No Test for the Wicked: A Lexi Carmichael Mystery, Book Five (21 page)

Someone yelled something in Urdu and the shooting stopped. I didn’t dare move.

Then a voice shouted out, “Lexi Carmichael? Come out and I won’t kill you.”

Chapter Thirty

Zogby. He knew who I was, too, most certainly thanks to Ice Eyes. I didn’t answer, but I could feel Wally squirm beneath me.

There was some more chatter in Urdu, but someone hushed them. I held my breath as Zogby spoke.

“Yes, I know who you are. You’re not a student. You’re a computer expert pretending to be a student at this school. What exactly you are doing is unclear, but I know enough. In fact, I know quite a bit about you...and your family. Come out, Lexi, and we’ll end this peacefully.”

I didn’t feel a peaceful vibe from him at all. Actually, I felt sick. He’d referenced my family. What was that supposed to mean?

I hadn’t answered, so Zogby said, “Ms. Carmichael, will you come out for this?”

I heard a squeal and then a soft voice said, “L-Lexi?”

I closed my eyes the second I recognized the voice. Bonnie Swanson.

“I’m going to kill the headmistress unless you emerge peacefully,” Zogby said. “Step out with your hands above your head. I will count to three and then I’ll shoot her once in the forehead, exactly as I did to Mr. Fitzgerald. Don’t think I won’t do it. After that, I’ll parade a succession of students in here, shooting each one of them until you come out peacefully. Do you understand me?”

I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t keep shooting up the place and kill me. Then I realized they didn’t want to draw the attention of the police just yet. They had shot just a few times with silencers, so the police might not detect it. However, if the police heard a lot of shooting, it was highly probable they would come storming in, figuring the hostage situation had gone bad. It was also possible Zogby presumed I had the guard’s gun, which I didn’t. But I
did
have Jouret’s gun. Regardless, it meant that they were worried I would make a lot of noise and trigger a police invasion earlier than they wanted. Apparently they didn’t want anything to interfere with their grand finale.

Zogby spoke. “One.”

I wasn’t going to let Zogby shoot Bonnie even if it meant giving up my own life. I slid the gun into Wally’s hand, putting my mouth to his ear and whispering, “You’ve got the gun now. Three bullets. Protect yourself, okay?”

Wally nodded and I was beyond grateful he didn’t try to protest or argue.

“Two.”

I slid off Wally and sat up. “Okay, Zogby. I’m coming out.”

I staggered to standing, put my hands up and braced for a shot. None came. Zogby had the gun pressed to Bonnie’s forehead. Her blue eyes were filled with tears, her face grimy and her blouse torn and stained. Despite her terror, she looked surprised when she saw me. I probably looked unrecognizable—nothing short of a walking zombie—with a bruised and battered face, ripped clothes and blood from Wally and myself smeared all over my arms and face.

To my relief, Zogby lowered the gun. He strode toward me. “How in the hell do you know my name?”

“Oops. Guess I shouldn’t have said that.” Elvis had said we needed to stall, so that’s what I’d try to do...if I didn’t get shot first.

“Just who are you?”

“I thought you already knew my life story.”

“Enlighten me.”

“It’s pretty boring. I’m just an ordinary, old-fashioned American girl.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why did you kill Hadim?”

I felt my stomach twist.
Hadim.
That was his name. It felt surreal and surprisingly painful to give a name to a man I’d just tried to choke to death.

I lowered my hands. “He tried to kill me. Call it self-preservation.”

“You are unarmed. Where is his gun?”

“In the computer room. Under the desk. If you don’t believe me, you can check.”

Zogby turned around and barked an order. One of the guys in the doorway disappeared.

“What about that kid who was with you?”

I shrugged. “As soon as we started fighting, he ran the other direction. I don’t blame him. He’s probably hiding somewhere in the school.”

Zogby issued another order and several more guards disappeared. He returned his attention to me.

“For one girl, you’ve caused a lot of problems.”

“Wow. You sound just like my mother.”

He didn’t appear amused. Instead he strode over to me and pressed the gun to my head. Strangely I felt no terror.

Bonnie started to cry. “No. Please don’t hurt her. Please.”

Bonnie didn’t sound like a headmistress anymore. She certainly didn’t look thirty years old. I guess facing death stripped a person to their most vulnerable state.

