Seichan fired back. The gunman ducked away, but her pistol had no silencer. The blasts stung Gray's ears and were surely loud enough to be heard by the assassins inside.
'Make for the roof!' he ordered.
The shooter below took potshots as they fled, but Seichan kept him pinned down, and the iron cage of the fire escape helped shelter them. Luckily, they didn't have far to go. The hotel was only five stories high.
Reaching the top, Gray herded everyone away from the roof's edge. He stared across the expanse of pigeon droppings, vent pipes, and graffiti-sprayed heating and cooling equipment. They needed another way down. Even now he heard boots landing hard on the fire escape's iron railings. The others were headed up after them.
Gray pointed to the far side of the hotel. Another building abutted it. It was one story shorter. They had to get out of sight, or at least out of the direct line of fire.
They sprinted for the low wall that separated the two buildings. Gray reached it first and leaned over. A whitewashed metal ladder was bolted to the side of the hotel and led down to the lower building's roof.
'Go!'
Rachel rolled over the edge and scrambled down the rungs. Kowalski didn't bother to wait his turn. He grabbed the edge of the wall, hung by his fingers, and merely dropped. He landed on his backside on the tar- papered roof below.
A gunshot drew Gray's attention around.
A black-masked head ducked below the fire escape on the far side.
'Now or never, Pierce!' Seichan warned.
She fired twice more, discouraging anyone else from showing themselves. Taking advantage of the cover, Gray flipped over the edge of the roof, grabbed the ladder, and ignored the rungs. Like a fireman on a pole, he slid down its length.
More shots echoed above.
As his heels hit the tar paper, he stared up. Seichan flew over the wall and snatched one-armed for the ladder. Her other hand still clenched her smoking pistol. In her haste, she missed her grip on the topmost rung and began a headlong tumble. She tried for a second hold, dropping her gun and reaching out. Fingertips caught for half a breath. Her pistol tumbled and struck near Gray's toes. Her momentary grip ripped away.
She fell.
Gray lunged out and got under her. She landed heavily in his arms. The impact took him down to one knee, but he caught her. Momentarily stunned, she breathed hard, a hand clutched on Gray's wrist.
Kowalski retrieved her gun, then helped them back to their feet.
Seichan shoved roughly out of Gray's arms, took an unsteady step, then gained her balance. Turning, she cleanly plucked her pistol out of Kowalski's fingers before he could react.
'Hey...' Kowalski stared at his empty hand as if the appendage had betrayed him.
'There's another fire escape over here,' Rachel called to them. Her eyes momentarily flickered between Gray and Seichan.
They all hurried over. The top of the fire escape was sheltered behind a bulky ventilation unit. They began a rapid descent, leaping from landing to landing. This fire escape dumped into a different alley. It would buy them an extra half breath, but Gray knew that whatever net had been cast around the hotel was surely being extended. They had to escape before it fully closed around them.
At the end of the alleyway, a street opened. They headed toward it. With no way to identify the assassins, they were still in grave danger. They could stumble right into one of them and not even know it. They had to get well away from the area, out of the city.
Gray's questioning glance slid from Rachel to Seichan. 'Anyone have a car?'
'I do,' Rachel answered. 'But it's parked around the corner from the hotel.'
He shook his head. It was too dangerous to go back. And considering that the streets had already turned into a parking lot due to the morning gridlock, a car might not even serve them.
A growl on his left warned him of the danger. Gray leaped back as a motorcyclist sped through the stalled traffic, riding almost up on the narrow sidewalk. Kowalski was a second slower. The cyclist nearly clipped him, which only pissed the big man off.
'Screw you, Knievel!'
Kowalski shoved with both arms as the man passed.
The rider flew out of his seat. The cycle struck a parked car and toppled on its side. A second motorcyclist who hadn't seen the altercation and was following the same winding path could not get out of the way in time. He was forced to drop his bike and skid along the street gutter.
Seichan stared at Gray and lifted an eyebrow.
Good enough, he answered her silently.
Seichan went for the first bike; Gray headed to the second.
They needed transportation.
Seichan's pistol discouraged any complaints from the first rider. Catching on quickly, Rachel followed Gray. She flipped out her carabinieri ID and held it high, yelling in Italian, full of command. The second rider backed away from his fallen motorcycle.
Gray righted the bike and hitched his leg over it. Rachel climbed on behind him, hugging one arm around his waist.
Seichan had already mounted the other. Kowalski stood in place, not sure what to do. Siechan patted the leather seat behind her.
'You gotta be kidding me,' he said. 'I don't ride bitch behind anyone.'
Seichan still had her Sig Sauer in hand. She flipped it around and offered the butt end toward Kowalski. She couldn't maneuver and fire at the same time.
It was like offering a bone to a dog.
Kowalski could not resist. He took the gun and climbed on behind her. 'That's more like it.'
They set off as police sirens sounded in the distance. Gray took the lead. Swerving back and forth through traffic, he skirted the creeping cars and dodged bicycles. Rachel shouted directions in his ear, guiding them toward the wider thoroughfares where the congestion wasn't so tight. They slowly gained speed.
But they didn't get far.
A squeal of brakes drew Gray's attention around.
Behind them, a black Lamborghini peeled out of a side street, tires smoking, and aimed straight for Seichan and Kowalski. A black-jacketed figure leaned out the passenger window of the sports car and lifted a thick-barreled weapon to his shoulder. He aimed at the trailing motorcycle.
Gray recognized an M32 grenade launcher.
So did Seichan.
She tucked lower in her seat and gunned her engine, but in the tight traffic, there was nowhere to run.
With his target trapped, the gunman fired.
2:22 A.M.
Washington, D.C.
Monk waited with Kat in her office within Sigma Command. They shared her leather sofa, sprawled together. Monk cradled Kat, appreciating the warmth of her body, the softness of her touch. While Sigma Command had a series of bunk rooms, neither of them would be able to sleep until they finally got word about Gray.
'I should be there with him,' Monk mumbled.
'He has Kowalski.'
Monk stared down at her.
'Okay,' she agreed. 'That might make matters worse. But we don't know for sure anything is even wrong.'
'He's not answering his phone.'
Kat curled tighter to him. 'He was meeting Rachel,' she said and cocked an eyebrow, leaving the implication hanging.
Monk wasn't buying that explanation.
A long stretch of silence followed, with each lost in their own thoughts. Painter was continuing to pull strings to find out what was happening in Rome. Kat had also made further inquiries into the bombing at the Vatican. She
