The Overseer (36 page)

John shook his head, eyeing Dalton’s gun. “You were really going to kill a senator, weren’t you?”

Dalton grumbled. “We may have already.”

“But it’s wrong,” John said, shaking his head. “Don’t you see that?”

He didn’t answer John, dialing in to the channel he was seeking. “This is lead; is anybody there?” he asked.

A crackle of static. “The target is cornered, but we’re having trouble getting him pinned down.”

Dalton seemed to panic for a second, glancing at John. “Can you get the target? Do you need help?”

“I don’t know. We’re trying, but he’s got somebody with him that seems to know what they’re doing.”

Dalton groaned, slammed his fist on a stainless steel tabletop, and spoke into the radio again. “I’m on my way!” Without saying any more Dalton turned toward the back of the kitchen and moved toward the door.

“Wait!” John called after, suddenly being ignored. “You’re not actually thinking of—”

Dalton was already out the back door. Gunshots followed in a fully automatic tear. John burst through the door, following, and saw Dalton in the sweltering alley between the restaurant and a parking complex. Dalton was more than a hundred yards away, firing his rifle at a police car that was trying to block his escape.

John chased after.

Was Dalton really going to try to run back to the hotel? Maybe it wasn’t that far. Or maybe he didn’t care.

Either way—he was only proving himself to be more dangerous.

Devin looked around at the card tables, wooden, tapering upward. A center display with a car, presumably available for winning, was in the middle of the room, surrounded by three art deco pillars. Devin peeked over the top of the table he was using as cover and saw two of the gunmen looking the wrong direction.

“OK,” he whispered to the senator. The man’s eyes were huge with panic, but he was obviously trying to pull himself together. “I know you’re scared,” Devin said. “I understand that, but we have to make a run for it. Do you understand?”

The senator looked Devin in the eyes, nodding.

“OK. Here we—”

“Got ’em!” a gunman shouted triumphantly from the left.

Devin fired a fast volley, driving the enemy back, then dropped to his stomach, pulling the senator with him.

At least one of the gunmen jumped up onto a card table, firing at a downward angle. Felt-top tables shredded with the impact of bullets—card shoes exploding, sending playing cards fluttering through the air like snow. It was a hell made of raining lead and a deluge of debris.

Surrounded. Cut off. Scared. Devin felt like curling into a ball and dying. “This way!” he hissed sharply at the senator, unwilling to succumb to fears. They weren’t going to be able to survive this much longer.

The gun chatter stopped.

“Look out!” one of the gunmen yelled to the others. “Behind you!”

“Stop!” someone shouted. “LVPD!”

The police had arrived.

The gunfire resumed, but there weren’t any bullets headed toward Devin and the senator this time. They had turned toward the police.

Looking behind him, Devin saw that the casino exited back into the leg of the hotel promenade twenty yards away. They weren’t out of this yet. “Come on!” Devin ordered, pulling the senator with him. He moved as fast as he could with the frightened senator, every step a challenge. Almost—

“There!” a gunman shouted. A bullet burst off a nearby wall as they ran into the promenade.

There was a moment of quiet as Devin looked around and then saw the stairs leading up to the monorail. “This way!”

One of the gunmen stepped out of the casino, and Devin fired, forcing the gunman back around the corner. He squeezed off rounds until the gun went dry, making sure the senator had gotten to the stairs before turning to follow. A few quick seconds and Devin was on the stairs, the sounds of heavy footfalls chasing behind him, gaining fast.

Devin reached the top of the stairs.

He saw the monorail station. Doors open. A waiting car.

Chimes warning that the doors were closing.

The senator braced against the wall to the left of him.

A fifty-yard dash to the car. Only seconds.

Footfalls approaching fast.

Devin grabbed the senator by the sleeve and charged at the monorail.

Dalton Waters ran, moving as fast as his heavy bag and cumbersome rifle would let him. The black balaclava on his face was starting to snag and make him sweat. He was burning up in his suit, and the Kevlar vest was only making things worse. The Nevada sun was blasting down from above, turning the entire city into an oven. Sweat covered every part of his body.

