"Almost there," he said, and they started uphill. Just over a rise Mac knelt and lay the fifty caliber on the ground. He made a V with his fingers under his eyes, then pointed through a clearing to a small, wood shack. A faint light shone through the sliver between a shade and one window in the front. He took the directed energy weapon from Chloe and leaned it against a tree.
Mac motioned that they should follow him around back. Chloe was surprised how wide he made the arc, staying in the shadows and somehow walking so quietly she could barely hear his boots on the soil. When her Uzi brushed the handle of the Luger, it made a muted sc.r.a.ping sound and she held her breath. Mac stopped and half turned. Chloe had to resist the urge to raise her hand in acknowledgment and apology. She set herself again, and they crept around the back, where trees blotted any light from the stars and the shack was totally dark.
Mac squatted about forty feet behind the place. "I don"t like it," he whispered. "Only one vehicle, and that looks like mine, so it"s likely the one Sebastian got from the GC pool at the airport. And does that place look like it"s got five people in it? I mean, I know they"re hiding out, but . . . " "You lost me already," Hannah said between gulps of air. "I don"t see any vehicles."
Mac put a hand on her shoulder and turned her toward the side of the shack, where a small white car sat mostly hidden in underbrush. Hannah nodded. Chloe hadn"t seen it either. "Maybe your eyes aren"t adjusted to the light yet," Mac said, as if he meant it. Chloe nearly laughed aloud. They had all been traipsing around in the dark.
Mac slipped the Uzi off his shoulder and lay it on the ground. He pulled what looked like a utility tool from a vest pocket. "I know this is gonna sound like a cowboy movie," he said, "but cover me."
Before Chloe could ask where he was going, he moved quickly to the car and went to work on the trunk lock. Every time he made a sound loud enough for the women to hear, he stopped dead and remained motionless a few seconds. Eventually came the thump of the lock giving way, and the trunk lid sprung free. Mac kept a hand atop it so it wouldn"t fly open.
He snaked his other hand in as far as he could, then finally had to let the lid rise another half inch or so. That triggered the trunk light, so he lowered the lid again. He set the tool on the back b.u.mper, reached in, and held the lid down with his left hand, feeling around inside with his right. Once he found what he was looking for he quickly pulled his hand out, grabbed the tool, reached back in, let the trunk up enough to give himself room to maneuver, and as the light came on ground the tool into the bulb, breaking it and dousing the light. Now he let the lid open all the way, silently, and felt around inside the trunk. From where she waited, it looked to Chloe as if the whole top half of his body was inside.
Suddenly he stopped and backed out, quietly shutting the trunk and hurrying back. "Just as I thought," he said. "Check it out."
"A twelve gauge," Hannah said. "Learned to use one when I was a kid."
"These GIs love their shotguns," Mac said. "Leaves a DEW and a Fifty in the plane, brings his double barrel on the job. And brilliant as this hostage team is supposed to be, they don"t even search his car."
"We going in?" Hannah said.
"Yeah, but I still don"t like it. Half of "em take off when they found out we were comin", or what?"
He clearly wasn"t expecting an answer. Mac handed the shotgun to Hannah. "Makes a lot of racket when you c.o.c.k it, so do it when I whistle."
He picked up the Uzi, and they followed him back around to the front and the darkest area they could find, about twenty feet left of the door. Mac nodded to Hannah and whispered, "On three."
He counted with his fingers and whistled shrilly twice while Hannah expertly, and noisily, c.o.c.ked the shotgun.
From inside the shack came hurried movement, heavy steps, one louder than the other, like someone limping. The door squeaked open a couple of inches and someone whistled. Or tried to. It was mostly air. Then came the second try. "All right!" Mac shouted, so loud Chloe jumped. "You know who it is, so show yourself and let us in."
The door opened in and struck the man or his weapon as he tried to get out of the way. "Right this way," he said with a heavy accent.
Mac marched straight toward the door, and Chloe noticed he had a finger on the Uzi trigger. "Senior Commander Howie Johnson comin"
through with officers Irene and Jinnah. Stand aside, Peacekeeper."
The man, clearly favoring one leg, hopped back against the wall, warily eyeing them and nodding a greeting.
"So which one are you?" Mac said. "Hercules? Constantinople ?
Who?"
"Socrates, sir."
"Well, sure ya are. Awright, where is everybody, particularly my prisoner?"
"Not here, sir."
Mac looked as if he were about to explode. He tilted his head back till his chin pointed at the ceiling. "Not here, sir," he mimicked. He brought his eyes down to Socrates. "That"s all I git? Where are they?"
"They told me to tell you to read the fine print." That took a second to register with Chloe, and from Mac"s look, with him too.
Mac dramatically moved past Socrates, flattening him against the wall again. He strode to the front door and kicked it shut so hard the window rattled and an echo came back from the trees. Mac turned on the man. "The fine print in what? You think I brought the Sebastian file with me into the woods?" I die!" Nothing. His shoulders slumped and he bowed his head, weeping.
Mac knelt and put a hand on Socrates" arm. "They"re not that far away, are they?" "I am only telling you what they "
"Why don"t you just tell me what the fine print says?"
"They gave me this duty because I slow them down. I was attacked by the prisoner and he injured me with a kick to the "
"I asked you about the fine print, man! What"d I miss? What"s the message?"
"That they have the right to move the prisoner at any time without informing the GC until "
"Where are they, Peacekeeper? Where did they go?"
"They do not have to inform their superiors until they have reached their des "
"Do you know where they are?"
"They thought they heard something long before it should have been you, so "
"You understand English, Socrates. I know you do. Do you know where they are? "
"I believe the reason they did not tell me was because "
"You want me to believe they left you here alone to greet me and didn"t tell you where they"d be?"
"Because if I didn"t know, I could not tell the wrong person. "
"I hope you"re lying."
"Sir ?"
"I hope you"re lying, because then you can change your mind about telling me before you die."
"Commander, I do not know!"
"Officer jinnah, show Socrates what a twelve gauge does to the front door." Chloe wondered if Mac was serious. Apparently Hannah did not. She lifted the shotgun toward the door with one hand, and as soon as the barrel was parallel to the floor, fired. It was as if a bomb had gone off. Chloe was deafened, but nothing was wrong with her eyes. A gaping hole appeared in the door, and the entire thing blew off its hinges and landed several feet from the shack.
"The next one goes in your face, Socrates."
"But, sir!" he cried. "I "
"Then get on your squawk box and tell your people I want to know where my prisoner is, and I want to know now!"
"But they "
"Kill him, Jinnah. "
Hannah raised the shotgun as quickly and forthrightly as she had before, and Socrates immediately tumbled to the floor, tears streaming. "Wait! Wait!" He dug a walkie talkie from his pocket, dropping his weapon in the process. "Socrates to Plato, come in, come in. h.e.l.lo? Plato? I know you can hear me! Please! I need you!"