Her face was deathly pale.
Robie had used the cloth to wrap the wound, but she needed medical attention or she was going to die.
And even if they got out of here it was a long way to a hospital.
Blue Man and Malloy were probably going to expire before they could get help. And there was nothing he could do about it.
But he was still going to try.
He edged open the door and slipped through.
“Get on!”
It was Reel. She had loaded Blue Man onto the golf cart.
Robie ran forward and sat down in the rear-facing seat while still holding Malloy.
“I told you to get out of here,” Robie snapped.
“And I decided on a different course,” she snapped right back. “How’s Malloy?”
“Not good. Patti cut into her carotid.”
“Shit!”
Reel punched the accelerator and they rocketed forward.
The tunnel fortunately did not collapse on them. At the other end they got off and hustled as fast as they could to the exit door. From the inside it only required the turning of a crank.
After hurrying down the passage they were out in the open air.
“They said they got rid of the vehicles,” called out Reel, who was supporting Robie. “Can we find some way to call for help?”
“What the hell is that?” said Robie.
They heard the whump-whump, and then felt the prop wash as the large chopper descended.
They backed away to allow the skids to hit the dirt. The door to the aircraft opened.
“Agent Sanders?” cried out Reel.
It was indeed FBI Special Agent Dwight Sanders. He was dressed in cammies with a bulletproof vest.
He grinned at them, but that grin quickly faded when he saw Blue Man and Malloy.
“They need medical attention, fast!” screamed Robie.
Sanders and two other men jumped out and raced over. They carried Blue Man into the chopper while Robie hustled over to it, still carrying Malloy.
“Got room for all of us in this bird?” shouted Reel over the roar of the chopper’s blades.
“You bet we do,” Sanders shouted back.
They loaded everyone into the chopper.
Sanders called out to the pilot, “We got two badly wounded. Hit it fast to the hospital. I’ll call ahead. We can land right on the roof.”
They lifted off and the chopper turned around and hurtled across the dark sky.
“Wait a minute,” barked Robie. “Hit that with your light.” He pointed down at a vehicle that was moving fast around the far lip of the quarry and had nearly reached the road leading down.
One of the crewmen activated a spotlight and shined it on the vehicle as they swept lower.
“It’s Dolph!” exclaimed Reel. “Or Fitzsimmons, or whatever the hell his real name is.”
It was indeed the man driving in an open-top jeep.
Robie grabbed his rifle with the scope and said, “Take me down lower. I’m going to jump for it.”
Reel grabbed his arm. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Robie glanced over at Malloy, where the EMTs were working frantically on both her and Blue Man.
He said to Reel, “I made a promise. I gave my word.”
Reel looked over at the unconscious Malloy and slowly removed her hand.
The chopper dropped lower as Robie opened the door and climbed out onto the skid.
He called out to Sanders, “Once I’m clear hit it to the hospital.”
“But what about you?” asked Sanders.
“I’ll find my way back.”
When the chopper was about six feet off the ground Robie leapt, landed, rolled, and came up in a crouch.
The chopper immediately rose, banked, and soared away in the opposite direction.
Robie sprinted forward about ten yards, keeping the jeep in sight the whole time. Then he dropped to the dirt, lay prone, and took aim through his scope.
It would have been difficult to say who was the better shot, Robie or Reel. It might have depended on the day in question.
But this day, not one sniper in the world had more motivation to bring down his target than Will Robie.
He fired.
His first round tore into the left rear tire. The jeep went sideways off the road and plowed into a mound of dirt.
Robie rose and sprinted forward.
A panicked Fitzsimmons looked behind and saw what was coming. He put the jeep in reverse and backed it out. He got it back on the road and hit the gas. But with the bum tire the jeep couldn’t go very fast.
Behind him Robie picked up his pace. He had never run this swiftly in his life. Yet even with the bad tire, he would not be able to catch Fitzsimmons.
He dropped to the ground again, took aim, and shredded the other rear tire.
The jeep went off the road onto the other side. Fitzsimmons fought to get it back on the road, but the tire unraveled and came off the rim.
Fitzsimmons leapt out of the jeep, wildly fired a few shots in Robie’s general direction, and ran for it.
But now, with its being a footrace, the conclusion was foregone.
Robie hit him low and hard, and both men tumbled to the dirt. Robie landed on top of Fitzsimmons and immediately cranked his right hand out and back, then levered the forearm at a backward angle until it shattered.
Fitzsimmons screamed, but Robie flipped him over, struck him with his elbow directly in the face, and crushed the man’s nose.
Robie raised his fist again with the intent of driving it right through the man’s skull when he paused.
The bloody Fitzsimmons stared up at him.
“Do it. Kill me. Do it.”
Robie could easily have done it. He had killed many men who were far superior fighters. Instead, he lowered his fist, took out the duct tape he had kept in his pocket, and secured Fitzsimmons’s arms and legs. He rose.
Fitzsimmons gazed furiously up at him. “What are you doing?”
“Colorado doesn’t have the death penalty. So you get life without parole. But I’m thinking that you’re a terrorist. So maybe you go to Gitmo, or another place not in this country. Where there are no rules, and where your jailers may not even be American.”
“I’m an American citizen,” sputtered Fitzsimmons. “You can’t do that!”
“No, you’re Dolph on your very own patch of sovereign soil. American laws don’t apply to you. You told me so yourself. So maybe we’ll send you to the Israelis. They know how to deal with Nazis.”
“You can’t do that!” Fitzsimmons screamed.
Robie knelt next to him and placed his face an inch from Fitzsimmons’s. “You’re going to find out that I can do anything.”
He rose and started to walk away.
“Where are you going?” screamed Fitzsimmons.
“To find us a ride.”
“You can’t leave me here. There are… animals.”
“I’m sure there’ll be enough of you left to send to prison.”
Fitzsimmons kept screaming.
And Robie kept walking.
CHAPTER
78
“You have done a great service to your country.”
Rachel Cassidy finished speaking and sat back in her office at Langley.
Robie and Reel sat opposite the director.
“We wouldn’t be here without your intervention, Director,” pointed out Reel. “Agent Sanders told me that you dialed up the FBI director and that he sent Sanders looking for us. Luckily, they spotted Fitzsimmons’s jeep near the door into the silo and came in for a closer look. If you hadn’t done that, there was no way Blue Man was going to make it.”
“But he did make it. And so did Sheriff Malloy.”
Robie looked at her. “And Fitzsimmons?”
“Need to know, Robie,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “I do have a status report on Fitzsimmons. Do you by chance read Hebrew? I know you’ve been to Israel quite often.” Her eyes twinkled even more.