Page 120 of Beyond the Rules

The airport? My chances would be over if we got there. I had to actandsoon.

Dimayev turned to the thug sitting next him. “Call my man at the FBI. Tell him to find a way to get the locals off mytail.Now.”

Zar had been right all along. Dimayev had people inside the Feds and they were still working for him. I had to warn the guys. Ulysses and the cyber warriors of Phoenix Prime were in gravedanger.

Dimayev grabbed the cell from his man and yelled into the speaker. I took the opportunity to get on my knees and take a peek over the dashboard. The lights of a single vehicle coming from the opposite direction illuminated the Suburban’s cabin and reflected a sinister rectangle on Dimayev’s face. He looked downrightdemonic.

All of the sudden, it was bright, too bright in the cab. Dimayev shielded his face with his hand and his men squinted against blinding lights. A truck streaked toward us at top speed, lit up like a bolt of white lightning. I knew that truck. Tanner’s pride and joy with all of its hunting lights on. The dark outline of a large, broad-shouldered figure suddenly popped out from the sunroof. Aiden?Thump, thump, thump. The front tires blew. The Suburban lurched andswerved.

“Keep going,” Dimayevbarked.

Dimayev’s driver yanked to the right first, then to the left, trying to keep control of the wheel. The second Suburban drove on the left lane and caught up with us. The windows opened and several men leaned out and began shooting at the pickup. The guys shot back with deadly accuracy. The chase car careened into the bridge’srailing.

Fighting the bare rims, Dimayev’s driver swerved for the corner of the bridge and tried to punch through the space between the oncoming truck and the guard rail. I braced with my legs and wedged myself between the seats in anticipation of a head-on collision. At the last minute, the truck veered off. I caught a glimpse of Tanner at the wheel, his eyes narrowed, his jaw set. In a deliberate maneuver, he slammed the back of the truck against the Suburban and batted it back to the bridge, where it crashed against theguardrail.

The impact slammed me hard. My teeth rattled in my skull. As soon as the car stopped spinning, Dimayev grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me up ontheseat.

“I believe your friends have arrived.” His minty breath gusted over my face. “Kill them,” he said tohismen.

* * *

Tanner

The truck sputtered and threatened to quit. I parked it sideways to block access to the bridge. Dimayev’s men spilled out of the Suburbans, laying down a solid wall of gunfire. They were half-way competent. The windshield exploded, the windows burst, and the bullets plinked, piercing through the truck’s metal body. Hunkered behind the dashboard, protected only by the bulk of the motor, I crammed against Aiden and Zar, waiting. Glass rained on my head and a bullet grazed my bicep. The sting really pissedmeoff.

“Pick your targets.” Zar didn’t need to remind us that Nina was nearby. “Ready?”

Aiden and I nodded. I kissed my weapon and clutched it to my chest. It’d been a while since I’d fired it for the purpose of death. Today it would be fired for the purpose ofNina’slife.

Zar kicked the passenger side door open, pulled the pin on the smoke grenade and pitched it out. At the same time, I clicked off the LEDs. A cloud of dark smoke obscured the night, followed shortly by another. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, but I tucked my crutches under one arm and my rifle under the other, and movedanyway.

Aiden boosted me up. I burst through the open sunroof, somersaulted over the light bar and dropped down on the truck bed. Contrary to popular belief, cars didn’t make good shields against high caliber bullets, but I needed a perch and this was it. I braced my rifle on the roof, trained my scope for near shots, and I clicked on my coms. “Goodtogo.”

Zar pitched another smoke grenade out of the truck and dove out of his door to a hail of bullets. Aiden sneaked out of the back door, hit the ground, and disappeared beneath the truck. As the smoke began to clear, I acquired my first target and pulled the trigger. One down, eleventogo.

* * *

Zar

Man, these fuckers had some fire power, which made flanking them tricky. But they’d given up Dimayev’s position when the chase car moved up and engaged us, and also when they abandoned one wrecked Suburban for the other. From his perch atop the truck, Tanner was picking them off with deadly accuracy, just as he’d done on that Syrian ridge not so long ago. Aiden and I were also taking aim as we triangulated our positions. Nobody could accuse us of being shabbyshooters.

The coms in my ear came alive. “Flint, this is Riker. The state troopers want a piece of theaction.Over.”

“Riker this is Flint. That’s a negative. Tell them to hold the perimeter and stayback.Over.”

I didn’t trust anyone but Tanner, Aiden and me shooting around Nina. I didn’t want the locals getting trigger happy when her life was at stake. In fact, I had my 800 round per minute MP5 set on semi-auto to guarantee the accuracy of each shot. Killing was my specialty. I was exacting at the business of death. If one had to kill, it paid to be precise. As far as I was concerned, every bullet I fired was engraved with the first name, last name and social security number of mytarget.

Tanner took out the gunner pinning me down. I saw my chance and took it. I sprinted to the back of the abandoned Suburban. Bullets whizzed around me, but I made it. I took cover behind the wreck and, with a quick sweep, confirmed it was empty. My breath was coming in gasps and my heart hammered against my ribs. Damn, I was getting too old forthisshit.

I pressed my back against the bumper and leaned out to assess the situation. A barrage of shots chased me all the way around the vehicle. The fuckers weren’t skimping on their ammo. Their weapons were on full auto, which made it hard to locate our objective. I crouched behind the wheel, pressed my cheek to the asphalt and counted lots of bodies and four pairs of shoes on the ground. Four tangos to go, taking cover behind Dimayev’sSuburban.

“It’s your lucky day,” I shouted when the shooting slowed down. “You give us the girl, you get out of here alive.” I tracked Aiden’s progress as he inched behind the bridge’s guardrail, stealing from one concrete pylon to the next. “Your boss, he’s not worth a bullet between the eyes. Drop your weapons and takethedeal.”

I had to give it to Dimayev’s mercenaries. They answered with another burst of bullets. I peeked beneath the undercarriage again. A fifth set of feet lowered from the Suburban and hit the asphalt. Dimayev. And then Nina’s heels staggered onto theground.

Chapter34

Nina

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