24
“Jason!” Dalton called out as they raced down the steps with Secret Service emblazoned across the back of their vests. “Locke is going to bomb the exchange!”
Dalton threw the vest at him and handed him the M-16. People were giving them wide berth, and some were even taking pictures. Dalton stepped into the street and held up his hand. A minivan screeched to a halt and a scared woman clung to the steering wheel.
“Secret Service. I need your vehicle. It’s a matter of national security,” Dalton yelled, but the woman just shook her head.
“We don’t have time for this,” Grant told him as he looked around for another ride.
Dalton slammed the butt of the gun through the driver’s window. “I said it’s a matter of fucking national security!” He reached inside and opened the door as the woman screamed. He used his knife, sliced the seat belt, and dragged her out as he hit the unlock button. Jason jumped into the back and Grant took the front as Dalton sped away. With his hand on the horn and weaving in and out of traffic, it wouldn’t take long to get there, but could they find Locke in time?
Valeria’s arms sliced through the air as she sprinted straight down the middle of Broad Street. Lizzy was right behind her. Neither talked. Eleven minutes. Valeria was counting down in her head. They wouldn’t make it.
“There!” Lizzy shouted. Two blocks ahead was Wall Street. The cobbled street was cut in half by barricades as a large American flag stretched across the six Corinthian columns starting around two to three stories up from the ground and stretching upward toward the pediment. The sculpture of Integrity, with her arms stretched outward and her hands clenched in fists, came into view right as a minivan slid to a stop before hitting the barricades.
A large mountain of man in Kevlar leapt from the front. “Grant!” Valeria screamed over the traffic at the same time shouting erupted.
“Ten minutes,” Lizzy called out from behind her as the men ran toward them.
“We have to get these people out of here,” Valeria yelled as Jason went right toward the guards and began talking to them.
“We know Locke,” Dalton told them as they stood with their hands on their hips in the middle of Broad Street as hundreds of people came and went. “You two get people out of here. Folks in the other buildings should find a safe place to hunker down or evacuate away from the exchange.”
“I’ll block the street with the minivan. Good luck.” Lizzy placed a quick kiss on Dalton’s cheek and then ran toward the minivan.
“Stay safe, lass,” Grant whispered to Val. She closed her eyes for one second taking in his voice, the press of his lips on hers, the hardness of a gun being shoved into her hand, and then he was gone. When she opened her eyes, the fear was pressed deep inside her as she surveyed the best way to evacuate thousands of people.
Alex’s body shook, but his fingers did not. “Nine minutes,” he said out loud. “I got through to the security at the exchanges. Let’s hope they believe my bomb threat. The exchange hasn’t frozen trading yet, though.”
“Shut it down,” Roxie said in the same voice devoid of emotion. “The group is working on the other locations. I almost have London’s exchange safely closed and the bomb threat was called in. I fully expect we’ll be shut down quickly since they’ll have our phones.”
“Birch will take care of it,” Alex said as he worked his way through the highly protected firewall of the exchange. “This is going to take a while.”
“We don’t have a while,” Roxie reminded him. “Dark Surfer has Australia taken care of. He’s called in three threats to different agencies and trading has been frozen. He’s moving onto Zurich now.”
“Fire Dragon is locking down Hong Kong,” Alex said as the message flashed across the top of his computer. “He needs five more minutes.”
“Eight minutes,” Roxie said as the clock continued to move.
“Why the fuck aren’t you evacuating?” Dalton demanded as the guard outside the main entrance refused to let him in without authorization. A couple of the guards moved Dalton and Grant away from the entrance and to the side of the building as a few more guards began to surround them. Jason had taken off the Kevlar and was mingling through the pedestrians as a fire alarm sounded in the building Valeria had ran into. Six minutes.
“Why don’t you show us your badge?” the main officer asked with his hand on the butt of his holstered gun.
