Edge of Tomorrow (64 page)

• • •

Sara switched to intercom and said, “Bill, I
say we put you and the rest of Lexus on the ground so we have a
better chance of saving the hostage. What do you think?”

Colonel Coffer responded, “I agree, Sara. Put
me and Jake down south of the road, and Gunny and Carolyn on the
north side. That way, we’ll have them boxed in. Drop us about fifty
yards from the road so the down wash on the trees won’t alert
them.”

“Sounds good, Bill. You hear that, George?
Let’s put ’em on the ground,” said Sara.

“Wilco, Major,” said George O’Reilly, the
pilot, as he banked to the right and began to lose altitude. “Skin
check.”

“All systems green.”

Bill Coffer said, “Sara, we’ll try and take
them without incident, but if things get dicey and they try to run,
shoot out the engines on those vans. I don’t want anyone to
escape.”

“We’re on the same page there. You guys wear
your comm helmets with the face plates down. We don’t need anyone
getting a good look at your faces,” replied Sara.

The Lexus team of four began donning their
helmets and checking their weapons as the Engineer opened the hatch
and tested his pulley systems and ropes. He was getting ready to
“beam” them down.

• • •

As Shadow-4 settled to a hover at ten feet
above the tree tops, Lexus team members did a communications check,
since their specially-designed helmets used throat mikes instead of
boom mikes. When he was satisfied with the test, Coffer put his
foot in the loop at the bottom of the rope, grabbed onto it with
both gloved hands, and was lowered toward the trees. As soon as
Coffer was below the tree tops, Jake Randall, Lexus-3, gripped the
rope with his gloved hands and began lowering himself
hand-over-hand as the rope continued to descend. It took less than
ten seconds for the two of them to disappear into the foliage of
the forest. When they were both on the ground, Coffer told Tim
Norton they were clear, and the rope slithered back up through the
trees. Coffer and Randall split up and jogged quietly toward their
assigned locations on the south side of the road.

Shadow-4 gained altitude and moved to a spot
north of the road and Gunny and Carolyn were lowered to the ground
in the same manner. The Lexus team members were dressed in
camouflaged combat suits and helmets—face plates down—and could be
mistaken to be soldiers from Mars by some people. Shadow-4 took a
position at 1500 feet over the road where Sara could see the
movements of the highjackers. They were out of their helicopter and
were loading both money bags into one of the vans. Sara saw one of
the crooks take the female hostage by the arm and pull her roughly
into the trees south of the road.

“Lexus-1, one guy is dragging the woman
hostage towards your position. They just entered the trees,” said
Sara.

“I see ’em! I’ll take care of it,” replied
Coffer. “Lexus team, you in position?”

They all acknowledged.

“Good. I’ll take this guy and secure the
hostage. Then I’ll call you, and we’ll make our move on the
others.”

Sara could not see any of the Lexus
team, but their GPS markers appeared on her screen as red dots with
numbers next to them, so she knew where they were. Shadow-4 was not
quite as large as the new Shadow-5, and Shadow-5 had newer systems,
but Shadow-4 had been operational for nearly a year without a
problem and had finished all missions successfully. Sara had
selected the Gun and had it locked-on to the engine area of the
lead van. She did not want to use a missile for fear of harming the
hostage—and the money. Besides, she thought Hatch would be happier
with her if she could avoid killing
all
the bad guys.

Stupid assholes! Give me a reason, and I’ll
hose you! I saw you shoot that woman down in cold blood!

Bill Coffer was only ten feet from the
British woman and her captor. The Greek pushed her against a tree,
put his AK-47 down, and ripped her blouse open. Then he yanked her
bra down and exposed her left breast and began pawing it roughly as
he held his left hand over her mouth to muffle her screams.

Coffer thought,
He intends to rape her before he kills her! Fucking
son-of-a-bitch!

Coffer decided at that moment that he would
give up the idea of capturing the evil man—though it would be
easy—and just slit his throat. He drew his deadly combat knife and
moved quickly toward the two. Maggie Sterling saw the apparition
coming out of nowhere and her eyes grew even wider as she looked
over her captor’s shoulder. He did not notice, however, because he
was too busy trying to lift her skirt and get her panties off.
Coffer put his left hand over the man’s mouth and jerked him back
as he plunged his knife in the base of his spine, instantly
paralyzing him. He wheeled the man away from Maggie and slit his
throat in one practiced motion. Coffer dropped him and turned
toward Maggie who was about to scream at what she had just seen.
Coffer put his gloved hand over her mouth and whispered, “Shh! I’m
the good guy! Try and put yourself back together and just be quiet!
I have more of them to deal with!”

