He gazed across the twenty yards that separated their position from the cover of the trees on the other side of the water tower. “They’re just stalling us until the others can move up from behind. We have to get across this street in a hurry.”
“Any suggestions?”
“I have a diversion set up. When I trigger it, start running. Be sure to stay to the right of the tower.”
“All right.”
She held her hand toward him.
If she touched him, she’d know how weak he was. It would distract her when she needed to concentrate on her own safety.
He forced himself to ignore her hand, to pretend he hadn’t seen.
Pulling the detonator from his coat pocket, John fumbled with the controls until he had it set in the correct position.
“All right, here we go, on three. One.”
He flicked the safety off.
“Two.”
John lurched from behind the tree and ran toward the street.
“Three.”
He depressed the switch.
There was a bright flash at the base of the water tower and a loud boom.
It was followed instantly by a deep-throated roar as the ruptured water pipe sent a two-foot wide horizontal column of water spraying toward the gatehouse and the parked Humvee.
Grown men screamed in panic as the jet of water threw the five thousand-pound Humvee out of its way. The men who had been crouched behind the vehicle were crushed before they could even rise to their feet.
“Wow! What a trick. How’d you know someone would be parked there?”
“I didn’t. I placed the explosives to wet down the road and maybe knock the main gate off its tracks. I thought it would buy us some time.”
He reached the opposite side of the street as Caitlin passed him without slowing. At the base of the water tower, John stopped to lean against the steel columns and cover her retreat.
Headlights were coming up the street.
“John? What did you stop for?”
“I have to work up one more diversion, and then I’ll be with you. The arroyo is just ahead. Keep going.”
“I’ll wait for you.”
“Don’t be silly, you know I can outrun you easily. I’ll beat you to the fence.”
“Why are you lying? John, how bad are you hurt?”
Hell, the longer they used the eggs the more information they could glean from the other’s transmissions. When they’d started, she hadn’t been able to tell if he was lying unless they were actually touching. Now she could do it from a hundred feet away.
“Not that bad. I’ll make it. I just want to make sure they don’t follow too quickly.”
He turned toward her and was shocked to see that she had turned and was coming back.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You stubborn fool ... Have I told you I love you?”
“Yes, now set off your damn explosives and let’s get the hell out of here.”
He turned back toward the approaching lights. It was another Humvee. John changed the setting on the detonator and waited. When the Humvee was ten feet from the intersection John depressed the switch and a pound of C4 shattered the rock he’d set on it and sprayed the Humvee with shrapnel. The driver was killed instantly. The vehicle swerved off the road and into the trees.
“Shall we go?” John asked as he turned toward Caitlin.
Twenty feet from him, she passed through the shadow of the small pump house and part of the shadow detached itself from the rest.
Although the snow blurred his night goggles, he recognized the shadow’s broken nose.
“Caitlin!” His silent transmission told her everything. She spun away from the moving hand. Her gun rose.
The hand slapped away her gun. The automatic discharged a bright line of fire into the snow. Holdren’s other hand closed on her coat and yanked her to him before John could bring his own weapon to bear.
“Drop the gun, Blalock, or I’ll kill her.”
The Uzi was a fine weapon, but it wasn’t meant for single shot kills. He needed his Colt and he needed to see Holdren clearer.
“You won’t kill her. You’ve ordered your men to take her alive,” John said aloud.
Then silently he transmitted, “I’m going to go for a head shot on him. Wait until I give the signal, and then drop. The sudden shift of your weight should give me a shot.”
“All right, John. It’s your play. Just kill the bastard for me.”
“I’ll be happy to.”
“None of that silent shit!” Holdren said, his voice tight with anger. “I know that you’re trying to cook something up and you’d better believe me when I say I’ll kill her before I let her escape.”
“I believe you, Holdren. You’re just the type of sore loser that would stoop so low,” John taunted as he shifted the Uzi to his left hand and slipped his right inside his coat.
“Fuck you, Blalock.”
Holdren shifted his aim and fired.
John tried to leap to one side, but he was already too weak for that sort of movement. The bullet shattered his left knee and it collapsed under him.
“John!”
The intense pain blacked him out for a moment. When he got his eyes open again, Caitlin was kneeling over him. Holdren stood behind her.
John went for his holstered gun, but it was gone.
“All right, get your ass up. Unless you want me to cap your other knee.”
“Leave him alone, you bastard.”
“Shut up, bitch. I may want you alive, but you don’t have to be unblemished. One more remark out of you and I’ll pop one of your knees.”
John could feel Caitlin’s anger growing hot. She was