“Call the president. He ordered us here,” Dalton said with clenched teeth. This was the one time he’d kill for identification. The guards laughed and Grant nudged him. When Dalton looked up, Grant was focused beyond the cluster of guards they were standing with at the side of the building. Flashing a badge and walking right through security was none other than Brandon Locke.
His hair had turned lighter, his features leaner, but there was no mistaking that sharp nose and the scar that ran along his cheek. There was no doubt in the way he held himself, the way he walked with purpose, that he was ex-military. And there was no doubt there was a bomb in the bag he carried in his right hand.
A second alarm sounded from behind them and the guards turned to look. It was the building Lizzy had gone into after blocking traffic a block away. But there were still too many people on the street and Locke was almost to the front door.
“I’m calling this in,” the officer said, pulling out his walkie.
“Shit,” Dalton cursed as he shoved the guard in front of him out of the way and sprinted forward as Grant pushed the guards down and went into the middle of the street.
“Gas leak! Evacuate the area immediately!” Grant yelled a moment before a taser was shot at him. Grant rolled his eyes as he yanked it out of the vest.
“Locke!” Dalton yelled. The man stopped as he walked toward the front doors. In one hand was a duffle bag, and Dalton knew exactly what was inside it. If Locke made it inside and that bomb went off, Mollia Domini would win. The exchange would be crippled. The market would crash. Retirements, savings, pensions—all gone.
“Five minutes!” Grant yelled as he shoved people away from the exchange. Guards rushed him and the sound of a helicopter grew so loud that Dalton momentarily looked away from Locke.
“NYPD!” Dalton heard Crew’s voice boom out from a speaker on the helicopter. “Evacuate the area immediately!”
Locke looked around, and his eyes caught Dalton’s. They stared, and when recognition set in, Locke ran. Dalton hurdled the security blockade as he used every ounce of energy to push himself harder and faster.
Locke’s hand was on the door when Dalton tackled him. His shoulder rammed into Locke’s side, sending them crashing to the sidewalk. Dalton didn’t hear Crew continuing to evacuate the area from the air. He didn’t notice the doors to the exchange open as people ran screaming from the building. All he saw was what looked like a car’s key fob remote in Locke’s left hand and Locke’s finger reaching for the red button.
“I’ll blow us right now,” Locke grunted as Dalton smashed his hand into his stomach.
Dalton grabbed for Locke’s hand as Valeria came out of nowhere and slammed her foot into his face. Blood poured from Locke’s now crooked nose. “Key fob detonator!” Dalton yelled as Grant and Valeria joined the fight.
Valeria didn’t like the order Dalton had just given her to try to keep Locke alive, but it was an order from Dalton, and she’d follow it. She fought to get Locke in a stranglehold as Dalton and Grant grappled for the detonator. But Locke was a fighter, a dirty one at that. She should have seen it coming, but she didn’t. He pulled a knife with his right hand as he kept the key fob closed tightly in his left fist.
“Dalton!” Valeria screamed, but the warning was too late. The blade slid into Dalton’s hip. Dalton grunted as Locke twisted the blade. He smiled, his teeth outlined in blood from where she’d broken his nose.
Val had had enough. She would take this son of a bitch out now and be done with it. She didn’t care that sirens were approaching. They had less than three minutes left and she refused to let Locke or anyone from Mollia Domini win.
“Two minutes!” Crew called from the helicopter hovering above the exchange.
Val bent to brace her arm into place across Locke’s throat when pain exploded in the side of her head. Valeria screamed as a man bashed the side of her head with his closed fist. “Miss me?” Manuel’s thug dug his hands into her hair and dragged her away from Locke who flashed a victorious smile.
“You didn’t think I’d come alone, did you?” He laughed as Valeria struggled. Grant was up with his gun drawn, leaving Dalton to grapple with Locke.
“Get the bomb!” Val ordered to Grant. “I can take care of myself!” Valeria placed her hands over the man’s hands on the top of her head from where she sat on the ground. She brought her knees up, planting her feet on the ground and pushed off her right leg. She used the force and momentum to kick with her left. The toes of her sneakers slammed into his forehead as she tried to twist away. Suddenly he let go and Valeria was free. She rolled away from him and leapt up to see Lizzy standing over his unconscious body.