She nodded, so he removed his hand from her
mouth. She put her breast back in her bra, adjusted it, and pulled
her blouse together as best she could, because all of the buttons
were popped off and the blouse was ripped.

Coffer said, “Sit behind this tree and wait.
I’ll be back for you. Stay quiet, please!”

“Thank you! Whoever you are!” she whispered
as she sat on the ground, leaned against the tree, and pulled her
knees up to her chin. She was visibly shaking.

Coffer gave her a thumbs up and disappeared
into the forest as he told the team, “One down, hostage safe. Let’s
take the rest of them!”

• • •

Gunny was behind a tree just a few feet from
where the vans were parked. The four felons were on the other side
of the vans from Gunny’s position, so he could only catch glimpses
of them as they passed by a window. Across the road, Bill Coffer
had a good view of them. Their AK-47s were leaning against the
vans, but they were all wearing sidearms. Coffer reported this to
Sara and his team.

“Here’s the plan,” said Coffer. “Jake
and I will confront them. Gunny, you and Carolyn stay out of our
line of fire, but keep them from getting behind those vans.
Comprende
?”

All three acknowledged, then Coffer said,
“OK, Jake, let’s show ourselves.”

The colonel moved from behind his tree, his
MP-5 pointing at the group by the vans. Fifteen feet to the right,
Jake Randall did the same. The face plates on the Lexus team’s
helmets had a small round voice amplifier at the level of the
wearer’s mouth.

Coffer turned his on and yelled, “Freeze!
You’re surrounded. Face down on the ground now!”

The four criminals froze for an instant when
they heard the tinny, disembodied voice. They looked across the
road and saw the two eerie-looking soldiers pointing automatic
weapons at them. Two of them acted very stupidly and grabbed for
their AK-47s and dashed toward the rear of one of the vans, trying
to reach cover. Coffer cut them down with two bursts from his MP-5.
The one next to Koko dove under a van as Jake sent a stream of
bullets at him, shattering his legs. During the fire-fight, Koko
opened the passenger door of the van with the money bags and dove
in, wriggling over to the driver’s side. He reached for the key in
the ignition and tried to start the van’s engine, but as the
starter began to turn, the engine was riddled with .50 caliber
bullets from Shadow-4's Gun. Steam spewed from the engine
compartment as Gunny yanked open the driver’s door and put the
barrel of his MP-5 against Koko’s left ear.

“Step down, asshole!” ordered Gunny. “Please
try something so I can send you to Hell with your fucking
buddies!”

Carolyn Carter appeared from the trees and
grabbed the bloody legs of the one who had tried to get under the
van. She pulled him out from under it and saw that he was dead. One
of the slugs had ricocheted into the back of his head. All of the
crooks were dead except Koko. Coffer reported this to Sara.

“Sorry, Sara. They left us no choice. I’m
going to get the woman now. We’ll carry the ransom money into the
woods so she won’t see you pick it and us up,” said Coffer.

“It’s OK, Bill. You did what you had to do.
I’ll call the nearest cops and have them come over here and take
charge of this mess,” replied Sara.

Gunny began tying up Koko.

• • •

In the Triple Eye chopper, Hatch and Syd were
listening to the conversations between Sara and the Lexus team.
They had watched the entire battle on Hatch’s monitor, which he had
connected to Sara’s via satellite.

Hatch commented with a sigh, “Those assholes
would all be alive if they had done as they were told. Well, we
tried.”

He sighed as he looked out the window. He saw
a spot in the sky which was growing larger as he watched. It was
the SAS attack helicopter approaching them at top speed. He
pointed, and Syd leaned over and saw it.

He told Sara, “Sara, the Brits’ gunship is
coming to check us out. Get out of there ASAP, just in case they
decide to swing over that way.”

“Roger, Hatch. The local cops are on the
way—probably ten more minutes. It took me awhile to convince them I
was for real. Bill doesn’t want to leave the woman alone down there
with Koko and the stiffs. I’ll pick up your money and the rest of
the team so we’ll be ready to go when Bill’s through down
there.”

