Death Angel (28 page)

He got out and opened the trunk to see what he could find. He was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of Kevlar vests, but no guns. Stripping to the waist, he donned the bulletproof vest, putting it on over his bare flesh. He put his T-shirt back on and pulled on his shoulder holster, adjusting the straps to improve the fit. He put the utility vest on over the gun rig.

An indirect route to the bluff was a must. This was a state park recreational area, and a maze of trails surrounded the bluff. He set off on a hiking trail on the western approach that was layered with shadows from the various rock formations and plant life.

Jack went deeper into the park, pausing behind a screen
of brush to survey the scene. The bluff was about fifty feet high; it was wide, squat, and sprawling.

Hiding in the bushes, he scanned the south face of the bluff and its surroundings. A dirt road wound up the side to its summit. At base of the main approach stood a group of gunmen in the shade of the trees, loafing, smoking, and talking with their backs to the main entrance. They were experienced thieves and killers, but Bauer was thankful for the casual nature of their lookout skills. He’d exploited amateur mistakes before, and their setting up without a clear view of the highway certainly qualified.

There was a parking lot at the foot of the bluff and some picnic tables under a grove of trees. Near the parking lot was a rustic-looking cabin with restroom facilities for males and females on either side. The center area was an information center. No tourists or park rangers were in the park today, Varrin’s crew and unrelenting heat had seen to that.

So this was the Varrin gang, Jack thought. They looked virtually identical to the Blanco outfit. From the look of things the real action was taking place on top of the bluff. There was movement there, figures, vehicles. Jack had to get there.

He hugged the base of the mound and worked his way around to the north side, where ledges and rock overhangs shielded him from the casual gaze of observers on top. He saw no lookouts posted on this side of the mound. Another mistake. The landform was worn and weathered, slumping and shot through with cracks, crevices, chimneys, ledges, and goat trails. Jack Bauer surveyed it for a moment, sizing it up, selecting the likeliest angle of ascent. It was an easy climb, honeycombed with a skein of hiking paths and goat trails.

He started up, careful to make no noise. No snapped twigs, uprooted branches, or rustling rock falls that might call attention to his presence.

He reached the top, hauling himself over the edge and onto the flat of the summit. Cracked boulders, tilted slabs, and stone needles provided welcome cover. Jack crept through the maze of rocks toward the center of the summit.

A fair amount of the tabletop flat was occupied by a gravel parking lot. The lot was now occupied by a pickup truck, a Range Rover, a Land Cruiser, a Denali, and Carlson’s car.

The broad, flat expanse of the summit featured a number of fenced-in scenic lookout points scattered around the edge of the table land. Not far from the gravel lot was the cavalry post that once stood there in the days of the Old West, consisting of a standing chimney and roofless remnants of dry stone walls.

The gang’s all here
, Jack Bauer said to himself.

About a dozen men stood grouped together, and what a gang it was.

Prominent among them was Adam Zane. Jack Bauer had never met him personally but recognized him from his pictures, film footage and photographs that had passed his desk at CTU/L.A.

Zane would have stood out in any crowd.

Six and a half feet tall, distinguished-looking in a weathered way, he suggested the stereotypical image of the Great White Hunter of colonial yore. He wore a tan safari suit and brown hiking boots. Neat salt-and-pepper hair topped a long, strong-boned, clean-shaven face with jutting cheekbones, hollow cheeks, and a firm chin.

Zane was one of the shadow world’s prime purveyors of stolen secrets. His trade was treachery and business was good.

Shadowing him was Hank Ketch, Zane’s bodyguard. A stocky man with a thatch of sun-bleached palomino-colored hair and pale blond eyebrows so colorless they were almost invisible, he wore a gun holstered under each arm. Zane
himself habitually went unarmed, trusting in his cunning, tirelessly scheming brain. Yes, it would have taken a pearl of ultimate price, a supreme prize, to tempt Zane from his home grounds.

