The Chemist

  A man was down in the hallway, dressed in rugged black pants and combat boots. His head and shoulders rested on another set of legs, coming out of her room, these in similar pants but wearing black sneakers rather than boots.

  Hector would be the one on the floor in her room, if the man in the suit had described events correctly. He would have opened the door, flipped on the light, and dropped. After a few minutes, Angel would have come looking to see if he needed help, seen his legs, and slid along the wall with gun in hand until the gas overpowered him.

  She had no idea how long they'd been down.

  So far, the man in the suit had been pretty honest with her. It made her feel safe enough to holster the Glock and get started. First, she took the gun she found in the first man's hands and tossed it over the railing to the floor below. There was another gun tucked into the back of his pants--that went over the railing, too. She didn't have time for a better search. She wished she could inject him with something that would keep him quiet, but unlike the gas, which would disappear from his system in the next half hour, the longer-term sedation would linger in his bloodstream and be a dead giveaway to anyone who suspected she might be here. She zip-tied his hands behind his back and then zip-tied his ankles together.

  Hector was smaller than Angel, who looked similar to the dead blond in the SUV except for his coloring; both Hector and Angel were dark-haired, as she'd expected from the suit guy's description. Hector was no more than medium height and lean, fit, but not in a way that would stand out on the street. He was clean-shaven and his skin was unmarked, at least the parts she could see; he wore a long-sleeved black athletic shirt. Angel had tattoos on three of his fingers and one on the side of his neck. Hector was smarter. If you were going to do wet work for a living, it was better to blend in, avoid features that any witness could easily describe to the police sketch artist.

  A huge suppressed Magnum lay inches from Hector's right hand. The sniper rifle was holstered across his back. She pulled the magazine from the rifle, took the massive handgun, and carried them back to the hallway to dump them over the stair railing. She heard them thud against the hard wood below; one of them made a metallic chink when it hit the previously discarded weapons.

  She turned back to secure Hector.

  The body lying in her storage room was gone.

  She ripped the shotgun out of its holster and pressed her back against the wall beside the door. There was no sound. He would have to come through the door. When he did, she would shoot him. Even the most experienced assassin would be incapacitated with his legs blown off.

  When the movement came, it was not through the door. Angel began to writhe, moaning in Spanish. In the split second that Alex was distracted, a shadow peeled off from Angel's body and flew straight at her, knocking the shotgun from her hands and sending them both crashing toward the ground. She braced for the impact even while wrestling with the hands that were trying to strip the gun from her waist. His hands were stronger than hers, but then the crash came, and with it the shattering of tiny glass bulbs.

  She could feel the scalding gas sear her neck, the exposed skin around the base of her mask, and she knew she would probably look sunburned there for a few hours, but her eyes and lungs were protected.

  Her attacker was not prepared. He choked, his hands flying of their own accord to his throat, his blinded eyes. She whirled, .38 already drawn, and shot, aiming for his kneecap. She hit him in the left thigh instead.

  He crumpled to that side and rolled into Angel, who was thrashing in earnest now, straining to pop the zip ties from his wrists. They were heavy-duty restraints, but he was a strong man.

  She couldn't handle them both. She was going to have to make a choice. Quickly.

  Angel's head was the closest thing to her. She fired twice into the top of it. He went limp.

  Hector was gasping and scrubbing at his eyes at the same time as he was trying to roll away from her toward the stairs. She sprinted after him, hugging the wall to avoid his reach. He wasn't in control enough to make a grab for her yet. She pulled the bolt cutters from her waist and clubbed the back of his head. His convulsing jerked to a stop.

  This was all going to be a wasted effort if she'd killed him, but she had to secure him before she could even check for a pulse.

