“Could that be Little Kale?” Hannah asked, her voice barely audible. “In front of Macy’s, coming this way.”
A big guy and three goons swaggered through the mall like they owned it. They certainly had the attitude for Little Kale and his ghosts. The eldest ghost touched his side like he wasn’t used to carrying his pistol concealed. Or itching to pull the trigger.
Chris glanced back at Redskins, who had received his meal and was taking it to the opposite end of the dining area. But Little Kale didn’t head in his direction. Instead, one of the two tattooed Caucasians made direct eye contact with the woman in the ruby shirt.
“If we find Little Kale, should we take him down here?” Hannah asked.
“We could. Or we could catch him in the parking lot and roll him up there — limit the collateral damage.”
The big Arab sat with Ruby while his thugs stood ten meters away. Eldest Ghost touched his side again. The Arab grunted between words with the woman. Then he grunted again.
“That grunt,” Chris said. “I’ve met a lot people, but I’ve never heard a grunt like that.”
“Are you sure?”
“It has to be Little Kale.”
A group of customers got up from one of the tables next to Little Kale and Ruby. Little Kale’s thugs noticed and moved in to take the table. On the way, Eldest Ghost bumped into a young Arab woman who wore designer jeans and a fashionable scarf and robe. “That was rude,” she said in Arabic.
Eldest Ghost stopped in his tracks and turned to her. “What?”
“You just bumped into me and didn’t say anything. That’s rude.”
“You should watch where you are walking.”
“You bumped into me,” she said in English.
Some heads turned to watch their argument.
“Look at how you are dressed,” he continued in Arabic. “Your wrists, ankles, and hair are showing, and that fabric is too thin. It shows too much of your body shape. Its style is too Western. That is not hijab!”
His two comrades tried to discourage him from arguing, but they were younger than him, and he wouldn’t listen.
She put her hands on her hips. “I love Allah, and I’ll show it how I please. In the Koran, there’s no dress requirement for full body cover like you say. You should study the Koran, you old fool!”
He cocked his hand back to strike her, but an Arab male in jeans and a tight black T-shirt, stepped in. He pushed Eldest Ghost, knocking him on his ass. “You don’t touch her!” he shouted in English.
A pair of women cheered for the guy in jeans. If they really understood what situation they were in, they’d be heading for the nearest exit. When Eldest Ghost stood and reached down to his hip, Chris only had a split second to react: defend the couple or maintain his cover. Chris drew his pistol, so did Eldest Ghost, and the cheering women screamed.
Chris’s line of fire to him was clear, and the closest bystanders were a couple sitting at a nearby table. Chris crouched and shuffle-stepped to the side to create more separation between his line of fire and the couple at the table behind. Eldest Ghost spotted Chris and shifted his aim from the boyfriend to Chris’s direction, but Chris brought his pistol to bear on Eldest Ghost before he brought his weapon to bear on him. Chris’s trigger finger started to squeeze before the tango appeared in Chris’s sights, and when Eldest Ghost appeared in his sights, he squeezed the rest of the way. Bang! The shot cracked Eldest Ghost’s arm, pieces of bone flying like a frag grenade into his body. Bang! The second 9 mm slug seemed to catch Eldest Ghost directly in the lung. He went down, and he didn’t stand again.
The food court broke into a full-scale panic. People froze, screamed, dove under tables, and ran for exits.
One of Eldest Ghost’s comrades drew his pistol, but before he could aim at Chris, Hannah gunned him down. The remaining tango was a cool customer — he backed away from the table with his hands in the air. Meanwhile, Little Kale and Ruby stood up and walked away. The cool tango gained momentum, trying to catch up with Little Kale. The two tattoos left their position and sped toward Ruby.
Chris and Hannah followed. Little Kale glanced back at them and then picked up speed. Chris and Hannah did, too.
Little Kale must’ve been on to them because he and his entourage busted through the middle of the mall, knocking people out of the way. The tangos reached the opposite end of the mall before ducking out of sight in the Bloomingdale’s department store.
Chris rushed into the department store. Passing a display of overpriced handbags, he continued past racks of fine clothing and ventured deeper into the store, but he saw no sign of the terrorists. Then he spotted Ruby and her two tattooed men nearing the exit. He crouched, using the racks of clothes for concealment, and stalked her. Chris glanced back to check on Hannah, but she wasn’t there.
38
Hannah spotted Little Kale’s upper body near the escalator on the second floor of Bloomingdale’s. Instinctively, she dropped low and stepped onto the escalator. She figured that, at any moment, Chris would turn around and spot her, but he continued farther into the department store, focused on something ahead.
Turn around, damn it. Little Kale is getting away.
She wanted to call to him, but that would alert Little Kale. The escalator maintained its ascent, and Chris maintained his forward course until he was no longer in view.
She stepped off on the second floor, concealed her pistol in her hip holster under her blouse and followed Little Kale through several departments of Bloomingdale’s. Little Kale exited Bloomingdale’s, and she followed him in the direction of Macy’s.
He’s probably going back to his vehicle.
His underling slowly turned around, and Hannah hid in a shop to her left. An eager Verizon salesman greeted her. Although locking herself into a long, expensive contract wasn’t a high priority for her at the moment, speaking to the salesman helped her blend with the other shoppers. He was in his early twenties, and the sparkle in his eye suggested he might be interested in more than phone sales. She smiled at him and popped out of the store as fast as she’d popped in. Staying close to the shops, she rushed toward Little Kale and Underling, closing the gap between them and her.
Underling glanced over his shoulder, catching Hannah between shops. There was no place for her to hide, so she did the next best thing — she went for her pistol. In hand-to-hand combat, she was confident she could give both of them instant colonoscopies, but ten meters away and with pistolas, all she had was optimism. “Police!” she shouted with authority. Rather than move back to the nearest store and use it for cover, she moved forward aggressively, hoping to use the next shop.
Underling grabbed at his hip, but Hannah didn’t wait to see if he was going for a pack of throat lozenges. She jerked the trigger, pulling her pistol down and to the left. Even so, her first shot struck Underling in the gut, wiping the cool look right off his face. Her second round punched him in the chest, and he toppled forward, crashing head-first to the floor.
She looked around for Little Kale, but he’d vanished, probably into one of the stores. In the time it took to draw a sidearm, he reappeared, barrel blazing. The sudden attack from him surprised her, but she side-stepped left and entered a Häagen-Dazs store, escaping his blistering assault. A pool of melted ice cream covered the floor, and people huddled under tables and behind the counter. Another shopper called out in fear. All eyes in the store locked on Hannah and her pistol. “It’s okay. I’m one of the good gals,” she said.