Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (14 page)

“
As soon as we
came to rest, upside down, Vito deployed the Turtle Claw, flipped us
back over, and we took off after the limo and the trailing SUV, who'd
passed us unscathed after we took the brunt of the blast, and took
the third alternate route in our plan.

“
The attackers
had also passed us, accelerating after the limo and SUV, machine guns
blazing out their windows and from the two motorcycles that joined
the chase.”

“
We activated our
grille guns and took out one of the bikes, the two riders' bodies
blown into teeny tiny pieces, which splattered blood and flesh onto
our windshield. The autowash cleared that right up, and we took off
after the other bike and the two attacking SUVs.”

“
What the hell?”
Kathy exclaimed as she saw the explosion and the SUV in front of her
limo start to flip. She stepped on the gas and twisted the wheel,
avoiding the rolling SUV, while Stacy, sitting in the passenger seat,
shouted at Kristle in the back seat to cover the protectee.

She then radioed to the
trailing SUV, letting Carie and Jill, the Mimosa twins, know that
they were taking Alternate Route 3.

“
Roger Dodger,
Stace,” Jill replied. “We'll cover and prepare to block,
if needed. Out.

“
CB, I'll get in
the back. Keep us right behind the limo, K?”

“
Will do,
Jillybean. Gun ports opening now.”

“
Rodger Dodger,
CB. Looks like two SUVs and two motorcycles behind us … oops,
make that one bike. The Kuzzins just got one.”

“
Bravo for the
newbies.”

“
Yup. Stacy
trained 'em good.”

“
Well.”

“
Well, what?”

“
What?”

“
Well, what?”

“
Oh, no; sorry.
Trained 'em well.”

“
Yup, she did;
that's what I said.”

“
No, you said
'good.'”

“
I know.”

“
Well” --

“
Gotcha.”

“
Oh, geez.”

“
But lemme get
cracking at those SUVs.”

“
Go for it.”

Jill fired through the
rear gun port at the lead SUV chasing them, but the bullets just
bounced off the grille and windshield.

“
Aw, shit;
they've got armor.”

“
Try the EMP.”

“
Roger Dodger.”

Jill aimed the EMP gun
at the first SUV and fired, but nothing happened.

“
Oh, fuck.
They've hardened the electronics.”

“
RPG?”

“
Let's see.”

Jill aimed and fired an
RPG, which hit the SUV right between the headlights; after the
explosion, the SUV kept up the chase, seemingly undamaged.

“
Now, that's
thick armor.”

“
Flamethrower?”

“
Nah. Flip on
the glaint gun.”

“
Okay.
Charging.”

“
Green light
here. Ready. Aim. Firing.”

A thick black fluid
sprayed from a nozzle at the back of the SUV, hitting the trailing
one's entire front end from side to side and top to bottom. The
driver turned on the wipers, but they only smeared the mess of paint
and superglue slightly before grinding to a halt.

Unable to see, the
driver rolled down his window and stuck his head out, where Jill
cleanly exploded it with a three-round burst from her machine gun.
The SUV swerved wildly to the left, smashing into and over the
guardrail and down into the ditch, wheels spinning as it came to rest
on its roof. The second SUV sped up to take the place of its upended
partner.

“
Too bad they
don't have a Turtle Claw,” Vito said to Danuta as he glanced
into the ditch when they whizzed past the now-burning SUV.

The passenger on the
remaining motorcycle fired her machine gun over her shoulder, but
Danuta's aim was more accurate and the rear tire exploded, sending
the cycle and its riders also into and over the guardrail on the
left.

“
One to go,”
Danuta, Jill and Stacy all said, separately but simultaneously.

“
Mobile One to
Base,” Stacy radioed, “coming in hot. Open the gates and
prepare a perimeter.”

“
Roger that,”
came the reply.

“
ETA, thirty
seconds.”

“
Roger that.”

“
Deploying right
outriggers.”

As the limo, traveling
at a speed above 150 kilometers per hour, neared the turnoff to the
street leading to the embassy's driveway, Kathy pressed a button and
two steel arms with small tires on the end telescoped out about four
feet from the right-side frame of the limo, so that when the limo
made the left turn and started to rise up on the two right wheels,
the tires on the outriggers hit the ground and kept it upright.

Kathy then pressed
another button and the left-side outriggers deployed, so when the
limo turned right and screeched across the heavy oncoming traffic,
through the gate and into the driveway, it stayed nearly level.

Behind the limo, Carie
deployed her own outriggers, swerved her SUV and skidded it into
position so that it blocked the gates, which began to slide closed.
The pursuing SUV, unable to make the turn off Leyds so adroitly,
narrowly missed crashing into an oncoming transit bus, then veered
back into the left lane and continued on, speeding up to over 160
kilometers per hour, Vito and Danuta in hot pursuit.