  To be safe, she put an additional bullet through his left kneecap, then threw the .38 over the banister to the floor below. It had only one bullet left anyway. She used another zip tie to attach his uninjured right leg to the railing at the ankle and the knee, then his right arm at the wrist and the elbow. He wouldn't be able to do much with his left leg. For lack of a better option, she zip-tied his left hand to Angel's big black boot. Angel's inert form had to weigh two seventy, at least. It was better than nothing. She touched Hector's wrist, marginally satisfied to locate a steady pulse. He was alive; whether or not his brain function was preserved, she would have to wait to see.

  She decided to double the cables, just in case. While she was tightening the second tie around Angel's boot, she heard the change in Hector's breathing as he came to. He didn't cry out, though he had to be in tremendous pain. That wasn't a good thing. She'd interrogated other hardened soldiers with good control over their reactions to pain. It took a long time to break them.

  But those men had loyalty to their companions or their missions. She was confident this was a hit for hire. Hector would owe nothing to the people who'd given him the job.

  She scooted a few feet away with the Glock gripped tight in her hands, watching to see how well her containment system would perform. It was too dark. She got up and backed toward the bathroom doorway, keeping her eyes on the figure on the ground. She felt behind her until she found the light switch and flipped it on.

  Hector's face was turned toward her; his dark eyes, although still tearing, were intensely focused. His face showed no evidence of the pain he was in. It was a disconcerting gaze, though his face was in other ways one of the most ordinary she had ever seen. His features were even and nondescript. He wasn't attractive, but he wasn't ugly, either. It was the kind of face that would be extremely hard to pick out of a lineup.

  "Why haven't you killed me?" he asked, his voice hoarse from the chemicals. Other than that, his voice was unremarkable. He had no accent at all. He could have been a network news anchor--no hint of where he came from in his inflections.

  "I want to know who hired you." Her voice rasped through the mask, slightly distorted. It sounded a little less human. She hoped that would throw him.

  He nodded once, as if to himself. She saw minute shifts in his hands as he tested his bonds.

  "Why would I tell you anything?" He didn't say it angrily or as a challenge. He just sounded curious.

  "Do you have any idea who I am?"

  He didn't answer, his face neutral.

  "That's the first reason why you should tell me what you know--because whoever sent you out here didn't give you the information you needed to be successful. They didn't prepare you for what you were facing. You don't owe them anything."

  "I don't owe you anything," he pointed out, still in a polite, conversational voice. His fingers stretched downward, trying to reach the zip tie.

  "No, you don't. But if you don't talk to me, I'll hurt you. That's the second reason."

  He weighed that. "And the third reason... if I talk, you'll let me live."

  "Would you believe me if I promised you that?"

  "Hmm." He sighed. He thought for a moment and then asked, "But how will you know whether to believe what I tell you?"

  "I know most of it. I just want you to fill in a few details."

  "I'm afraid I can't help you much. I have a manager; he works as the middleman. I never saw the person who paid for this."

  "Just tell me what your manager told you."

  He considered that, then twitched his shoulders as if to shrug. "I don't like your offer. I think you could do better."

  "Then I'll have to persuade you."

&nb
sp; CHAPTER 19

  He watched with a poker face as she stuck the Glock in its holster and retrieved the bolt cutters from the floor by Angel's leg.

  She'd considered bringing the welding iron. Fire could be more painful than almost anything else, and many people had related phobias. But Hector was a professional. She didn't have the time to break him down with pain; his resistance would be too high. What would frighten him more than agony would be losing his physical edge. If he didn't have a trigger finger, he couldn't do his job. She'd start with something less vital to him, but he would be able to see the inevitable coming. If he could survive tonight, he would want to do it with functional hands. So he would have to talk to delay her.

  Hector's left hand was most convenient. As she fit the metal blades around his pinkie finger, he curled the rest into a fist and fought harder against the ties. She kept a tight hold on the handles, knowing what she would be thinking in his position--if he could get control of the cutters, he would have a chance to free himself. Sure enough, he tried to kick out with his left leg, despite the excruciating pain it must have caused him. She dodged the blow, moved a few feet higher, then refit the cutters to the base of his folded finger.

