“I’m on it,” Alejandro said in a mechanical tone.
Misha shuffled around her and Asher, getting behind them. “Walk slowly. Do not try anything.”
A silent sob bubbled up from out of nowhere. She managed to quell it before it escaped her mouth, but Asher noticed it. He strengthened his grip on her hand, which made her even more emotional. If this was how they met their end, it wasn’t very noble. A dirty rail yard was one of the last places she ever imagined she’d visit, much less where she’d die. She gripped his hand in return.
Misha had no idea how scared she was. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“I hope she kills you, like they killed your family.”
Misha might have made a grunt in his throat, but he was a professional, too. He wasn’t going to rise to her clumsy prodding.
They walked over all the tracks and got to the chain-link fence at the edge of the yard. A small gate was set in the middle, about midway between the two shooters. However, Misha had walked them toward the left-hand side of the yard, close to the neighboring privacy fence. They were in clear view of Alejandro, but not Nerio. She remained hidden behind her tree, as if mistrusting the Russian.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Nerio asked. “If I have to shoot them, I might accidentally shoot you, too. Perhaps you should put down your rifles, so we can talk?”
Misha laughed. “There must be trust. How about you put down gun? I back up. You kill my friends. I get out alive.”
“Mmm,” Nerio replied, as if licking her lips. “You know how to tempt a girl.” She added, “Alejandro, you got them?”
“Easy shot,” the man replied from across the yard.
Grace sensed Misha’s gun in her hair, behind her right ear. He was close.
“Listen, my friends. Make no reaction with face. You must run to big fence when I poke you in back, yes? I will hold them off. You run.”
She remained frozen for five seconds, processing the new data. “You’re letting us go?” she whispered.
“Da. This is Russian ruse. Works very well. Now you go.”
Asher spoke with incredulity. “Why didn’t you just say so at the beginning?”
He whispered. “You never understand. Easier this way.” Misha then spoke in a loud voice. “This is where we part ways, my stupid American friends.”
“Wait!” Grace blurted. She wasn’t ready to run, she wasn’t anxious to be shot from either direction, but most of all she wanted to thank the man for putting his life on the line for them.
She didn’t get her chance. Misha shoved her hard in the back. So much so it actually hurt, causing her to yelp in pain. She lurched forward out of reaction and Misha fired his gun at point-blank range, causing her to move even faster.
Asher kept hold of her hand, pulling her toward the privacy fence to the left.
Misha fired several times, but the rounds weren’t going into their backs. He aimed them somewhere else. While on the run, she didn’t concern herself about where.
The husband returned fire immediately.
Nerio also shot around her tree, but even out of her peripheral vision Grace was able to confirm the woman couldn’t get a bead on her and Asher. Misha had planned his last walk perfectly, putting himself at the edge of the woman’s vision, while also putting his body between them and the guy at the far side of the yard.
She stopped at the edge of the fence. Misha stood where he was, pumping rounds out of both rifles at the same time. He’d aim in one direction, then shoot a few rounds. He repeated the act with the second gun, shooting at the other target.
“Run!” she shouted to him, amazed he was still alive.
He half-turned, wearing a crazy smile, but didn’t come. Instead, he reoriented on his victims and poured fire onto them.
A white blur appeared on the street in front of the house. It shot past Nerio, went in front of the house itself, then reappeared on the far side. It zeroed in on Alejandro like a cruise missile.
“Oh shit,” she said dryly.
Kansas City, KS
“We crossed the state line.” Haley pointed to the big blue sign hanging above the side of the bridge. The “Kansas Welcomes You” greeting was paired with a sunflower. The three of them stopped at the waypoint, but not to look at the simple sign. They had to check out the wreckage of the city down in the water about ten feet below.
The object that caught his eye first was a partially submerged airplane about a quarter of a mile out in the water. As he searched, several others were wedged in various positions in the lake, as if an airport had been down there before the water swelled over it.
“This looks like Armageddon,” he said with quiet reverence.
Butch spoke next. “It’s no wonder those people were pissed. TKM put all those men and resources into their mining op, but I don’t see a single rescue vehicle anywhere else. This city was left to rot.”
“But lots of people survived. We saw them back that way.” Haley pointed to the remains of the rocky island two miles down the widened river. It looked a lot like a volcano had ripped off most of the top and left only a rump. The empty barges had sunk at strange angles, as he’d seen many times on his river journey, giving an unnatural quality to the scenery.
“And lots of people died,” Ezra added sadly. “The city was hit hard when this came down. I don’t think anyone could have survived in the building where we were.
