Page 57 of Married to the SEAL
“This map doesn’t make any sense,” said Austin. “According to this, three subway lines converge at South Street Station, but only one set of tracks is shown.”
“Maybe it’s an old map. I looked it up online and they made some changes to it fifteen or sixteen years ago.” said Logan. “Let me see.”
“All right, kids,” said Hawk. “We’ve got your standard issue AK-47s, we’ve got some spiffy new nine mils, we’ve got some CS gas and masks if we need ’em and some military-issue pepper spray coming at you.” He started passing weapons to the men.
“Let me see if I’ve got this right,” said Matteo. “They’re going to have explosives and we’ve got pepper spray?”
“And righteousness,” said Hawk. “Don’t forget righteousness.”
Matteo shook his head. “I don’t think that’s going to cut it. The crowd is their greatest weapon—the threat of casualties. We need a way to get the crowd to disperse so their explosives can’t hurt anyone. How are guns going to help us do that?”
Hawk snapped his fingers. “Great minds think alike.” He reached into a big canvas duffel bag and withdrew a bullhorn. “I figure I tell them what’s about to go down, and they won’t be able to run away fast enough.”
“If that doesn’t work, we can just start shooting. That should make ’em run,” said Austin.
“Some will run, some will get down on the ground. Not what we’re going for,” said Cowboy.
Matteo’s mind was whirling. “Tell me they won’t bring Nico here. Tell me they’re two separate plans that have nothing to do with each other.”
The men just looked at him.
“Fuck.” Matteo shook his head. “The crowd isn’t their biggest weapon. Grace’s baby is.”
Logan turned the map upside down. “Austin’s right. This map is fucked up.”
The car pulled into the parking lot of the subway station, which was already full. Hundreds of people filled the adjacent park.
“The station itself is directly underneath that park,” said Logan. “With entrances to the subway on either corner. The vigil is about to start in the grand gazebo, right smack in the middle of the park, and dead center over ground zero. As for the tracks, I just don’t know.”
“Objective number one is to clear that park of people,” said Matteo. “Then we find the boy.”
“Hopefully Talia got your message in time to let the local beat know we’re the good guys,” said Hawk.
“One way to find out.” Matteo hopped out of the car and headed for a mounted policeman, then jogged back. “We’re good. They’ve been told.”
The men got out of the vehicle, immediately drawing attention with their camouflage uniforms and large black guns. Hawk pulled out the bullhorn. “Attention, ladies and gentlemen. We have a public safety situation at hand and we need clear the park immediately. The candlelight vigil will need to be rescheduled.”
Everyone was looking at Hawk, but no one moved to leave. Hawk looked to Cowboy, who shrugged, the put the bullhorn back to his mouth. “Terrorists are going to blow up the subway station! Get out of here, now!”
The people ran.
“That definitely worked better,” said Cowboy.
Matteo led the way. “Let’s get down to the station.” He checked his watch. We have less than eight minutes until the vigil was supposed to start.” They split up, one man going down each set of stairs so they covered all the entrances. Foul, hot air blew up from the station as Matteo made his way down.
He could hear Hawk on his bullhorn spreading panic and sending tons of people up the stairway past Matteo. By the time he got all the way to the bottom, the only people there were the HERO Force men themselves.
The station was empty.
Matteo spun in a circle. All that was down here were some bathrooms, an empty ticket booth and the tracks themselves, the tunnels leading away from the platforms. “Three subway lines. Four tunnels here that branch into six tunnels away from the station,” he said.
“And only four of us,” said Logan.
“Where do these tunnels go?” asked Matteo. “What’s most likely?”
Logan pointed to one set of tracks. “It’s a crapshoot, Red. I can’t tell.”
“Fuck.” Matteo shook his head. “So, we’ve got an eighty-three percent chance of picking the right line, and a hundred percent chance of having one of us against a handful of them.”
