Page 58 of Jacking Jill

Jack ran with her past the elevators, ignoring them and bounding up the stairs two at a time. He was coughing now, and Jill started to panic with worry that he was pushing himself past any reasonable physical limits.

“Put me down!” Jill struggled in his arms, turning her body just enough to grab the metal bannister along the stairs. It was enough to make Jack stop, and when she looked into his eyes, she saw they were burning red from the smoke, his face streaming with sooty tears. “Put me down now!”

Jill tightened her grip on the metal railing, refusing to let go until Jack put her down. With a cough and a head-shake, Jack finally complied, setting her down carefully, then grabbing her arm firmly as they made their way up the stairs.

By the time they got to the main level, Jill’s bare feet were hot from the combination of rug-burn and the flames that they could now see enveloping the building from outside.

“They’re trying to either smoke us out or cook us alive,” Jack snarled as he led Jill through the main hallway which was still somewhat tolerable even though the outside of the building appeared to be a veneer of flames. “The outer shell of the building is supposed to be fire resistant—concrete, steel, and glass—but so much of it is still under construction that there’s exposed drywall and wood that’s burning to create all this smoke. All right. Here’s the main exit.” Jack stopped abruptly when he saw that the metal exit-door was closed, with Hogan and Keller standing off to either side, handguns drawn and ready. “What’s going on?”

Keller glanced over his shoulder. “Romeo Carmine and four SUV-loads of his thugs. They used portable power-hoses to spray highly flammable accelerant all over the building. Flare-guns to light us up. Now they’ve got gunmen stationed outside all four exits to gun us down as we come out.”

“What about the roof?” Jack said. “Couple of us up there with sniper rifles and we can even the odds—or at least provide enough cover for the women to get out.”

“Roof’s on fire too.” Hogan shook his head grimly. “And no sniper rifles—or any assault weapons. Armory hasn’t been stocked yet. All we’ve got are our handguns, and they’re useless from that kind of range.”

Jack’s face tightened. “Where is everyone holed up? All accounted for?”

Keller nodded in the direction of the war-room. “Everyone’s in there. We shut off the ventilation system, blocked the grills in the room to slow the smoke. It’ll buy us some time.”

Jack nodded. “All right. So we’re good then. We can hole up in here until reinforcements show up and either take these idiots down or chase them away.” He grinned. “Who did Benson call? SWAT? FBI? Or did he go directly to Kaiser?”

Hogan and Keller glanced at each other, neither of them returning Jack’s grin.

“What?” Jack said, his grin fading when he saw the grim expressions on his buddies’ faces. “Nobody’s called for backup?” He slid his Darkwater phone out of his trouser pocket, his soot-covered face paling as he tapped the screen furiously, then looked up with a mixture of confusion and anger. “Why don’t I have phone service?”

Keller grunted. “Benson ordered Paige to cut all our phones off. He doesn’t want anyone calling the cops or the feds—and certainly not Kaiser.”

Jack stared in disbelief. “Why?”

Hogan gestured with his head towards the war-room. “Ask him yourself.”

21

“Ask not what your country can do for you,” Benson said when Jack stormed into the crowded war-room and squared off with the grinning coyote who appeared to have progressed from insane to suicidal. He raised his silver-topped head and peaked an eyebrow. “Who came up with that quote? Was it me?”

Dead silence was the only response from the Darkwater crew. Nancy was ashen-faced in her seat. Paige was staring a hole in her laptop screen. Ice was at the bulletproof windows, gazing down at the parking lot and grounds.

Jack took a long, hard look at Benson, then decided it was better to ignore him until the rage settled to where he could talk to the old coyote without busting the asshole’s nose. Jack shook his head and strode over to join his brother at the window.

Ice glanced over at Jack, a hint of relief in his eyes. “Oh, damn, you made it out. Was hoping I’d have to come down there and save your ass, carry my baby brother out in my arms. That would make a real nice video for the rest of the guys.”

Jack grinned. “Payback for that video of you hogtied like a pig in a poke on that last mission?”

Ice smiled tightly, then refocused his gaze on the scene outside. Jack could see four black SUVs parked strategically at well-spaced locations, eighteen gunmen spread out and crouched behind the vehicles, all wearing bulletproof vests, each shouldering an assault rifle aimed at the exit closest to him.

Romeo Carmine was out there himself. He stood behind the hood of the third SUV, wearing a black flak-jacket that would most certainly stop a 9mm bullet.

Which was too bad, because all Darkwater had were 9mm bullets.

“So we have to make eighteen clean head-shots with handguns from about a hundred feet away while dodging a hailstorm of bullets from automatic assault rifles.” Jack shrugged. “About the same odds as a basketball player sinking eighteen baskets in a row from halfway down the court with a dozen defenders trying to body-slam him to the floor.”

Ice chuckled dryly. “When did you become a math guy? Also, you sucked at basketball.” He gestured with his head towards the second SUV. There was movement behind the tinted windows of the backseat. “There’s someone inside that second vehicle. Can’t see through the tinted glass, but from the outline it appears to be a woman.”

“Kay Steffen,” came Benson’s voice from behind Jack and Ice. “We walked right into her trap. Don’t know how she did it, but she found a way to trace your Darkwater phone, Jack.”

Jack turned to face Benson now. Ice’s coolheaded presence had taken the edge off Jack’s anger, but Benson’s sideways grin sent his rage skyrocketing again. “Save the analysis for later. How about we focus on getting everyone safely out of here first, Benson, all right?”

Benson said nothing. Neither did anybody else.

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