The Frenzy War (47 page)

Angelo checked each of the offices the Brotherhood had used as bedrooms and a larger room that had been used for training purposes. The replacement brothers had removed everything as instructed. He passed through the dining room once more and was about to press the call button for the elevator when he saw a flashlight beam moving along the wall of the darkened corridor ahead.
Intruders.

He backed up into the dining room and drew his Blade.

Hearing the bolt slide open again, Cheryl rose, convinced the time of their execution was at hand. The door opened, and two men stood there. A strange sound came out of her mouth, one she could not control.

Tony smiled. “Are you glad to see me?”

Tears filled her eyes, and she sobbed.

Tony crossed the room and took her into his arms.

“Gabriel?” Rhonda said.

Cheryl watched Gabriel Domini walk through the cell with a ring of keys in one hand.

“It's okay, Rhonda.” He tried different keys in the manacle on Rhonda's wrist. “What happened to your arm?”

“Th-th-they—”

The manacle snapped open.

“They'll pay for that,” Gabriel said.

Rhonda raised her stump. “It's growing back …”

“Shh.” Gabriel unlocked the manacles around her ankles, then tossed the ring to Tony, who searched for the keys to Cheryl's manacles. Gabriel took off his shirt and held it out to Rhonda. She turned her back to everyone and slipped her arms into the sleeves.

When she turned around, tears streamed down her cheeks. “Muh-muh-my muh-muh-ther …”

Gabriel buttoned the shirt. “I know.”

Cheryl watched the girl wipe snot from her nose on the palm of her hand, and then she looked at Tony as he freed her wrists and set to work on her ankles. “I knew you'd come.”

He nodded at Gabriel. “His people found you.”

People,
she thought.

A loud noise came from the corridor.

“That's the elevator,” Cheryl said. “It's around the corner.”

Holding his Glock in both hands, Willy turned down the intersecting corridor. Karol moved beside him, her gun raised. A dozen closed doors stretched before them.

Willy stopped at a door opposite the freight elevator gate, his hand closing on the knob.

The freight elevator hummed to life on the other side of the wooden gate.

“Someone's coming,” Karol said.

Turning his back to the door, Willy aimed at the freight elevator gate and moved to his left. Karol did the same, moving to her right. Willy ignored the sweat forming on his brow.

The freight elevator rose into view and stopped at their floor.
Empty,
Willy thought. “I wonder who—” The door to Willy's right opened, and a man stepped out and swung a sword deep into his neck.

After unlocking the manacles around Cheryl's ankles, Mace sprinted through the doorway so fast he slammed into the wall just as two men rounded the corridor, each carrying a sword. Their eyes widened at the sight of Mace, and they jumped back just as he triggered his Glock, the ensuing gunshot ricocheting off the wall.

Mace ran toward the corner, then dove to the floor, sliding out where the corridors intersected. The two men stood before the door to an elevator and a gate to a freight elevator, pounding each call button with frantic urgency.

“NYPD!”

They turned in Mace's direction. “Drop those swords!”

The men charged to a door set in the corridor wall, and

Mace depressed the trigger of his semiautomatic. The Glock barked in his hands, spitting empty casings into the air, the reports coming in rapid succession.

The first man got through the door, but the gunfire stitched a semicircle of crimson in the second man's chest and he fell, his sword clattering beside him.

Mace sprang to his feet, ran to the door, and flung it open. He found himself staring into a murky stairway with concrete steps. A muzzle flashed above him, and a bullet ricocheted off the door, and he jumped back.

Gabriel ran down the corridor and scooped up the fallen

Blade.

“The other one made it up the stairs.” Mace kicked the corpse of the assassin over. The man had worn a scabbard for his Blade slung over his back.

Cheryl and Rhonda came around the corner and looked at the body on the floor.

“Take them back the way we came,” Mace said to Gabriel.

“You
take them back,” Gabriel said.

Mace shook his head. “I'm the leader of this task force. I have people up there. You shouldn't even be here. We both got what we came for. Now get them to safety.”

“No,” Cheryl said. “You need each other. We can do it on our own. Just tell us the way.”

“Rhonda can follow my scent out of here,” Gabriel said. “My going along would be a pointless gesture.”

“All right.” Mace pressed his Glock into Cheryl's hand. “It's ready to fire, so be careful. You should have six shots left in that magazine. Don't get cute and try to shoot it with
one hand, and don't lose it. I'm breaking a law just giving it to you.”

“I love you,” Cheryl said.

He kissed her. “I love you too.”

Karol watched in disbelief as blood jetted out of the side of Willy's neck and he sank to his knees and toppled over. His head flopped at an unnatural angle, and she realized he had almost been decapitated. More blood sprayed out of the wound, and his glassy eyes stopped blinking.
“No!”

The man with the Blade of Salvation pivoted toward Karol, drawing his sword back to swing again.

Screaming, Karol fired her Glock repeatedly. The man danced, dropped his sword, and danced some more, the rounds tearing into his body keeping him erect. Then the slide on Karol's gun locked into place, and the man collapsed in a bloody heap on the floor.

With gun smoke lingering in the air, Karol dropped to her knees and cradled Willy in her arms. His head hung off his shoulders, and blood gurgled out of the gaping wound.

Touching her headset, Karol said, “Man down! Man down!”

Then she burst into tears.

Norton heard gunshots coming from the basement.

“We've engaged the enemy,” she heard Mace say over
her headset.

Then she heard a continuous burst of gunfire coming from the second floor.

“Man down!” Karol said. “Man down!”

Norton and Shelly looked at each other.

“Cover me.” Shelly ran across the parking lot with his shotgun gripped in both hands.

Norton stepped out of the tunnel too, sweeping the lot with her Glock.

Shelly climbed the concrete steps beside the parked van two at a time. He threw himself against the wall next to the door and counted to three, then stepped away from the door, aimed his shotgun, and blew off the knob.

Michael watched Valeria and Loreti douse the walls with gasoline. The fumes smelled good to him but not as good as they would smell after he had ignited them.

A series of bangs caused him to stiffen.

“Gunshots,” Valeria said.

More gunfire, this time coming from upstairs, caused him to flinch.

“Where are the guns?” Michael said.

“In the van, where you told me to put them,” Valeria said.

From another direction, the blast of a shotgun echoed.

Reaching behind him, Michael drew his Blade of Salvation. Discarding their gasoline cans, Valeria and Loreti drew their Blades as well. Poised to strike, they moved toward the opposite end of the warehouse.

The door for the basement stairway flew open, and Colum leapt out, gripping a .38 revolver. He slammed the door shut and pressed its button lock.

At least he has a gun,
Michael thought.

“Cops,” Colum said, wild-eyed.

Michael smiled. “Is that all?”

A wet thudding sound echoed in the stairway leading to the second floor. A bloody head rolled down the stairs and came to rest on the floor, and Angelo's lifeless eyes gazed at Michael.

A shadow fell on the wall as someone came down the stairs. The first thing Michael noticed about the black woman was her nude body. The second was the Blade she held in one hand, its tip aimed at the stairs ahead of her. Measuring each of the Torquemadans below, she moved with deliberation, her bare feet touching the stairs one at a time.