to keep climbing.

They weren’t looking at her, but it didn’t matter. Sinduk took a potshot at them, plastering the stairs with bullets too low to hit them. The Americans screamed and started running up the Super Pass side of the stairs.