Dinara studied Jack for any clue to his plan, but he was stony-faced. Did he even have a plan? Or was this simply the last gamble of a desperate man?
“Here goes,” Hector said as he made a left off Pasture Road onto a private driveway that led to a guardhouse. A wedge barrier blocked the road ahead of the guardhouse; then there were a couple of chicanes and finally a gate. Signs either side of the driveway warned trespassers they would be prosecuted.
“Want to tell me what you’ve got in mind, boss?” Hector asked.
“Show your ID,” Jack replied as the SUV rolled toward the wedge barrier.
A uniformed Marine emerged from the guardhouse. He held an assault rifle in the ready position. Dinara could see him looking at Hector’s ID from a distance.
“Just get us to the guardhouse,” Jack muttered.
“Then what?” Hector asked, but the question went unanswered.
Dinara’s entire body bristled with nervous energy, and her heart felt as though it might burst from her chest. But she sat perfectly still and pretended to be calm.
Up ahead, the Marine finally nodded at someone inside the guardhouse, and the wedge barrier descended into the road.
“Boss?” Hector asked.
“Drive on,” Jack replied.
Hector steered around the chicanes slowly, and stopped beside the Marine.
Dinara took a deep breath and held it as Hector lowered his window.
“State your business,” the Marine said.
Dinara gasped when Jack Morgan produced Hudson’s pistol and pointed it at Hector’s head.
“I want to see Colonel Steve Fuller, the base XO. If he’s not here in three minutes, I will execute these hostages.”
The Marine stepped back and raised his rifle. “Put the gun down!” he yelled.
A klaxon sounded, and more Marines ran from the guardhouse and surrounded the vehicle, their weapons trained on Jack.
“Boss,” Hector said anxiously.
Dinara was trembling, but when she looked at Jack, she saw nothing but ice in his eyes.
“Two minutes thirty,” Jack said.
“Drop it!” another Marine commanded.
“Put the gun down!” the first Marine shouted. “Or I will open fire.”
“Jack,” Hector said nervously.
Dinara jumped when there was sudden movement, and Jack’s passenger door was yanked open and he was pulled roughly from the car. A huge Marine pushed Jack to the ground, and ripped the pistol from his grasp.
Two other Marines pointed their assault rifles at Jack’s head.
“Don’t move!” one of them commanded.
The look on Jack’s face made it clear to Dinara that she’d just witnessed the last gamble of a desperate man.
Chapter 105
“You’ve got to listen to me, corporal,” I said. “I need to see Colonel Steve Fuller right now.”
I was in the back of a Marine Corps Police vehicle. The large white Dodge Durango SUV was flashed with the red and blue livery of the Corps, and a gold Marine Police badge dominated both front doors. I’d thought my days of being subject to military justice were long gone, but I was in the charge of a corporal, who sat in the front passenger seat, and a private who was driving. The corporal was in his mid-thirties; he had a weather-beaten face and the calm demeanor of someone with a great deal of experience. He was too old for advancement and too young for retirement. The private couldn’t have had more than a couple of years under his belt. Unlike his partner, he’d looked anxious when the fire-watch team at the guardhouse had handed me over.
“The national security of the United States is at stake, corporal,” I said, focusing my attention on the older man, hoping his experience would enable him to recognize I was telling the truth.
I saw a flicker of interest, but the private shot the corporal a skeptical glance.
After my arrest, my wrists had been cable-tied and I’d been frogmarched to the Durango. If I couldn’t convince the corporal and his sidekick, I had no doubt I was headed for the brig, where I’d be held until they could figure out which particular branch of law enforcement got me first. News of my capture would travel fast, and the vultures would already be circling.
“Come on, corporal. I was a winger, a Corps pilot, in Afghanistan with MAG Forty. I’m a patriot, corporal. I served with honor, and I swear by God and country that I’m telling the truth.”
I saw him waver, but the change was momentary, and was quickly replaced by stern detachment.
I hadn’t seen what had happened to Dinara and Hector, but they would be safe. I hadn’t shared my plan for fear they’d try to talk me out of it. There had been a good chance of me getting shot, but I’d bet my life on the training and discipline of the Marine Corps, and I hadn’t been disappointed. I had been about to surrender my weapon when I’d been hauled out of Hector’s car. It had always been my plan to get taken into custody; I just hadn’t expected to get winded in the process. Becoming a military prisoner seemed the surest way for a wanted fugitive to get on base.
“Come on, corporal,” I said. “You’re smart. Just give me five minutes with Colonel Fuller and if he doesn’t believe me, you can lock me up and throw away the key.”
The Durango came to a halt, and the corporal and the private jumped out. I saw a concrete building directly ahead of us. A blue sign hung above a security door and white letters declared this was the “Transient Personnel Unit Pre-Trial Confinement Facility Fallon.” The brig. If I was taken inside, all was lost.
“Corporal, what time is it?” I asked as they opened the Durango’s back door.
He checked his watch. “Eleven twenty-five.”
“We’ve got thirty-five minutes,” I told him. “You have to listen to me.”
He considered my pleas. “I will contact Colonel Fuller once you’ve been processed.”
“That will be too late,” I protested. “We don’t have time.”
“Bring him out,” the corporal ordered.
The private pulled my arm, and I got to my feet. When I stepped onto the lip of the footwell, I lashed out and kicked the private in the face. He fell onto the corporal, who fumbled for his sidearm as he and the private collapsed in a heap.
I jumped from the Durango and raised my hands high behind me, until it felt as though my shoulders might slip from their sockets. As I hit the asphalt, I brought my wrists down against the small of my back and snapped the cable tie. I rushed the private, who was trying to pick himself up, but before he could react, I punched him, reached down to his waist, flipped his holster open and stole his sidearm. I aimed it at the corporal, who had managed to get hold of his own weapon.
“Drop it,” I commanded.
He hesitated.
“Do it now!” I yelled.
The corporal glared at me, but complied and tossed his gun.
“Corporal, if I take you hostage, there’s a good chance you and the private here will face disciplinary charges,” I said. “And I wouldn’t want that.”
He backed away as I stepped toward him.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I assured him. “All I ask is that you trust me the way I’m going to trust you.”
I took a deep breath and played the biggest gamble of my life.
“Semper fidelis,” I said as I flipped the pistol and offered it to him. “Always loyal.”
Chapter 106
“I don’t know about this, Ryan,” the private said to the corporal as we drove across the base.
“Stow it, private,” the corporal replied. “It won’t cost anything but time to let the man have his say.”