“Ok, just stay sharp. Do you have these Brits
on your radar?” asked Hatch.

“Yes. They’re 100 yards behind you and
closing.”

“Thanks. Later.”

The deadly-looking gunship closed on the
Triple Eye chopper, and after assuring themselves that this was not
their quarry, they moved off to continue their search.

“I’m glad we beat them to the punch,”
remarked Hatch to Syd. “I think we saved a lot of hostages’ lives
today.”

Syd looked at him and smiled. “I think so.
Hatch, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, sweetheart. Shoot.”

“Why didn’t you tell Sara and the colonel to
just whack those guys? It would have been safer.”

“I don’t like to give orders to kill people
as the first option, even scumbag murderers like those pricks. I
pay my people to do a job, not assassinate people. If the situation
requires lethal action—as this one did—they make their own
assessment and do what’s required,” he answered seriously. “You
still trying to figure me out?”

Syd took his hand between both of hers and
smiled. “Maybe. But there’s no rush. We have a lifetime to explore
each other.”

Hatch moved his hand to the inside of her
thigh and laughed, “I love exploring!”

“Not now, Hatch! The pilot!”

“I know! I know! Ah, before I forget it
again, there’s something I meant to give you. I did more than
arrange to buy you an engagement ring before we left Rome. I spoke
to my lawyers in New York and arranged a couple of things that
…”

Syd interrupted, “Good! I meant to bring this
up myself before we actually get married—the prenup, I mean.”

Hatch frowned, “Prenup? I’m not talking about
a prenup!”

“We
must
have one! It’s your only protection against
me really being a conniving, gold-digging bitch! I may be one, you
know!”

“It doesn’t matter to me if you
are
! I know you’re
not
, but if my love for you has
blinded me to your sneaky conniving, then so be it!” chortled
Hatch. “In case it’s only my money you’re after, I’ll save you the
trouble of having to marry me.”

“What in hell are you talking about!”

He opened his briefcase and took out two
pieces of paper and handed one to Syd.

“This is a general Power of Attorney. It
allows you to act on my behalf on any matter, financial or
otherwise,” he explained.

Syd took it and peered at it suspiciously,
wondering what Hatch was up to this time.

“What
are
you doing, Hatch? This is insane! Ah! I get
it! I know so little about your affairs, I wouldn’t know how to use
this thing anyway! Is that your message?”

She was starting to get upset with him. She
did not want to be discussing this subject with him. Maybe after
they were married, but certainly not now!

Ignoring the snit she was in, Hatch continued
with a smile, “This is not a game, darling! After we’re married—I
assume we still agree on doing that—if anything happened to me, my
empire would go to you. I’ve decided I want protection in the
interim, since we haven’t discussed a marriage date as yet. I’ve
changed my will already; so if I die, everything goes to you, so if
you are an evil gold digger, just whack me!”

“Hatch, I don’t like this discussion! I’m
just saying, you don’t need to do all of this! I’ve never been
attracted to you for your money, and you know it! And stop talking
about things happening to you!”

“I know that, but you have to be
interested now. It’s not just about money, Syd, it’s about
unbelievable power
; and I want it to
go to
you
, not some faceless
trust.”

“You have family.”

Hatch squeezed her inner thigh and
said, “My family will be taken care of with plenty of money, but
the
power
—the
empire
—goes to
you
!”

“This is so overwhelming, Hatch! So
commercial!”

“That is a part of me you will have to become
familiar with and hopefully accept. Since I don’t plan on leaving
you right away, we’ll be in this together for quite awhile. A long
while! In the meantime, keep this Power of Attorney with you, just
in case. This paper,” he said as he handed her the second piece of
paper, “has the name of the person who can guide you through the
maze of my businesses if you ever need to use the Power of Attorney
in my absence. His name is Martin Winsocki. He is President of
Lincoln Industries, the holding company which owns all of my
companies. Except for me, he is the one who knows the most about
everything. I’ve faxed him a copy of this Power of Attorney and
told him who you are. Never hesitate to call him if you need him.
We need to do one other thing: get your voice print into the system
so you can give orders over the phone. I’ll show you how to use the
Blue Phone, too. It’s very powerful.”