There! Coming closer.
She sighted, her finger depressing the trigger just short of the firing pressure, when another movement far off to her right caught her eye. She jerked her head around in time to see the top car on the Ferris wheel swinging lazily, seemingly suspended in mid-air with only shafts of moonlight to hold it aloft.
'Savard,' she called into the dark, not bothering to lower her voice. She was fully exposed and, at this range, defenseless. If he was going to fire at her there was nothing she could do. At least she could make sure he didn't get away. 'He's on the Ferris wheel. Go!'
Just then, Grant appeared out of the shadows in front of the refreshment stand, calling, 'All clear here, Commander.'
Cam's shout to take cover was lost to the night as the building disintegrated in a flash of orange heat and flying debris.
*****
Savard was hit from behind by a rushing tornado of hot air that momentarily lifted her off the ground. She tucked her head and dove into a forward shoulder roll, letting the momentum of the blast carry her back onto her feet. Her gun was out and in her hand and, miraculously, she had managed to hold on to it. She refused to think about what had just happened. She couldn't think about Grant and Roberts now. She had only one thought.
Get him.
As she approached the Ferris wheel, she saw a thin shadow nimbly descending the exterior frame. She was a hundred yards away, and at that range - in the dark - she wasn't certain she would be able to hit him. If he made it to the ground, he would quickly disappear amidst the jungle of twisted metal and tumbled-down structures. She tried again to notify Doyle and the SWAT team of her location, but there was no response. Communications were still blacked out.
As she closed the distance, she got a clearer view of the figure that had just reached the ground, and for a split second, she hesitated. He was wearing a uniform. Could he be an advance lookout Doyle hadn't briefed them about? Or one of their own people who had just wandered too far into the perimeter?
She realized her mistake when he turned and fired, and that second of uncertainty cost her. By the time she registered the muzzle flash, she'd been hit and was already falling, a hot flash of pain spearing her left shoulder.
God it was much worse than she ever imagined.
The force spun her around and knocked her flat on her back. For a second she couldn't breathe at all. When she got her air back, she had to swallow a scream. Then she blanked her mind of everything except the image of him turning and firing. At her.
The pain receded behind her next reaction - anger. She was furious at him for shooting her, and even more furious at herself for letting him take her by surprise. She rolled to her side and got her feet under her. In the next second she was moving again. Her left arm hung uselessly, but her gun hand still worked. She could see his back as he agilely vaulted a turnstile that had once been part of an admission booth. In another instant, he'd be gone. Her vision was starting to blur and she was running out of time. Her arm was soaked with blood; she could feel it streaming off her fingers onto the ground. She drew down and fired.
The second blast was even larger than the first. And this time, the shockwave catapulted her into oblivion.
Mac tried furiously to re-establish contact, but no one was answering him. 'Commander? Stark?'
Blair continued to type queries to Loverboy, but there were no further responses.
'What's happening?' she asked urgently. The three agents looked grim, and the eerie quiet that hung in the air made Blair's blood run cold. She struggled for composure and lost. 'What the hell is going on?'
'All our communication lines are down,' Mac said grimly. 'Loverboy was probably transmitting from a wireless connection at the rendezvous site. He's there, and he knows that you're not.'
Blair got to her feet, her entire body trembling. 'Someone better find outright now what's happening out there, or I'm going myself.'
'Ms. Powell,' Lindsey Ryan said quietly, putting her hand on Blair's arm very gently, almost as if she were afraid of startling her, 'we'll get word here faster than anywhere else. Give Mac a minute.'
Mac switched to the speakers and attempted to boost the signals. 'Stark, come in please. Do you copy? Stark, goddamn it! Do you hear me?'
A garbled, fitful transmission crackled through. At first, all Blair could make out were fragments of words but what she could hear was enough to take her legs out from under her. She reached blindly for a chair and sat heavily.
' explosion shots fired agents down'
'Who?' Blair asked faintly, her eyes moving from one agents' face to the other, trying desperately to read their expressions. 'Mac, ask her who.'
'Can you clarify?' Mac asked woodenly, forcing down the quick surge of panic Stark's message produced. He clenched his fists and concentrated, straining for her words.
More static, then...'Evacuating injuredwill advise.'
Then there was only silence, a silence so final that the three of them - impotent witnesses to a nightmare - stood numbly, not looking at one another. Blair closed her eyes and wondered how it was that she could still feel her heart beating, because something inside of her was dying.
The icy stillness was shattered by the ringing of the landline. They all stared at it for a second, and then Mac
