Cold Snap (41 page)

Perhaps they could simply lay low and pray
the gang would be content with leaving with the laptop. But the way
the majority of them angled across the parking lot told him they
were looking for much more.

Two men were staring at the Sprinter. Ari
reached out and pulled the blanket back up over Abu Jasim's
head.

"God's fool," he whispered, an incantation
intended to wish his friend luck.

One of the ninjas pressed against the wall
and tested the doorknob to the room where they had left the laptop.
Ari had intentionally left it unlocked, a tacit invitation.

The door swung open. A second man flung
himself inside, falling to the floor, gun raised. Ari was surprised
and a little dismayed that the ninja had enough self-control not to
begin shooting immediately. The man behind him jumped over and
crouched against the bathroom door. That was as far inside as Ari
could see. There was a shout, and a moment later the rest of the
group piled into the room. Then a man came out carrying the laptop
captured at A-Zed, the power cord draped over his arm.

Ari's phone vibrated.

"We've got a couple of squads here, Ari,"
came Lawson's low voice. "I don't think we can back away. Got a
goon looking my way."

"I, also," said Ari.

"So what's the plan?"

"Stay put," said Ari and closed the
phone.

The man from the first van came over and took
the laptop. He planted it on the hood of an old Ford and studied
the screen. He pressed a few buttons, then shook his head. He took
out his phone and spoke into it. Startled, Ari glanced around and
noted the driver of the first van had a phone raised to his
head.

The man standing next to the Ford slammed the
laptop shut and stalked over to the first van. He made a giddyap
motion with his arm while handing the laptop through the window to
the driver. A moment later, a bound man was dragged into the middle
of the lot. His head was covered by what seemed to be a gym bag.
The first man whipped the bag off the prisoner's head.

It was Sung-Soo Rhee's nephew.

The first man drew a gun from his waistband
and held it to the young prisoner's head. The nephew immediately
began blubbering in Korean.

"I know you're here!" the first man shouted.
"Come out now and we'll spare him and you! We only want the copy
you made!"

Ari rang Ben.

"Yeah?" the vet answered tensely from the
motel room adjoining the first room.

"No matter what you hear, stay where you
are," Ari said. "I will deal with this swine."

"I peeked out the window. There's a lot more
than one swine."

"I don't know the plural," said Ari, and hung
up.

From the way the two ninjas were staring at
the Sprinter, it was obvious they had already spotted his
silhouette through the window. With deep sadness he put the AR-15
to the side and slid open the panel door. The two men who had been
watching quickly ran up when he raised his hands. He wished he
could see the first man's face when he saw he wasn't Korean.

One of the ninjas punched Ari in the stomach.
He was pleased that the pain was not so very bad, but he cried out
and dropped to his knees in thespian agony. Then he squirmed in his
jogging outfit and thought:

It does hurt, rather.

The first man raced up to him and studied him
closely.

"You're the man from A-Zed," he said.

Ari gasped dramatically. "I
have...ordered...trinkets. Did you know...Virginia is for
Lovers?"

"You're working with that cripple, aren't
you? Where is he? And where's your geek?"

"My Greek...is in my other trousers."

The first man smacked him hard, then
backhanded him for good measure. Ari reeled, regained his balance,
and rose from the tarmac.

"You are a most unpleasant man."

"Where's your geek?" the man demanded. "I can
see you are a computer illiterate. Who broke the password?"

"I am not illiterate," said Ari,
offended.

"If we have to hunt him down, we'll kill all
of you."

"Ah, but Sayid Mohammed, you are a
promiscuous torturer and incinerator of humans."

Mohammed was startled. "What are you saying,
'incinerator—'"

"Didn't Hasan tell you? I mentioned it to him
at A-Zed. He was quite surprised."

"He told me."

"Would I really be foolish enough to think
you would let my geek live? That is why I immediately sent him
away, as soon as he told me you were...what was the word he
used?...'pinging' him. I must say, that sounds rather risqué."

"Fuck!" said Mohammed.

"Exactly," said Ari.

Mohammed turned to the man who had slugged
Ari. "Again."

The man punched Ari again. Ari chose to laugh
it off. In his face.

"You hit like a Baghdad whore. I'm sure you
would enjoy being buggered, but my list is full."