Another man was already closing in on them while Val scanned the area. People were pouring out of all exits at the exchange, screaming. The officers had their hands full with the evacuation to the point they didn’t even see Dalton lying across Locke as he tried to pry his fingers open. And another man was raising his hand with a gun aimed right for Grant.
“Grant, watch out!” Valeria yelled from where she threw a punch at one of Locke’s men before pulling out her gun and shooting him. The man with the gun aimed at Grant and fired as Grant dove behind one of the steel barrier posts lining the sidewalk. Bullets pinged off the post and into the Kevlar of Grant’s shoulders and back.
“I got him,” Lizzy yelled over the panic as she closed in on the new man coming at Valeria. Valeria took off toward the man storming at Grant. She was behind him as she fired. The man fell forward to the ground, blood running from his head.
“Forty seconds,” Crew yelled over the loudspeaker as he buzzed the area, ordering people to evacuate.
Grant was already up and running toward her as they both hurried to Dalton’s side. Valeria stopped next to him and aimed the gun at Locke’s head.
Locke just laughed. “It’s over. The bomb detonates on its own. You get to go to hell with all these people and me. What a dilemma. You take the bomb, but then I press this button and it explodes in your hand. You fight me for the fob and the bomb explodes anyway because you’ll never get it before the timer goes off.”
“Get the bomb!” Lizzy yelled as she delivered an uppercut that sent another Locke goon crashing to the ground.
“Take it and we all die right now, but in another twenty-five seconds we’ll all die anyway.” Locke gave a bloody, toothy smile of victory as he looked at Dalton to his right.
“I don’t think so, Locke.”
Locke’s head spun to the left as Jason stabbed a knife into Locke’s wrist, slicing through the soft tissue it came in contact with. Blood sprayed across Valeria’s legs and the fob dropped to the ground. Grant grabbed it as Locke stared in shock at his mutilated hand and up to Jason’s cold face.
“Wolski, you bastard. It’s too late. You’re a dead man.”
“Get the fuck out! Fifteen seconds!” Crew shouted as he pulled his helicopter up and started to fly out of the blast zone.
“I’ve been a dead man since your group killed my wife. But I’ll be damned if I let you take another person to hell with you.” Jason pulled the gun from his holster and fired.
“Run!” Valeria yelled as Locke stared back at them with open eyes and a trickle of blood running from the bullet hole in the center of his forehead.
Grant grabbed Val’s hand and Dalton was already taking off after Lizzy, but Valeria turned at the last minute and saw Jason grab the bomb. “JASON! NO!”
“Eight, seven, six,” Dalton was counting down as they ran. Grant tugged her to follow and the last thing Valeria saw was Jason stuffing the bomb in a thick cement flower planter.
“Three, two—” Grant flung Val forward around the corner of the building across the street and covered her body with his as the earth shook. Windows cracked as heat and debris filled the air. Then silence. The only thing she could hear was the ringing in her ears.
Valeria looked around, seeing Dalton and Lizzy farther up the street from them turn and look at the exchange. Val felt Grant flip her over. His mouth was moving, but she didn’t hear anything except for the ringing.
Valeria looked over Grant’s shoulder at the exchange. She couldn’t see it through the smoke and dust. It had to still be standing or Mollia Domini would have won, regardless of Locke’s death, because if the exchange went down, the markets would be completely wiped out. There would be no more trading, no more stock market, it would be even worse than the 1929 crash. And in today’s global economy, if any of the bombs succeeded, then there would be a ripple effect and every market around the world would suffer.
“Val!” Off in the distance, a whisper of her name drew her attention. It was Grant, right next to her, yelling her name.
“I can barely hear you,” Valeria yelled.
“Are you hurt?” Grant screamed, even though it still sounded like a slightly louder whisper.
Valeria shook her head, but then it came back to her. “Jason!”