72 Hours (A Thriller) (25 page)

CHAPTER 77

Raj missed.
 
He had taken the shot too early.
 

The man on foot down on the desert floor paused.
 
He glanced up in the direction he believed the bullet must have traveled from, then he ran to find cover.

Raj kept his eye to the scope.
 
He tracked his target with the reticle and jerked the trigger.
 
The second shot was wild and careless.
 
The rifle bucked against his shoulder.
 
The field of view through the scope blurred as he moved it to his left to try to maintain a visual on his target.
 
The two missed shots were dangerous because they alerted the enemy.
 

Raj was not pleased with himself.

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Echo dropped to the ground and pressed himself low behind some brush.
 
He flattened himself to the sand.
 
The bullet had missed by six or seven feet.
 
The thundering pop of the report reached him a few seconds later.
 
The second shot he heard but had no idea how close it might have been.

Echo alerted his team over his mike.
 
He stated his position and offered his best guess on where the shots had come from.

CHAPTER 78

They had divided into five teams of two.
 

Bravo/Foxtrot

Alpha/India

November/Sierra

Kilo/Oscar

Echo/Tango

Echo had been teamed with Tango.
 
But the resulting jump had separated them.
 
Echo was pushed by the crosswinds into the open expanse of the desert floor, while Tango drifted too far south, landing on the steep pitch of a limestone slope.
 
Tango found himself tangled in his chute and had rolled several dozen feet down the slope before finally managing to stop.
 
The result was an injury to his knee.
 
He was bleeding.
 
He radioed Echo to give his position and state his condition.
 
He was still mobile, he said.
 
The injury would simply slow him down.
 

The four remaining teams had continued the migration through the folds in the mountain toward the original drop zone.
 
They heard the two gunshots and then listened to Echo’s report.

Alpha reached the crown of a ridge and glassed the middle distance.
 
He was interested to know what the opposing numbers were.
 
But it didn’t matter if there were two or twenty.
 
Mr. Jupiter’s orders were to kill them all.

CHAPTER 79

Simeon was lugging a rucksack by its strap.
 
The flap was buckled and its main compartment was bulging.
 

“What’s in there?” Lindsay asked.

He ignored the question and gestured for Lindsay and both kids to follow.
 

Wyatt was stunned to see him leading them down the flight of metal stairs to the room on the lower level of the bunker.
 
The eerie orange light was still pulsing.
 
They held to the handrail as they quickly descended the steps.

Simeon seemed to struggle slightly with the weight of the rucksack as they reached the landing at the bottom of the steps.
 
The source of the pulsing orange light was an orange bulb housed in a cage of wire mesh mounted to the wall to one side of the door.
 
A few feet below the bulb was a flat metal button the size of an ashtray.
 
The button was mounted to the wall just shy of eye-level.
 
The word DOOR was scribed into it in block text, the text filled in with bright red paint.

The room was about the size of an average two-car garage with a few wooden crates with military-surplus markings stenciled on the lids and sides stacked against the wall.
 
There were no chairs.
 
No furniture at all.
 
Cold, bare concrete walls.
 
Electrical conduit was strung from floor to ceiling, bolted to the walls with steel brackets.
 
The orange pulse reflected off the dull concrete surfaces.
 

Simeon crossed the room and dumped the rucksack against a wall in one corner.
 

“What is this place?” Lindsay asked.

“Your home for at least the rest of the night,” he answered.
 
“Maybe longer.
 
Depends on how things go out there.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Simeon, please.”

He turned to her.
 
“Archer brought you here to keep you alive, so that’s what I’m doing.”

She raised her hands in a diplomatic gesture.
 
“Right, okay.
 
I understand that.
 
I do.
 
Thank you.
 
But what are we doing down here?”

“This is what a person in your social circles might call a panic room,” he said.
 
He gestured at the metal button sticking out from the wall.
 
“Punch that button and you are sealed off from the rest of the universe.
 
Nothing’s coming through that door.
 
The rest of the bunker was designed to withstand a nuclear blast.
 
Well, this room is even safer.
 
It has it’s own independent air and power supplies.
 
That button drops a door that’s eighteen inches thick.
 
Nothing can get you.”

“You’re sealing us in here?” Lindsay said.

“No way,” Wyatt protested.

“I’m claustrophobic,” Ramey added, shaking her head at the notion.

Simeon sighed.
 
“No, of course not.
 
The button controls the door, and you control the button.
 
Punch it once, it seals you in.
 
Punch it a second time and the door retracts and you are free to go.”

Wyatt stood in the open doorway, staring up at the visible bottom edge of the slab of steel that formed the door.
 
He gawked at it with his mouth open.

“This is totally insane,” Ramey snapped.
 
“I swear I’m gonna throw up!”

