Chapter Nine
Somehow, Thallium found the strength to not reach for Athena for one last kiss. As she walked through the door to the courtroom he saw a warrior, a goddess, his queen, step forth into battle.
In the last fifteen minutes, he had seen her pulled in so many different directions. He had seen strong men snap under less stressful conditions. But not his woman. She stood strong, weathered the storm, and was still ready to kickass. He was so proud of her, loved her so fiercely, and knew that he would regret not telling her just how much she meant to him for the rest of his life. But he had a job to do and so did she. Confessing one’s feelings of love at this point wouldn’t have done either of them any good.
“The prosecution calls to the stand, Athena Argyris,” Thallium heard as he followed the women through the door.
A bailiff ushered him and Agent Rodriguez to a seat in the row behind the prosecution table as Athena took her place before the witness stand. Her gaze shot to her left and all color left her face.
Nicolai Argyris sat directly in front of her with nothing but a wooden table between them. For a man who was looking at the woman who could put him away forever, he appeared confident, almost arrogant, in his bright orange jumpsuit as he stared at his ex-wife with a little smile on his lips. If Thallium had his pistol, he’d have shot the fucker right then and there.
Athena recovered quickly, and flashed her ex-husband a smile as she straightened, flipping him the bird as she raised her right hand to be sworn in.
A movement out of the corner of his eye brought Thallium’s attention to Athena’s son, Eddie, who sat at the end of the row behind his father. Shifting in his seat, he watched his parents with a frown that pulled further and further at the ends of his mouth. He was tense, and at any moment, Thallium expected him to jump out of his skin.
Instinct borne from years of combat sent Thallium’s Spidey sense to tingling and his stomach rolled. Something was up.
He scanned the audience, searching for anything or anyone that seemed out of place. Only those who had direct ties to the case had been allowed to be in attendance, leaving the courtroom half-empty. All eyes were on Athena, except for a man sitting near the back who was focusing on his watch. Because of the nature of the case, all cell phones had been banned, but that didn’t mean this man hadn’t snuck in a recording device disguised as a timepiece. Hell, even Thallium still had a knife wedged in his boot that security missed.
And it was that knowledge that made Thallium extra twitchy as the man looked up and focused on the bailiff. Eddie appeared to be watching the bailiff as well, with concern in his eyes as the older man with the thinning gray hair stepped away from Athena after she said, “I do.”
The bailiff’s hands trembled and sweat rolled down the side of his face, even though the air conditioning had been cranked so high Thallium wished he had an extra jacket on.
“Fuck,” he breathed out, and as if his curse were a starter’s pistol, the players were off and running.
Electric pulses shot up Thallium’s legs in warning as Athena turned to take her seat on the stand. The bailiff’s hand went to the gun on his belt as Eddie stood and jumped over the barricade wall.
“No,” he shouted, and knocked into the bailiff, who had lifted his weapon to shoot at Athena.
The older man tumbled to the ground, and as Athena reached for her son, Thallium was on his feet and leaping over the wall. He saw Nicolai duck under the table as an explosion ripped from underneath the witness stand.
Thallium threw his arms over his face. The blast area was small, but powerful enough to knock him back. He coughed and waded through the smoke and splinters of wood paneling that rained from above as people screamed and scattered in all directions like buckshot.
A couple of federal marshals jumped the wall and dragged Nicolai from underneath the table as Agent Rodriguez shouted for backup and medical assistance. Even with all of the chaos, Thallium heard nothing but the blood rushing in his ears as he searched for Athena.
From behind the remains of the stand, he spotted Athena’s legs as she lay trapped beneath the body of her son.
“Eddie,” she shouted and rolled him onto his back. “Eddie!”
Thallium dropped to his knee beside them. “Athena. We’ve got to go.”
“No. We have to save him.” Her hands fluttered like butterflies over her son as if she were uncertain about where to touch him. The young man was out cold and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
“Athena. Now.”
“No.” She pushed him away as he reached for her. “He’s still breathing. We have to save him. Please.”
“Athena, we need to get you out of here. Now.”
He looked up and between the gaps in the crowd of men escorting her ex-husband out of the courtroom, he saw the man with the watch coming at them.
The stranger grabbed a pistol out of one of the marshals’ gun holsters and aimed right at Athena. Thallium leapt in front of her as a big, black hand reached around and covered the man’s face from behind as another jerked his shooting arm out of the way.
“Go,” Tin yelled at him. “We’ll cover you.”
While Tin wrestled the man to the ground, Uranium joined them. “Get her out of here. Chrome and Steele are stuck on the other side of the police barricades. All access to the building has been cut off. You’ll have to go to them.”
Athena sobbed and grabbed his arm. “My son.”
“I’ll stay with him,” Uranium said. “I won’t leave his side. Now go.”
Athena took precious seconds to run her fingers down her son’s cheek before she stood. Thallium wasn’t so patient and grabbed her by the back of her jacket, dragging her into the holding room then out into the hall.
Everywhere they turned, they ran into police or federal agents. Thallium did his best to avoid them, not trusting a single one of those motherfuckers. With the exit to the underground garage blocked by agents, he cursed and kicked in the door to an empty office.
“We’re going out the w-window again, sweetheart.”
A check out the window confirmed the street was clear. He jumped out first, then turned and held his arms open for her to jump into.
He clicked on his earpiece. “We’re out and heading west on Jackson.”
“Roger,” Steele replied. “Rendezvous two blocks over on Elm. Can you make it?”