The man cried out and hit Ari again.

"You're becoming a nuisance," said Ari,
wondering what it would be like to be shot. It was something
marvelous that it had not happened before.

Another man came up and put a gun to the head
of Rhee's nephew.

"Do it!" Mohammed shouted.

The young man screamed.

"Hold on, hold on," came a new voice.

Ari's heart sank when Lawson laboriously
stepped out of his Land Cruiser and began working his way across
the lot. When the man who had been eyeing his SUV raised his gun,
he paused a moment to shrug.

"You don't want me to enjoy my testosterone
moment? You want to shoot a one-armed, one-eyed, one legged man?
I've got a lot to lose, as you can see."

His laugh was truly gruesome.

"Let him pass," said Mohammed. "Come over
here."

When Lawson dragged out his approach, Sayid
Mohammed grew even more impatient.

"Hurry!"

"Yes, you're expecting company, aren't you. I
guess you've had your fill of doughnut-eating killer cops."

"You were at A-Zed, too."

"I'm glad you noticed. People tend to treat
me like the invisible man."

He drew up next to Ari, who murmured,
"Idiot."

Lawson grunted and turned to Mohammed. "Isn't
anyone going to punch me, too? This is discrimination!"

"You are not the geek," said Mohammed.

"More discrimination! Who says a computer
geek has to be a pimply jerkoff who doesn't know his ass from his
elbow? Old cripples have uses too, you know. I sit in my office all
day and hack companies like A-Zed. What else do you expect me to
do? Dance the light fantastic?"

"Is the geek observing us right now?"
Mohammed demanded. "What would he think if I..." He raised his gun
to Ari's head.

A room door swung open and Ben stepped out
and shouted:

"I'm here, I'm here!"

Everyone in the parking lot gaped at him as
he began to stroll over to Lawson and Ari.

"Two idiots," said Lawson.

"Three," said Ari when he saw a pair of hands
appear at the edge of the door Ben had come out of.

"Don't you shoot me!" Ahmad shouted. "If you
shoot me you'll never found out who I sent your files to!"

"The geek," said Mohammed with grim
satisfaction. "Come out, geek! Let us see your piss-soaked
face!"

Ben had stopped and was looking back in
disgust at Ahmad. As the boy passed him, he gave him a punch in the
arm.

"Thanks a lot."

Wincing, Ahmad hurried forward, only to be
slapped upside the head by Ari.

"Stop dragging your feet. It annoys me no
end."

"Ow! I'm trying to save you!"

"You've just killed us, all of us."

"Aw, no." Ahmad turned frightened eyes on the
face-hidden man before him. "I uploaded a file with all sorts of
names. Arabic names, and more. It's in the cloud. That's new. The
file automatically downloads to the FBI if I don't stop the clock.
It's password protected."

"My geek can crack passwords," Mohammed said,
nodding at Rhee's nephew.

"Like hell," Lawson laughed. "He was phished
like a complete novice. How do you think we got the file in the
first place?"

"If you hurt any of the others," Ahmad
continued, "I won't tell you the password. And even if your guy can
figure out the password, he won't know what site I used."

This amused Mohammed greatly. "You'll talk.
Take the others into the room and kill them."

The gang began moving forward as one. Lawson
said:

"Now hold on thar, pardner. I take it you're
the boss here?"

"What of it?" said Mohammed.

"Nothing much." Lawson sent a mangled grin
Ari's way. "Light 'im up."

Ari went breathless when three laser
targeting dots appeared on the back of Mohammed's head. When he
heard the gasps from some of his men, Mohammed turned and flung up
his hand against the ruby light.

"That's right, Wolfman," said Lawson,
reaching out and poking Mohammed. "Tag."

Mohammed turned back, his eyes wide in his
ski mask. "You're bluffing. Those are only laser pointers."

He jumped to the side. One of the targeting
lights shifted onto a motel coach lamp, which exploded a second
later. Mohammed stopped dead.

"That's right, pardner," said Lawson,
obviously enjoying himself. "You got enough firepower here to snuff
a small garrison, but you won't live to see it."

