The Wolf raised his gun and fired at the light. The searchlight went dark — just as the car pulled next to the house.
“Now what?” said Danny over the radio.
“Stefan and Androv come out of Building A,” the Wolf said.
“OK.”
“Tell them.”
“How?”
“Loudspeaker.”
“I don’t have a loudspeaker.”
“Then go to the door and tell them.”
“They’ll kill whoever goes to the door.”
The Wolf laughed. “That is your problem, American.”
Nuri glanced at the grenade between his legs. Sweat poured down his palms as he moved it to the edge of the seat against the console. He loosened the bandage so that only the weight of his leg kept the trigger from popping.
“When we get out, the grenade will load itself,” he told the sniper. “We have like four seconds. Four seconds. Then the car blows up. You understand?”
“Yes.”
“The car blows up. They’ll be running to it.”
“Yes.”
They were so close to the house that he couldn’t see the roof. This was good — it meant that the Werewolves on top couldn’t see him either. But it was nerve-wracking and dangerous as well — he couldn’t see where they were or what was going on.
“Danny, what’s happening?” said Nuri, realizing that over the radio it would seem as if he was back at the checkpoint. “We let the car go through. Where is it?”
“It came up the driveway,” answered Danny. “We’re going to let the man out of the building.”
“Is that a good idea? You’re going to let them escape in the car?”
“I have no choice,” said Danny. “We’re going to let them leave. One of them is moving to get down now, with Tiny.”
“What? You’re letting him get down?”
“He’s going down the south side,” said Danny. “I don’t have any other choice. We have to let them go.”
Danny glanced in the direction of the sniper on the southern side of the house. He couldn’t quite see him. Or her.
“Where are our men?” demanded the Wolf with the rifle.
“We’re working on it,” said Danny.
The man holding Tiny slid to the southern end of the roof. He had Tiny’s head pressed close to his, using it as a shield. It would be difficult to take him without hitting Tiny; a bullet from the other side would probably go through his skull and kill the hostage as well.
“American!”
“Your men in the building aren’t answering,” said Danny. “They may have been killed — there was a gunfight at the tunnel.”
The two men on the roof began talking to each other. The one holding Tiny was inclined to leave their friends — after all, they had left them.
“Get down,” ordered the man with the rifle. “American, back! If you do anything, your friend will be killed.”
Danny bit his lip, holding his breath as the man took Tiny to the edge of the roof.
Tiny felt his legs dangling over the edge of the building.
Enough of this bullshit, he thought. If I have to die, at least let me do something. Anything.
With a scream, he began to kick and flail his elbows wildly, aiming for his captor’s groin. Whether he hit it or not, the next second he felt himself falling from the roof.
Nuri heard the scream and jerked out of the car, pushing the door closed with his leg, gun raised. The Wolf who’d been holding Tiny let go as he jumped. They were close together, incredibly close — the Wolf was to the right…
Nuri fired as the man fell, and kept firing, moving to his left to get away from the car, shooting wildly. The sniper did the same in the opposite direction.
None of their bullets struck the Wolf’s head, and he rolled to the ground and got to his feet. He put his hand on the car, steadying himself as he took aim at Nuri.
Then the grenade exploded.
“Whiplash! Whiplash! Take them! Take them!” screamed Danny as Nuri fired.
One of the snipers drilled the Wolf on the roof. The man fell backward, sliding head first off the house. In the next moment the grenade exploded in the car. Danny leaped to his feet, running toward the side of the building. The explosion had shattered the windshield, sending the glass flying as shrapnel through the air. But much of the force of the explosion was contained by the car and its engine compartment.
Danny saw Tiny, writhing on the ground on his left. The Wolf, in dark clothes, had been dazed. He was lying on his back in front of the hood.
By the time the question occurred to him, Danny had already shot the man twice in the forehead.
He stopped, caught his breath as he saw the man’s lifeless face.
It wasn’t Stoner.
Nuri found himself on the ground. He was thirty feet from the car. He couldn’t recall how he’d gotten there — he’d run, but had he flown, too, when the grenade exploded?
Maybe.
He couldn’t hear. He tried rolling to his right to get up, then realized he was already on his stomach. He pushed up, dizzy, and began feeling his legs, and then his chest.
Somebody grabbed his right arm. It was Danny, yelling at him.
Nuri tapped his ears. They felt as if he were in a plane, ascending quickly. He tapped them, trying to get them to pop.
“You OK?” yelled Danny. “OK?”
“I guess,” answered Nuri. “I can barely hear you.”
“The grenade in the car — good idea,” said Danny. He ran back toward the building.
Nuri followed. Tiny was on the ground, his face twisted in pain. His right leg was bent at an unnatural angle; it hurt just to look at it, but Nuri couldn’t take his eyes off it.
“The big building!” yelled Danny. “There’s one more person in the big building.”
Before he could turn, the ground shook with an explosion so strong that Nuri lost his balance and fell to the ground.
“Looks like we don’t have to worry about getting him out of the building,” Danny said. “He just blew it up.”
