Forged in Honor (1995) (43 page)

Josh's jaw tightened. "You think that's how the head shed sees it?"

Kelly swung his eyes over to his friend. His look gave Josh the answer.

"Shit," Josh cursed.

Kelly shifted his position and winced again. "I gotta get back to the desk. I had to come by and thank you personally for putting it down for Mary. I owe you everything. Come to the office later and bring your FBI shooters with you. You and them still gotta fill out paperwork. And hey, I wasn't born yesterday. I talked to a friend in the Bureau and he told me why the agents were there. You should have told me you were being shadowed."

Josh shrugged and said, "You had your hands full. If Stephen shows up, the Feds get him and he goes home.

Nothin' to it."

Kelly eyed his friend. "Yeah, sure, I ain't askin' any more questions 'cause my Bureau friend told me this thing was at the national level. That puts it out of my league. But it still worries me, so watch your ass, ya hear me? Now help me get in the fuckin' car, will ya? I gotta get back to work."

A hundred and fifty yards away, across Maine Avenue, a wino dressed in filthy clothes and wearing a ragged stocking cap lay on a bench in the small park. Although he looked asleep, he was fully awake and watching an old friend help a man into a car. Despite his inner pain, the memories flooding over him made him smile inwardly. Part of him was ecstatic with joy, but another part felt ashamed. Tears trickled down his cheek as he closed his eyes and prayed he had enough strength to face him.

Josh called it right; the Front was busy. He was in the Gangplank when he felt someone brush against his back. He turned and smiled. "Hi. You look a lot better."

Glenn took his arm and walked him slowly over to a window with a good view of the Washington Monument. "I'm still sore as hell. Thanks for last night."

He winked. "Anytime."

She glanced around the bar with a sympathetic look.

"They're trying hard to forget it happened, aren't they?"

He nodded as he looked over the crowd. "It's human nature. They know they have to get past it to go on. But yesterday was a day nobody in this town will ever really forget."

Her eyes sparked. "Can you come over after work and stay? I'll feed you breakfast in the morning."

Josh tilted his head to the side and frowned. "Great offer, but Stefne is staying with you, remember? I gave her the key, so she's there now."

Grant winced. "My head must have got bumped harder than I thought. I'm sorry, I forgot. I'd better go and see how she's doing. Be careful, Josh. The FBI is betting Stephen shows up in the next couple of days. I talked to them this afternoon. They haven't spotted a tail to replace the ones they picked up, and they're worried about it." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "See you tomorrow."

Josh watched her walk away and began to move toward the dining room when an agent brushed past him and whispered, "Follow me."

Ten seconds later Josh stepped into the kitchen and the agent spun around. "The room team spotted a man in a small rubber boat heading toward the marina. They spotted him in their night vision scope just a minute ago. Wait a sec." He took a small radio from his sport coat pocket and inserted an earplug. He spoke into a miniature receiver on his lapel.

"This is Alpha one, you still see him? ... Roger, I have him with me now.... Roger, out." He looked back at Josh. "He's heading toward your boat. We think it's Kang because the opposition would send more than one man. It's your call. We can go check, or you can."

"I'll do it," Josh said quickly and began to turn around.

"If it's him, secure any weapons he might have and calm him down. We'll be listening, and we'll call before we come so you know it's us. You got it?"

Josh pushed the door open and said over his shoulder, "Got it."

Walking quickly, Josh approached Lil' Darlin' holding his pistol against his leg. He cautiously stepped down to the deck. Taking one step to his left, he saw by the reflection of the pier lights a black rubber dinghy tied off to his bass boat.

He froze when he saw a dark figure rise up beside his traps.

His hand tightened around the pistol as he stepped closer and softly asked, "Stephen?"

A wave of relief spread over Stephen as he heard his best friend's voice. He cried out softly, "At last, Joshua."

Josh quickly glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one else was on the pier. He holstered his pistol and put his hand out. "I've missed you, brother."

