Merit Badge Murder (17 page)

I gave a silent thanks when I found the principal's closet empty. We gave Lana instructions and shoved her up into the small space.

"It's hot up here!" she shouted. But she didn't try to get down.

"We'll get you out as soon as we can," Riley shouted back.

I gave Riley a more detailed tour of the school that took about ten minutes. It was so weird being back here. I thought about Kelly and me as pigtailed little kids running through the hallway. If only I'd known then what I knew now. Bullies would most likely leave you alone when they realize you know how to waterboard them.

"Are you sure they aren't still using this school?" Riley frowned as he saw the volleyball net up in the gym.

I nodded. "Positive. They did a huge story on it for the news. Didn't you see the construction stuff outside?" I stared at two rubber balls on the floor. "I don't know why this stuff is still here."

He shrugged. "Okay then. Let's head back to the office."

The front room of the office had a view of the street and the one and only entrance to the school parking lot. From there we'd be able to see the Russians as they drove in. They could arrive at any time, and we wanted to be ready.

"Not bad, Wrath," Riley said as we sat on the secretary's desk. "This could work."

"Um…thanks?" I said sarcastically. "You know, I was an agent. On my own. In foreign countries. And I did pretty well."

He nodded. "Yes you were." He gave me a strange look. "You know, I've missed you."

I gulped, and my eyes went wide. "Seriously? You missed me?" I felt that little flutter in my stomach. The same flutter I'd felt just before he'd kissed me.

Riley nodded. "I really did. You were always good at thinking on your feet."

"Oh. Right." I hoped I didn't sound too disappointed. "Like I told you, I was a great agent."

He reached out and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. His touch was so soft, it felt like a whisper. And it made my skin feel all tingly. I watched as Riley stepped closer to me, his eyes on mine. Was he going to kiss me again?

I closed my eyes in anticipation and parted my lips.

And then, Riley laughed. Hysterically. I opened my eyes, furious at him for making me feel like an idiot. I was just considering whether to shoot him or not when I realized he was looking over my shoulder out the window. I turned to see the black VW pulling in with three large guys barely stuffed inside. Okay, so that was pretty funny.

"Let's go." Riley ran out of the room to the gym. I took up my position in the third classroom near the door where we'd broken in. I crouched down behind the heavy, wood teacher's desk and thought about Riley, hidden behind the curtain on the stage in the gym. If they went straight to the gym, they were Riley's. If they decided to check the classrooms first, I was supposed to take out the first guy and lead the other two to the gym for a final standoff.

This will work.
I told myself.
It's a good plan.

The door to the school opened with a creak. I stifled a grin. They fell into the first trap—locating the spot where we'd broken in as the easiest point of entry. So lazy. And the door creaked, just like it had for us.

CREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAK.

I tried not to laugh out loud. They were trying to open the door more, but it only creaked louder.

CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK.

I heard a lot of Russian swearing. They were in. And they knew they'd been heard. I figured they'd take up positions in the hallway for a moment, to see if anyone came at them. But no one would. That wasn't the plan.

You can't rush these things. Agents who have no patience never survive long in this business. In the military they have a saying:
hurry up and wait.
Well, it's pretty much the same for us too. Many an agent has died because they had the attention span of a caffeinated gnat.

I heard some hushed arguing. They realized now that they had to come to us, and they were trying to figure out how to do that successfully. I understood Russian enough to know that the three FSB guys were named Vladimir, Aleksei, and Yevgeny. They couldn't decide whether to stay together or separate.

I stayed put. No point in jumping out too soon. Besides I wanted to drop them in the school. I didn't want to give them the opportunity to escape, or worse, kill me.

Riley had almost kissed me in the office. I was sure of it. He liked me. And clearly, I liked him, or I wouldn't have felt all squishy when he tucked my hair behind my ear. But what did it mean? I didn't fully trust him. There was still a lot he wasn't saying. And that bothered me.

I heard footsteps in the hall and closed my eyes to focus on the sound. One guy had entered the first classroom. The other two were going down the hallway, one on either side of the gym. I thought they'd do that.

