The Charm School (80 page)

Alevy said to Mills, “Hold them for a few minutes, Bert.”

“Right.” Mills drew his automatic, rolled under the Trans Am, and waited for the men to draw closer.

Hollis and Alevy began running toward the cabin, carrying Burov and Dodson on their backs.

Mills steadied his aim and fired a full eight-round magazine from his silenced pistol. Someone screamed and immediately the air was cut with the hollow popping noise of AK-47’s on full automatic, sounding like a string of tightly packed firecrackers. The windows of the Trans Am began shattering, and the streaks of green tracer rounds sliced through the black night. Mills reloaded and fired off another eight rounds.

Hollis and Alevy ran hunched over, their feet trying to find traction in the gravel as their burdens became heavier. Hollis still could not see the helicopter in the field.

Lisa, ahead of them, came within twenty meters of the log cabin and called out, “Bill! Bill Brennan!”

A voice called back, “Lisa Rhodes? Come on! Run!”

Lisa sprinted the last twenty meters and ran into the arms of Brennan. He said, “Okay, okay. Take a breath. What’s happening?”

She motioned back down the lane. “Seth and Sam . . . carrying Dodson and Burov.”

“Who? Oh, yeah. Good. And Mills?”

“Back there. They’re coming. We were chased.”

“I guess so. Okay, get to the chopper, out there in the field—”

“No, I’m waiting—”

“Well, then get into the cabin and stay low. Be right back.” Brennan ran up the lane and met Alevy and Hollis coming toward him. A burst of automatic fire ripped into the boughs above their heads, and they all dove for the ground. Brennan looked at Burov and Dodson and asked, “They hit?”

“No,” Alevy replied. “Resting. Did Lisa—?”

“Yeah, she’s in the cabin.”

“Okay, you take Dodson here and get back to the cabin.”

Brennan got to one knee, and Alevy put Dodson on Brennan’s back. Brennan said, “Couldn’t you find people who could walk?”

The fire from the AK-47’s was pruning the branches above their heads, and the lane was becoming covered with boughs and cones. Hollis saw a mangled squirrel drop beside him. Hollis couldn’t tell if Mills was firing back because of his silencer, but the Border Guards seemed to be moving closer, and he could actually see muzzle flashes through the trees.

Brennan got into a crouch and began running back toward the cabin with Dodson.

Alevy said to Hollis, “Go on, Sam. Mills is my responsibility. Beat it.”

Hollis hefted Burov over his shoulder. “Try to stay alive long enough for me to kick the shit out of you.” Hollis followed Brennan in a low crouch.

Alevy knelt behind a large pine tree to the side of the lane, drew his pistol, and fired randomly into the trees on both sides. Suddenly there was an explosion, and Alevy saw a ball of orange fire erupt up the lane, and he knew the Trans Am had blown. He called out for Mills, but got no answer. Alevy slapped his last magazine into his pistol and began making his way toward the cabin, firing as he went.

Hollis covered the last few feet between the lane and the cabin and sank to his knees in the doorway. Brennan took Burov off his shoulder and laid the unconscious man beside Dodson just inside the door. Hollis stood and noticed that the cabin was dark now, but he could pick out Lisa crouched below a window and nearby three corpses in uniform stacked neatly against a wall. Lisa said, “Sam . . . are you all right?”

“Fine. Stay low.” Hollis took off the KGB topcoat and threw it over Dodson.

Brennan picked up his Dragunov sniper rifle and went to the window, focusing the night scope on the nearby tree line. He said, “I don’t see Alevy or Mills on the path, but I see figures moving through the trees.” He took aim and fired, the operating rod of the silenced rifle making a metallic noise louder than the muzzle blast. He reaimed and fired again. “It’s a nice rifle, but the scope is not as sharp as ours.”

Hollis saw three AK-47’s stacked against the other window, and near them was a metal ammunition box filled with thirty-round banana clips. He knelt at the window, took a rifle, and knocked out the glass.

Brennan said, “Don’t fire yet, Colonel. They don’t have a fix on this place yet.”

“Right.” Hollis looked at Lisa kneeling beside him. “I’m going back for Seth and Bert.”

She grabbed his arm. “Don’t you owe me something?”

Brennan glanced over at them. “Hey, why don’t one or both of you guys get out there and see if O’Shea’s still hanging around? Tell him what’s happening.”

