“Somebody jumped the gun—no time to figure it out, we gotta move!” Semmi shot back. Gunfire erupted inside the building and echoed around like thunder.
“Where are they shooting?” Reese asked as they paused behind a pallet of spaghetti, still shrink-wrapped from the manufacturer. “Where’d they get this?”
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Semmi said, as he peered around the pallet. “Sssh…here comes some bad guys.”
Reese held his breath as a trio of men ran by, all armed. They didn’t even look toward the pallet but ran down the hall Reese and Semmi had just come from.
“You see anything?” asked one.
“Nah—it’s on the other side—the cops are back.”
“Let’s get to the holding pens, I don’t wanna miss the fun…” replied one of the others.
Semmi grabbed Reese’s shoulder and squeezed, his eyes locked on the three gang members.
“What was that about?” asked Reese.
“They’re going to kill the prisoners—our families!” Semmi said. He pulled a radio from his belt and brought it to his lips with an unsteady hand as he scanned the area. “Reaper, Hollywood—we got a problem! They’re sending men—they’re going to execute the captives!”
Decker cursed. “Copy, Hollywood. All units, this is Reaper—everyone converge on the prisoners. You know what to do—let’s get our people back.”
“Come on,” Semmi said. He pulled Reese around the corner and they sprinted deeper into the convention center.
A wall covered in Irish flags and weird paintings full of colorful skulls and roses loomed ahead of them. “Is that…?” Reese muttered.
“That’s got to be where Mayo’s guys are,” Semmi said. “They’re big into the Irish Mafia, IRA…all that stuff.” They paused in the shadows as several men emerged from under the big Irish flag draped over the conference room entrance like a door. They checked weapons and looked around, then left as a group down the north walkway. More gunfire erupted in the distance, a mixture of handguns and rifles.
“Jo’s in there,” Reese muttered. “She has to be.”
“We know from the gangbangers we’ve interrogated that they keep the prisoners in a holding pen in the middle of the building.” Semmi checked the corners and looked around. “This way. Come on.”
“Semmi, Jo’s not going to be a common prisoner,” Reese insisted. “She’s got medical training, or enough that it impressed the group that kidnapped her. Sean Mayo singled her out—I have to go in there and find her.”
“What makes you think she’ll be in there?”
Reese shook his head. “I don’t know—a hunch. They hate me for killing Sean’s brother…” Reese swallowed. “I bet they’d demand Jo as payment…”
“These animals killed my sister and her husband. They have my nephews.” Semmi stared at Reese. “I’m not missing out on payback over a hunch. The prisoners are this way,” Semmi said, with a jerk of his head toward the north tunnel. “You know the plan, once we’re inside, everyone heads to the prisoners.” He looked back at Reese. “Everyone.”
Reese looked at the giant Irish flag. “I have to check here, first. Then we can go meet the others—“
“Screw that—you heard the plan, same as me. I gave Decker my word. We go this way,” Semmi insisted.
Reese shook his head, more convinced than ever. “Then I guess this is where we part ways.”
Semmi rounded on Reese, his face dark and furious. “What the—are you out of your mind?”
Reese grunted. “Probably.” He pulled his knife free from the hidden sheath in the sling.
“I can’t let you go by yourself. Decker will lose it!”
Reese grinned and held up the knife. “Just tell ‘im I threatened you with this.”
“You are one crazy—“
Bullets tore through the soft cardboard stacked around them and Reese dove to the floor. A second later Semmi joined him, his rifle up and ready to return fire. “We waited too long!”
“Then I’ll make another diversion for you,” Reese said. One way or another, he had to get inside that conference room. A sudden realization sank heavy and fast into his mind like a truck at a boat launch. He would never see Cami and Amber again. The convention center would be his grave. There were too many enemies with too many guns.
It surprised him that he didn’t feel anger or regret or any other emotion…just determination to see things through. He’d make his way inside that room, find Jo, and they’d both likely die…but they’d be together, and he’d at least fulfill his promise to find her.
“I’ll see you soon, babe,” he muttered to the vision of Cami that appeared in his mind. She smiled.
“What are you doing?” Semmi demanded over the roar of his AR-15. Casings tinkled against the concrete floor with every shot and became the loudest noise that Reese ever heard.
When he stood, he didn’t see the shooters down the hall who had turned back to defend their turf. He didn’t hear the shouts and taunts. He didn’t hear Semmi beg him to get down or return fire to keep the bad guys occupied. Reese saw the big flag over the doorway shift a little in the still air.
Reese ran.
He ran past boxes that exploded into puffs of plastic and cardboard and foam packing peanuts. He ran past a dead body on the ground and a pool of blood, dark as wine in the dim light, that made him slip. He regained his balance and continued his mad dash across the open no-man’s-land and ignored Semmi’s curses.
He didn’t know if it was Divine intervention that allowed him to make it to the flag, or Semmi’s accuracy, or dumb luck. Either way, the silk flag caressed his face as he bowled into it and a second later it lifted free of his vision and he found
