“True, but it’s been a while since he checked in.” Nelson walked to a front window and looked through a parting in the curtains. “The two of you wait here by the front door. I’ll bring the car from the road and pull as close to the house as I can.”
“You don’t want us to go together?” Olivia asked.
“No. And don’t bother with your luggage. We’ll get it later. Right now, I just want to put some distance between us and this house.”
Diane nodded. “Okay. The second you pull up in your car, we’ll be ready to jump inside.” She turned to Olivia. “When we go out the door, take my arm and I’ll lead you to—”
“You know me better than that,” she said. “I’ll hear the car engine, it’ll be no problem. Just worry about yourself.”
“For some weird reason, that’s scarier than worrying about you.”
Olivia chuckled and reached out and squeezed Diane’s hand. “Hey, I’ll take care of you.”
“How humiliating.”
Nelson moved toward the door. “Sixty seconds, ladies. Be ready.”
“Be careful,” Olivia said.
Nelson was gone. They listened as his footsteps pounded the pavement outside.
“Come closer to the door,” Diane said seconds later. “He said for us to be—”
Rat-tat-tat-tat.
The booming, staccato crack of gunfire outside.
“Don!” Olivia shouted.
A window shattered. Then another.
“Down,” Diane shouted as she pulled Olivia to the floor.
Rat-tat-tat-tat.
The door flew open, and Nelson barreled through and hit the floor.
Rat-tat-tat-tat.
A lamp broke in the living room. Nelson swung his leg around and pushed the door closed.
He gritted his teeth in pain. “I’m hit.”
“What happened?” Olivia ran over and knelt beside him.
“Somebody’s firing from the bushes across the road. I couldn’t even see him.” Nelson gingerly touched the bloody wound at his side. “Shit.”
Diane grabbed a throw blanket from the couch and wrapped it tightly around Nelson’s midsection.
Rat-tat-tat-tat. A fresh burst of gunfire destroyed another window.
Olivia pulled Nelson’s arm over her shoulders. “Can you stand?”
“Yes.” He gasped in pain as she lifted him to his feet.
Olivia pulled him toward the back of the house. “We’ll go downstairs to the basement. Diane, you told me when you took me around the house that there are no windows in a couple of the rooms down there on the lower level, right?”
“Right,” Diane said. “One side of the house faces the road, the other the forest.”
“We’ll barricade ourselves in one of those rooms and wait for the cavalry to arrive. Sound like a plan?”
“Yes.” Diane moved cautiously and threw the lock on the front door.
“Good.” Olivia started for the door leading to the basement. “Now help me get Don down the stairs.”
Together, they carefully helped Nelson down, one step at a time.
More gunfire rained behind them.
Chase/Wyndham Heliport
San Diego, California
LESS THAN A MILE FROM THE FBI field office, Kendra, Lynch, Griffin, and Metcalf emerged from the elevator atop the forty-four-story Chase Wyndham Building. A six-seat helicopter was warmed and waiting on the helipad.
“Our response teams are on the way,” Griffin yelled over the sound of the rotors. “We have ground units and another helicopter tactical team en route.”
Lynch frowned absently, as he stared at his phone, but he said nothing until after they climbed into the ’copter and closed the door behind them. “I can’t get through to Tad Martlin,” he said. “I tried to call and send a text, but there’s been no answer.” He looked grimly at Kendra. “I don’t like it.”
“We’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Griffin said. “The helicopter response team may be there even sooner. Don’t worry.”
Don’t worry?
Kendra gazed at him incredulously as the ’copter lifted off and made a wide arc over the city of San Diego. Fifteen minutes could be an eternity. Fifteen minutes could be life or death. Her mother’s life, Olivia’s life. There wasn’t any way she could do anything else but worry.
* * *
OLIVIA STOPPED TO ADJUST Nelson’s weight on her shoulder as they finally reached the lower floor. He was weaker now, and she could hear his breathing becoming more labored. “Don, how are you doing?”
“It hurts like hell.”
“I know. Hold it together for me, okay?” Olivia suddenly turned, her head lifting. “What’s that smell?”