Chapter 28
Noah grabbed the inflatable motorboat and hopped out of the chopper behind Booger. They’d landed on top of Hannah’s apartment complex just after the sun set, armed and ready to face whatever came their way.
“You sure you want me to leave the bird here?” asked Logan. He was there as a pilot only, since he’d broken his femur in a skydiving accident that had nearly killed him. The fact that he could work the chopper’s pedals at all was a testament to how far he’d come.
“We might need to get out in a hurry,” said Booger.
“Fine, but I’m getting out. No sense in sitting in a giant helicopter that screams, ‘We’re here. You can shoot us now.’”
“You can sit inside the stairwell,” said Noah. “Got your firearm?”
“No, I left it back at headquarters with my knitting needles. What the fuck, you think I broke my leg and I lost my balls, too?”
“Just checking up on you, Doc.”
Noah led the way into the stairwell, the smell of stank water and mold assaulting his nose. Logan might be better off in the chopper.
He held his weapon at the ready, not expecting to encounter trouble but prepared for it anyway.
His high-powered long-range rifle was strapped to his back, just in case.
The tangos had been here once already but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t come back, and God only knows how far away they’d be when they finally found them.
Logan stayed at the top of the stairs as the other men made their way to the third floor and Hannah’s apartment. The door was wide open, the carpeting soaked, with glass shards littered everywhere. Noah checked the bedrooms and bath. “All clear.”
Booger pulled out a map and opened it on the coffee table. “Where are we going first?”
Noah pointed. “The hospital. A quarter-mile to our west. I want to go through the offices of the two administrators in question and see if we can pinpoint our tango, then go from there.”
“Agreed.”
They went downstairs—the water clearly lower than it had been when Noah was last here—and inflated the boat with the CO2 cartridge.
The moon provided ample light to navigate, and he remembered the route he’d taken with Hannah.
They arrived at the hospital without incident and entered the building, a portrait of the chief administrator hanging in the lobby.
“That’s Patel,” Noah said. “The head honcho. Hannah said the other one is thinner and bald. A white guy.”
They headed directly for the offices on the second floor. Booger was the first to reach the chief administrator’s office, stopping in his tracks as he peered inside. “I found Patel.”
Noah caught up and looked inside. Sure enough, the man from the lobby portrait was dead on the floor with a bullet wound to his head. “He wasn’t here yesterday.”
“Which means someone’s been in here since you left.”
“And maybe they’re still inside.” Noah’s mind went into overdrive.
“If Patel was in charge of the drug ring, he could have been killed by one of his men.” The sheer number of people involved was enough to make his head spin.
“There were three or four guys at the medical supply truck the night of the hurricane, plus the cop. Six at Lizzie’s apartment yesterday.
The numbers are staggering for this kind of operation. ”
“Maybe they work for the medical supply company,” said Booger. “It could be a front. How big is the drug operation?”
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. But that’s the hospital’s value.
The street cost would be much higher.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Lincare. The name on the truck was Lincare Medical Supply.” He stepped around Patel’s body and into the office.
“Help me look through files. Anything you can find on Lincare.”
The men searched all of his office and his secretary’s file cabinet as well. “Over here,” said Booger, pulling a file from Patel’s desk drawer and opening it on the desk.
“It’s a ledger,” said Noah, his eyes scanning the numbers and abbreviated transaction descriptions.
“All handwritten.” He flipped through the pages, names atop each one.
On a hunch, he searched for the one that might secure his freedom.
“Buchanan,” he said, finding it. “The cop who shot me. This proves he was involved in the drug operation.”
“Who does business like this today?” asked Booger. “Everything’s computerized.”
“Accounting is, for sure,” said Noah. “Patel was keeping these records by hand so no one else would see them. If you were stealing boatloads of money, you’d probably use paper and pen, too.”
“But if Patel was in charge of the drug scheme, who killed Patel?”
“Someone from the medical supply company. The men from the truck, who I’m willing to bet were the same men in black who attacked us at my sister’s condo.”
“How are we going to find them?”
“We don’t have to find them. They’re already looking for us. We just have to let them know we’re here.”
“The helicopter,” said Booger.
No sense in sitting in a giant helicopter that screams, ‘We’re here. You can shoot us now.’
Noah was already moving. “Fuck. Logan’s by himself.”
The men ran to the stairs and down as quickly as they could. They’d just exited the building when three gunshots echoed in the night. Booger hopped in the boat and reached to start the engine.
“Wait!” said Noah. “They’re trying to draw us out.”
“And it’s working. Get in the damn boat.”
“If they’re by the chopper, they’ll have a clear line of sight to the boat as we make our way back. We’re dead in the water, Booger. Literally.”
“What the fuck do you suggest? We just sit back and let them kill Logan?”
“The roof. Come on!” Noah turned and ran back into the hospital, his arms pumping as he raced to the stairwell and climbed to the top.
This was where Eric Manning fell to his death, Lizzie’s condo visible in the distance.
“Stay low.” He got to the knee wall and slipped his sniper’s rifle from his back, fitting it with a night vision scope and setting it on its tripod.
He peered through the scope, his entire world suddenly standing on end as the people on the rooftop came into focus.
“Jesus Christ.” There was no denying what he was seeing, no way to make sense of the horror in front of him, and he felt physically sick with fear.
“Two men with guns. Three hostages. Brady, Hannah, and Cowboy.”
“How the fuck did they get here? Where’s Doc?”
“I don’t see him.” Cowboy was off to the side, but Hannah and Brady were sandwiched between tangos. “Fucking Christ. How can I get a shot?”
“Careful, Ryker.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” he screamed, forcing himself to focus and regulate his breathing. The slightest movement could throw everything off.