I was having more of an out-of-body experience, as if I were watching the situation happen to someone else. Somehow I’d come to terms with the knowledge I’d done everything I could. Hopefully it had been enough to save Elvis and the kids. At this point, their fate was no longer in my hands. Perhaps there was peace to be found in that.

“Wait.”

Half a dozen guns cocked as Elvis stood from his spot behind the cabinet and walked toward me. “You’re not nearly as smart as you think, Zogby. You’re about to fail on a spectacularly international level.”

Zogby looked as if his eyes were going to pop out of his head. “Where did you come from?”

Elvis stopped beside me, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. While I wanted to throttle him for exposing himself, I felt a rush of immense gratitude that I wouldn’t die alone. I squeezed his hand back.

“I’m just another person who slipped through your net. We all know what you’re doing. The
Shahids
, Operation Dove, the bitcoins.”

Zogby looked incredulous. “Are you a...student?”

“You made a colossal mistake choosing this school and making children your pawns. Children have the international right of non-combatant immunity. By involving them, you taint your cause in the crudest, most disingenuous way. This entire operation has backfired on you. Instead of exposing the U.S.’s clandestine participation in Operation Dove and sabotaging the process as you’d intended, you have handily provided the U.S. government with a springboard—which now includes full international support—to become actively involved in the Pakistani peace process.”

Zogby opened his mouth and then shut it without saying anything. His eyes were even wider than they were moments before.

I unlinked hands with Elvis and clapped. “Wow. I
so
could not have said that better.”

Elvis gave me a small grin. His hair fell over his one of his eyes in a gesture so familiar my heart skipped a beat. “Well, it’s good to know you’re impressed. We’ll have to talk more politics sometime.”

Zogby’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know of the Pakistani negotiations?”

Elvis faced him calmly. “We found the files on the laptop and we’re aware that your plan to extort information from two U.S. senators on Operation Dove has failed.”

“It hasn’t failed. We have the information.”

“Perhaps, but it doesn’t matter now. You made two crucial mistakes. Method matters and children matter. Maybe you see it differently, but in the West, using children as hostages to promote a political cause is morally repugnant. You’ve just rallied the entire nation, our allies and probably even people who don’t even like us, to oppose you.”

Zogby sneered. “I don’t care what the West thinks. I care only that my people know the truth.”

“Oh, your
people
definitely know the truth now. You’ve made it perfectly clear to everyone why the Pakistani government didn’t invite you to the table.”

Furious, Zogby raised the gun at Elvis.

I shrieked “No!” just as Wally jumped up from behind the desk, firing three shots in rapid succession at Zogby.

Zogby screamed and then went down as all chaos broke loose.

Elvis and I dropped to the floor as at least two guards fired at Wally. One missed and shattered a classroom window.

Suddenly someone began firing at the guards from out in the hallway. There was more yelling as the guards turned their guns away from us and started peppering the hallway with gunfire at unknown assailants.

The shouting, smoke and horrible sound of gunfire made my ears ring. I rolled toward the teacher’s desk, covering my head with my hands as Elvis launched forward, grabbing Bonnie by the arm, pulling her toward him. He dragged her behind a cabinet just as another guard stepped into the classroom and started spraying automatic gunfire around the room. The rest of the classroom windows shattered and chunks of plaster and paint fell from the wall, showering me with white powder.

I tensed for more gunfire when the guard abruptly went down. Someone had shot him.

Hooray! It looked like the good guys were finally in the house.

It was about freaking time.

I pushed to my knees, cutting my palms on broken glass and plaster chunks, and crawled behind the desk.

“Wally!” He was lying on his side, unmoving. Panicked, I rolled him over, relieved when I heard him moan.

“Jesus H. Christ!” I shouted, the terror that had gripped my throat when I thought he was dead changing to anger. “What in the hell were you doing? I said to protect yourself, not play Rambo.”

“Ouch...I’ve been shot.”

There was so much blood everywhere—on me and on him—I had no idea where he’d been hit.

“Where? Where does it hurt, Wally?”

“Everywhere. Right side especially. My shoulder.”

I pushed off some wood shards from the desk and inspected his shoulder. The wound was bleeding, but not gushing, which was good. I pulled off my sweater and then my polo shirt, and pressed the soft cotton against the wound, the goose bumps rising on my back and arms.

I looked up and saw Elvis and Bonnie had joined us. Elvis ushered Bonnie behind the desk and knelt beside me.

