She spread out on her belly and began crawling. As she reached the edge of the screen, gunfire erupted above.
One of the men shouted. Mara leaned out in time to see their feet disappearing.
“Let’s go!” she hissed. “It’s clear.”
“The atrium is that way,” she said, pointing in the direction of the doors. Beyond them was a balcony that overlooked the lobby and registration area. “There are people down there. I think we’ll have an easier time going through the patio this way. We’re on the third level, but there should be some way to get down.”
“What about the others?” asked Josh. M? clung to his side.
“They’re creating a diversion.”
“Are they going to be okay?”
Mara frowned.
“We can’t just leave them,” said Josh.
“Don’t worry about the skipper,” said Stevens. “He can take care of himself.”
That wasn’t the point, thought Josh as Mara led them to a glass door.
The outside air, warm and damp, invigorated Josh. He took a deep breath, as if he’d been breathing stale air for days.
“Two soldiers, near the intersection,” said Stevens, checking over the wall. “Nobody directly in front of us.”
“There’s a stairwell here,” said Mara.
She paused, put her hand to her ear.
“What’s going on?” Josh asked.
“Kerfer’s got somebody behind him.”
“We gotta bail him out,” said Josh.
Mara didn’t say anything.
“I’ll go,” said Stevens. “You guys get across the road with M?.”
“No,” said Mara, frowning. She took off the glasses and handed them to Josh. “I’m going to have to go through the lobby. If someone sees me, I can tell them I’m an employee. You won’t be able to understand what they’re saying.”
“How are you going to hide the gun?” asked Stevens.
“Josh is going to give me his shirt. I’ll make it look like a bag.”
Josh pulled off his shirt and handed it to her. Mara folded down the stock on the submachine gun, then rigged the shirt around it. It wasn’t the most fashionable bag, but it wasn’t obviously a gun, either.
“Get across the river and wait there,” Mara said. “Worst case, meet the helicopter.”
“All right,” said Stevens, still reluctant.
“I think we should back her up,” said Josh as soon as she left.
“I don’t know. We got the little girl to worry about.”
“We can go back the way we came, get up the elevator shaft the way Kerfer did. We’ll be right behind whoever’s behind him.”
“It’ll be too confusing. And I got to keep you two safe. You’re more important than anyone else. Come on — let’s see about getting across the road.”
“Get out of the hotel,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper.
“I’m up here near the restaurant. The people who are shooting at you — where are they?”
“Get the hell out of the hotel.”
“They’re two floors below me. On the sixth. The Chinese are on the fifth and seventh, in the stairwell. At least two top and bottom. They have police uniforms, but they must be Chinese.”
“Anybody above you?”
“Negative at the moment. There’s hotel security somewhere, but I haven’t seen them.”
“Whose side are the Vietnamese on?”
“No one’s. One of them got shot on floor five when the Chinks opened up on my guys.”
“You sure they’re Chinese? Not Vietnamese police?”
“I didn’t ask for passports. That was what they were speaking.”
Mara took the submachine gun out of the shirt-bag and slipped it to her side. Then she took a deep breath, brushed her hair back from her forehead with her left hand, and stepped out through the doors.
Candles had been placed in several spots below, and at each end of the hall, providing just enough light to see. She walked swiftly to the right, heading past the elevators to the staircase, which was located around a corner. She turned it quickly and found herself behind two policemen, who had their pistols drawn. The door to the stairs was propped open beyond them.
“What are you doing?” she snapped in Vietnamese.
Startled, the men turned around.
“Who are you?”
“Security for the prince,” she said, keeping the gun down against her leg. “What’s going on?”
“There are thieves in the hotel,” said one of the policemen. “There was a gunfight. We have them trapped in the staircase.”
“Are they thieves or assassins?” she demanded.
“Thieves in black broke into the hotel,” said one of the men. “Some police have come in. Reinforcements are on the way.”
“They’re after the prince,” said Mara. “We have to get him out.”
The security man closest to her started to say that help was only a few minutes away, but Mara cut him off. She couldn’t afford a conversation, and knew that if she gave them time to think — or even ask which prince she was talking about — she would be in trouble.
“Come,” she said, starting up. She took two steps, then stopped. “Are you coming?” she demanded.
Sheepishly, the men started up behind her. The staircase came up to a level of convention rooms on the third floor. Mara was now two floors below the SEALs and one floor below the closest group of Chinese.
“This way,” she said, pointing to the door.
Neither man moved.
“Squeaky, can you hear me?” said Mara over the radio.
“Yeah.”
“I’m two floors below you. I’m coming up a flight. Get the attention of whoever is below you. I’ll take them out.”
Gunfire rattled in the stairs. Mara put her shoulder to the door and pushed open. There were two shadows on the landing above.
She fired until she had no more bullets. The stairway filled with smoke and the acrid fumes of spent ammo. The policemen huddled below, unsure what to do.
“Clear!” she told Squeaky. “Kerfer?”
“Guys? On three…”
The stairway exploded with gunfire as Kerfer began firing from above. With the Chinese sandwiched between them, the SEALs below him used the distraction to run up the steps. Within seconds, the two Chinese agents were sprawled in the staircase, dead.
“Kerfer?” said Mara.
“Coming, Mother.”
Mara trotted down the stairs, leaned out the door, and spotted the two policemen. “The prince is leaving,” she told them sternly. “Make sure the lobby is secure.”
