kicked away his Beretta, sending it skittering out of sight. He then walked toward Robby and, with the .45 pointed at his head, bent down and removed the Smith & Wesson from Quintero’s stilled hand.
Villarreal squared his jaw. “Sandiego was a fool. I don’t know what his problem was. But I have little tolerance for those who cannot follow my wishes.” He shook Escobar’s hand. “Something like this will not be forgotten.”
Robby, still on the floor, peered at Diego. A blood-soaked pulpy exit wound in the center of his friend’s forehead stared back at him.
Villarreal took a few steps closer to Robby. “So, Mr. Hernandez. As I said earlier, it was premature to thank me. I am truly sorry for what I must now do.”
81
Vail felt the familiar thumping rotor vibration in her chest. She repositioned the headset and pushed her hair away from her ears. As the helicopter approached the strip below, bright lights of all colors splashed across the landscape in a dual line along a central roadway. “Las Vegas Boulevard?” Vail asked over her headset.
“Affirmative,” Agent Clar said.
Dixon craned her neck to get a better view. “I haven’t been to Vegas in about twenty years. Looks like a totally different place.”
Mann chuckled. “Glad I don’t have their electric bill.”
“Lots of wind,” Clar said, shaking his head. “I hope that doesn’t give us a problem.”
DeSantos motioned out the window. “The wind’s not our only problem. If SWAT has to lumber in on the armored rig they’ve got, it ain’t gonna happen.” Below, South Las Vegas Boulevard was a tangled mess of vehicles. “I don’t know what the deal is, but no way are they getting through.”
“I’ll let ’em know,” Dixon said as she keyed her radio.
Vail studied the packed streets below. DeSantos was right. “Then we’re gonna do this differently. Mann, you stay behind with Clar and be our quarterback. The rest of us are going in from the air.”
Clar quickly glanced back at Vail. “Our orders were to support SWAT, let them do the heavy lifting.”
“We don’t know how long Robby has,” Vail said. “And you see what the traffic’s like. The only way in is by air. Last I checked, we’re the only ones airborne. Now—is there a helipad nearby where you can land and drop us off?”
“Just that tour place a mile down. But—”
“No,” Vail said. “Something closer.”
“A roof would be the closest I can get you. There’s no real clearing where I can set down.”
“So a roof it is.”
Clar reached forward and checked a dial as the Huey was noticeably shoved sideways.
“Karen,” DeSantos said, “give me LOWIS. I want to see if I can triangulate on the cell phone. See if we can tell which roof to land on to get us as close as possible to Robby.”
Vail handed it to him. DeSantos studied the colored LEDs on the otherwise dark display.
Dixon pointed at a dazzling spray of white shooting toward them from the center of a large body of water. “What the hell is that?”
Mann sat forward in his seat and stretched toward Dixon’s window. “That’s the Bellagio, their water show. Every fifteen minutes, miles of pipes shoot water hundreds of feet into the air. It’s all choreographed to light and music that blasts from loudspeakers around the lake.” He watched a moment as they neared, the water spiraling into the night sky beneath the bottom of the craft. “I was stationed here back in ’98 when they opened it. Next time you’re in town, you’ll have to catch it. Nothing like it.”
Vail watched as the plume of water danced left, then right, then straight up toward them.
“Approaching CityCenter,” Clar said. “Vdara’s that flat semicircular high-rise coming up ahead. I’m betting this is where your cell is located. I’m taking us lower. You should see a brown LED on LOWIS.”
The chopper descended abruptly, then came to a stop and hovered above the tall, narrow building.
“Yeah,” DeSantos said, consulting LOWIS’s console. “Vdara’s the ticket. Directly below us. How’d you know?”
“This is where Villarreal’s condo is,” Clar said. “Fifty-seventh floor, number 5711.”
“That roof,” DeSantos said. “It’s so freaking narrow.”
“I can’t stay this low,” Clar said as he struggled with the control stick. “Too much wind. Can’t risk hitting the antennas down there. I’m taking us up.”
As the Huey rose, Vail looked down at the CityCenter complex and saw a concentration of oddly shaped, stylish buildings, architecturally angled, twisted, and curved, dramatically lit from above and below. Colors and landscape like nothing she had seen before. “Impressive,” she said.
“Actually,” Clar said, “the impressive part is gonna come from you people.”
“Us?” Vail asked.
“There’s no place to set down,” DeSantos’s voice said in her ears.
“Robby’s in that building directly below us. But the roof’s not large enough for us to land on, and there’s no flat ground that can accommodate us, unless we’re far off the property.”
“No, no. There’s no time. Robby’s down there,” Vail said, thrusting a finger toward the floor. “Get us down there.”
“Only way is to drop one of you in,” Clar said. “Onto the roof.”
Vail looked out the window. Robby was somewhere directly below her. “I’ll go.”
“Have you ever rappelled before?” Clar asked.
Vail pulled her eyes from the airscape and looked at the pilot. “Rappelled? Yeah, from a training tower, lots of times. From a moving helicopter? Twice. But it’s been about six or seven years.”
“It’s like riding a bicycle,” Mann said. “Comes right back to you.” He rapped DeSantos on the shoulder with his artificial hand. “I think she should go Aussie.”
Vail pressed her headset against her ear. “Aussie?”
“Head first,” Mann said. He gave her a thumbs-up. “Big freaking rush.”
Dixon grabbed Vail’s shoulder. “You sure you want to do this?”
“I’ll go,” DeSantos said. “I used to be a jump master with SRT. Last time was a couple months ago in the Ukraine.”
Vail looked at him.
Clar peered ahead, at the brilliantly lit landscape. “I can drop the rest of you by rope onto the boulevard, about 100, 150 yards from Vdara’s entrance.”
“Think about this, Karen,” DeSantos said.
DeSantos looked down at Vdara. “Rappelling onto a narrow roof isn’t easy. It’d be a first for me, too.”
“I can’t stay here,” Clar said. “Not with this wind. Now or never.”
Vail thought of Jonathan, of Robby. She glanced at LOWIS, which was nestled in DeSantos’s hand. “All right, let’s do it.” She reached forward and snatched the electronic device. “And none of that macho Aussie shit. I’m going down feet first.”
Dixon looked at Vail and their eyes met. Dixon understood that she needed to do this.
Clar tightened his grip on the control stick as another wind gust slapped the chopper. “Behind the seat you’ll find a harness, gloves, and carabiner. Someone help her get that shit on, will you?”
“You got a tactical helmet?” Vail asked.
Dixon located the equipment and held up a black shell. “Affirmative on the helmet.”
“Okay,” Clar said. “There’s a donut in the floor of the Huey.” He kept his eyes ahead while he spoke into his headset mike. “Attach that thick wire to the donut ring. Karen, you’ll step into the harness and clip the carabiner on the front. The rope goes through the carabiner.”
Mann slid open the side door. A rush of air blew into the cabin. “Got it,” DeSantos said as he helped prepare
