forcing him to crash into a couple of plastic garbage cans.
She slapped the dash again, saying, “Nobody said we were going to jail for sure. But without me, you’ll be charged with vehicular manslaughter.” She smiled. “Besides, I’m not in the government either, and I’m tied to you by our company. Whatever you do will impact that, and I need to protect the investment.”
“Jennifer—”
She cut me off, growing serious again. “Pike, remember that story you told me about sacrifice? How you always thought it was strange that plenty of men in the Army would be willing to jump on a grenade and sacrifice their lives, but not so many would stand up for what’s right if it meant sacrificing their career? This is the same thing. It’s my choice.”
Something had definitely shifted within her. I saw the determination on her face and gave up. “As you wish.”
The words startled her for a split second, then her face split into a grin. “Damn right. As I wish.”
Pulling into the underground garage, I was surprised to see Decoy waiting outside the door. He smiled and gave us a thumbs-up. Seconds later, I met him and Retro in the stairwell.
Taking the steps two at a time, I said, “What are you doing here?”
“Helping you get a terrorist.”
Retro said, “Me too. Buckshot’s also waiting in Ops.”
I exited on the second floor, moving straight to the communications cell.
“No, you’re not going with me, because you don’t have authority to operate domestically. Only I can do that.”
Retro said, “What the hell are you talking about?”
I entered the communications cell, moving straight past the myriad of radios and telephone equipment to a back room lined with row after row of computer servers. I barked at the first person I saw.
“I need you to hack into the GPS tracking systems of the Dominion Power company, and I need it done yesterday.”
The man at the computer stuttered for a second, then said, “I can’t do that. I’m not authorized to do anything to American networks.”
“The president of the United States just authorized it. And if that’s not good enough, I’m going to break every fucking finger on both of your hands until you’re forced to hunt and peck with a permanent splint.”
His eyes wide, he nodded. I handed him the information on the Dominion truck, saying, “I want a real-time fix on this transmitted to my phone within the next five minutes.”
I left without another word, moving up two flights to the team rooms and the weapons lockup, Retro and Decoy hot on my heels. Five minutes later, I’d robbed one of the lockups of a full-size Glock 21, some handheld radios, and a Glock 30 subcompact, along with plenty of loaded magazines for both. When I handed Jennifer the subcompact on the way back down the stairs, Retro and Decoy about lost their minds.
“What the hell! She’s coming with you, but you won’t take us?”
I couldn’t resist. “She’s coming because she trusts me. You two can wait on a ‘real’ operator for your next mission.”
Decoy said, “Come on, Pike, that’s not fair. You take things too hard. You have to admit you leaned way, way out over the edge in Europe. We want to help.”
I stopped outside the door of the commo cell, seeing Buckshot coming down the hall.
“Look, here’s the truth. Jennifer and I have made a deal with the devil. We’ll go get this guy, but if any stink comes out of it, we get blamed. The president wasn’t willing to use an official Taskforce team domestically. We’re both civilians, and easy to throw away. You guys aren’t. You get rolled up in this, and you’re going to be hung out to dry.”
Buckshot heard the tail end of the conversation and said, “Maybe I’m okay with that. I’m from New York. Maybe I’ll get to have a word with that asshole Cyrus Mace and his little white supremacist thing.”
“I’m not sure traitors get put in state institutions. And that’s what you’ll be. I can’t protect you, and I can guarantee I’m going to break quite a few laws to get these guys. I’ve already started.”
All three stood for a second before Decoy said, “We’re in.”
I was surprised. “You guys haven’t seen leaning over the edge yet. You ready for that?”
“No issues.”
I nodded. “Go get your kit. Bring down the keys for two Suburbans from the Ops Center. Buckshot, you’re going to stay here to make sure these techies break the law when I tell them to.”
“Why don’t you leave Jennifer here for that?” He looked at her. “No offense.”
I opened the door, seeing a roomful of techies all staring at me. “Because I’m going to need you to do things she’s not capable of.”
72
The two Suburbans chewed up the ground toward Richmond, going as fast as possible in the congestion of Interstate 95, spending most of the time throwing gravel on the shoulder to get around the traffic. Jennifer was driving while I got a data dump from the scientist at the Oversight Council. It wasn’t good. Four more substations with EHVTs had been taken out, and we had at least two attackers on the loose without a way to find them.
The only thing we had going for us was that the cop killer was still driving his Dominion Power truck. His track showed up less than twelve miles ahead, now outside of Spotsylvania, near the National Military Park. We exited at Highway 208 near Fredericksburg and began to hunt. We took a right on County Road 613 and passed through the park. Getting to the far side, I saw the truck ahead of us.
“Retro, I’ve got him. We’re going to take him out. Follow behind. When he’s stopped, get out and smoke him.”
“You sure that’s him? You want me to confirm?”
“No. I just heard him kill two cops in cold blood. Don’t waste your time trying to play Joe Friday. Kill him.”
“What about questioning?”
“He won’t respond to questions, and we don’t have time to apply force. Get his phone. That will answer everything.” I heard nothing back, and added, “Retro, trust me. Put a bullet in that guy’s head before he can do the same to you.”
“Roger.”
Jennifer heard the conversation and squinted at me, knowing I’d just ordered the extrajudicial execution of an American citizen.
“What? We only have two or three substations left. This is how it’s going to be. You want out, say the word.”
She said, “What do you want me to do?”
“PIT him. Just like happened to you at Assessment. Bring his ass down.”
She pressed the gas, closing in on the truck. She brought the Suburban right behind his bumper, close enough for me to recognize an African American in the driver’s seat.
She flipped the blinker and began to pass. When she came abreast of his left rear tire, she swerved into it, slamming into the large truck with all of the force the Suburban could muster. We became engaged in a battle of steel, his truck refusing to break contact with the road surface and our Suburban grinding into it, trying to overcome gravity.
“Push, dammit, give it gas!”
She floored the Suburban, and I saw the truck begin to move. We continued racing down the roadway locked together, with the back end of the truck moving in slow motion. We reached the crossover point, and the back end began to slide. Jennifer expertly controlled the wheel, forcing the rear end to swing around. Seconds later, we were shooting past with the truck spinning out of control. Jennifer slammed on the brakes and I jumped out, running to