“He’s been shot in the shoulder,” I said to Elvis. “Can you help me lift him?”

Elvis lifted him up off the floor, and I started to tie my shirt around his shoulder when I felt the cold press of metal in my neck.

“Get up, bitch.”

I recognized the voice. Zogby. He was still alive.

I rose slowly.

Elvis lowered Wally back to the floor and held out his hands. “Look, it’s over, Zogby. Finished. Let her go.”

“Shut up. It’s done when I say it’s done.”

He shifted his grip so he had his arm wrapped around my neck, my body shielding his. The gun pressed against my right temple. Wally had scored at least one shot on Zogby. I could feel the warmth of his blood slipping against the bare skin of my back. He tightened his grip around my neck when I noticed the device in his left hand just below my chin.

Oh, God. The bomb remote.

I had no idea if Elvis had gotten my message about the garage door and if he’d even understood it, let alone told the police to build one. My presumptions seemed beyond foolish now. After all, I’d made an educated guess based on a freaking video game.

If I were wrong, we were all about to go up in flames.

Zogby tightened his chokehold and I gasped for breath. I could vaguely hear him saying something to Elvis.

“...we are willing to give our lives in pursuit of what we think is right.”

Elvis, bless his heart, was actually arguing with him. In fact, I’d never heard him talk so much in all the time I’d known him.

“It’s Foreign Policy 101, dude. Children are
not
acceptable collateral damage.”

He was desperately trying to keep Zogby talking or goad him into turning the gun on him instead of me. Sporadic gunfire and screaming still came from the hallway. I had no idea what was going on or who was winning.

My whole world had narrowed to this single moment in time with Elvis standing in front of an armed madman, trying to sacrifice himself in my place with nothing more than words at his disposal.

He kept talking. “Killing innocents is an indefensible practice in practically every language, culture and religion. Sometimes the killing of children may be accidental or unintended, but it is
never
right.
Never
. Worse, this was not accidental or unintended. You targeted this school on purpose. You intended to use innocents from the very beginning for nothing more than political gain.”

I closed my eyes. I wanted to scream at Elvis to be quiet, that I would rather die than watch him get shot first, but I knew he wouldn’t stop no matter what I said. He started to say something else when a voice rang out.

“Drop the gun. Now.”

Chapter Thirty-One

We all froze.

Zogby turned carefully, keeping me as a human shield. I recognized the voice and then I saw him.

Slash!

He stood framed in the doorway in a crouch, two guys behind him. All of them were dressed in heavy vests and helmets, and each had a gun with special scopes pointed at Zogby and me. I didn’t have to look to know there was a high probability of three red dots on Zogby’s forehead at this very moment.

I tried to catch Slash’s eye, but he didn’t even look at me. His focus was utterly on Zogby.

“Well, gentlemen, I’m glad you’re all here,” Zogby said. “Because it’s time to say goodbye.”

“He’s got a detonator,” I shouted.

It was too late.

Zogby’s thumb pushed on the device under my chin. I felt him stiffen and then his head exploded, showering me with blood and carnage before his body crumpled to the ground.

I stood there frozen in shock and covered in a dripping mess of gore.

“
Cara!
”

The three men rushed across the room at once. One kicked the gun far away from the body while the other rolled Zogby over. I couldn’t look at his body. The room filled with security forces, but Slash only had eyes for me.

I threw myself into his arms and despite the gore, he held me tight. He was kissing my hair and murmuring something to me in Italian when my legs collapsed. He didn’t let me fall, but held me tightly against him.

“Zogby...the bombs...” I gasped.

“They didn’t go off. It’s going to be okay. You’re okay. What did they do to you? Where is your shirt?”

My mental capacity was limited for the moment while I processed what had just happened. “I’m fine. I’m okay. That was a really good shot. A bit close for comfort, but I’m impressed by your accuracy at such close range.”

“Never. Never again put me through that hell,
cara
.”

He squeezed me so hard I couldn’t breathe. I managed to pull back, then cupped his face in my hands.

“I’m so sorry, Slash. I had no idea the terrorists would come here. Are you sure you still want to be my boyfriend after this?”

He laughed hoarsely, hugging me again. “Don’t you
ever
think about leaving me.”

An agent called to Slash. He gave me a quick kiss. “Be right back.”

