the doorway, his AK clattering behind him. The shot must have alerted the terrorists because suddenly the Gulfstream leaned back on its rear landing gear as the pilot increased power, leaving Mercer in its wake. The Gulfstream turned on to the main taxiway leading to the center of the airport complex and the runways.
Mercer sprinted back toward the terminal and the apron of executive jets, rushing to a Gates Learjet with its tail mounted turbofans already whining on idle.
Mercer closed the Beretta’s action and used its butt to wrap on the closed hatch. “Police. Open up!”
A second later, the door sprang upward. Mercer recognized the well-dressed African-American as the anchorman for a CNN news program. Mercer grabbed a fistful of his shirt, jacket, and hand-painted tie, and with one graceful move he tossed him effortlessly to the ground. Mercer was aboard with the door closed in an instant.
The Lear’s cabin was small, barely four and a half feet tall and just a bit wider. Had there been other passengers on the plane, Mercer wouldn’t have continued, but the ten seats were empty. He could hear the pilots talking from the cockpit.
“You okay back there, Mr. Jackson?” the copilot called.
Mercer shuffled forward until his body was between the pilots’ seats and both men could see the gun in his hand. He used it to point at the Gulfstream, now a quarter mile away. “Follow that plane,” he said, unable to ignore the absurdity of his order.
The pilots realized Mercer’s seriousness and the damage the 9mm could do at such a close range. The copilot sat back in his seat, distancing himself from the controls as the pilot applied power to the turbojets.
“Just stay cool,” the pilot pleaded, his voice tight.
“Don’t worry about me.” Mercer sounded distant even in his own head. “Just don’t lose that Gulfstream.”
The Lear closed quickly, its tires strained by the aircraft’s excess speed. The Gulfstream’s hatch was still open, and when one of the gunmen went to close it, he caught sight of the small jet stalking them. Mercer could see the surprised expression on his dusky face and his eyes go wide before the terrorist ducked out of view.
“Brace yourselves,” Mercer shouted just as the gunman reappeared, holding the AK out the hatch and firing one-handed, the weapon jerking in his fist.
Lead streaked from the weapon like water from a hose, chunks of concrete exploding from the taxiway. Several rounds pierced the Lear’s thin skin, though the engines continued to pour out thrust.
“That’s it, pal,” the pilot screamed. “Chase is off.”
“Keep after them.”
“We’re hit, man. There’s no way I’m flying without assessing the damage.”
“You can ram them,” Mercer said more coolly than he felt. “Not hard enough to destroy their plane, but enough to prevent them leaving.”
“You’re out of your fucking mind.”
“They just killed four people in the airport and they’re kidnapping a fifth. We’re the only ones who can stop them.”
The pilots exchanged glances and came to a mutual agreement. The Lear increased speed, careening onto the runway, dipping so hard into the turn that the wing-mounted fuel tank scraped the ground in a shower of sparks. The kidnapper’s Gulfstream came to an abrupt halt fifty yards ahead of the Lear to allow a United 747 to loop in for its landing, its shadow racing along the ground to catch the hurtling jumbo jet.
The Lear’s pilot saw his opportunity and further increased power. The plane ate the distance to the Gulfstream with the grace of a cheetah on the hunt. From the Gulfstream, a face appeared in the hatch again. Realizing what was about to happen, the terrorist leaped to the tarmac just as his aircraft started rolling again, building up to rotation speed.
“Oh, shit!” the Lear pilot shouted.
The gunman raised his AK as he charged, but either the magazine had been emptied earlier or the weapon had jammed. It did not fire. He tried for a frantic half second to clear the chamber, then realized the gun wouldn’t work in the moments before the Lear reached him. He tossed it aside.
“What the hell is he doing?” the copilot asked.
Mercer understood. The dead look in the terrorist’s eyes told him exactly what was going to happen. The kidnapper kept running at the low-slung aircraft, judging distances, and at the critical second he leaped. One foot landed on the Lear’s left wing, momentum making him tumble, but he had enough coordination to twist as he rebounded, aligning himself with his intended target. His arm went in first, the titanium blades of the Garrett TFE 731 turbofan having little trouble liquefying both muscle and bone, but when his shoulder and head hit the whirling turbine, the engine came apart, blades exploding off the roller-bearing shaft and blowing through the aluminum nacelle.
The Lear’s pilot shut down both engines when he realized the gunman’s suicide mission and prevented a spontaneous detonation. The Gulfstream lifted off the macadam a mile down the runaway, trails of exhaust marring the air like angry brush strokes. Mercer gave little thought to the pilots or the man who’d allowed himself to be sucked into the jet engine and watched as Harry’s kidnappers flew off into the distance.
Because he hadn’t done enough, his friend was gone. He’d been so close, but then again, he’d been only forty yards away when Tory was murdered. His hands began to tremble with rage and frustration. And guilt. He could have done more. He could have driven faster or run harder or shot out a tire rather than allow himself the grim satisfaction of using his last bullet to kill one of them. He wanted to believe he’d given it his best effort, but with these high stakes, it was obvious that his best wasn’t good enough.
He was sitting on a grassy verge bordering the runway when an airport security car whooped its way to the stationary Lear. There were knotted muscles at the base of his jaw as he tried to keep his mouth firm. Dick Henna jumped from the car and approached slowly. Mercer was as close to breaking down as he had ever seen him, and the sight sent a chill through Henna’s guts.
“Are you okay?”
Mercer took a long time to answer, his face blank, but beneath his eyes, rage boiled. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he whispered. “You?”
“I lost a man in there and another is already on his way to the hospital. Listen, Mercer, I’ve got to get you the hell out of here. Marge has already called for an FBI forensics unit, and they’ll be here shortly. I can explain away this thing as an arrest gone bad, but as a civilian, you can’t be involved.” He held out a hand. Mercer used it to hoist himself to his feet.
“What about the Gulfstream?”
“I don’t know. I guess someone has it on radar, but I’m not sure.”
“What a fuck-up, Dick,” Mercer said. “I am so sorry.”
They got into the car. “It’s not your fault. Neither of us had any idea the men who took Harry are terrorists lugging machine guns. We had no way of knowing.” Henna’s voice was calm and soothing. “Chances are, that plane’s heading outside the country, and that makes this an international incident. I’m going to call Paul Barnes at the CIA, and if we can figure out where they’re headed, I’ll have him get some agents there to meet it.”
“Do you think the CIA can get him back?”
“Frankly, I doubt we’ll have the time to learn where they’re going to land. A jet with extended tanks can be in Europe, Africa, or South America in just a few hours. But, hey, there’s a ton of evidence lying around here and a paper trail for the jet lease, so there is hope of finding them.”
Mercer didn’t speak until the sedan’s driver circled around the terminal and parked next to his Jaguar. Marge Doyle stood next to Mercer’s car, making sure the airport police didn’t look at it too carefully. Henna forestalled any questions with a sharp look, so Marge gave Mercer’s shoulder a pat and went into the building.
Her commiseration shook Mercer back to the present. Harry was beyond his reach, and for the time being, there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. “You’re right,” he said. “Maybe you can find these bastards through the abandoned weapons or the guy I capped on the runway. I have to get to Eritrea and help Harry that way. Have you found anything on that front? Anything on Selome Nagast?”
“You’re not going to believe this one. When I was following your lead about her not working at the Eritrean embassy, I got a call from the ambassador himself. He said that she was in the country under his authority and that she was working without the support of his staff. They know nothing of her or her mission here.”
“Which is?”
“According to the ambassador, securing private funding for humanitarian programs within Eritrea. He didn’t
