Page 170 of One Minute Out

It’s too dark to see who’s getting hit, but our outgoing fire is awesome to behold. I lost my ear protection when I crashed through the window, so I doubt the girls and I will be hearing much for the rest of the night.

None of the armed women will probably win any marksmanship awards, but they all seem to be able to dump rounds in the dark just about as well as me and my two teammates. The three with experience reload, the others run dry, and then, after I rock off my second full magazine and reload with a third, Rodney calls a cease-fire.

Shell casings trickle down the stairs for several seconds, but no more enemy contact returns.

Just then, Carl transmits over the radio. “All call signs, I’ve got multiple pax fleeing on foot to the south. I’m not going to pursue. I’ve got this bird flying, and I don’t wanna fuck it up by catching more lead.”

Kareem rogers up, and we begin getting the women ready to move.

Now I hear a shriek behind me, and I spin around as Rodney actuates his weapon light, shining it on the floor in the direction of the noise. The tall Ukrainian who’d fielded my Kalashnikov lies on her back, her irises rolled back in her open eyes, a pair of bloody bullet holes in the center of her gown.

One of the other hostages, a small Asian woman who doesn’t seem to understand English, has been shot just below her right knee, and a redheaded girl in her twenties looks like she took a ricochet to her left hip. Kareem drops to the floor next to the Asian, along with several other women, and they all work together to treat her, while Rodney pulls out his medical kit and bandages the redhead.

One of the hostages is dead, and two are wounded. Anger threatens my mission, so I force myself to take a deep breath. “We’re going to go for a couple of those SUVs out on the driveway. We’ll either find the keys or we’ll hot-wire the things, I don’t give a shit which. Everybody is coming, we’ll carry the wounded.”

•••

It seems like a thousand police lights flash in the darkness just a mile or so behind us as we race overland in a convoy of two silver Cadillac Escalades. Our headlights are off and I’m glad I’m not behind the wheel, but soon enough Kareem and Rodney find a back road that leads off the sixty-acre ranch and we drive it to the highway, then turn to the south, heading to Calabasas to drop the injured women off at the hospital.

I make contact with Talyssa and tell her what happened at Rancho Esmerelda. I hate letting her know that her sister was hauled away during the fight by Jaco and the Director, but I do so. I tell her to stay put down in LA, ask her to watch as much news as she can about the shootout and to see if she learns anything of note that might help us find out the identity of the Director.

She doesn’t like being sidelined like this, but I finally convince her that I don’t have any other plans on how to move forward, so it’s not like she’s missing out on anything.

I’ve got a vague idea about going after this psychologist Talyssa has identified, but in the short term it doesn’t sound that promising. Even though we didn’t see her tonight, we can be sure she is aware that I am here, and that makes it pretty unlikely she’ll just be sitting around the house waiting for me to show up.

Sooner or later, yeah, Dr. Riesling might show herself, but I don’t have that kind of time. Hanley is going to send Travers and his boys to LA the minute he hears about the battle in the San Fernando Valley, and I’m going to get yanked back into service for the CIA.

Whatever I’m going to do on this op, I figure I have about twelve hours to get it done before I’ll be ducking Ground Branch.

The two Escalades drive on through the early morning: me, two other men, and nine women, with not one of us knowing what the hell happens next.

•••

Ken Cage sat in the back of the Mercedes SUV, his heart sending sharp pains through his chest as he worried about everything that was falling apart around him.

He held a phone to his ear and it rang and rang. Cage cursed at the delay, until finally a sleepy woman’s voice answered.

“Ken?”

“Listen to me, Heather. I need you to wake up.”

“Wha—what time is it?”

“Don’t ask any questions, please. I need you to get the kids and get out of the house. Now. There’s a little mix-up and it won’t be for long, but Sean feels it’s safer if—”

“What’s going on?”

Cage looked across the vehicle at Maja, who just stared back at him with blank eyes. He wanted to move to her and choke the life from her, but Jaco had stopped him from doing so once already, insisting that she was important leverage to use against the Gray Man.

So Cage refocused his attention on his wife. “Heather,” he continued. “I’ll have to explain everything later, but—”

“What have you done?”

“Done? I haven’t done—”

Heather was fully awake now, and she screamed—in anger, not in panic. “What... have... you... done?”

He answered her in a meek voice. “Nothing. I didn’t do anything.”

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