  These were made for cutting through rebar, and she kept the blades sharp. It didn't take too much muscle on her part to snap those blades together.

  She watched his reaction. He thrashed against the ties ineffectually. His face turned dark red and the vessels pulsed in his forehead. He gasped and panted, but he didn't scream.

  "Sometimes people don't think I'm serious," she told him. "It's good to get that misconception out of the way."

  Right now, Hector would be thinking about the amount of time that could pass before it was too late to reattach a finger. He could live without a pinkie, but he needed his hands, and he must know she wasn't going to stop there.

  She would emphasize her point.

  She snagged the warm, bloody finger off the floor and backed to the bathroom, keeping her eyes on him as he writhed in his bonds; even the best zip ties weren't foolproof. She made sure he was watching as she dropped the finger into the toilet and flushed. Now he knew that she wasn't going to leave him options. Hopefully it would encourage him to give her what she wanted quickly.

  "Hector," she told him as he stared, gritting his teeth, fighting to control the pain. "Don't be stupid. It's not going to hurt you to tell me what I want to know. It is going to hurt you if you don't. Your trigger fingers are next, then the rest of them. This is what I do, and I can keep it up for as long as I need to. Don't you see? They sent you after the wrong people, Hector. They told you nothing about what you were up against. They just handed you to me. Why protect them?"

  "You're going after them next?" he grunted through his teeth.

  "Of course."

  His eyes were full of venom and hatred. She'd seen the look before, but in the past, she'd viewed it from a much better protected position. If he somehow got his hands on her, if their roles were reversed, she would do what she had to in order to die immediately.

  "I didn't come for you," he spit out unwillingly. "I was sent for a man. I was given a picture. I was told there would be a second man, but that the second would be easy. The first would be hard. I never saw that one."

  "When were you hired?"

  "Last night."

  "Then you rounded up some extra help and came in today," she guessed. "From where?"

  "Miami."

  "How did you know where to come?"

  "They gave me three addresses. This was the second try."

  "I guess I don't need to ask what happened at the first place."

  His seething fury twisted into a ghoulish smile. "They were old. A man and a woman. They didn't fit the description, but I was paid well. It doesn't hurt to be thorough, and all it cost me was two bullets."

  She nodded. He could see nothing of her expression behind the gas mask, but she kept her features smooth out of habit.

  "How far away was the other house?"

  "Fifteen minutes south of the little town."

  "Where did the addresses come from?"

  "No one told me that. I didn't ask."

  She hefted the bolt cutters. "No guesses?"

  "The other place was nothing like this. I saw nothing in common."

  It could be a lie, but it would make more sense for it to be the truth. Why would Carston or whoever was calling the shots at the Agency need to give the hit man more than this location?

  She puzzled over it for a moment, trying to think of another avenue to explore. Her eyes never left his hands. What kinds of things might link Arnie's home to random others? What similarity would generate a list of otherwise unconnected addresses?

  With a sinking feeling, she thought of a possibility. One she did not like much.

  "What kind of car was in the driveway of the first place?"

  He seemed surprised by her question. "An old truck."

  "White?"

  "With a black camper."

  Her jaw clenched.

  So they'd gotten a very good look at Arnie's truck--the one he'd said had two perfect matches around town. They must have gotten Daniel on camera or they wouldn't be so certain of the make and model. Daniel would have had to drive down the main drag, passing the bank; that was probably how they'd done it. Why bother questioning the girl who called in about the missing teacher? Just take the CC camera footage from town and get something solid, then call the DMV. They didn't get everything--if the plates had been clear, that couple across town wouldn't be dead. But they knew Daniel was alive because Kevin wouldn't have made that mistake. Also, even in a grainy black-and-white video, Daniel didn't look exactly like Kevin if you knew what to look for.

  She needed Arnie's truck. She needed it badly. It was inconspicuous. They couldn't exactly roll through town in the Batmobile and escape notice. Where was she going to get another vehicle out here?

