“Bree! Bree!”
Danny Freah loomed in the doorway.
The Black Wolf frowned. Green had gone off mission and entered the room without orders.
The Black Wolf pressed his hand to his ear, trying to hear what was going on.
“Green?” he demanded. “Report. What’s the situation? Green?”
“There’s gunfire upstairs,” said White.
“Investigate.”
“On my way.”
Green had obviously decided to take matters into his own hands. There was no excuse for that. He’d deal with him later, in the helicopter.
It should be only minutes away.
“What happened to you?” repeated Zen.
The Black Wolf looked over at him. He’d almost forgotten he was there.
“Who are you?” said the Black Wolf.
“Your friend,” said Zen.
“I don’t have any friends.”
“You did, fifteen years ago.”
“I didn’t exist then,” he answered.
The Black Wolf stared at the man in the wheelchair who called himself Zen.
It was so familiar, yet so far away.
Danny put his knee in the back of the man on the floor, dropping down to make sure he was dead. Blood was spurting from his head, flowing like water from a small fountain.
“Is everyone OK?” Danny asked. He looked across the room. The only one standing was an older gentleman, whose face was white. “You all right?”
“I am OK,” said Minister Gustov.
“It’s OK, it’s OK,” said Breanna, rising from the side of the room nearby. She leaped over the body and ran to the door on the left, yelling to her daughter and niece in the bathroom that it was all right.
The two Ukrainians on the floor groaned. Danny turned his gun toward the one against the wall on the far left, but it was obvious he wasn’t one of the Wolves — he was normal-sized, and a little pudgy.
One of the Czech officers yelled at someone in the hall.
“Stay here!” Danny told the others, bolting out of the room.
Gunfire erupted in the hallway as Caroline opened the door to the bathroom.
“Stay down. Get behind something — get in the bathtub,” Breanna yelled.
“Mama!” cried Teri.
“Stay down, Teri. I’m here.”
Breanna pulled the door closed, stayed outside — she could do more out here, she thought, racing to see what had happened to the dead man’s gun.
“The head! They’re only vulnerable in the head!” shouted Danny as the security officers began firing at the man near the elevator.
It was a mad, crazy scramble. Danny pressed against the side of the hallway, ducking down as bullets whizzed down the corridor.
“Danny, what’s going on?” hissed Breanna, crouching behind him.
“Get back in the room.”
“No. Who’s shooting?”
“He’s near the elevator. One of the guards who came with me tried to stop him.”
“He’s with the Wolves?”
“I don’t know — I haven’t seen them.”
“The man in the room, was he one of them?”
“I’m pretty sure. They’re all huge.”
There was fresh gunfire. Someone began screaming in pain.
“Stay down,” said Danny. He slid to one knee, steadied the Glock in both hands. It was a small pistol, 22 caliber — nothing against these guys.
Two more quick shots and the screaming stopped.
A bad sign.
“Aim for the head,” he said, raising his pistol.
The man turned the corner. Danny fired instantly, emptying the magazine.
His first shot grazed the man’s face; the second and third hit lower. The man swung his gun in Danny’s direction.
Something exploded in Danny’s ear. Again and again.
The Wolf assassin got off a single, errant shot before falling to the ground, dead.
The Black Wolf heard White go down. He’d been ambushed on the fourth floor.
It was time to abort.
“Blue, Red, we leave by the back,” he told the others over the radio.
“What’s going on?” asked Blue.
“We leave by the back.”
“What about the people in the locker?”
“Leave them. I have a hostage,” the Black Wolf said.
Zen braced himself as the Black Wolf approached, not exactly sure what he was going to do.
“You’re not going to shoot your way out of this, Stoner,” he said. “But I can help.”
“Shut up.”
“Listen, Mark—”
The Black Wolf grabbed the back of his wheelchair and spun him around. He pushed him toward the kitchen. Zen started to reach for the wheels, but they were moving so fast he realized he wouldn’t be able to stop.
“We’re taking a cripple as hostage?” said the gunman in the kitchen when they entered. “We should take someone who won’t slow us down. There’s a girl—”
“I’m a U.S. senator,” said Zen. “I’m worth more.”
Zen felt himself being lifted from his chair from behind.
“Shut your mouth,” growled the Black Wolf, flipping him over his shoulder as if he were a sack of potatoes.
Breanna clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking as she lowered the pistol. Her shots had hit the would-be assassin squarely in the forehead.
Danny Freah turned around and looked at her. Neither one of them spoke.
Breanna’s legs trembled as she rose.
“I can’t hear,” said Danny. “My ears.”
“Teri!” said Breanna, turning back to the room.
No one inside had moved. She ran to the bathroom.
“Teri! Caroline!”
“We’re OK!” yelled Caroline.
“It’s all right — you can open the door,” said Breanna.
They cracked the door cautiously, then pushed it open. Breanna pulled both of them close.
“The Czech security forces are surrounding the building,” said Danny, coming behind her.
“Zen — the elevator attendant said he went to the basement.”
