Kill Shot (25 page)

They were running out of time.

All air traffic into London had been
diverted or grounded after the explosion of his building, including
private planes with high-level security clearance. They’d finally
been granted clearance at the military airfield in Kent after Gabe
had called in every favor he’d ever been owed. They still had an
hour ride by train into the city and a ten-minute walk to Oxford
Park Station with only seventy-two minutes left on Kimball’s time
clock. If anything went wrong, Grace would be the one to pay.

“I’ve sent an aerial view of Oxford Park to
each of your computers,” Ethan said. “It’s not in a particularly
good area of town, and the station is a graveyard of sorts for the
old train cars that transported coal.”

Ethan had finally made his way to the safe
house sometime during the night. His electronic setup there wasn’t
quite as extensive as it had been at headquarters, but it was
close.

Jack and Logan joined Gabe on the train into
the city, and they sat in a car that was deserted—mostly because
they’d blocked the entrance at each end—their laptops open on the
small Formica tables, and maps spread open so they could determine
the best route to take once they were there.

“We have to assume the place is wired for
explosives considering what he did to headquarters,” Logan said
softly.

“That’s why you and Jack are going to take
that nifty device Ethan gave us and look for a bomb while you’re
searching for Grace.”

“You can’t think to meet Kimball without
backup,” Jack said, shaking his head.

“I need both of you searching for Grace.
He’s going to want to kill her as soon I make the exchange.”

“And what are you going to do once you’ve
made the exchange?” Jack asked.

“He’s going to want to kill me too. I’m
going to try not to let him.”

“I’ll have the station up on satellite
imagery,” Ethan said. “Body heat will be traceable. If the area
isn’t too saturated with people, I’ll be able to find Grace if
she’s there.”

Gabe tried not to think about what it might
mean if she wasn’t there. He wasn’t going to give up. And he’d be
damned if someone like Kimball was the man to defeat him after all
these years.

“Something else you’re going to have to be
aware of is the 12:05 train,” Ethan said. “It’s not a passenger
train, but it will come through all the same. From what I can tell
from the manifest, it’s transporting steel and building materials.
Four engineers are on board.”

Gabe barely heard Ethan in the background of
his mind. He ran every scenario he could think of through his mind,
and still he couldn’t make the outcome end in his favor.

“Gabe,” Jack said.

Gabe looked up and saw the understanding in
his friend’s gaze. He knew Jack had come to the same conclusions he
had.

“We’re with you to the end, my friend. We’ll
find her,” he promised.”

Gabe nodded at the lie. He would find Grace.
Whether it be in this world or the next.

***

“Satellite is up and running,” Ethan said.
“Shit, this place is fucking crowded for a junkyard. I’m counting
twelve men circulating the area. I can’t tell how heavily they’re
armed. The metal from all the railcars is screwing with my
imaging.”

Gabe checked his watch once more and moved
faster until he was all but running through the streets to Oxford
Park. Jack and Logan had both taken alternate routes, and Kimball
would know he’d bring men with him. They were playing a game in
Kimball’s mind, and Grace had become the pawn.

“Kimball’s already at platform seven,
Ghost,” Ethan said. “He’s having a telephone conversation with
someone, but it’s a secured line, and I’m not able to listen in
with the equipment I have here.”

“Renegade in position,” Jack said.
“Northeast corner.”

“I’ve got you in my sights,” Ethan said.
“You’ve got a man at three o’clock and another at nine.”

“Have you found Grace?” Gabe asked.

“Possibly,” Ethan answered. “I’ve got a weak
heat signal dead center of the lot, and four guards are surrounding
the area. Her heat signal isn’t good, Ghost. She’s either hurt
really bad or she’s locked inside one of the train cars and it’s
messing with my equipment.”

“Help Logan and Jack,” Gabe ordered. “Be
their eyes. I’m going offline.”

“But—”

Gabe flicked the button on his watch and
welcomed the silence. He’d slowed to a walk as he crossed each
platform, his backpack slung over his shoulder, and his breathing
was even, though his heart was racing in his chest. He saw Kimball
in the distance but didn’t hurry to catch up to him. The only way
this would work was if he timed everything just right. He’d have to
trust Jack and Logan to take care of Kimball’s men on the
ground.