Dr. Hugh Carlson had that prize. The PALO codes. Carlson stood milling around, holding the silvery metal attaché case containing the priceless PALO computer disks.

He was in the orbit of another local celebrity, one whom Jack Bauer had never met but whose presence explained much: Max Scourby.

Scourby, the celebrated Santa Fe defense attorney; high-powered, high-profile, high-priced. The legal wizard who had masterminded the destruction of the United States Attorneys’ prosecution of the atomic spy case against INL’s own Dr. Rahman Sayeed.

He cut a flamboyant figure with his leonine head topped by a mop of curly silver hair; wide, square-shaped face, scimitar nose, wide jack-o’-lantern mouth. He was built like a top, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, his massive torso tapering to a slim waist, narrow hips, thin legs, and small, elegantly shod feet. He wore a lightweight, light-colored linen suit with a yellow shirt and multicolored tie.

Scourby’s presence explained much, as did his proprietary, possessive attitude and physical proximity to Carlson.

The others there were gunmen: Varrin, the lanky, desiccated desert rat and gang leader in Scourby’s pay; and an honor guard of some of his best men and finest killers. Among them were Diablo Cruz, Reed Teed, Arnold Matti, Pablo Obregon, and Norvil Nolles.

Scourby, Zane, and Carlson had their heads together in deep conclave. They were talking about something important from the looks of it.

Jack Bauer edged forward, padding through brush and rocks, moving closer to the open area where the gang was assembled so he could eavesdrop on them. He eased into
a clearing—and came face-to-face with Lassiter and Slim. Slim’s gun was pointing at him.

“I told you I saw someone sneaking around back here,” Slim said.

“You’ve got eyes like a hawk. I didn’t see nothing,” Lassiter said.

All pro, Lassiter moved forward and held his gun to Jack’s head. “Blink and you’re dead, stranger.” He reached under Jack’s vest, lifting his gun from the shoulder holster and sticking it in the top of his waistband. His free hand roamed up and down Jack’s body, searching for weapons, finding none. He circled around behind Jack, out of reach of any hand or foot techniques that a desperate captive might try to get out from under a gun.

“March,” Lassiter said.

The others on the bluff were surprised to see Lassiter emerge from the brush leading a stranger out at gunpoint. Slim followed a few paces behind in Lassiter’s wake.

Jack Bauer’s expression was grim, glum, resigned. He marched with his hands held up.

“Look what Slim found,” Lassiter said.

“Bauer!” Carlson gasped, shaken.

“He belongs to you?” Lassiter asked.

“He’s CTU! He almost got me at the lab! And at the police checkpoint! What are you doing here, Bauer? Where’s Lewis?”

“Lewis sends his regrets. He’s unavoidably detained by a slight case of death,” Jack Bauer said.

“One of the deputies he shot lived long enough to shoot him but not before Lewis mentioned the meeting on the bluff,” Jack lied. Why tip his captors to the fact that the Blancos were hot on their trail? He might be able to exploit that information for some kind of advantage, no matter how minor.

“He’s alone—I checked,” Lassiter said.

Jack Bauer turned to Max Scourby. “I see you’re in the middle of this, Counselor. Looks like you traded in your observer status for a more active role.”

Scourby couldn’t resist the opportunity to show off. He loved the limelight. “What could I do?” he asked. “The good Dr. Carlson was so impressed with my defense of Rahman Sayeed that he sought me out. He had the secrets and I have the connections.”

“You’re wasting time palavering,” said the ever-sour, hard-bitten Varrin. He spat on the ground not far from Scourby’s elegant footwear. “Lewis is dead. No more reason for us to be sitting around here waiting for him. Kill this one and be done with it. Let’s move out.”

“Allow me,” Lassiter offered.

Jack Bauer spun, breaking clear and dashing up a rise toward the edge of the bluff.

Lassiter’s 9mm was already drawn and leveled. He fired, shooting Jack in the back. Jack lurched under the impact, stumbling forward a few staggering steps.

