Harry nodded and said, “If they get by us, don’t let them get by you.”
Stone gripped the pistol Harry had given him. “They won’t. But keep in mind that what goes up doesn’t necessarily come down. Or at least all the way down.”
As the two men prepared to go inside the shaft, Stone took out his phone and punched in the number. He spoke for one minute. When he clicked off he said, “Good luck.”
Annabelle looked desperately around the room after her call from Stone. He had filled her in on recent developments, which had only heightened her anxiety in having still not located Alex Ford.
She felt a hand on her arm and almost screamed.
It was Bob, the man she had come with.
“Been looking for you. Have someone I want to introduce you to.”
Annabelle caught her breath and said, “I really hope it’s the VP. Been dying to meet him.”
Bob smiled. “Then it’s your lucky day, Annabelle. Just don’t use the ‘dying’ word around him. Gets the Secret Service in a tizzy.”
She looked at him. “This is so exciting.” But she was thinking, You really have no idea how exciting.
“Hey, stick with me, I’ll take you places.” He gripped her by the elbow and propelled her forward.
They turned the corner and there was the VP.
And on his right-hand side was Alex Ford.
When Alex’s gaze caught on her, his lips parted and his eyes widened. Her panicked look immediately drew his suspicion.
But Bob stepped forward. “Mr. Vice President, I would like you to meet my new best friend, Annabelle Conroy.”
The nation’s second in command held out his hand, his smile wide and inviting. “Ms. Conroy, let me just warn you about this guy. Watch yourself around him.”
Bob laughed. Annabelle managed a titter. She glanced at Alex. He was staring directly at her.
She said, “I know this is silly, sir, but can I take a picture? I have my phone. I can take it myself. I know this is a fund-raiser and I’m probably supposed to be charged for a photo, but it really would mean the world to me.”
The vice president smiled more broadly. “I think we can make an exception.”
Annabelle slid out her phone, stood next to the vice president, held up the phone, and took a shot.
She stepped back and quickly hit some keys. “I’m just sending it to my mom. She’ll never believe this.” But she was actually typing a text. She hit send.
A few moments later Alex’s phone buzzed. Annabelle stared directly at him and then her gaze dropped to his pocket where his phone was buzzing. He slid it out. On the screen he saw multiple missed calls from Annabelle. But the text was what drew his immediate attention.
Assassination attempt coming. Up abandoned shaft from bank. Oliver there. Go!
CHAPTER 12
Adam Chase cut out the last piece of drywall and insulation, and revealed to him was the back of an ordinary wall outlet with electrical lines running to it. He unscrewed the back of the box and handed it to the person next to him. He looked down at the other two people just below him and held a finger to his mouth. He leaned in close and peered between the slits of the outlet plate on the other side of the wall.
He saw people’s ankles and legs at first. When he peered up he saw torsos, and then heads.
He registered on one torso and one head and he couldn’t help but smile. His inside source had been worth every penny. It was fortunate for him that political events like this were so heavily scripted while trying mightily to seem impromptu. But they were organized down to the second and, most importantly, location. It was photo op time and the photo ops, according to the event schedule, were to take place in this very room for the next thirty minutes.
He used duct tape to attach the canister to the back of the wall and pointed one end of it inside the outlet slot. The person beside him cut the duct tape with scissors so as to make no noise and handed the strips to Chase.
They worked away until the canister was solidly supported. The other person checked a small electronic box attached to the canister and then hit a switch on the box. It instantly powered up and he gave Chase a thumbs-up.
Chase placed one last bit of duct tape near the nozzle of the canister, ensuring that it remained directly pointed through the outlet slot. He gave it a pat and smiled.
Then he looked at the other three people with him and pointed down.
They started to descend.
They wanted to be nowhere near this place when it happened. No sane person would.
Many feet below, Robie put a hand on Harry’s arm and pointed up. Harry looked up and saw a rope dangling barely five feet above his head. He looked at Robie. Both men drew their weapons and continued their climb up the exposed steel girders.
The two groups met just above the fourth floor, one ascending and the other descending. It was a memorable collision.
Adam Chase and his team had superior numbers. But they had been surprised.
Harry and Robie had not.
The few extra seconds this allowed Harry and Robie cost Chase’s team dearly.
Chase cried out and slipped the remote from his pocket. He pointed it upward and was a sliver from pressing the button when it happened.
Two rounds fired by Robie hit him in the head and heart.
Chase’s team had been using ropes and pulleys to more efficiently descend after stringing the block and tackle across two girders higher up. The dead Chase hung from one of the ropes for a moment before his grip failed as he died. His body and the remote sailed past Robie and Harry, bouncing off the walls twice before he hit the floor inside the bank with a thud.
A shot blew past Robie’s head and smacked into the wall, where it stayed.
Harry drilled the shooter right through his optics lens.
Another body fell.
However, this time was different. The falling body hit Harry, causing him to lose his grip. He fell off the girder and would have also plummeted to his death, if an iron grip had not encircled his wrist.
He looked up to see Robie holding on to him, his other hand gripping one of the ropes that dangled down.
Suspended in midair, Harry started to swing back and forth using Robie as his fulcrum until his feet once more touched a metal girder. He regained his balance and breathed a sigh of relief.
Both men looked up, their guns pointed in the same direction.
“Shit,” muttered Robie.
There was no one there.
Stone had seen the two bodies hit the floor of the shaft in the bank. His gun pointed at them and praying it was neither Harry nor the “lobbyist,” he ducked inside the shaft. He was vastly relieved to see that it was not either of them. He took the masks off, revealing two men. Though he didn’t know his name, one was Adam Chase. The other was a young man in his twenties. Stone checked the neck of the younger man but did not find what he was looking for.
He was alone in the bank right now. Reuben had led all the hostages out through the hole in the wall that connected to the public restroom in the outside corridor. The police and FBI had been summoned. Stone expected them on the scene at any moment.
Stone’s phone buzzed.
It was Harry.
He said, “We got two and missed two, Oliver.”
“So there were four total?”
“Yes. I saw them. Did you expect there to be?”
“Actually, yes.”
“I think the pair went out through the fourth floor. And whatever they were doing up there, I don’t think it happened. I’m going up there to make sure. The other guy you sent with me is following them out from up here.”
Stone clicked off and pushed aside the bodies until he saw it.