“So you’re the infamous Gabe Brennan,”
Kimball said, looking him over slowly from head to toe. “You look
different than the last time we met.”

“As I recall, you were going by the name of
Kenrick the last time you did a job for Tussad.”

“You’ve a good memory. It’s been two years
since I’ve used that name. I believe your daughter was the last job
I did for my good friend Kamir. I had to go underground for a while
after her death. You were very angry, and you must have used every
resource you had to track me down. But I was always a step ahead of
you.”

Gabe didn’t allow any emotion to show at
Kimball’s words. That’s exactly what the man wanted, and control
was important right now. But he now knew with certainty that he was
looking into the eye of his daughter’s murderer. Something in
Gabe’s expression must have given him away because Kimball’s smiled
faded, and he put his hand in the pocket of his windbreaker where
his gun was.

“You know, you’re something of a bogeyman in
agency circles,” Kimball said.

“I’m just a man, Kimball. Like anyone
else.”

“I doubt that,” he said. “Do you have my
painting?”

“It’s close by. Do you have Grace?”

Gabe watched in satisfaction as Kimball’s
jaw clenched in frustration. He was surprised Kimball had lasted as
long as he had in the CIA, showing as much emotion as he was. An
emotional agent was a dead agent.

“What do you mean, ‘It’s close by’?” he
asked. “You were supposed to bring it here.”

“Where’s Grace?” Gabe asked again.

Kimball smiled and took a step closer, and
Gabe watched the hand in Kimball’s pocket, not moving at his
enemy’s obvious threat.

“She’s in one of the railcars, surrounded by
enough explosives to level this entire place to dust. And you’ve
wasted precious time by not bringing the painting with you. You’ll
never find her in the next ten minutes because I’m not letting you
go until I have that painting in my hands.”

A train whistle blew in the distance, and
the sound of gunshots echoed around them, Jack and Logan giving him
the distraction he needed.

“Take your hand out of your pocket, Kimball.
If you kill me, you’ll never get the painting.”

Kimball shrugged and did as he asked. “It
doesn’t matter. My men are busy taking out your team, and you’ve
only got eight minutes left to get me the painting and find your
wife before she’s nothing more than dust. It’s over and you know
it. There’s no way out of this.”

“You underestimate my team.”

The train grew closer, and Gabe shifted his
body weight ever so slightly. “Here’s what we’re going to do,
Kimball,” Gabe called out loud enough so he could be heard over the
approaching train.

The wooden platform rumbled beneath his
feet, and rocks bounced along the tracks. The train wasn’t moving
fast, but it was moving fast enough.

“You and I are both going to walk away from
here today with exactly what we want. There are other days for me
to kill you. It’ll be the last reprieve you ever get from me.”

Kimball’s eyes widened in understanding as
the train came by, and Gabe tossed the backpack he was carrying
into an open railcar. Fury and panic raced across Kimball’s face as
he began running so he could grab hold of the train before it left
him.

“She’s dead, Brennan. This game is over,”
Kimball yelled back as he disappeared down the tracks.

Gabe pulled his weapon from the small of his
back and flipped on his com link as he began running.

“Where is she, Ethan?” Gabe yelled into the
link. Long-forgotten prayers circled through his mind as he took
out one of Kimball’s men with a single shot to the head. Ethan had
seen her heat signature. She wasn’t dead yet. She couldn’t be.

“Veer right,” Ethan said. “You’ve got a man
gaining behind you, and you’re about to intercept another coming
around one of the railcars.”

Gabe slid feet first to his left and twisted
so he had the man behind him in his sights. It only took one shot
to bring him down. The man coming from around the corner had to
spend precious seconds searching for him, even though he’d heard
how close the shots had been fired. Gabe hit his target before the
man could even glance down in his direction. He rolled from beneath
the railcar and kept running.

“Shit,” Logan muttered. “I found the
explosives.”

“Can you disarm?” Gabe asked.

There was a slight pause before Logan
answered. “Maybe.”

Which meant no in Gabe’s estimation.