I heard another door swing open. My guy was done with the first classroom and entering the second one. Pretty soon he'd come through one of the doors into my room. He wouldn't be able to see me from either doorway. The desk was huge. It didn't matter which door he came through, I was ready for him.

The door to the hallway swung open. So that's the one. Footsteps moved quickly toward me. I knew he'd check the desk—it was the only hiding place in the room. Still no sound from the others, so they hadn't gotten Riley or Lana.

The footsteps came closer. We'd decided to try to take these guys out silently if possible. Most people are afraid of the unknown. It was a knee-jerk reaction. As the Russians disappeared, the remaining one or two would panic.

I was going to go for a chokehold. If that didn't work, I'd shoot him. I didn't have time to screw around.

The footsteps stopped just in front of the desk. My leg shot out and swept him off his feet. Just as he hit the ground, I reached out and grabbed him, my arm around his neck and dragged him halfway under the desk.

There was only a one and a half foot gap between the floor and the desk. The guy's head and shoulders were underneath on my side, but his forearms, hands and the rest of him were on the other side and there was no room for him to bring his arms up. He was pinned down by the heavy, oak desk.

He was big. I held on and kept up the pressure, squeezing as hard as I could. The Russian kicked and tried to get free, but his chest was trapped under the desk with me. Even if he managed to free himself, he wouldn't get away from me easily.

I'm not a big person. Strangling a big guy with a thick neck was not easy. My arms were burning and my shoulders strained, but I held on because the alternative would not be good for me.

The man struggled less now. He was out of air and soon would lose consciousness. I wished it would happen quickly because I was wiped out. Finally, the body went limp. You'd think I could've let go then, wouldn't you? Oh no. I hung on for at least another minute. Most people make the mistake of letting go when the victim passes out. But that's a huge mistake. The guy could come to and take you out. You had to hold on until you were sure they were dead.

I eventually let go, my muscles screaming in protest. Okay, I'm just going to shoot the next guy. There were two left. Riley could take out the other one.

I dragged the dead Russian all the way under the desk. He'd stay hidden for a little while. I took his gun—an H&K nine millimeter. Nice. I stuck it into my waistband and pulled out the Colt. A nine millimeter pistol was nice and all, and the H&K was an expensive gun, but these were big guys. The .45 had more stopping power.

Staying low, I held the Colt in front of me and crept to the adjoining door. I listened for a moment before opening it really slowly and moving into the second classroom. Doubling back is always a good move. They don't usually see it coming.

Someone was running down the hall in my direction. Ah. Dress shoes. Riley was wearing tennis shoes. Much different sound. And unless Riley had decided to trade shoes somewhere between the car and the gym, I was pretty sure this was another Russian.

"Vlad!" A loud whisper came from the hallway. What idiots. Who trained these guys?

The guy stepped into the room with me. I was behind the door. The minute he stepped out of the doorway, I was going to shoot him.

The Russian smacked his fist against the door, apparently angry that Vlad wasn't answering. Unfortunately, that drove the door and the doorknob into my body. I gasped involuntarily. I couldn't help it.

A giant, beefy hand grabbed the edge of the door and yanked it away. As I tried to regain my breath, a big ugly man inconsiderately wrapped his big paws around my throat. It seemed kind of ironic, since I'd taken Vlad out that way.

As I choked and sputtered, the guy lifted me off the floor and laughed. He thought he'd hit the lottery by getting a tiny woman for an opponent. He squeezed his fingers as I brought up the Colt and squeezed the trigger. I fired two shots directly into his gut, and he let go and staggered back with a look of shock on his face. Clearly, this guy didn't lose very often.

He started yelling. Now that, I couldn't have. The sound of gunshots would've echoed in the big school. But yelling would tell his partner where he was. I didn't want to risk a third shot. I had to find something to render him unconscious.