Lassiter fired again. Jack spasmed as another slug tagged him in the center of his back. He pitched forward, falling facedown on the edge of the rise.

Lassiter strode up to him slowly and deliberately. He stood over him looking down. “And one in the head to finish it,” he said.

He pointed the pistol downward and fired.

He put a foot on Jack’s shoulder and push-kicked the body. Jack Bauer tumbled over the edge of the rise, rolling downhill and falling into a ditch out of sight. Lassiter turned, smiling thinly, cradling the smoking pistol in his hands.

“That’s cold, Lassiter,” Teed said. He meant it as a compliment, and that’s how Lassiter took it.

“I hate cops,” Lassiter said. “Feds I hate even more.”

7:36
A.M
. MDT
Bluecoat Bluff, Los Alamos County

An interruption of shouts from the men watching the approach sounded from below. The bunch on the bluff trooped to the southern edge to investigate the cause of the clamor.

A van stood at the base of the hill near the bottom of the road where it leveled out on the ground. A man in a black cowboy hat sat behind the wheel holding a white flag out the window. The flag of truce consisted of a white blouse tied to a broomstick.

Varrin’s gunmen on the ground ringed the van, pointing guns at the newcomer.

Varrin leaned over the edge, cupped a hand beside his mouth. “What the hell’s all the noise?”

One of the men from below shouted back, “It’s Pardee. He wants to talk.”

The announcement produced no small consternation among those massed on top of the bluff.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Varrin said, speaking to himself.

Adam Zane turned to Max Scourby. “Who’s Pardee?”

“Foreman for the Blancos. He’s Torreon’s top hatchet man,” Scourby said.

Varrin drew his gun. “I’ll talk to him with this.”

Scourby considered the matter. “Maybe we should see what he wants. What harm could it do?”

“Plenty,” Varrin said. “He’s a slippery bastard, like his boss.”

“So much more reason for us to find out what he’s all about.”

Lassiter stepped forward. “I’ll get my rifle, I can pot him from here.”

“He’s got a white flag, Lassiter,” Pablo Obregon said.

Lassiter shrugged. “So what?”

“You’re a mad dog, Lassiter. You don’t care who you bite,” Diablo Cruz said.

Lassiter eyed him coolly. “Not particularly, no.”

Scourby was thinking out loud. “If Pardee wants to talk he must have a pretty good reason. What can we lose by hearing him out? We can always kill him later. My curiosity’s piqued,” Scourby said. He reached a decision. “Send him up.”

“You’re the boss,” Varrin said, his flat, curt tone implying his disagreement. He called downhill: “Is he armed?”

“We checked him for weapons and the van is empty!”

“Tell him to come up.”

“What?”

“Tell him to come up, you deaf bastard!”

“Okay!”

The van drove up the incline, trailing a thin cloud of dust.
It crested the rise and leveled on top of the bluff. Pardee halted the van, switched off the motor.

He was in his fifties, with broad sloping shoulders, a thick middle, and spindly legs. He wore a high-crowned black cowboy hat and a belt with an ornate oversized engraved fancy buckle.

The black hat was tilted far forward; the brim just missed obscuring his eyes. His eyebrows were pointed in the middle. He had curly black sideburns and an eyebrow mustache. He wore a string tie with a silver bolo.

The white flag of truce was propped up on the seat beside him. It consisted of an off-white, long-sleeved satiny blouse. The sleeves were knotted to the broomstick.

Pardee looked over the assemblage, a wall of hostile faces. “Quite a coalition. You folks holding Sunday morning services?”

“Say your say, Pardee,” Varrin said.

Pardee turned his face to the lawyer. “Morning, Mr. Scourby. You’ve sure been keeping us hopping lately.”

“That’s what comes of tying into things outside your usual line of work,” Scourby said.

“Like that meth lab of ours you blew up yesterday?”

“A reminder to keep out where you don’t belong. But you didn’t come up here to talk about that, Pardee.”

