“No choice, dude, I’ll have to punch through them.”
“Bones, wait! Stop the car right here on the sidewalk, I have an idea.”
Bones glanced at Dane for a fraction of a second before complying. As they screeched to a halt, both men jumped out of the car. Bones said, “You do remember how things turned out for Custer, right?”
“Yeah, but we have something Custer didn’t have. Just trust me and run.”
They quickly scaled the wall of the zoo and jumped down onto the other side. Bones’ eyebrows went up. “If you’re thinking what I think you are, I take back everything I ever said about you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. We—”
A clang sounded next to them and a hole appeared in one of the zoo signs. With no accompanying sound of a gun firing, Dane had to assume the attackers were using silenced weapons. Neither he nor Bones had brought a gun on the trip, and Dane had left his Recon 1 knife in his luggage like an idiot. Both of them dove for the ground, rolling on their shoulders before snapping onto their feet behind a small bush.
A few feet away loomed one of the Zoo’s main attractions, the Zoo Balloon. Thousands of visitors each year began a bird’s eye tour of the city from this very spot. Dane had noticed the balloon landing just before telling Bones to stop the car.
“Hey Maddock, I’m all for a balloon ride, but we could just try to lose them in the zoo instead.”
“We could, but if a bunch of guys with guns starts chasing us in here, innocent people could get caught in the crossfire. I’m sure the zoo’s not open this early, but plenty of employees are around.”
“I’d argue with that selfless attitude, but since I get to ride in a balloon… ”
They sprinted the short distance to where two men were securing the gondola while two others were getting out.
“Hey, you can’t go in there!” Someone moved to block their way. Bones nudged him aside with just enough force to do the job, but not enough to hurt the man. They bounded up to the platform and into the gondola, ignoring the shocked looks from the zoo employees.
“Maddock, you know how to fly one of these things, right?
“No, but we’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.”
“If it were up to me, you could have all the time you want, but our star spangled friends are getting close. Plus, I think the zoo guys are preparing a more forceful request for us to leave.”
Dane fiddled with the controls in the gondola. More air started filling the canopy, and the restraints holding them to the platform opened. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the balloon started to rise at a pace that would have made a glacier impatient. As inches became a foot, Dane turned to Bones.
“I forgot to tell you about the next part of my—”
His final word succumbed to a staccato wave of bullets ripping into the basket and the canopy.
CHAPTER TWO
The balloon rose forty feet in the air before the destruction was complete enough for it to start falling. Strands of gondola webbing had snapped, leaving gaps big enough to expel a body. The stainless steel on the bottom held up better, riddled with bullet holes but fundamentally intact. The major problem was the holes in the canopy. It only took a few seconds to hit the ground once the descent began.
“Good thing we weren’t on that balloon, dude.”
Bones glanced back one last time as he made his way over the wall out of the zoo. Dane had already reached the ground and was scanning for additional threats. Right as the bullets started flying, he and Bones had slipped over the side of the gondola, landing on the ground with the platform hiding them from their pursuers. They could have been seen, but Dane was counting on the tendency of people to assume the obvious, in this case that Dane and Bones were trying to escape via hot air balloon. His ploy had worked.
Bones’ feet hit the sidewalk next to him. “Do we go after those guys?”
Dane shook his head. “I don’t think so. Even if we got our knives from the car, it’s foolish to go after three armed men on unfamiliar ground with civilians around. They just showed that they don’t care about collateral damage.”
“We need to figure out who these jerks are, though.”
“Yep. Follow me.”
Dane and Bones quickly went to each of the four cars that were blocking the Mustang. “We each need to remember two of the license plate numbers.”
“No problemo, but how are we gonna trace them?”
“I’ll tell you when we’re back in the Mustang. Those guys have figured out by now they’ve been had, so we need to leave pronto.”
Seconds later, Bones revved the engine of the Mustang and pulled along the sidewalk to get around the blocking vehicles. The zoo quickly disappeared in the rear view mirror.
“Where to?”
“Independence Hall, right?”
“Why not? Can’t let a little thing like being shot at ruin our day.”
“I don’t know. Last time we checked out a historic site together, we were attacked by a group of extremists who believed George Washington was visited by an angel. And that was their least crazy idea.”
Bones smiled. “Relax, Maddock, that was in Boston. That’s hundreds of miles away. Though it wouldn’t take that long in a car like this. Let’s see how fast this baby can go. What do you think, a buck thirty, a buck forty?”
Dane groaned. “How about we at least wait until we’re out of the school zone to find out?”
“If you say so.”
Dane would have just taken the subway or a bus to get around for their trip, but Bones had insisted on renting a convertible despite the early December chill. He barely fit behind the wheel of the Mustang, but his grin was as wide as the horizon when he first turned the ignition. A kid in a candy store, except the kid was almost eighty inches tall.
“So Bones, you remember Jimmy Letson?”
“The reporter who helped us out in Boston? Looks like Weird Al?”
“That’s the one. I’m thinking we should put his computer hacking skills to use.”
“I see where you’re going and I like it. He’ll bust into the government computers and find out what we need. Hey, can you tell him while he’s in there to check on Area 51? I’ve got a theory that they’re keeping the aliens hidden because they’re all hot. Like young Lieutenant Uhura hot.”
Dane smiled. “For someone who likes to make wisecracks about nerds who read books in high school instead of getting laid, you’ve got some sci-fi knowledge.”
“I’ve got hot babe knowledge. Big difference.”
“Whatever. Anyway, those were Pennsylvania and Maryland plates. All he’ll have to do is get into the DMV computers.”
Bones’ face fell. “Bummer.”
The visuals at Independence Hall weren’t what interested Dane. It was more the feel of the place. Over two hundred years ago, in this very spot, the foundation of the American system of government was laid. It took several months, and politicians back then weren’t much different than they are now. People yelled, people got fed up and left, three people even refused to sign the final document. When it went to the states, several refused to ratify unless a Bill of Rights was added.
In other ways, though, Dane knew most of them were different than the people in D.C. today. They had lived through a tyrannical monarchy and a bloody war, followed by almost a decade of disorganized government. They knew they needed something better and they produced it. That’s what made this place special, its history of men rising to the needs of their nation. He knew it was corny, but that same desire lay behind his joining the Navy and trying to become a SEAL.