I smashed the first thing I could find into his head. The globe broke in two, and I looked at the hollow half shells. Vlad was still conscious. Huh. I thought the globe would be, I don't know, sturdier than that. Oh well. Lesson learned. I kicked him in the side of the head. That seemed to do the trick.

Using the cord from the window blinds, I tied him up. He was gutshot, but I've seen guys get up after being shot and fight on until they bled out. No way I was going to let that happen. I took his gun, another H&K, and stuffed it into my shorts. Now I had three guns. No waiting periods now for this girl.

I got low to the floor, peeking out into the hallway only a foot off the ground. People tend to aim higher, expecting a target to walk out of the room. They aren't used to seeing someone low to the ground. Like I said, every extra second is an advantage in your favor.

The hallway was empty. I heard nothing. That was weird. I'd have thought the bad guy would've found Riley by now. Or at least would have come running at the sound of my two gunshots. Unless he's waiting to ambush me.

I withdrew back into the classroom, kicking the tied up Russian in the head again, just to make sure he stayed out. He was still breathing, but raggedly. It wouldn't be long. I slipped over to the adjoining door to the other classroom and passed through it.

Making my way slowly, from classroom to classroom, I couldn't stop wondering why I hadn't heard any encounter Riley had with the last guy. Maybe it happened while I was shooting the second assailant? But then, why hadn't either Riley or the Russian come running to help or kill me?

A chilling thought froze me in my tracks. Could they have killed each other? Maybe they fired at the same time, during my little one-sided gunfight? Maybe Riley was bleeding out somewhere? My pulse quickened. I had to check it out.

I was halfway down the hallway, still in a classroom, when I realized I was even with the side door to the gym. I hesitated, straining to listen. But I heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. What was going on? None of this seemed right.

"Merry!" I turned to see Lana whispering at me as she slunk through the door to the next classroom. Her gun was in her right hand. She looked spooked. I motioned for her to join me.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed. "I told you to stay put until we came to get you!"

"I heard two gunshots. I got worried," she said. That meant she'd only heard me firing twice into Russian number two. Which meant that if there was a scuffle in the gym, she didn't hear it.

"You didn't hear anything else?" I asked. Lana had been way closer to the gym. I'd been on the opposite end of the building from her.

Lana shook her head. Riley and Russian number three were unaccounted for. One thing was certain—I needed a new plan.

"I took out the other two," I said quietly, "which with you, now makes it three against one."

"So you are letting me fight?" Lana asked.

"Might as well," I answered as I held a gun in each hand. "We'd better go see what's going on in the gym."

Lana nodded and followed me into the hallway, sweeping her gun to the left while I checked the right. Nothing. The gym entrance was right across from me. I motioned to Lana that she should stay here, where it was clear, while I went around to the entrance on the opposite side of the gym.

"Be careful," I whispered. "I have no idea where the third guy is. Keep an eye on the doorway. Enter only when I signal you."

I slipped quietly along the wall, visually checking each classroom opposite me as I went. This wasn't working out exactly as I'd hoped. We'd set everything up so that the FSB had to come to us. Now we were in the position of finding the third guy, who was probably laying in wait to ambush us. And where the hell was Riley?

I turned the corner and made my way halfway down the hall toward the entrance to the gym by the kitchen. I needed to take a quick look before moving to the door opposite Lana. Once again, I got low and looked in.

I couldn't see anything. Not Riley, not the Russian. There appeared to be no sign of struggle. I got back up, and after clearing the hall behind me, made my way around the next corner to the opposite end of the gym, clearing the classrooms as I went.

Once I got to the doorway, I signaled to Lana to go in, sweeping on her right, while I would do the same sweep on my right. She nodded. I held up three fingers and counted down…3…2…1.

We both jumped into the gym at the same time. My end of the gym, which included the stage where Riley was supposed to be hiding, was empty. Lana nodded that her end was clear too. Together, we silently slid along the wall, walking toward the stage.

I had a bad feeling about this. Riley would've let us know if he'd taken care of his guy. But he didn't. That could mean the third Russian had hurt or killed Riley and was just waiting for the rest of us to show up.