“Sir, the rear vehicle reports that it’s under attack,” reported Sophie to her boss.
Houston ground his teeth in anger. He snatched up his tablet and enlarged the picture feed from a camera mounted on the back of the last Hummer. His blood instantly began to boil when he saw who it was.
“I should have let McMasters put a bullet in your head,” snarled Houston as he glared down at the image of Mitchell.
“Sir, what should I tell them to do?”
“Tell them to kill them all. I’ve had enough of these people and their foolish heroics.”
With that, Houston sat back and stared ahead. He told himself that it was only a minor inconvenience. Once Mitchell and his people were dealt with, it would be an easy fifteen-minute ride to the border. He wasn’t about to let anyone stop him from fulfilling his destiny.
“Stop it, you’re wasting ammo!” yelled Mitchell at Grace.
She lifted her finger off the trigger. The gun went silent.
“What are we gonna do?” asked Jackson.
“Wait until he turns around another bend and then ram the rear of the Hummer as hard as you can,” replied Mitchell. “Hopefully, that will force him off the road.”
Suddenly, a hatch flipped up on the Hummer. Like a jack-in-the-box, a man popped up with a submachine gun in his hands.
Mitchell went for his AK. Grace was faster and fired off a quick burst, killing him. The man’s bloodied corpse slid back inside the Hummer.
The Hummer began to take a sharp turn.
“Hang on,” yelled Jackson, as he jammed his foot down on the gas pedal.
Mitchell barely had time to grab hold of the Rover’s roll bar before Jackson slammed the front of their vehicle into the back of the Hummer. The jarring impact sent Grace tumbling back into her seat.
Up ahead, the Hummer, hit hard, swerved on the narrow road. The driver panicked and overcompensated. At first, it looked as if the Hummer might recover. However, as if in slow motion, it slid off the road. With a loud crash, it slipped over onto its side and then began to tumble end over end down the side of the mountain for several seconds before crashing into a large boulder and bursting into flames.
“One down, six more to go,” said Jackson.
Mitchell turned his head to see how Grace was, when he noticed that their other Rover wasn’t there.
“Where’s the other Rover?” said Mitchell to Grace, who looked behind her and shrugged her shoulders.
Mitchell reached for his Motorola. “Damn it Cardinal, where are you?”
A second later, he got his answer when the shadow from a massive helicopter flying high above raced past them on the road.
Mitchell looked up. With an incredulous look on his face, he keyed the mic. “Please tell me that’s you up there.”
“Yeah, Yuri couldn’t help himself,” replied Cardinal. “What do you want us to do?”
Mitchell took one quick look at the Hummer in front of them and passed on what he wanted Yuri to do. It was going to take careful timing, but he knew his friends wouldn’t let him down.
48
The mood in the room slowly changed from one of jubilation to one of somber reality. The strike on Houston’s base was over, but scores of people had been killed in the fiery explosions.
“How long until we get our first bomb damage assessment?” asked the president.
“Sir, the first of our Special Forces teams will be landing in less than five minutes’ time,” answered General Patterson. “After that, it may take some time until it’s safe enough for them to enter the base and conduct a proper analysis.”
“General, what I need to know right away is did we or did we not destroy the anthrax.”
“Sir, the men will have portable chemical detectors with them. If there’s anthrax in the air, they’ll know it within seconds of landing.”
“That’s good news,” said President Kempt with a nod.
A phone unexpectedly rang on the desk in front of Dan Leonard. An aide reached for the phone. Leonard shook his head and answered it. Thirty seconds later, he turned to look at Kempt with a look on his face as if he was about to be sick.
“What’s wrong, Dan?” asked Kempt, seeing the upset expression on his friend’s face.
“Sir, I’ve got Jack O’Reilly on the phone,” said Leonard. “He said that the anthrax wasn’t in the base when the UAVs struck. Houston managed to escape and took it with him.”
Kempt shot out of his seat. “How the hell does he know what happened?”
“It would appear that some of his people were there and saw what was going on. He said that they barely managed to get away with their lives.”
“Mitchell,” said Kempt, under his breath. The man seemed to be everywhere. “Dan, does O’Reilly know where Houston is now?”
“No, sir, all he knows is that Houston got away.”
Kempt clenched his fist. He could not believe that Houston had miraculously slipped away. I’ve got a leak somewhere. Someone must have warned him, thought Kempt. He silently vowed to have the CIA Director track down any traitors in his administration the instant the crisis was over.
Kempt said, “Anne, leave the unarmed UAV to keep an eye on the base and re-task the two Predators to find Houston, ASAP.”
“Sir, what are we looking for?” asked Hook.
Kempt looked over at Leonard.
“Jack said to look for a convoy of six or seven up-armored vehicles. They’re probably heading for the border with Montenegro,” replied Leonard.
Hook nodded. Her aide, a young Hispanic woman sitting directly behind her, quickly dug out a cellphone and made the call.
“Jesus,” muttered Kempt. Houston was loose with a deadly disease in his hands.
President Kempt took a deep breath and then fixed his steely gaze on Hook. “Anne, you still have one fully armed Predator, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Hook.
“Good. The instant Houston’s convoy is spotted, I want it vectored overtop.”
Anne Hook asked Patterson, “General, will the Predator’s thermobaric bombs work as well in the open as they did inside the base?”
Patterson shook his head. “They’re better when used in confined spaces. If we used them in the open, I can’t say for sure if they would destroy the anthrax.”
Kempt jumped in. “Folks, I don’t want the UAV to engage the convoy unless it’s absolutely necessary. Things have changed. I want the anthrax captured along with Houston. There’s no way in hell he’s going to escape a second time.”
Patterson said, “Sir, I can divert one of the Special Forces teams to capture him. We have three converging on the airfield as we speak.”
“Do it,” ordered Kempt.
Hook said, “Sir, I think it would be best if the Secretary of State were to call the Montenegrin Ambassador and give him a heads-up that we are in hot pursuit of a known terrorist. We may have to cross into his country to apprehend the fugitives.”
Kempt nodded his concurrence. It was going to be a race to stop Houston, one Kempt did not intend to lose.
49
“So that’s your plan?” said Jackson to Mitchell, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Nate, I’m open to suggestions,” replied Mitchell. “Unless I hear a decent suggestion in the next five seconds, we’re going with my plan.”
“I’m in,” said Grace.
“Fine,” said Jackson. “Ryan, take the wheel.”