“Ramey, that’s enough,” Lindsay scolded.
 
She drew Simeon’s attention to the rucksack he had trundled down the stairs.
 
“What’s in that?” she asked.

“A few supplies.
 
Water, food, a radio, and this...”
 
He folded back the canvas flap and reached inside.
 
He withdrew a handgun, a big Kimber .45 ACP, and held it out to her.
 
“Just in case,” he said.

She closed her eyes for a beat, then glared intensely at him.
 

“Leave it in the bag,” she said,

“It’s loaded.
 
Keep it close.
 
Might come in handy.
 
And keep the radio turned on, especially until you shut this door.”

Then he moved to leave.

“Where are you going?” Lindsay asked.

“To find out what we’re up against,” he said.
 

CHAPTER 80

Archer reached the third gate.
 
He glanced through the metal slats.
 
The desert terrain was dark and still.
 
He hadn’t heard anymore gunfire since Raj’s two preemptive pops.
 
Archer jacked an earpiece into his hand-held radio so that the radio squawk wouldn’t go blaring out into the night for the world to hear.
 
He plugged the other end into his ear and keyed the radio.
 

“Raj?” he said, holding it at his chin.

“Go ahead,” Raj answered.

“What’s it look like?”

“Lost sight of him for the moment.”

“What about the others?”

“Negative.
 
Lost them in the mountains.”

“I’m at the gate.
 
Heading your way.”

“Roger.
 
I’m north of the tunnel, picking my way down the eastern face of the bluff.”

“Watch your step, my brother.”

“Ditto.”

Archer scaled the gate, one leg over and then the other.
 
He touched down silently on the other side and adjusted the rifle sling on his shoulder.
 
He pulled the Beretta from his waistband and moved quickly beside the fence line.
 
He followed the contours of the landscape, dodged around scrub brush, and racked the slide on the Beretta.
 

He used a mental image of the diagram of the bunker to help navigate in the dark.
 
He pictured in his head the most likely general location of the paratrooper Raj had taken a shot at.
 
Most likely north of the tunnel that led into the mountains.
 
Somewhere out there, closing in.
 
Archer needed to get there and deal with him.
 
Take them out one at a time.
 

Archer picked up his pace.
 
Heard Raj say into his ear, “OK, there he is.”

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Raj gently raised the rifle.
 
Licked his lip and pressed his eye to the scope.
 
He saw the dark silhouette in the green field of view.
 
He guided the reticle and brushed his index finger gently against the trigger.
 

Then he saw a flash of light.
 
It came from the distant silhouette in the crosshairs of the scope.
 
Looked like…a muzzle flash.
 
And a fraction of a second later the bullet whistled past his ear.
 
Raj jerked away from his gun and rolled onto his back.
 
He stared wild-eyed at the star-filled sky.

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Echo kept his eye to the scope of his assault rifle and watched for movement.
 
He couldn’t tell if the target was down or if he’d missed.
 
He watched for a long moment, then lowered the scope.
 
He had noticed subtle movement on the mountainside and decided to take a look.
 
He had seen him setting up a shot and decided to give him a little surprise.
 
Now he used the opportunity to gain some ground.
 
He tucked the gun against his body and charged ahead several hundred feet.

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“What’s the story?” Archer said.

Raj took a deep breath.
 
“Just about took my head off.
 
Must have spotted me.”

“Keep your head down.”

“Good advice.
 
They teach you that at the Quantico?”

“No,” Archer answered.
 
“I learned the hard way and have the scars to prove it.”
 

“Thanks, professor.
 
Now hurry the hell up.”

*
   
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Archer was thinking about numbers.
 
Pondering odds.
 
He rolled the ten against three ratio through his head and didn’t like the sound of it.
 
They couldn’t win a numbers game.
 
They would have to fight smart.
 

He reached the metal panel doors that led into the tunnel but couldn’t force them open by hand.
 
He squatted in the sand, peered out across the open terrain.
 
The mountains rose dramatically out of the desert floor.
 
He watched for a glimpse of Raj but could see no detail at all amid the dark outline of the ridges.

The one stroke of luck they’d had so far was that the jumpers had drifted too far west and were carried into the mountains.
 
Archer decided the best chance he had for protecting Lindsay and the kids would be to deflect the enemy from reaching the open desert floor.
 
Keep them in the hills.
 
Separate them.
 
Deal with them one on one.
 
He needed to keep them in the hills and reduce their numbers as quickly and efficiently as possible.
 

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Clouds began to move in.
 
Lightening branched out across the sky and the wind picked up.
 
Thunder boomed with swift repetition and shook the landscape.
 
The first few drops of rain soaked into the dust, and as the drops grew fatter and more frequent, the dust and sand slowly turned to mud.

CHAPTER 81