Primary Valor, Jack Mars [black female authors .txt] 📗

The girl tentatively took the gunin her small hands.

“Put your finger on the trigger,but don’t press it. Yep. Just like that. I want you to hold the gun to the backof Elaine’s head, okay? If she tries anything, just shoot her.”

The girl nodded. “Okay.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

“You can’t do that,” Elaine said,apparently unaware that the gun was empty. “You can’t give a gun to a child.”

Luke found the big starter buttonand pressed it. The engine roared to life and he put the car in gear. “I justdid.”

Suddenly he got a better idea. Heput his foot on the brake. He reached in his vest pockets and came out with apair of hard plastic zip ties. He looked at Elaine.

“Turn and face the window.”

For once, she did what he saidwithout argument.

“Hands behind your back.”

She gave him her hands and hezip-tied her wrists together.

“Good. I like you better this way.”

She turned and faced front again. Herarms were pinned behind her back and against the seat. “It’s very uncomfortablesitting this way.”

Luke shrugged. “Life. It getsuncomfortable sometimes.”

He let his foot slowly off thebrake. The car rolled slowly out of the line. The headlights had come onautomatically, so it was going to be clear to any interested parties which carthey were in. He tapped the gas. The car felt heavy, a little sluggish. Thatwas good. Armor was heavy.

The gate was straight ahead. Therewere men in the shadows on either side of it. Somewhere behind the house, thefire was dying down. He had gotten a little luck so far, now he needed somemore.

He stomped on the gas.

The car took off, pushing throughthe drag caused by the weight of the armor. It accelerated, as its big enginekicked in. Now they were tearing, moving fast, racing by under the dense canopyof trees above them. It was like being in a tunnel. The house was behind them.

Here came the black steel gate. Theguardhouse was to the right.

Men were crouched.

Luke saw the flashes of theirguns.

Rounds hit the car, all over. DUM.DUM. DUM. DUM. The passenger side windows cracked and spiderwebbed. Charlotteshrieked now. Elaine groaned. The windshield smashed, but did not break. Thearmor was good. The armor was holding.

A man fired from the darkness onLuke’s side, a rocket of some kind. It skimmed the roof and went over. Werethey crazy?

The gate loomed ahead, comingfast.

Men were running, diving out ofthe way.

“Hold on!” Luke shouted.

The gate was RIGHT THERE. Itlooked solid as hell.

Please please please please…

BAM!

The sound was huge, impossible,heavy metal CRUNCH at high speed. The impact jarred his shoulders, wrenched hisentire body. His hands slipped and his head nearly hit the steering wheel. Everyonewas screaming. Bullets ripped up the sides of the car.

He sat up. Sparks were flying allover the outside of the car. There was a sound like SCREEEEEE…. They werethrough, but they were dragging part of the gate.

“It’s steep here!” Elainescreamed. “The road is steep!”

The road went straight down. Itwas like driving off a cliff. The car caught air. There was a long second whereLuke’s butt and legs came off the seat. His stomach was in his mouth.

“Aaaahhhhhh…”

The car hit the road and bounced. Heswerved, trying to regain control. He tapped the brake. The car skidded,fishtailing left… right… left… it was going to roll. The road was nearlyvertical. If they went over at this speed…

The car straightened out.

Luke didn’t even slow down. Nowthey tore downhill at incredible speed. They were out.

He looked at Elaine. Her head hadhit the dashboard. Blood ran down the right side of her face.

“Thanks for the tip,” he said.

She shook her head. “The hill endsabruptly.”

Luke slammed on the brakes. Thecar skidded the last thirty yards, and hit the spot where the hill ended andthe level road began. The impact of it was nearly like a car crash itself. Thecar slid to a stop.

Steam rose from the grille, mixingwith the steamy night air here at sea level.

“I think that’s the steepest hillI’ve ever driven on,” Luke said.

“Congratulations,” Elaine said.

Luke pressed the gas again and thecar lurched forward. It was a good car, and it had done its job, but it wasn’tgoing to last much longer. A couple more hits and those passenger side windowswere going to come down. The windshield was wrecked. He could barely seethrough it.

It didn’t matter. There wasnothing to see. There was only one road on the island, Luke knew, and it wouldtake him straight to the airfield.

After that? He was just going tohave to get lucky again. There was a plane there, and maybe there was a pilot. Ifnot, he was going to hold Elaine Sayles at gunpoint until they brought him one.

It wasn’t a great plan, and theother team didn’t seem to care that much about Elaine’s safety, but…

He didn’t know. He had come thisfar. All he could do was keep going, keep pushing, and try to catch one morebreak.

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

10:29 p.m. Central Standard Time (11:29 p.m. EasternStandard Time)

The airfield

La Sierra de San Simon (St. Simon’s Saw)

Near Honduras

The Caribbean Sea

“Oh hell. What’s next?”

The pilot’s name was Warren Cross.He had the plane parked at the end of the runway, engines already running. Hecould be in the sky in no time.

He had been relaxing in thepassenger cabin, thumbing through a copy of Conde Nast Traveler, when heheard the first explosion. A moment later, alarms started blaring.

Cross had been working for DarwinKing for the past eighteen months, and somehow he had always known it wouldcome to this. Bombs going off, alarms shrieking, guns popping, people screamingover the radio in a mix of English and Spanish. It had only been a matter oftime.

Cross had mostly stopped going upto the house months ago. Why go up there and see things he didn’t want to see? Whywitness events that might find him in a court of law one day? Instead, when hewas on the island, he stayed down here at the airfield. There was an oldbuilding with bathrooms and showers. Troops came and went, and some of the guysbrought him food down from the house. He slept on the plane.

It was a lot of waiting around,but it was better