Hollis took Lisa’s hand and led her to the door. “Keep low.” He pulled her away from the cabin and toward the clearing where they knelt in the knee-high grass. About a hundred meters out, Hollis could see the white helicopter against the black tree line beyond it. Above the sound of the gunfire, Hollis could hear the turbines running. “Do you see it?”

“Yes.”

“Tell O’Shea we’re all right and we’re coming.”

She looked at him. “You’re coming with me.”

“Later.”

“Now!”

Hollis grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I need you to go out there and tell him we’re coming or he might take off. I have to go back for the others, Lisa.”

“I’ll jump off, Sam. I swear I will. If you’re not there, I’ll come back for you—” Tears filled her eyes, and her body began to shake.

Hollis turned her toward the helicopter. “Run. Low. Go on!”

She glanced back at him, then began running through the grass toward the helicopter, turning her head back to him every few strides.

Hollis watched her silhouette getting smaller against the distant helicopter, then turned toward the cabin and found himself face-to-face with Alevy.

Alevy watched Lisa disappear into the night, then looked at Hollis. “Go ahead, Sam.”

“I’ll get Burov.” Hollis moved past Alevy and headed back toward the cabin, Alevy beside him. Alevy said, “At least she listens to you. She never listened to me.”

Hollis didn’t reply. The sound of gunfire was closer now, and Hollis could see green tracer rounds streaking through the woods, though most of them were impacting in the trees.

Hollis and Alevy sprinted the short distance to the open door of the cabin and dove onto the floor. Brennan said, “There are a lot more of them now. They’ve fanned out into the woods and are moving tree to tree. They’re playing it cautious, but they’ll be here in about ten minutes.” Brennan added, “If they break out of the tree line over there by the clearing and see the chopper, we have a problem.”

Alevy nodded. “We have to slow them up a little.” He grabbed an AK-47, poked the muzzle through a window, and fired long bursts into the nearby trees until the thirty rounds were expended.

The firing from the woods slackened for a few seconds as the Border Guards took cover. When the firing picked up again, Hollis noticed that most of it now seemed to be directed toward the cabin. He could hear the thud of impacting rounds on the far side of the logs, and an occasional green tracer sailed through the shattered windows, hit the opposite wall, and glowed briefly before it burned out. Overhead, tracers ripped through the sheet metal roofing, and the rafters began to splinter. Brennan said to Alevy, “Maybe you want to hold off on that until you see the whites of their eyes.”

Alevy reloaded another magazine. “Okay, Bill, you take Burov and get to the chopper.”

Hollis said, “No, Dodson goes first. I’ll take Burov.”

Alevy nodded to Brennan.

Brennan gave his sniper rifle to Alevy. “You can track them through the night scope, and the muzzle makes no noise or flash. Use this until they get closer. Then use the AK’s and the stuff in the bag.” Brennan added, “Better yet, let’s all get the hell out of here.”

Alevy raised the sniper rifle above the windowsill, aimed at a muzzle flash, and fired off a round. He said, “I have to wait a bit longer for Bert. See you later.”

Brennan was kneeling beside Dodson now. “He’s got an okay pulse, but he’s really out.” He put Dodson over his shoulder and moved toward the door, which was not in the direct line of fire from the woods. “Okay, see you on board,” Brennan said with no conviction. He charged out the door, and Hollis watched him as he moved rapidly away from the cabin toward the clearing and disappeared in the darkness.

Hollis dropped down on one knee beside Burov and checked his pulse and breathing. “He’s okay. Worth taking.”

Burov stirred and tried to raise his head, but Hollis pushed him back. Burov mumbled through his swollen lips and broken teeth. He spit up blood and gum tissue, then said in Russian, “You . . .” He opened his eyes. “You . . . Hollis . . . I’ll kill you . . . I’ll fuck your woman.”

Hollis said in Russian, “You’ll live, but you won’t feel much like fucking.”

“
Yeb vas.
”

Alevy moved beside Burov and said to him, “Do you know where you’re going, Colonel? To America. Lucky you.”

“No . . . no . . .” Burov raised his tied hands and swung weakly at Alevy.

Alevy removed a spring-loaded Syrette from his pocket and jabbed it into Burov’s neck, releasing a dose of sodium pentothal. He said to Burov, “You can send postcards to Natalia.”

“You bastard.”

“Look who’s talking.”

Burov seemed to notice the sound of gunfire. “See . . . they are coming for you.”

Alevy said to Hollis, “Well, Sam, it’s your turn. Take your prize home.”

