'Oh crap,' Orlando said.
'What?'
Before she could answer, a bullet slammed into the passenger door. Immediately, a second one shattered the side window, then lodged into the roof just above Quinn's head.
'Dammit!' Orlando yelled. 'I thought you said they'd only fire warning shots.' 'The warning shots would be for me,' he said. 'You're kind of expendable.' 'Then let me drive and you be the expendable one,' she said, taking a deep breath as she finished.
He looked over. Her face was etched with pain.
'Are you hit?' he asked as he swerved to the left, sideswiping an Audi and creating a little distance between himself and the Mercedes. 'It's nothing,' she said, her teeth clenched. Blood was running down her left arm.
'Are you sure?'
'I'm fine. It's just a cut.' She held out the hand of her other arm. 'Give me your gun.' Quinn gave her his SIG. 'You'll need a new mag, too,' he said as he dug one out of his pocket.
She reloaded the gun, then turned and fired three
shots out her window. The first sailed over the hood of the sedan, but the second and third punctured the side of the car. The Mercedes veered, then straightened out, continuing forward.
As the rear window on the driver's side started rolling down, Orlando fired again. But instead of hitting the open window, the bullets shattered the closed one in front of it, the driver's window. One moment the Mercedes was beside them, a second later it swung violently to the right and slammed into the side of a tourist bus parked at the curb.
'Nice shot,' Quinn said.
The traffic circle was just ahead of them now, six lanes of vehicles, traveling counterclockwise around the monument. As Quinn swung the van into the inner lane and began racing around the circle, he checked his mirrors again. The BMW was still there, content to follow. But about a quarter mile behind it, several police cars raced toward them.
Quinn waited until the monument was between him and the police, then veered off the circle in the direction that would take them north out of town. Hopefully he'd be able to shake the police.
The BMW was another matter.
Chapter 39
As Quinn neared the airport he removed the white business card Dr. Garber had given him. He turned it over so the phone number was visible, then handed it to Orlando.
'Make the call,' he said. 'Whoever answers should be able to get Borko or Dahl.'
Someone answered almost immediately. Once Orlando had hung up, she said, 'We should be getting a call soon.'
Less than thirty seconds later, the phone rang.
'Give it to me,' Quinn said.
Orlando handed it to him. Quinn pushed the connect button and held the phone to his ear. 'Yes?' he said.
'You wanted to talk to me?' It was Borko.
'I'm going to make this fast. We'll give you back
the van when you give us the boy.' 'Why would we do that? Soon we will have the van and the boy.' 'Call your friends at the water plant,' Quinn said, then disconnected the call. He pulled an object that looked like a thick
credit card out of the inside pocket of his jacket. At one end, there were two switches. The first was the safety. Quinn flipped it to the off position. The second was an A/B switch, allowing access to two different channels. Quinn selected channel A. Below the switches was a pad that had been keyed to Quinn's right thumbprint.
'Be careful with that,' Orlando said. He placed his thumb on the pad. A second later, he was greeted with a barely audible beep.
If everything had worked properly, the sphere in Neukolln had just lit up like a blast furnace. Quinn was certain he'd placed more than enough Semtex to incinerate any residual virus. If he flipped the switch to channel B and thumbed the pad again, it would trigger the explosives in the back of the van. As a precaution, Orlando and Nate had similar triggering devices.
Quinn glanced at the side mirror. There was no outward reaction in the BMW, but almost immediately his phone began ringing again.
'What was the point of that?' Borko said.
'A demonstration. If we don't get Garrett back, alive and unharmed, your building in Neukolln won't be the only thing destroyed. Your call.'
He hung up again. 'You really think it's going to work?' Orlando asked.
His only answer was a nod and a smile. In truth he had hoped to be free and clear when it came time to make the call. Now with the way things were, he just hoped one of them would be able to get out alive.
'Look out!' Orlando said.
Less than a half a block away, a Volvo sedan pulled out from a side street and stopped in their path. Quinn had been paying too much attention to the car behind them and barely had time to react. Pressing down on the accelerator, he turned the wheel so they could swing past the front of the vehicle.