While Slash was talking to the agent, Elvis came over, shrugging out of his tattered shirt, slipping it on me. “Take this. You’re freezing.”

I realized I’d been standing there in my bra the whole time, having given my shirt to stop the bleeding on Wally’s shoulder.

“That was way too close for comfort.” Elvis’s fingers shook as he tried to button the shirt on me. Unfortunately, as I’d ripped off most of the buttons at the start of our ordeal, there were only two to fasten.

I put my hand across his, stopping him as he fumbled to fasten the first one. “Why didn’t you stay hidden, Elvis? They might not have found you.”

He raised his gaze to meet mine. “Why did you give the gun to Wally?”

“I wasn’t going to let Zogby shoot Bonnie.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to let Zogby shoot you.”

We shared a brief smile as Slash returned. “Move to the back of the room. All of you. We have a live situation here.”

“Wait. I’ve got to check on Wally.”

Slash looked puzzled. “Who’s Wally?”

“A student. He’s been shot and is lying behind the teacher’s desk. He shot Zogby and saved us. He’s got my shirt.”

Slash went to the desk and knelt down. He picked up Wally and carried him in his arms toward the back of the room.

“He’s been shot. Twice. Luckily, the explosive vest saved his life and stopped one of the bullets from entering his heart. It’s his lucky day.”

I looked down at Wally. “You’re right. I guess it’s all in the perspective.”

While two agents crouched in the doorway, guns facing out, Slash motioned for Elvis and Bonnie to go to the back of the room. “The school is not secure yet. It’s not safe to try and get you out. We need to barricade you in for the moment. You’ll have to stay here until we get the all clear to move you.”

Elvis dragged a cabinet away from the wall and Slash set Wally down behind it—a makeshift barricade. We all joined Wally behind the cabinet. Slash knelt on one knee next to me and wiped something off my cheek. I didn’t ask what it was.

“How did you know we were in here?”

Slash answered but kept his eyes on the door, his gun at the ready. “Heat imaging. We didn’t see you specifically, but we saw a small group in this room and decided to make it our first priority once we breached.”

“Lucky me.”

His jaw tightened and I realized just how worried he’d been. “Nothing else is going to happen to you. Stay here. I’m going to call a medic about the kid.”

Slash rose and pulled out a cell phone. He walked a few steps away and began speaking in soft tones to someone on the other end. After a minute, he returned.

I leaned against him, resting my head on his shoulder. He put one arm around me, helping to keep me warm and stable.

“Are you sure you aren’t hurt,
cara
?”

“I’m okay. Really. I’m alive and very grateful for that.”

Sirens screamed in the background and the sounds of sporadic gunfire still punctured the air.

“We’ve got a medic and an explosives expert on the way to our position. Pockets of resistance still remain, which is why it’s not safe to move yet. We definitely can’t move the kid from the school until the vest is removed. But we can treat him here.”

I glanced at Wally, who lay oddly still. Bonnie, who was trembling uncontrollably, sat next to him, still pressing my school polo shirt against the wound in his shoulder.

My brain suddenly snapped into thinking mode.

“Slash, the vests. Zogby tried to blow them. He had the remote. I felt him push it, but it didn’t work.”

“We got your message.”

I blinked in surprise. “I was right?”

Elvis nodded. “You were. They
were
using the garage door frequency as a remote, just as you suspected. Thank God, Piper knew sign language. When she translated the words, I immediately figured out what you were trying to say and passed on your suspicions to the police.”

“I can’t believe it. I just guessed.”

Elvis gave me a thumbs-up. “You get an A-plus on that test.”

Slash kissed the top of my head. “
Si
, it was a very good guess. We went with it and jammed that frequency, along with a few others, just in case. Your guess saved them,
cara
.”

I shook my head. “No,
I
didn’t save them.
We
did. This was a total group effort.”

My cheek rested against his neck and I could feel his pulse racing. “Never again will I allow you to be in such danger. I won’t permit it.”

Wally groaned and I leaned forward, wincing from the effort. He was conscious, but still in pain. He grimaced when I squeezed his hand.

“You still hanging in there?” I asked.

He opened his eyes. “Did the good guys win?”

“Absolutely. Thanks to you, Rambo.”

“Am I going to explode?”

“Not today.”

“Oh, thank God. Does this mean you’re going to go out with me now?”

Slash peered down at Wally. “Did you just hit on my girlfriend?”