Hollis replied, “Why don’t you come along? Mills is dead.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Come on home, Seth. You deserve it. Lunch at the White House.”

“I’ll give the orders, General Hollis. Get moving.”

Hollis and Alevy looked at each other a moment, then Alevy said, “The sleeping gas will pop in a few minutes. I’ll be all right. You’d better go.”

They heard the sound of running footsteps outside, and they both grabbed rifles as a voice called out, “I’m coming in!”

Mills dove headfirst through the open door and rolled into Burov, who gave a grunt. Mills sat up on the floor and caught his breath. “They’re close. Less than a hundred meters.” He looked at his watch. “Jesus . . . time to go.”

Hollis noticed blood on Mills’ hand and on his neck. He smelled of burnt gasoline, and his clothes were singed. “You hit?”

“I’m all right. I got away from the car before it blew. Well, are we waiting for anything?”

“Just you,” Alevy replied. “You take Burov. We’ll cover you with smoke.”

“Right.”

Hollis lifted the unconscious Burov onto Mills’s shoulders as Alevy tore open the black leather bag and removed a smoke canister. He stood to the side of the door and peered around the jamb. “They’re damned close.” He pulled the pin on the canister and flung it out the door. The black smoke billowed and began drifting southward with the wind toward the advancing Border Guards. Alevy took a CS gas canister from the bag and flung that out also. The CS riot gas hissed into the air and wafted along with the smokescreen. He said, “Okay, Bert, see you in a minute or so.”

Mills stood in a crouch near the door with Burov on his back and watched the ground-blinding smoke roll away from the cabin into the tree line. The sound of a man gagging could be heard above the sporadic weapons’ fire. Mills said, “Good luck.” He held on to Burov and ran from the cabin, the smokescreen behind him. Hollis lay in the doorway with an AK-47 and fired a full thirty-round magazine in a sweeping motion across the tree line, getting little fire in return. He glanced back toward Mills and saw he had disappeared.

Hollis rolled back into the
izba
and sat with his back against the log wall. As he reloaded, Alevy knelt by the window and fired long bursts into the black smoke. Spent shell casings clattered to the floor, and the smell of burnt cordite filled the cabin.

Hollis said, “Okay, Mills and Burov are on board by now. You want to go first? I’ll cover.”

Alevy glanced at his watch. “No, you go first. We have a few minutes.”

Hollis moved toward the door, then looked back at Alevy.

Alevy smiled. “Go ahead.”

Hollis could hear the sound of the helicopter turbines coming from the clearing. “He’s going to leave. Come with me.”

Alevy sat with his back to the wall beside the door but didn’t respond. Hollis thought he looked very relaxed, very at peace with himself for the first time since Hollis had known him. “It wasn’t sleeping gas that you dropped from the helicopter, was it?”

Alevy replied, “No, it wasn’t.”

“Nerve gas?”

“Yes. I used Sarin. Tabun is good too, but—”

“Why? Why, Seth?”

“Oh, you know fucking well why.”

“But . . . Jesus Christ, man . . . nearly three hundred Americans . . . the women, children—”

“They can’t go home, Sam. They can never go home. They have no home.
This
is their home. You
know
that.”

Hollis glanced out the window and saw the smokescreen beginning to dissipate. He rummaged through the leather bag and found the last smoke grenade and the last of the CS riot gas. He pulled both pins and flung the grenades out the door. There was still some firing directed toward them, but the predominant sound now was of vomiting and swearing. He said to Alevy, “So, the State Department and the White House got their way. This place never existed. And you went along with it?”

Alevy glanced at his watch. “Go on, Sam. I’m not asking you to die here.”

“Are you going to die here?”

Alevy did not reply directly, but said, “I’m about to murder a thousand people.” He looked at Hollis. “It was my idea. The poison gas. It’s good for the country.”

“
How
is it good for the country?”

“It’s a compromise. In exchange for the CIA and the Pentagon not wrecking the peace initiatives and all that crap, we can keep as many as we want of the three thousand or so graduates of the Charm School that we’ll eventually round up in America. The rest we can dispose of without benefit of trial. That was made possible by you and General Surikov’s files. That’s what broke the deadlock. We’re starting our own Charm School in America. Get it?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Don’t be a goddamned Boy Scout. We’re turning their intelligence offensive against them on this one. We’ll have a class A school for our agents, and Burov and Dodson will be sort of deans of students. Pretty neat, don’t you think?”