“No, sir, I didn’t, and that’s a fact. As you can see I come up here bearing a white flag of truce.”

“Torreon suing for peace? You want an armistice, is that it?”

“Not hardly,” Pardee said, chuckling. “You better look at this here flag of truce. Especially you, Dr. Carlson.”

“I speak for Carlson,” Scourby said. “What’s so all-fired important about it?”

Pardee handed him the white flag. “Here, see for yourself. It’s a blouse. Belongs to Miz Carlson. She was wearing it last night.”

Carlson stepped forward, his expression unreadable. “That’s true—it is Carrie’s blouse, the one she was wearing today…There’s blood on it. What have you done with her?”

Pardee made a placating gesture. “Don’t get yourself in an uproar, Doc. It’s nothing, just a couple of scratches. She’s a feisty lady—full of spirit.”

“Why show it to us?” Scourby demanded.

“Proof that we got her. She’s okay. In a safe place. But she ain’t gonna be safe for long if you don’t start cooperating.”

“Say what you mean, man!”

“Smart lawyer like you, I don’t got to draw you a picture. We know what you’re up to with the doc and Mr. Zane here. We want half.”

Varrin laughed, spat. “Half? Is that all?” Scourby asked.

“Torreon ain’t greedy,” Pardee said.

“The hell he’s not,” Varrin fired back.

Pardee’s tolerant expression indicated that reasonable men could disagree. “Half is fine.”

Scourby put his fists on his hips. “Or else what?”

“Or else we send you back half of Miz Carlson…and I do mean half. After we’ve had our fun with her. She’s a pretty lady. Why not keep her that way?”

“You’ve got Mrs. Carlson, and in return for her safe return you want half of whatever deal we cut with Mr. Zane.”

“That’s the situation in a nut,” Pardee agreed.

“Well, well, well,” Scourby said. “She’s your wife, Carlson. It’s up to you. What do you say?”

Like any good trial lawyer, Scourby knew never to ask a question that he didn’t already know the answer to.

Carlson covered his face with his hands. His shoulders heaved.

Pardee tsk-tsked. “I hate to see a grown man cry…”

Carlson lowered his hands, baring his face. His eyes were dry. His expression a mask of mirth. “If I’m crying it’s from
tears of laughter,” he said. “You can cut Carrie up into a thousand pieces as far as I’m concerned. The bitch means nothing to me. I’m sick of her and I’ll be glad to be rid of her.”

Scourby’s face lit up in a big grin. “He’s not bluffing, Pardee. I’m afraid the good doctor doesn’t have an uxorious bone in his body.”

“Now say it in English.”

“Meaning he doesn’t love his wife.”

Carlson chimed in. “I don’t even like her. Chop her up and sprinkle her on your lawn for all I care.”

Pardee stroked his chin. “I do believe you’re serious. Hoo boy, that’s one on me.”

Varrin stepped forward. “Doesn’t make your flag of truce worth a good damn, does it? Your ace in the hole is running down your leg, Pardee. How much will Torreon pay to keep you all in one piece?”

Pardee took off his hat and placed it in his lap. “I’d hate to find out,” he admitted. “Looks like you’ve got me,” he said, sighing.

With rattlesnake quickness he reached inside the crown, pulled out a little .32, and shot Varrin right between the eyes. A red dot appeared there as Varrin fell back.

A fusillade erupted from the ruins of the old fort north of the gravel parking lot, as a handful of Blanco gunmen popped up from where they’d been hiding and opened fire on Varrin’s men. It was a firing squad, a mass execution.

Lassiter fired his gun into Ketch’s head. The back of Ketch’s skull exploded, spraying those nearby with fragments of blood, bone, and brain.

Diablo Cruz spun around, gun in hand. Lassiter had been waiting for that and cut him down. A bullet in the belly folded Cruz up. Lassiter’s next shot blew off the top of his head above the eyebrows.

