Code of Honor

Chapter Thirty-nine

Cam rolled off the far end of the porch and into foot-high brush. Dunbar landed beside her a few seconds later. Brambles and broken branches grabbed at her exposed skin. Rounds continued to dig up the twenty-five yards of open ground that stretched between the building and the surrounding forest, showering them with grit and debris. The fires blazing throughout the compound lit up the expanse as bright as day, the night sky blood red. Militia poured out of the few remaining buildings still standing, firing at anyone not in camo. From what she could make out, the ones firing back were civilians—men in hooded sweatshirts under denim vests and leather jackets. Whoever they were, they hadn’t come to rescue her and Dunbar, but they were providing a welcome diversion. The Hellfires methodically targeting the buildings had to have come from Lucinda. Only Lucinda could have pulled those strings, with a little well-placed assistance.

The two dead guards she’d left inside would be missed, even in this chaos. Someone else would be coming for them soon. They had to go now.

“We’ll have to run for it,” Cam said. “You go first. I’ll cover you.”

“I’ll be too slow.” Dunbar gasped. “I’ll draw them right to you.”

“I’ll worry about that.” Cam gripped her shoulder. “Keep your head down and don’t stop—now go!”

Dunbar rose, clutching her injured arm close to her body, and scrambled for the woods in a low crouch. Cam hugged the side of the building, scanning the ring of blackness beyond the crimson shadows, waiting to follow until Dunbar had reached cover in the trees. Dunbar was nearly there when the silhouette of a large man carrying an assault rifle seemed to step out of the flickering curtain of flames. He was bareheaded, with no body armor, just camo fatigues. Almost casually, he sighted his weapon on Dunbar. Cam stepped into the light and shouted, “Federal agent! Drop your weapon. Drop it now!”

A nearby explosion threw his face into bright relief as he turned to her, a faint smile on his face. The rifle swung in her direction and she fired.

*

Loren raced across the center of the camp, skirting abandoned vehicles whenever she could, trying for cover and hoping to avoid getting caught up in the firefight. Ramsey crouched behind the hood of an overturned Humvee, firing his automatic at anything that moved. When he saw her, he screamed, “What the fuck is this? Are those fucking missiles?”

“I don’t know,” Loren yelled, crouching beside him. “But there’s more than a fucking militia shooting at us!”

Ramsey hunched lower when another explosion kicked up rocks, and shards of metal clanged off the Humvee. “Motherfucker! We’re outgunned with those things falling on us. We need to get out of here.”

“Fucking A we do,” she said, although she doubted he’d be able to organize the scattered bikers into any kind of retreat. At least he wouldn’t see her searching for Sky. “Go ahead. I’ll cover you.”

He scuttled back a foot, stared at her. “Watch your ass, McElroy.”

“You know it. I’ll be right behind you!” Loren laid down cover fire, and Ramsey disappeared. She waited half a minute and took off running in the direction her prisoner had taken. Halfway to the building at the edge of the clearing, she saw a figure running for the woods. Sky.

A surge of triumph filled her. Sky was alive.

A man appeared, rifle aimed in Sky’s direction.

She pulled up, aimed, but before her finger depressed the trigger, he fell. From ten feet away, a banshee howl split the air. She spun—the woman she’d been chasing stood backlit by flame, her face a contorted mask of rage. She pointed her Glock at a second woman running after Sky.

“Drop it,” Loren yelled.

The woman dove and fired. Searing pain creased Loren’s forehead, and she landed hard on her back. She tried to focus, struggled to aim her weapon, but the woman had already melted into the shadows. Dazed, she lay on the ground waiting for her ears to stop ringing, staring at the clouds swirling overhead in macabre death’s-head constellations of terror and despair.

She couldn’t stay here. Sky was waiting. Wiping the blood from her eyes, she staggered to her feet and stumbled toward the woods.

*

Cam staggered a few feet into the woods, her right leg burning, and braced one arm against the trunk of a birch tree for support. She trained her weapon in the direction of the clearing they’d just left. Someone in the camp had to know they were gone by now. The sound of small-arms fire was slowing down to the occasional burst. Either ammo was running low or they’d managed to kill each other off. And she had no idea if help was on the way. “Keep going,” she said to Dunbar. “Head downhill as much as you can. Come morning, they’ll be looking for us.”

“No way,” Dunbar said, taking cover behind an adjacent tree. “You need all the firepower you can get.”

“I’ll follow you as soon as it’s clear. That’s an order.”

Dunbar laughed. “Sorry, I don’t work for Homeland.”

“Everyone works for Homeland.”

“Can’t do it—if I left you hanging out to dry, my ass would be—”

A figure lurched out of the dark fifteen feet away.

Cam shouted, “Drop your weapon, federal agents.”

“I’m FBI, I’m FBI,” a woman called.

“Come forward slowly, keep your hands out to your sides,” Cam said.

Sky pushed past Cam with a sharp cry. “Loren!” She threw her arm around Loren’s waist. “Loren, God, you’re hit.”

“I’m okay. I’m okay.” Loren leaned into Sky. “You hurt?”

“Nothing serious.”

Loren peered at Cam. “Loren McElroy, Director Roberts. We ought to move our asses out of here.”

“I agree.” Cam motioned toward the forest. “They’ll be looking for us before long. If we can find a defensible position, we might be able to hold them off until an extraction team finds us.”

“We’ve already got aerial surveillance,” Loren said. “They’ll have eyes on us soon if they don’t already, and a Delta Team on the ground before morning. I’m the least injured. You two go, and I’ll guard the rear.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Sky said.

“Nobody’s leaving anyone.” Cam put some weight on her leg, gritted her teeth when pain knifed up her calf. “Everyone check your ammo, and then let’s get the hell out of here.”