This was the scene Booger had been trying to avoid. That last mission when Cowboy took him off the gun because he was so fucked up about Lizzie’s death. There were kids involved.
Kids involved.
Brady was over there. Sweet little Brady, the boy he loved. Hannah would never forgive him if he hurt her son. Hell, he’d never forgive himself.
“You don’t have to do this,” said Booger. “We can go over there and deal with it face-to-face.”
“We’ll be dead. That’s what they’re hoping for. No. This is our chance.”
“Can you make this shot, Noah?”
“It’s not even a quarter-mile away. Basic.”
“Basic doesn’t have a little kid in harm’s way.”
Sweat dripped into Noah’s mouth and he licked it away. He could do this. He had to do this. They were counting on him to be his best. A steely determination settled between his shoulder blades. The tango closest to Brady had to go first, but he would have only moments to get the second one.
He lined up his first shot and fired. The tango fell, the adults scattering. He lined up the sight on the second tango, but he pulled Brady in front of him, using the boy like a shield.
“You should have picked Hannah, fuckface. She’s taller.”
Just as Noah fired a shot over Brady’s head, the tango moved and Noah feared he’d shot the boy, too. Every cell in his body held still while he watched the tango fall to the ground, Brady seemingly unharmed.
Noah dropped his head to his chest, breathing hard once more. “Thank God.”
“You got them?”
“Yeah.”
“Never doubted you for a minute,” said Booger.
They found Logan swimming in the fetid water, halfway to the hospital, and pulled him into the boat. He’d managed to get away and was coming to alert Noah and Booger, enormous leg cast and all.
He told them how Cowboy had parachuted in with Hannah shortly after they left, finding the boy safely asleep in the chopper.
Logan had needed to sit down, finding a comfortable spot on the other side of the large HVAC unit. That’s when their company arrived. The men didn’t see him and he managed to escape back into the stairwell.
“You did good, Doc,” said Noah.
Booger slapped Logan on the back. “Hell yeah.”
They reached the condo, Noah hopping out and leaving Booger to help Logan back up the stairs. “I’ve got to get—”
Booger waved him on. “Go. I’ve got this.”
Noah took the steps two at a time all the way to the top, pushing out the exit door with a rush. Hannah and Brady were sitting in the chopper and he slowly made his way to them.
“Noah!” said Brady. Blood dripped down the side of his face.
Noah nearly fell to his knees, realizing how close he’d come to hurting the boy. “Are you okay?” Noah climbed inside, the boy wrapping himself around him.
“I got a cut from the bad man. Mom is going to fix it.”
“Let me see.”
The boy had in fact been grazed by a bullet—one from Noah’s own gun. He frowned and met Hannah’s eyes. “Will you let me help?”
She nodded. “I don’t have my medical bag.”
He found the first aid kit. Hannah held out her hand, taking it from him. “You have the harder job.” A small smile settled onto her lips as she looked from Noah to her son.
She’s letting me comfort him.
He was stunned.
Brady scurried onto his lap. “Wait,” said Noah. “Ear protection first.” The headset was in the way of the wound, so Noah fitted the boy with earplugs, taking a pair himself so the two of them matched. Brady clung to him, waiting for his mother to begin.
It felt so good to hold him again after their ordeal, his fear that he would end the life of the people he most wanted to save.
He thought of how close he had come to truly hurting Brady, and his eyes stung as emotion poured through him, thick and all consuming.
Now it was he who clung to the boy while Hannah bandaged his wound, so grateful they were alive.
Hannah and Brady had become more important to him in a short while than he would have thought possible.
Booger and Cowboy climbed into the cabin and Logan into the cockpit, donning their ear protection and settling into their seats. Booger leaned back and pulled a baseball cap over his eyes. Cowboy met Noah’s stare and nodded once.
Noah knew then he and Cowboy would make peace. He’d apologize to Cowboy and be allowed back onto HERO Force, forgiven—assuming Noah was able to exonerate himself. Cowboy leaned back and closed his eyes.
As the chopper took off from Hilton Head Island, Noah knew for the first time he was truly leaving his sister behind.
Grief was sharp, his tears that had first collected for Brady now mingling with the grief in his heart.
He gave in to them, allowing them to drip from his eyes as they’d longed to do for so long.
Lizzie was gone and nothing would change that, but he’d found out the truth of what had happened to her and the men who’d killed her were dead. He had done everything that could be done. His work here was complete.
I miss you, sis.
The tears were cathartic, forcing him to feel the helplessness he’d tried to avoid, the pain. He stroked Brady’s back, his small body warm and heavy and comforting as he cried.
Hannah finished her work and sat beside them, opening her arms. Noah leaned into her, smelling her scent, knowing she could feel his tears against her chest and not caring.
She knew everything that was in his heart at this moment and if she thought less of him for his reaction, then that was too damn bad.
She and Brady formed a protective cocoon around Noah, a hard exoskeleton for the weakness in the middle.
They stayed that way until the storm inside him passed, the sun breaking through the clouds that had threatened him for far too long.
He sat up. “Thank you,” he mouthed, knowing she couldn’t hear him.
She kissed him full on the mouth, surprising him. He looked to Cowboy, then Brady, finding them both asleep, and kissed her back, deeply. By the time he lifted his head, his breathing was speeding up and he thought better of continuing to kiss her.
Their eyes met, hers bright green and shining with emotion. He ran his finger down the side of her face, then leaned back and opened his arm. She snuggled into his side, close to her son.
Noah wouldn’t let himself think of the future right now. It was enough just to experience this moment, and he knew he’d remember it for the rest of his life, no matter what happened when they reached Atlanta. He kissed the top of her head, his eyelids suddenly heavy, and fell asleep with a smile.