Hostage (43 page)

‘Stay right where you are!’
warned Malik.

Instinctively protecting Alicia, Connor
propelled her towards the bushes on the other side of the road. Gunfire ripped through
the night, bullets peppering the road at their feet. They dived for the cover of the
trees, landing hard on the rocky ground. As they scrambled back up, Alicia’s ankle
finally gave way beneath her and she screamed.

‘Come on!’ cried Connor, his
adrenalin driving him on as he lifted her on to his shoulders and ran.

But in those fateful few seconds the
terrorists had caught up and Connor found himself confronted by the barrel of
Malik’s gun.

‘Make one false move and I’ll
put a bullet through both of you,’ said Malik, his eye still bloody from where
Alicia had clawed him.

Gently lowering Alicia to the ground, Connor
stood in front of her – his body, her shield.

‘I admire your commitment to the
girl,’ smirked Malik, revealing a row of yellowed teeth. ‘A
boy
willing to make the ultimate sacrifice … and so you will.’

The gunshot rang loud through the
forest.

‘Will he live?’

‘Unfortunately, it appears so,’
replied Kyle as he eyed the wounded terrorist with contempt.

Malik lay handcuffed to a stretcher, a drip
in his arm, a mass of bloody bandages wrapped round his chest. Two medics were checking
his vital signs and preparing to transfer him into the waiting ambulance.

Connor sat on the back step of a second
ambulance, a medic stitching up the knife wound to his shoulder. He could feel the tug
of the stitch against his flesh, but the anaesthetic was keeping the pain at bay.

When Connor had been confronted at
point-blank range with Malik’s gun, he’d thought his life was over.
He’d braced himself to take the bullet for Alicia. A final and fatal act of
protection. And the only thing, as a bodyguard, he had left to give. But it was Malik
who fell to the ground, screaming.

Immediately following the gunshot, the
forest had erupted with Secret Service agents. Connor had thrown himself on top of
Alicia as there was a furious exchange of
gunfire. One terrorist was
instantly shot down. The others were subdued in a matter of seconds. Then Connor and
Alicia were encircled by an impenetrable barrier of agents, Kyle among them.

‘That’ll be some battle
scar,’ Kyle remarked, nodding at Connor’s wound when the medic had
finished.

Connor smiled; he supposed it would look
kind of cool. A badge of honour to show Charley, Amir and the others when he got back to
the UK.

As the surviving terrorists were bundled,
hands bound, into a windowless armoured van, the Director of Secret Service strode over
to Connor.

‘How many did you say there
were?’ asked Dirk.

‘Six, that I saw.’

‘Well, we’ve accounted for
five,’ stated the director, frowning.

Connor looked towards the armoured van.
‘I don’t see the terrorist with glasses.’

‘The one you scalded with
coffee?’ queried Dirk. Connor nodded and the director immediately got on his
radio, circulating the man’s description to his team. He turned back to Connor.
‘I’ve two units sweeping the park. With any luck, they should apprehend him.
We’ve also checked out the house and found the terrorist you locked up. There was
a dead one in the hall too. Did you do that?’

Connor shook his head. ‘That was the
leader’s work.’

Dirk raised an enquiring eyebrow.

Connor thought of Kalila. She’d be
devastated by the news of her brother’s treachery – unless he could offer her
some comfort through his last-minute act of redemption. ‘The
guy was Hazim, a brother of one of Alicia’s classmates. He had a change of heart
and tried to save us.’

Dirk nodded and instructed Kyle to make a
note of this.

‘What’s going to happen to the
terrorist leader?’ asked Connor as the doors to Malik’s ambulance were
slammed shut and he was driven away, sirens blaring.

‘He’ll first be taken to a
secure medical facility for questioning, then charged with kidnapping, terrorism and
murder,’ replied Dirk. ‘He’ll no doubt spend the rest of his life in a
maximum security prison, although he deserves much worse.’

Connor looked over his shoulder into the
back of his ambulance. Alicia was laid out on a stretcher, her ankle bound. A medic was
tending to the laceration on her forehead and a drip had been inserted into her arm to
treat for mild dehydration and shock.

The director noted his concern.
‘Don’t worry, the medic says she’ll be fine … all thanks to the great
job you’ve done in protecting her.’

Connor looked up at Dirk, dumbfounded by his
uncharacteristic praise.

Dirk unpinned the small Secret Service badge
on the lapel of his jacket and fastened it to Connor’s top. The five-pointed star
glimmered in the ambulance’s twirling red and white lights.

With a rare smile, he declared,
‘You’ve earned this, Agent Reeves.’

‘Today is Independence Day!’
declared President Mendez, standing before the microphone on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial. ‘Not only for the United States, but for my daughter, Alicia.’