The police didn’t seem to be following him. They were probably still so wrapped up in forming perimeters around the attack location and the van’s crash site that they didn’t have any more units to dispatch.

The hotel was only a little farther ahead. Across the street and—

“Lead?” His radio crackled, almost inaudible against the sounds of rushing air and rustling fabric. “Are you there?”

He stopped and keyed the radio. “Yeah?”

“The senator made it to the monorail, headed north. Can you make it to the next station in time?”

Dalton looked up, seeing the monorail start moving his direction. “On my way.”

He ran toward the rear entrance, fishing a handgun out of the black bag before ditching it, tossing the M14 rifle at the same time. He pulled the balaclava off his head, tossing it aside— cool air rushed against his sweaty face. It would be easier to get around in the hotel without all the gear.

A few seconds later he was at the rear entrance, and then he was inside.

The monorail car traveled over the Las Vegas scenery, moving to the next hotel on the Strip.

Devin jammed the last magazine into the FN Five-seveN and sat on the floor of the empty monorail car. He was breathing so hard he thought his lungs might burst. His face burned, and his hands were shaking from the exertion and stress. The car was moving slower than Devin would have expected; maybe there was some sort of technical problem slowing the monorail down.

“Who…” The senator wheezed, sitting next to Devin, trying to catch his breath. “Who are you?”

Devin offered a hand, and the senator shook it.

“I’m just a concerned citizen.”

The senator tipped his head back, resting it against the wall of the monorail car. “What’s your name?”

“Devin,” he said with a moment of hesitation, always reluctant to spread his name around in the wake of destruction. “Devin Bathurst.”

“I’m Senator Warren Foster. I—”

“I know,” Devin said with a nod.

“How did you make it to me?”

He shrugged. “Wrong place at the wrong time.”

“And you just happened to have a gun on you?”

Devin was quiet for a moment. “Long story.”

The monorail began to slow, and they stood.

“Well,” the senator said with a sigh, “thank you for….”

Devin didn’t hear the last part. Looking through the glass, he saw Trista Brightling standing at the station. He frowned. What was she doing here?

The doors eased open. Devin waited for the senator and escorted him off of the monorail car.

Trista approached fast. “Devin!”

Dalton had already made it around the corner into the monorail station when John caught up with him. He stopped, digesting the scene as a whole: Devin, stepping off the train, the senator with him. Standing between John and the tableau was Dalton, pistol in hand, lifting it.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, John saw something else—

“Trista!” he shouted, realizing that she was stepping in the way of Dalton’s shot two feet in front of him—preparing to take the bullet. “Trista, no!” he shouted, nearly hoarse.

Trista saw him. Their eyes met. He could see it—she wasn’t going to move.

John slammed into Dalton’s back, knocking him forward, stumbling into Trista. Dalton recovered fast, grabbing the stumbling Trista by the hair, jerking her upward. She reached for something—a gun. A violent motion, and the handgun tumbled from her fingers, hitting the floor.

“Trista!” John screamed again, nearly in tears.

Dalton pulled Trista in front of him, using her as a shield, swinging his pistol directly at—

“John!” Trista screamed, the muzzle of the pistol pointed right at him.

BLAM!

Trista stumbled backward to the ground, her support falling free.

Dalton hit the floor—a shot to the forehead, Devin’s FiveseveN smoking.

Trista pulled herself to her knees and saw John come running at her. He dropped down beside her and cradled her in his arms. She stared at him. His eyes, overcome with concern, looked her over, hands touching her face.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

Trista nodded, gripping his arms. “I’m fine.”

The world around her was filled with chaos and destruction, but John Temple—reckless and free—was here. Now. Present.

People moved around them in a tumult of confusion, but John’s hand cradled her cheek—and she was fine.

Chapter 21

H
ANNAH STOOD IN
the sanctuary of the dusty, tinder-wood church. The older woman sat on the steps leading up to the pulpit. The woman was short, maybe five-two, midsixties, short gray hair, a yellow T-shirt, and blue jeans. The others, including Dominik, stood around them, speaking emphatically with the woman in what must have been Ukrainian. The woman’s name was Misha; Hannah had been able to work that out from the conversation.