He squinted up at Slash. “Girlfriend? What? Wait.
That’s
your boyfriend? I thought you were gay.”

Slash looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged. “It’s a long story. I’m not gay, Wally.”

Wally smiled weakly at Slash. “Oh, great. Uh,
sir
, just so we are perfectly clear, I wasn’t hitting on her. Seriously. No hitting whatsoever. Tapping is a better word. Yes, maybe a little tap, a teensy-weensy one, but definitely not a full-fledged hit. All in good fun. Ha, ha. Right, Lara?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s Lexi. Lexi Carmichael. That’s my real name.”

“You have a fake name
and
a fake sexual preference? Hey, do your parents know you’re dating a guy who has a gun?”

I sighed. “Jeez.”

I glanced over at Slash. “Hey, how did you guys get into the school without tripping the alarms and explosives on the doors?”

Slash pointed to Elvis.

Elvis shrugged. “I took it straight from the movies, Lexi. I recorded a quiet view of one of the exits and then uploaded it and played it in a loop on the security camera when that view came up on the rotation. The guard in Computer Central never knew the difference.”

I glanced between the two men. “So, you connected with Slash on the outside?”

Elvis nodded. “He was all over my initial contact. He knew I was in here with you, so it was almost as if he was waiting for me. He was damn good.”

Slash lifted a hand. “I
was
waiting for you and I’m familiar with the legendary Zimmerman techniques, which is why we worked together seamlessly. You didn’t disappoint.”

Elvis turned his gaze on me. “In the meantime, Slash had the police drill a hole in a wall at that exit. They threaded a miniature camera through the hole and got a good look at the alarm. Experts figured out how to disarm it, so Brandon snuck down the hall and did it.”

My mouth fell open. “What? Brandon? All by himself? Holy cow. Is he okay? How’s Piper?”

“I’m not sure about Brandon, but Piper should be okay,” Elvis assured me. “At least she was safe in the office when I ran out. The guards missed us in the first sweep after you left. No one thought to check the vent behind the bookshelf. Once they were gone, Piper showed me how to access the bridge to the security system. After that, it was a walk in the park for me to tap in to the security cameras. Brandon showed up about an hour later, safe and sound and told us what had happened to you. I searched everywhere on the cameras for you. You can imagine my surprise when I finally found you front and center in Computer Central.”

I managed a small smile. “I
knew
it. You saw me there. You sent a message with the double blip.”

“Yes. I wasn’t sure you’d see it or get it. It was a big risk. I didn’t dare do anything flashier since you were being monitored.”

My heart lifted. “I
knew
if you’d survived the sweep, you’d be on that camera. I was watching for a signal of some kind. That was really prime, Elvis.”

“Well, I knew you’d be watching, too, which is exactly why I did it. But there is one thing I don’t understand. How did you disable the network? I was watching every keystroke, just like that psycho, and I didn’t see you do a thing. But I know you did.”

I grinned. “You bet I did. I bent the network cable with my feet. Simple as that. I anticipated said psycho—that would be Johannes Broodryk, by the way—would ask the guard to check that the network cable was still plugged in, but hoped he wouldn’t have the guard inspect the length of entire cable. He didn’t. It was laughably easy.”

Elvis’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously? You bent a freaking cable with your feet? That’s it?”

“Well, it wasn’t
that
easy. I had to use all my foot strength to do it. But, essentially, yes, that’s it.”

Slash laughed. “Brilliant. Risky, but truly brilliant.”

“Actually, going back to high school made me think of it. Jouret was talking about deception analysis in his class. I needed to do something simple to fool Broodryk, to make him think I was doing something complex when in reality, I wasn’t.”

Elvis grinned. “That’s really thinking outside the box.”

“I wasn’t going to let him blackmail those parents. I knew the terrorists had no intention of making good on the student releases. It was end game once he had the bitcoins.”

“I agree,” Elvis said. “You did the right thing, Lexi. I was trying to think of something myself, but you beat me to it. You do realize you took on an international cyber wizard and bested him by bending a cable with your feet. I’m in awe.”

Slash ruffled my hair. “That’s my girl. You’re extraordinary.”

“All of you guys are extraordinary,” Bonnie said, her face looking pale, but her voice was strong. “Hiring X-Corp was the best thing I ever did for this school.”

Elvis smiled. “Guess we make a good team.”

I smiled back at my best friend. “We always have.”