“It’s the next car on your left,” Ethan
said. “Check in, Renegade. You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“I’m here,” Jack muttered. “Asshole wouldn’t
die. I’m headed toward Grace.”

“You and Logan clear out now,” Gabe ordered.
“I’ll get Grace and we’ll meet at the safe house. Is this the one,
Ethan?”

The railroad car was burnt orange in color
and rusted with age. Graffiti littered the sides in lime green and
black, and the door was closed and bolted with a padlock.

“That’s the one,” Ethan assured him.

Gabe shot at the lock and tossed the remains
to the ground. Jack skidded around the corner at that moment and
helped him push back the heavy door.

“I ordered you to clear out,” Gabe told
him.

“It looks like I didn’t listen.”

“Almost there,” Logan said under his breath.
“This is a sophisticated bastard.”

Gabe vaulted into the railcar and almost
didn’t see Grace huddled in the corner. Her clothes were in
tatters, and blood and bruises covered her body. He held back the
cold rage that wanted to take over—the urge to throw his head back
and scream at whoever had let this happen to her—but instead he
fell to his knees beside her.

He felt for the pulse in her throat, saying
a prayer as it beat steadily under his fingers and thankful that
she wasn’t conscious to feel the pain he was sure to inflict on
her.

“Damn,” Logan said. “Less than two minutes
on the timer. Get out of there.”

“Go, Jack. That’s an order,” he said before
Jack could tell him no. “You too, Logan.”

Gabe didn’t know where to touch Grace. There
didn’t seem to be a spot on her body that wasn’t damaged, but as
gently as he could, he lifted her in his arms and hopped out of the
railcar, trying not to jostle her too much. He growled as he saw
Jack waiting for him with his weapon out, ready to guard his back
as they made their way out of the station. He didn’t bother to yell
at Jack for disobeying orders. There wasn’t time.

They ran through the maze of railcars and
across the dilapidated platforms, the air completely still, as if
it knew its very existence was in danger. They ran with a strength
neither of them knew they possessed, and still it wouldn’t be
enough.

“Logan, are you clear of the area?
Report.”

There was silence on the other end until
Ethan spoke up. “He turned off his com link a few seconds ago, but
the satellite imaging shows he’s still with the bomb.”

They couldn’t have more than a few seconds
left, and they still weren’t clear of the blast zone. Gabe tucked
Grace closer to his body and headed toward the opposite side of the
train tracks, his body drenched in sweat and fear.

He’d just placed Grace in a steep ditch and
covered her with his body to protect her from debris when Logan
came back on their com link.

“We’re clear,” Logan said, his breath a
touch unsteady. “She’s neutralized.”

Gabe rolled to his back and looked up at the
gray clouds that gathered in the sky, his breath heaving in and out
of his chest. The sky around them gave a great whoosh, and it was
if the air started breathing again. He’d never forget what the
grass felt like beneath him or how eerie such complete silence
was.

Gabe turned his head and saw Jack sitting
next to him with his knees drawn up and his head down as if he were
in prayer. Maybe he was.

“I swear to God, Jack, the next shit
missions I’m sent are going to be assigned to you and Logan. When I
give you an order, I expect you to fucking obey it.”

“I’ll gladly take whatever shit job you
throw my way,” he said, nodding. “To tell you the truth, I could
use a low-key babysitting job. Preferably by the beach
somewhere.”

Gabe laughed before he could help it, the
adrenaline in his body beginning to ebb. He’d be shaking like a
woman if he didn’t laugh. Or crying. He looked at Grace and took
her hand gently in his, but as quickly as he’d let his guard down,
it was back in place in an instant. The sound of shoes scraping
against gravel had his gun out and pointed across the tracks.

He lowered it as Logan walked toward them
with a bag tossed over his shoulder—probably what was left of the
bomb—his jeans torn and bloody at the knees and his gun held down
at his side. Jesus, they’d cut it close. And they sure as hell
wouldn’t be sitting there if Logan hadn’t just saved their
asses.

The soft squeezing against his hand jerked
his gaze down, and he saw a thin slit of green through Grace’s
swollen eyes.