“Affirmative. We’re on our way. Come on.” He held out his hand and Athena stared at him as if in a daze. “Come on.”
“He jumped in front of me,” she said. “That son of a bitch knew I was set up, but he jumped in front of me.”
“Of course he did. You’re his mother.” He took her hand and kept her moving forward. To point out she had just called herself a bitch was not important at the moment.
A police barricade blocked their path, but Thallium kept going. The police were dealing with the mayhem of fire crews and SWAT appearing on the scene and barely gave them a passing glance as they walked with a brisk stride past them.
Steele roared up in the SUV as they reached the corner. “We’ve got incoming,” he shouted and jerked his head in the direction of the two Range Rovers barreling toward them.
“Get in and get down,” Thallium shouted at Athena and jumped into the back seat with her. “Do we have backup?”
“Mercury is coming in hot with the chopper. ETA fifteen minutes.”
As Steele stepped on the gas, Thallium reached in the back and withdrew two rifles and a pistol, which he gave to Athena. “Emergency use only.”
“Right.” She moved to roll down her window.
“D-don’t f-fuck with me, woman. Let me do my j-job.” Usually the high of a mission going FUBAR tightened his stutter, but Athena’s life was on the line, and the thought of losing her shot his attention all to shit. “Sit. P-please.”
Understanding softened her gaze and she nodded, hunkering down in her seat.
The Rovers split apart and gained on them, rolling up on either side of their SUV.
With Athena as secure as she could be, Thallium rolled down the window and yelled at Steele, “Ready.”
Steele hit the brakes, but Thallium was prepared for the sudden stop and laid a blanket of bullets at the car on his right as it sailed on by. The second Rover shot past them and slammed to a stop and tried to block them, but Steele barreled through the narrow opening between the car and the building, knocking the front fender off their vehicle as he sped past.
The fender bender didn’t stop their pursuers, who continued to give chase. Steele ran red light after red light, dodging traffic and pedestrians as he tried to find an open exit out of town. Soaring through Dealey Plaza, he hit the Commerce Street bridge, doing sixty. Halfway across, he hit the brakes so hard Thallium flew into the front seat.
In front of them two more Rovers blocked the road as their comrades zoomed in to block them from behind.
“Shit. We’re trapped,” said Steele.
“What’s that?” Athena pointed to a black dot in the sky coming in from the west.
“Merc, tell me that’s you,” Steele said into his radio.
“Roger,” replied a gruff voice. “Rolling in to save your asses. Again.”
Any relief over having the cavalry arrive died as Thallium looked through the windshield and saw one of their assailants settle a rocket launcher against his shoulder.
“Incoming,” he shouted, and pulled Athena out of the car.
Gunfire erupted around them, sending chunks of asphalt exploding at their feet. With both exits blocked, the only place to run was to the guardrail.
Heat rolled up his back as the rocket hit the car and flames roared. Athena ran beside him, heading straight for the railing. Suddenly, she jerked as red liquid burst from her thigh.
“Athena,” he screamed as black bits of fabric from her jacket mushroomed into the air as bullets hit her in the back. She stumbled against the guardrail and flipped right over the other side. White rings rippled in the water where she entered. “Athena!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he leapt over the wall and plunged into the Trinity River.
But it wasn’t the Trinity River. Instantly, he was back in the icy Moscow, weighed down by eighty pounds of equipment and a half-dead sergeant in his grip. Water filled his nose and mouth as he struggled, drowning in the tide of memories. He kicked and kicked some more, breaking through the surface ever so briefly to grab a quick gasp of air before being sucked under.
Images flashed before his eyes. His father’s office where he was frequently called in to be taken to task. His mother lying in the bathroom with a needle in her arm. His Elite brothers and sisters as they entered the doomed containership. The day they had moved into the compound in Texas. Athena riding shotgun in his Camaro as they drove into the mountains to his home. Athena.
Athena.
Sunlight burned his eyes and his lungs felt as if they were on fire as he broke through the surface of the water with his past far in his wake.
Athena was his only concern as he dove under the water, squinting through the murky depth for any signs of her. With her dark clothes and hair, it was nearly impossible to differentiate river from woman. Again and again, he went under as panic clawed at his chest with each dive.
A flash of white caught his eye and he swam toward the light. It was a hand. Yes. There she was. The river’s current had swept her downstream, but the bridge’s support beams had stopped her progression. She bobbed, half in and out of the water like a macabre buoy.
“Athena.” The moment he wrapped his arms underneath her, she flinched and moaned.
Her eyes remained shut but her agitated movements gave him hope she was still conscious as he paddled to the side of the river and pulled them onto shore.
Overhead, several more explosions cracked through the air as Mercury opened fire on the enemy, yet none of that mattered.
“Athena. Athena, stay with me.” With his knife, he ripped the leg of her pants off and cut the fabric into strips to use as a tourniquet on her leg. “Athena, please open your eyes. P-please.”
“Tim,” she mumbled but her eyes remain closed.
“Thallium!” Chrome shouted, running toward him.
“She’s been shot,” he cried. “Can’t stop the bleeding.”
“Car’s over there. Let’s get her out of here. Merc’s got those bastards on the run.”
“He better make them dead.”
Of course, he wanted to go after them himself and snap their heads off their spines, but nothing was more important to him than getting Athena to safety.
Together, he and Chrome carried her to the car parked off to the side of the road and loaded her inside. Cradling her in his arms, he stroked her cheek over and over again.
“P-please wake up,” he whispered. “Please. P-please.”