Just after the limo
screeched through the gates, bullets crashed into the roof and rear
window, fired from somewhere above but out of sight. None of them
penetrated.

Kathy brought the limo
to a sliding stop at the embassy door and pressed the Worm button. A
flexible tube about six feet tall and four wide telescoped out from
the limo to the embassy door. Only then did the limo's back door
open and the protectee emerge into the tube, with Stacy and Kristle
at his sides, and walk the fifteen feet into the hardened lobby of
the embassy, with more bullets crashing into and ricocheting off the
Worm's bulletproof exterior.

After a senior staff
member signed off on the turnover document, Stacy and Kristle
returned to the SUV, retracted the Worm and headed back to the gate.

“
Job over,”
Stacy radioed to the other vehicles.

“
Copy that,
Stace,” Jill replied.

“
Copy that,”
Danuta replied. “Breaking off pursuit.”

Ten minutes later, the
three vehicles were securely locked in the garage of a safe house
where Vito and the six women shared a bottle of champagne as they
distributed the fake passports and documents they would need for
their departure from the country the next day.

Three hours later, they
watched as a TV reporter reported that a junior member of the embassy
staff had shot and killed their former protectee an hour after they
had delivered him safely.

“
Oh, Christ; they
got him!” Danuta cried out.

“
Not our
problem,” Stacy reassured the others, holding up the turnover
document. “You all did a great job. To us!”

“
To us,”
they all repeated, clinking glasses and drinking.

- 38 -

November
16, 2012
11:27
p.m. local time

Aboard
Defiance

In
the Gulf of Aden

“
So he's got the
patent?”

“
Right, in '09,
but only in the US.”

“
And he's asking
how much?”

“
Three million.”

“
For what share?”

“
51 percent.”

“
By when?”

“
The 27th.”

“
I like the idea,
but I'd want some of our engineers to examine the designs in detail
before I decide.”

“
They have,
Jake.”

“
Oh? And they
think it'll work?”

“
They've got some
ideas to improve the air flow and the bounce angles, but the basic
design concept is workable and can save lots of lives.”

“
Ready for
production when?”

“
Eight months,
they say.”

“
Accounting
projections?”

“
50 million
annual sales in two years, 125 in five. Margins growing from 17 to
44 percent in five years, then stabilizing.”

“
Working
capital?”

“
12 million over
three years.”

“
And he wants to
stay with the project?”

“
Yup; but he
knows he won't be the final decision-maker, and he's okay with that.”

“
Good, good. So
what's your opinion, Wes?”

“
I think it'll
work; otherwise I wouldn't have brought it to you.”

“
Okay; we'll do
the deal. Make it four million for the 51 percent, 15 million
working capital, put it in our Bulgarian sub and get all the
worldwide patents. And we'll use our existing salesforce with the
engine manufacturers when we're ready for production.”

“
Great, Jake.
I'll get right on it.”

“
Good. Now one
for you – well, for the car company, I guess. I've got a
design for a combination modern/antique auto, streamlined front end,
1930s limo in the back, like an old Duesenberg, maybe.”

“
You mean like
FDR used to ride in?”

“
Yup. And the
convertible hardtop would be split front and rear, so either the
chauffeur or the rear seat passengers or both can be covered or not.
And it would close down into the seat behind the chauffeur, not into
the rear trunk.”

“
Wow. I like
it.”

“
I'll send you an
email with a rough sketch attached. Have the designers mock it up
and let's see how it looks.”

“
Will do, Jake.”

“
And one other
thing, and the absolutely most important. It must have no –
and I mean absolutely none, nada, zero – no electronics, other
than maybe the radio. Those are way too easy to hack into and
control, even without physical access to the car.”

“
Really? How do
you know that?”

“
Sorry, Wes,
can't tell you. But it can be done.”

“
Okay, Jake.
Another secret; I'll put that with the others.”

“
Do that, Wes.
Okay. Any new thoughts on the sequester if those idiots in
Washington can't come to an agreement?”

“
Well, Jake, our
forecast ranges from four percent to eight percent revenue
reductions, most coming from cancellations of some of our defense
contracts with the government, but part coming from the upscale
commercial and residential security systems installation and
monitoring businesses, since some of those guys will also be facing
cancellations or reductions in their government contracts.”

“
But, Wes, that's
worldwide, not that much in the US, right?”

“
Right; maybe 23
or 24 percent US. It was – give me a sec – 23.6 percent
last month, 328 million.”