With tears in his eyes Stephen grabbed the offered hand and was pulled up to the rail, where the two men hugged each other. Stephen broke from the embrace and hopped over the rail. "We're in danger, Joshua. The Triad is hunting me."

Josh took his arm and hurriedly pulled him toward the cabin. "We'll talk inside. God, I've been worried about you."

They entered the cabin and Stephen spun Josh around and hugged him again. "Joshua, they have Mya and Jacob. You were the only one I could turn to. I'm sorry for endangering you."

Josh held Stephen's shoulders and gently pushed him back to look into his eyes. "I know all about it, brother. The FBI is looking for you too. We've been waiting for you."

Stephen's face paled. "No! If the FBI takes me the DDSI will kill Mya and Jacob."

Josh kept his gaze and grip steady. "Your father has Jacob.

He's waiting for you."

Stephen froze for an instant before stammering, "How ...

How do ..."

"I know, Stephen. I know you were in Seattle and I know you killed three men. My government wants to help you."

Stephen was shaking so badly he could barely speak.

"Mya? Is she safe?"

Josh hugged Stephen to him. "She's with her ancestors, brother."

The telephone rang. Josh guided Stephen to the galley, sat him down, and picked up the handset. "Yeah."

"We heard it all. We're on our-What the-"

Josh heard loud metallic coughing noises, then suddenly the line went dead. He dropped the phone and looked out the open cabin door just as the pier lights went out. He grabbed Stephen, who was still crying. "Stephen, I think the FBI team has been hit! Come on, we're getting out of here!"

Not waiting for him, Josh pulled his pistol as he rushed to the open door and threw himself on the cockpit floor. Raising only his head, he saw to his horror it was a coordinated attack. Despite the pier and wharf lights being out, he could see four men running toward his boat on the pier. He got up into a shooter's crouch and aimed at the lead figure.

"Hey, who are you people?" Meg barked as she stepped out of the cabin to investigate the loss of the pier lights.

The lead man spun, the weapon in his hand coughing in a deadly muffled staccato.

Josh screamed in anguish, fired, missed, and fired again.

The lead man went down, but now warned, the other three began firing as they ran. Josh rolled and came up firing on the stern deck and another went down, but the other two were swinging their barrels toward him. Suddenly another weapon sounded behind Josh and an attacker fell, hit in the chest. The remaining assassin fired a burst at the new shooter and swung the spitting barrel toward Josh, but it was too late.

Josh squeezed the trigger and rushed forward. The man staggered but didn't go down. Josh shot him twice more in the heart and put another bullet into one of the men who was trying to get up. He spun around and saw Stephen fall as his knees buckled. Josh rushed to him and raised his chin.

His right cheek was laid open as if it had been plowed and his lower ear was gone. Stephen's eyes rolled up to him, and he said, "See to the woman. I'll watch your back."

Josh broke into a dead run toward Wind song.

Moaning, Meg lay on the deck in an expanding pool of blood. Josh kneeled by her and lifted her head. "I'm here, Meg. I'm here."

She reached for him in the darkness. "It hurts, Josh. It hurts so bad."

He ran his hands over her body and discovered that a wound in her lower thigh was bleeding profusely. He frantically took off his belt and had just circled it tight around Meg's leg when Stephen fired twice and yelled, "More are coming!" .

Josh turned around just as submachine-gun bullets chewed up the planks around Stephen, who was stumbling back toward Lil' Darlin' . Two men were climbing over the security gate while two others kneeled and fired their silenced machine guns. Josh aimed and began firing. One of the men climbing the fence was knocked backward by a bullet in the shoulder. The other man jumped from the fence to the wharf just in time to take a round in the groin. The two kneeling men raked Wind song with long bursts, then stood and backed up. They got one of the wounded men to his feet, and all three ran down the Channel Walk.

Josh dropped to one knee beside Meg, pulled the Motorola from his pocket, and shouted, "Base, shots fired on pier one!