Lassiter was careful to stand apart from the mass of
Varrin’s men, physically separating himself from them and staying out of the firing line of Blanco executioners. Pardee’s shooters had been tipped that Lassiter was working with them as an inside man.

More shooting sounded down below, where a quartet of Blanco gunners opened fire from the brush where they’d been hiding to rake the defenders on the ground beneath the bluff with machine gun and assault rifle fire. Catching them in the open and chopping them down.

Presently the shooting stopped, above and below. Up top on the bluff, only Carlson, Zane, Scourby—and Lassiter—were left standing.

A waist-high cloud of gun smoke hung in mid-air over the bluff. From behind the stone walls emerged Torreon Blanco, his inseparable bodyguard Stan Rull, and Brazos, one of his top shooters. Pardee climbed out, raising a hand in greeting to the others.

On the ground lay Varrin, Teed, Slim, Diablo Cruz, Obregon, and Ketch—dead.

Carlson and Scourby were quaking. Adam Zane scowled, wrathful, but otherwise uncowed.

Torreon Blanco faced Max Scourby. “Looks like the court finds you out of order, Counselor,” Torreon said. He eyed Adam Zane. “So you’re Zane. I’ve heard a lot about you; I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. Relax. You’re safe. Nobody wants to harm a hair on your head.”

“You killed my bodyguard,” Zane accused.

Lassiter stepped forward. “I did that. He was too dangerous to live. In the excitement he might have shot Pardee,” he said.

Adam Zane gave him a dirty look.

“One of you give Dr. Carlson a hand, he looks a little unsteady on his feet,” Torreon Blanco said.

Brazos, big with curly black hair and a black beard, took Carlson by the arm. “Sit down in the van here, Doc.”

Torreon eyed the metal attaché case whose handle was still tightly gripped by Carlson’s fist. “Are those the codes? I’ll just relieve you of the burden.”

Carlson was reluctant to surrender his prize. Brazos pinned him with his dark eyes. “Now Doc, be sensible.”

Carlson released his grip and Torreon took possession of the attaché case. “Many thanks. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of it,” Torreon said.

He turned to Zane. “Think of this as a new deal. You’re still buying Dr. Carlson and his magical codes; he’s just under new management—mine. You pay me instead of Scourby, that’s all.”

“It’s a little more complicated than that, my homicidal friend,” Adam Zane said.

“I know all about your planned demo. My people already control Mission Hill,” Torreon said. “We’ll go there now.”

Adam Zane shrugged. “I’m flexible. I don’t really care who I deal with as long as the deal gets done. A straight deal, mind you. But what about Scourby?”

Torreon shot Max Scourby in the belly. Scourby lay on the ground, writhing in the dust.

“Dr. Carlson will cooperate, won’t you, Doctor?” Torreon said.

“Yuh—yuh—yes—”

Torreon Blanco beamed. “Brazos, you and Lassiter stay behind to clean up the scene. Rig it so it looks like Varrin’s gang had a falling-out and shot each other. Stash Scourby out of sight. I don’t want him identified for a day or two.”

“Sure,” Brazos said, smiling.

“When you’re done, take one of their cars and meet us at Mission Hill,” Torreon said. He put a bullet in Max Scourby’s head.

He, Zane, Carlson, Pardee, and the rest of his shooters got in the van. Pardee drove, Zane sat in the passenger seat next to him.

Pardee started the van, turned it around, and drove down the road to the bottom of the bluff. He paused, the gunmen down there piled into the back, and they drove out of the park.

Up on the bluff, Brazos turned to Lassiter. “Let’s get to work,” Brazos said.

They finished the shallow grave, dumped Scourby in, and as Lassiter began shoveling the dirt back in, Brazos picked up a machine gun, leveling it at Lassiter.

“Now wait a minute,” Lassiter began.

“You’re part of the clean-up, too,” Brazos said. “Torreon figures if you’d double cross Scourby you’d double cross him—”

A head shot exploded Brazos’s cranium.

Fired by Jack Bauer.