“You’d better take this.” He handed me theRuger.
He’d proven himself a good shot, but he wasprobably right. Running on a bad leg didn’t improve marksmanship.As long as he could shepherd Julie, I’d take care of the rest. Islipped it into my holster just as my phone buzzed.
“Is Ginny there?” Jacob’s electronic voiceasked.
“I’m sorry, she left for Phoenix yesterday,”I said, giving the appropriate response.
“Tell me you’re not near Lincoln Center.”
We kept walking. “Are you asking me tolie?”
“That’s what I was afraid of. Get out ofthere.”
“The police are on their way, I know.”
“The city is on lockdown. They’re callingthat tunnel explosion a terrorist act, and some dead Iranians werejust discovered in the subway. They’re buttoning up Manhattan.National Guard has been called.”
Shit. So much for our plan to get to StatenIsland. I needed to come up with another way out of the city, and Ihad to do it quickly.
“Listen, I found out some interesting thingsabout our Julie.”
After I filled him in, Jacob was silent for agood ten seconds before speaking.
“What are you going to do with her,Chandler?”
I wished I knew. “I’m not sure. Get her outof New York, for one.”
“You know the threat she represents.”
I glanced at Julie. She looked beaten.Afraid. Confused. It wasn’t her fault our military turned her intoa germ warfare incubator.
But life wasn’t fair, and the needs of themany outweighed the needs of the few.
“I know,” I told Jacob. “I haven’t decidedyet.”
“If the enemy gets her, or even if Uncle Samgets her and she’s brought back to Plum Island …”
“I know, Jacob. Right now, my main goal isgetting her away from here.”
“How?”
I glanced up at the NYPD chopper overhead. Itwas a long shot, but with Kirk’s help, I might be able to make itwork.
“What’s the closest helipad to LincolnCenter?”
I heard the clacking of a computer keyboardover the phone despite the traffic noises all around me.
“Probably your best bet is the Port AuthorityHelipad at 30th Street and the Hudson.”
“Thanks, Jacob. Oh, and Mr. Kirk is nowworking for us.”
“You turned him.”
“His deep-rooted sense of patriotism won outin the end.”
“So you offered him money.”
“How do you know it wasn’t my femininewiles?”
“Was it your feminine wiles?”
“Partly. We also owe him sixty grand.”
“I’ll make arrangements. I trust yourjudgment, Chandler, and hope this doesn’t have anything to do withhim looking like Colin Farrell.”
“I can’t entirely rule that out.”
“Hmm. Well, maybe you two will have a chanceto hook up.”
“Maybe.”
“If you live long enough.”
“If any of us do.” I ended the call andsquinted at Kirk. “We need a cab.”
He glanced back over his shoulder, and wespotted the men at the same time. More Iranians. Two of themthreaded through the pedestrians, each with a hand hidden undertheir jackets, eighty meters away and rushing toward us at analarming speed.
Shit. That hadn’t taken long.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” Isaid, but we were already running, weaving through pedestrians,Kirk gimping along with his arm behind Julie, gingerly guiding herin the right direction. Traffic flowed by on the street, cab aftercab with silhouettes in back seats, vacancy lights off, and not apedicab to be found.
Each equipped with two good legs, the menwere closing fast.
I felt the beat of chopper blades in my chestand scanned the sky between buildings. A purple Bell 427 hoveredoverhead.
Welcome back to the party, HawkNose.
We had to get some wheels or this would beover far too soon.
Our trio hobbled along for another blockbefore a cab with an empty back seat passed us. It stopped at thenext intersection, its vacancy light off, signaling it wasn’tlooking for passengers.
Not that I was going to let that stop me.
I raced into the street. Grabbed the backdoor handle.
Locked.
The front passenger window was open, so Ireached through, found the handle, and yanked it open.
“Hey! Hey! What do ya think you’redoing?”
“Get out,” I ordered.
“I’m off duty,” he said.
“You see this?” I asked, reaching my handunder my skirt.
“Hell, yeah!” he said. Then he saw I washolding a gun. “Hell, no.”
“Unlock the door.”
“You’re holding me up?”
“Take your cash. I just want the car.”
He frowned. “Look, lady, I got a wife who’s afat, lazy bitch, a kid in a gang who sells smack, the landlord justserved us papers, and this morning I found out I have diabetes. Youkill me, you’d be doing me a favor.”
I had barely registered the crack of thegunshot when the windshield spiderwebbed, and the driver gurgledand slumped against the wheel. The bullet had just missed me.
Julie stared, mouth open, as Kirk forced herdown behind the cab.
“Get in,” I yelled, ducking inside andhitting the unlock button.
Kirk pushed her into the back seat, climbedin behind her, and shut the door. He slipped his hand behind herback and bent her forward at the waist, out of the line offire.
I didn’t have time to undo the seat belt andpull out the body, so I slid onto the dead man’s lap and shiftedinto drive.
The light stayed red. Cars boxed us in fromall sides.
I found the two Iranians behind us with mymirrors. The one who had taken out the cabbie crossed the street infront of us, weaving through standing traffic.
Here I’d been totally focused on the pursuersbehind and missed the man in front.
I couldn’t miss him now.
He walked closer and closer, until he wasjust off my left bumper.
Just when I was convinced I’d made my lastmistake, the light changed to green, and the river of cars startedto inch forward.
Not fast enough.
The man in the street raised his hands, thepistol in his fists pointed at my head.
I cranked the wheel and hit the gas.
He bounced off the hood with a sickening thudand hit the street.
I kept going, gunning the engine as the cablurched and bumped over him.
Tires squealed around us. Horns blared. Carsrushed by.
Some New Yorkers didn’t let anything get intheir way.
We cleared the intersection, traffic in frontof us still moving. In the rearview, I could see the remaining twomen race across the street.
Judging by the purpose with which they moved,I assumed their SUV was close by. They’d be back on our tail soon.And if Hawk Nose did even a passable job keeping track of us fromthe sky,