Need ambulance and police now! Three armed assailants running north on Channel Walk. Tell police to call FBI and inform them their team on Waterfront is down. I repeat, team is down. Get me an ambulance and help now!"

Josh dropped the Motorola and gently picked Meg up in his arms. "I'm gettin' you some help. Hang tough, good lookin'."

She lifted her trembling hand to his face. "I'm sorry, Josh.

I didn't listen, did I?"

A man raised his head up from the entertainment deck of a cabin cruiser moored only three slips down. Josh yelled, "Dr. Cole, it's Josh. Help me-Meg has been wounded."

Another head popped up. "We're not moving till the police get here!" a woman screamed hysterically.

Josh headed for the cruiser. "The police are coming, dammit! Help me!"

Ernie Cole, a weekend marina regular, stood up. "Bring her on board. I've got a first-aid kit."

Josh stepped onto the cruiser's deck and laid Meg on the cushions in the weld behind the bridge. He heard voices yelling for him from the security gate and yelled back. "Over here! Watch out for a wounded man in front of the gate."

Cole turned on the bridge light and quickly inspected Meg's wound. "You're lucky, Meg. No arteries were severed."

Josh leaned over to stroke her face. "I gotta go, Meg."

A wave of pain caused her to grimace. She bit her lip until it passed, then focused her liquid eyes on him. "I'm so sorry, Josh."

Brad Rawlins, one of Josh's security men, climbed up on deck with a pistol in his hand. Josh took his rover's arm and walked him back to the pier. "Brad, get the others here to cordon off the pier. Don't let a fuckin' soul past the gate unless they're cops or medics." A thought struck Josh as he was talking and he looked back toward his boat. "A man named Stephen Kang was on the pier. He was hit in the chest and knocked into the water. They'll need to look for his body."

The off-duty cop looked at the dead men sprawled on the planks, then back to Josh. "What the hell happened, Hawk?

And where in the hell are you going? You can't leave a crime scene."

Josh's face tightened. "These fuckers just tried to whack me. I'm not going to wait around the pier for a sniper's bullet. Trust me on this. I gotta go."

The cop reluctantly nodded. "I'll handle it. Get outta here."

Josh ran back to Lil' Darlin' and found Stephen sitting against the cabin door, holding his wadded-up shirt against his face. Josh grabbed the first-aid kit from. Beneath the wheel and pulled Stephen to his feet. He guided him toward his bass boat and said, "We gotta move. We're gonna take my boat upriver. It's too dangerous to stay around here, and the cops would ask you too many questions."

Josh throttled back and glided up to the boathouse pier.

Quickly tying off, he picked up the first-aid kit and helped Stephen into the huge, barnlike building. Having seen Fred hide the office key plenty of times, he lifted a flowerpot by the door and picked up the old-fashioned key beneath it.

Minutes later in the office, Josh angled Stephen's head back and put the last piece of tape in place to hold the bandage on his face. He patted Stephen's back and sat down beside him. "Brother, it's gonna hurt like hell, but you have to tell me everything you've done, seen, and heard since arriving in the U. S."

Stephen's glazed eyes watered. "I've killed Mya and almost got you killed. I don't want you involved anymore, Joshua. They'll kill you."

"I'm already involved, brother. Think about your son and getting home to him. I can help you if you tell me every detail, just like our Teacher taught us."

Stephen's eyes came into focus as he thought of his son.

He lowered his head and closed his eyes. "I flew into Seattle on the fifth of June and was met by ..."

.

11:05 P. M., Alexandria, Virginia.

Awakened by the ringing phone, Kelly slapped the nightstand twice before finding the handset. "Kelly ... Christ, yeah, I'll be there in thirty minutes."

He sat up stiffly, replaced the handset, and turned on the lamp.

Mary raised her head from the pillow. "What's wrong, Terry?"

Kelly got up gingerly, holding his bandaged ribs, and turned to look at her. "Josh was involved in a firefight on the pier. He needs me."

She got up immediately. "I'll help you get dressed."

.

11:18 P. M., Waterfront Apartments.