  She took a step back, feeling tired. She'd had a good resting place, but now the hunt was on again. It didn't even matter that, most likely, the bad guys thought she was dead. Because they knew Daniel was alive.

  Liability.

  Hector's right hand was busy. He was scratching at the zip tie with the tips of his fingers, almost dislocating his wrist in the process. It didn't look like he was trying to break it or even get to the locking tab. What was he doing? She reached for the Glock; it would probably be safest to put a round through that hand--

  A single, concussive shot exploded in the silence, much louder than she would have expected it to sound from outside the house. Daniel--

  Her eyes had darted to the direction of the shot though she knew better. In the fourth of a second it took her to recall them while simultaneously ripping her Glock from the holster, Hector's fingers found what they were searching for. He extracted a five-inch serrated blade from the cuff of his sleeve. It sawed across the taut zip tie with a twanging snap. The same motion turned into a cast. She fired into his central mass as the blade flew at her face. She tried to dodge while she kept shooting, ignoring the sudden pressure that wasn't quite pain as it slashed across her jaw--wasn't pain yet, but would be soon, when the drug wore off. She could feel the heat of the blood coating her neck as she continued firing into Hector's chest until the clip was empty.

  Hector lay still, his open eyes still pointed in her direction, but no longer focused.

  Moving in swift, jerky bursts, she wiped down the Glock and threw it over the banister, wiped and holstered the cutters, and retrieved her shotgun from the end of the hall, trying to concentrate on what to do next. She didn't know what was waiting for her outside. As she crept down the stairs, her fingers worked quickly to make sense of the new damage. The assassin's blade had just missed her carotid artery, hitting the bottom corner of her jaw and slicing halfway through her earlobe. The loose piece dangled against her neck. Beautiful.

  She fished the remains of her left earring from the damaged lobe--just the hook was left, with a few tiny
fragments of thin glass still stuck in the twist of wire--then removed the right. She stowed them in a pocket on the tactical vest. It would be unwise to leave such evidence behind. Even something so small could tip her enemies off, give them a reason to believe she was alive.

  On the ground floor, she spared a second to take one quick look at Arnie. His face was turned to the floor. She could see only what was left of the back of his head. It was obvious that he hadn't suffered, but that was weak comfort.

  She'd planned to gather evidence on her way out, but she wasn't sure she had time for that now. The dogs were quiet--did that mean everything was okay?

  Well, after the volley of shots upstairs, it wasn't like anyone outside was unaware of her presence. She sidled over to the door and crouched beside it, lower, she thought, than anyone would aim to shoot through the drywall. She reached over and pulled the door open a crack. No one shot at her.

  "Daniel?" she called loudly.

  "Alex!" he shouted back--he sounded as relieved as she suddenly felt.

  "You're okay?" she checked.

  "Yes. Are you?"

  "I'm coming out. Don't shoot."

  She walked through the front door with her hands raised above her head, just in case. Einstein popped off the floor beside Lola and was at her heels.

  She dropped her arms and jogged toward the Humvee. It was lit only by the lamps shining through the front door and windows, but from this vantage it appeared to be totally unharmed by their intentional accident.

  Daniel slid out of the front seat.

  "The shot?" she asked, her voice quieter as she approached. The dogs around the Humvee seemed relaxed enough, but...

  "The last man. He must have climbed the side of the house to get away from the dogs. He was trying to edge around to the roof of the porch."

  Daniel gestured with the rifle to a dark mass crumpled on the gravel close to the east corner of the house. She pushed the gas mask back on her forehead, carefully moving the straps on the left side over her ear without touching it. She adjusted her trajectory, edging closer to the broken figure. Einstein shadowed her. A large standard German shepherd was pacing not too far off, seeming uninterested in the body.

  Einstein suddenly sped up and passed her. He sniffed the body a few times while she cautiously picked her way forward, and then he turned to her with his tail wagging.