Like everyone present, Lawson's breath rolled
out from him in a roiling cascade, only his was accompanied by a
necrotic stench. He had left his Therabreath behind, or forgotten
to use it in the tension of the hour.

Ben came up and patted Ahmad gently on the
back. The young man jumped in surprise. Then, in turn, he patted
Ari and Lawson.

"God is with us," he said. "There's no need
for fear."

"Yeah," said Ahmad, looking unconvinced.

Ari and Lawson, focused on the man before
them, hardly heard.

"Three shots to the head," said Lawson to
Mohammed. "I figure your brain will end up all over everyone, your
teeth will spray over the lot, your eyeballs...ever seen an eyeball
popped out of a man's head? I've had some experience in this
matter." He hooked his cane on his forearm and pointed at his glass
eye.

Once again, Ari's predictions were outclassed
by events. Lawson had come better prepared for the unanticipated.
Had his men been waiting in a separate car, or had he gone to the
trouble of setting up the ambush before walking into the motel
room? In any event, he intended to take full advantage of the
moment. He stepped forward and snapped off Mohammed's
balaclava.

"Ooh," said Lawson. "You're as ugly as you
look. And I know ugly. That scar on your head helps some. You got
that at A-Zed?"

Ari reached out to take Mohammed's gun, but
the man's grip tightened. His dread turned his face to stone, but
his eyes were lively, shifting. Most often, they seemed directed at
the first van.

"Elmore," he said, "you might want to place
one of those targeting lights on the driver of that van over
there."

"Got that?" said Lawson to a hidden
microphone.

One of the ruby lights shifted off the back
of Mohammed's head onto the cab of the van. The driver raised his
hand to block the light as it glanced on his eyes. Gauging
Mohammed's expression, Ari reached out again. The gun slid easily
from his hand. Noting this, Lawson said, "Put another spot on that
van."

"Can I go back in the room, now?" said
Ahmad.

Ari was surveying the parking lot. A few of
the improvised ninjas looked edgy, as though they were prepared to
start shooting no matter what the consequences. Something besides
the invisible snipers was holding them in place. Fear of the
leader, uncertainty over the whereabouts of Rhee's immigration
list, or both. But before he could play with either of these
possibilities there was a howl from the Sprinter and Abu Jasim
charged out.

"God is great!" he bellowed, brandishing an
MGL grenade launcher.

Everyone but Lawson dropped to the ground.
Ari frantically scanned the gang, ready to snap off a shot at
anyone to took aim at Abu Jasim.

"Stand up!" Abu Jasim shouted. "Stand up,
before I blow you to pieces on the ground!"

Slowly, everyone rose. To Ari's alarm, he
focused on Ben.

"You! You stole my Thunderbird!"

"Stop that, now!" Ari commanded.

Abu Jasim shot him a menacing look. Ari was
not intimidated, but everyone else was. There were murmurs from the
gang members. It was fucking Saddam Hussein! Fucking Saddam Hussein
with a fucking grenade launcher! And he looked crazier than
ever!

Abu Jasim strolled over to the nearest ninja.
"Take off that stupid hat. It makes you look like a translator for
the Americans."

Ari bristled at his tone. He had spent a fair
amount of time wearing such a ski mask while translating for the
Americans.

The ninja stared at the rocket propelled
grenade aimed at his midriff and slowly began removing his
balaclava.

"I'd feel a lot better with something in my
hand," Ben murmured.

"Want my Berretta?" Lawson asked, turning to
him. "I'm shooting by proxy."

"Thanks, but Ari gave me a loaner." Ben drew
a handgun from under his coat.

"Holy, holy, holy," Lawson intoned.

Abu Jasim stared at the unmasked man before
him. "Hey, what are you? Hey Colonel, I think we got a Chaldean
here! He's as white as a Kurd's ass!"

"He's Yousif Habbi," said Ari, his mental
Rolodex rolling through old police files. "His family sneaked into
America after the Uprising. Age, twenty-nine, he has macular scars
with depigmented centers from when the police put their cigarettes
out on his back."

Yousif reeled in horror. The other ninjas
shifted uneasily, not knowing if to shoot or run. Then one of them
said aloud, "It's the Godless One."

"Who?" Mohammed said, half turning to face
the gang, only to wince when the targeting light pinked his
pupil.