Connor could barely hear himself think as
the crowd roared its delight. Bathed in glorious July sunshine, thousands upon thousands
of people had gathered to celebrate Alicia’s freedom. American flags and pennants
were being waved in joyous triumph, a rippling sea of red, white and blue that encircled
the Reflecting Pool and stretched as far as the eye could see. Connor thought this was
what it must have been like for Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, as he delivered his famous
‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

‘I prayed for a miracle,’
proclaimed the President as the crowd quietened down. ‘And one was
delivered.’

He glanced over his shoulder at his
daughter. Just offstage stood Connor in a cream-coloured shirt, baseball cap and
mirrored shades. For a brief moment the President looked directly at him, his eternal
gratitude apparent.

‘But I haven’t only God to thank
for that,’ continued President Mendez, addressing the crowd. ‘There are
certain people who work tirelessly and endlessly to protect me and my family. And
they’re the ones responsible for the safe return of my precious daughter.
I’m forever grateful to the Secret Service and all the security agencies. I must
also thank
you
, the American people, for your support in my darkest
hour.’

There was a wave of heartfelt applause.

Connor knew he wouldn’t be thanked
publicly. Nor would his role in the operation ever be admitted, since the Buddyguard
organization had to remain secret to be effective. So it had been agreed that Secret
Service would receive all of the credit for Alicia’s rescue. However, Connor
didn’t feel cheated by this. In fact, he had no desire for any such
acknowledgement. Just seeing Alicia alive, free and happy was enough for him. He now
understood why his father had been so compelled to be a bodyguard. The reward was in the
knowledge that a life had been protected and saved. And each day after that was a
gift.

‘Terrorism will
never
defeat
America!’ President Mendez thumped his fist on the podium. ‘However low they
sink, we will never bow to their pressure. For we are a nation of strength, of
determination and of love. We are
one
family.’

He beckoned to his wife and daughter to join
him in front of the cheering crowd. Alicia glanced at Connor, a beaming smile on her
lips meant only for him. Connor returned the smile. They hadn’t had much chance to
talk since their escape, Alicia being reunited with her family
and
Connor being debriefed by both Colonel Black and Secret Service. But he knew there was
still a great deal to be said between them. And once things settled down he hoped for
just such an opportunity.

Caught up in the emotion of the event,
Connor felt the urge to take a photo. It was a unique moment and he wanted to share it
with his friends back at Buddyguard Headquarters. Slipping his phone out of his pocket,
he snapped a picture of Alicia approaching the podium and the flag-waving crowd
beyond.

Straight after depressing the button, an
icon on the screen began to flash red. Connor thought the battery was dying, then the
face-recognition software app launched and a series of thumbnail photos appeared. The
first was of him and Alicia on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; another was at
Montarose School prior to entering the prom; and the third was the one he’d just
taken. Each photo zoomed in on a red-highlighted face in the background.

Connor felt a cold sense of dread as he too
recognized the face.

Once is happenstance. Twice is circumstance. Three times means enemy action.

Connor’s alert level shot up to Code
Orange. He searched the crowd, his eyes scanning the countless faces among the forest of
flags and pennants. Quickly referencing his phone for a position, he found who he was
looking for.

With a large bent nose and hound-dog eyes,
the man was instantly recognizable. He’d been the face behind the glass, the
thirsty worker at the water fountain and, in all likelihood, the mysterious figure in
the corridor at the prom. On this day, the groundsman from Montarose School was just a
spectator. But he appeared agitated and, taking into account the hot day, was oddly
dressed in a bulky sports jacket.

Connor pressed his earpiece.

‘Bandit to Bravo One. Suspect spotted
two
o’clock of the podium.’

‘
Bravo One to Bandit.
Describe
,’ came back Kyle’s voice immediately.

‘Tall, black hair, large nose, wearing
red sports jacket, brown T-shirt with –’

As Connor relayed his description, the
groundsman reached into his jacket.

Time suddenly seemed to slow for Connor. The
first thing he thought he saw was the butt of a gun protruding out of the man’s
hand. Connor waited a beat, not wishing to ‘cry wolf’ again and ruin another
celebration. Then a barrel emerged from the jacket and there was no longer any doubt.
His mind switched to Code Red.

‘GUN!’ he barked into his
mic.

A fraction of a second later, another agent
spotted the threat. But the groundsman was already bringing his weapon round on Alicia.
She was oblivious, her gaze directed towards her father. And so were the people in the
crowd, who were entirely focused on the First Family. Only the Secret Service agents
were paying the man any attention. As two agents rushed to tackle the assassin, Connor
launched himself towards Alicia. Each step felt like he was running through thick mud,
the distance between them stretching rather than closing.

Agents from the President’s Protective
Detail were also moving in to secure President Mendez and his family.

Connor levelled with Alicia just as he heard
two gunshots. He drove his hip into her and ‘the Shove’ knocked her
sideways. He was about to follow and provide body cover, when the bullets hit him with
the force of a battering ram.