Moonlight Warriors: A Tale of Two Hit Men (10 page)

Chapter 15

Battle on High

Meanwhile, Jenny and Charlie emerged from the building and headed toward the car.

“Actually we could just walk over to the FBI offices,” Jenny said.  “It’s just a few blocks.”

“It’s five long blocks,” Charlie said.  “Although I could use the exercise, we need to resolve this situation swiftly.  God only knows what Sam Troutman is doing right now.”

“Okay.  You win.  We’ll drive there.”

“You certainly didn’t need much persuading,” Charlie laughed.

“Well, you’re right about the importance of saving time.”

They drove five blocks west and parked on Market Street near the Milles Fountain, an elaborate fountain display called the “Wedding of the Waters,” symbolizing the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, which merged a short distance north of the city.

It was almost completely dark as they crossed Market Street and walked alongside Union Station.   The huge, Romanesque-style train station had been transformed into a shopping, restaurant, and hotel complex.

A few months earlier, Charlie had purchased his nieces and nephew a train set from the miniature railroad store in Union Station.  Shortly before Christmas, Gregory, Violet, and the children had set up the train tracks around the base of the Christmas tree.  While he ate Christmas dinner with them, Charlie had enjoyed watching his gift in motion as the train circled the tree.

On this evening, though, his thoughts remained focused on their mission.  The local FBI offices were located in a building just west of Union Station.  As they crossed the driveway and approached the lobby of the building, David Hummel and a tall, distinguished-looking man  came out the front entrance.

“Oh, perfect timing,” David said as he spotted Jenny and Charlie.  “Robert, these are the two detectives that I told you about.  This is Lieutenant Charles Valentine and his partner, Lieutenant Jennifer Halloran.”  He looked at them.  “Detectives, this is Robert Webber, the assistant director of operations for this region.”

Charlie and Jenny shook hands with the FBI official.

“David tells me that the two of you are primarily responsible for cracking this case,” Webber told them. “Thank you for your help.”

“We are glad to be of service,” Jenny said.

“This is certainly a shocking situation,” Webber continued. “I can’t believe that we have another rogue agent.  And this one is a killer!”

“Three agents are going to meet us at the hotel,” David said.  “Hopefully we can take Sam by surprise there.”

“He is a very dangerous man,” Webber said.

As they walked toward David’s rental car, two gunshots rang out.  Charlie and Jenny instantly had their pistols in their hands, and David was only a fraction of a second slower than the two police detectives.

Robert Webber, though, collapsed to the pavement, having been hit by both of the shots. 

“We’re too much in the open here!” Jenny shouted as she and Charlie looked for the shooter.  “Let’s get him behind that car!”

As David, Charlie, and Jenny dragged Webber behind a Monte Carlo, two more gunshots shattered the windows of the car.

“The sniper is firing from the rooftop of that building across the street!” Charlie exclaimed.

“Robert is dead,” David said sadly, looking up from the body of the FBI official.

“I’m very sorry, David,” Jenny said and added a silent prayer for Webber’s soul.

“Is Sam the sniper?” David asked.

“I can’t tell from this distance,” Charlie said.  “At the moment he would have a hard time hitting us, but he is moving on that rooftop to a better angle from which he can hit us.  We are going to have to get over toward that stairwell.”

“We will be in the open for several seconds if we try to get there,” David said.

“That’s the only option,” Charlie said, rising from his crouching position.  “We will need to leave Robert’s body here for now.  I will provide cover fire as we run toward the stairwell. Okay, let’s move!  Now!”

With all three running at top speed, Charlie kept himself between the sniper and Jenny while he fired several shots toward the shadowy figure on the rooftop across the street.  Charlie could see the sniper duck for cover, seemingly surprised by the return fire.  He did not get any shots at the trio before they reached the temporary safety of the stairwell.

“We should wait here for help to arrive,” David told Charlie while Jenny used her cell phone to call for back-up help from other police officers. 

“We can’t,” Charlie said, pointing across the street.  “Can you see him up there?  He is already moving to a different spot from where he can hit us here.”

David squinted as he attempted to discern the identity of the sniper.  “I’m fairly sure that is Sam!  Damn him to hell!”

Charlie snapped a new clip into his pistol.  “I might be able to get him,” he said with more conviction that he felt.

“I have a whole army of police on the way, Charlie,” Jenny said as she ended her cell phone call.

“We don’t have time to wait for them.  You and David should stay here.  Stay crouched
down against the steps.  These glass walls give him a clear view into the stairwell, but it is getting dark, and he might not spot you right away.  And I’m planning on keeping him busy.”

“Be careful, Charlie!” Jenny implored him.

“I will,” he promised as he ascended.

Charlie went up the stairwell as high as he could; the stairwell did not go all the way up to the roof.  He exited outside onto a mezzanine level, remaining crouched as he moved rapidly across the mezzanine. 

For a brief time, Charlie thought that the sniper was unaware that he had ascended to that level.  However, that idea was quickly dispelled when two shots smashed into the air conditioning unit only three feet away from Charlie.

The loud hum of the air conditioning unit instantly stopped, replaced by the hiss of escaping
freon.  The hissing sound reminded Charlie of the hiss of a viper.

His survival instincts prompted Charlie to keep moving.  It occurred to him that the sniper was not very good at hitting moving targets.  He probably has never had much practice shooting at a moving target, Charlie deduced, as he bobbed and wove amongst the cornices and buttresses.

Charlie went up a small ladder to reach the ledge directly below the roof from which protruded a communications tower.  As Charlie crawled on his stomach along the ledge, he noticed the elaborate stonework that decorated the Market Street side of the building.

A dozen griffins lined that entire side of the ledge.  The griffin was a mythical creature with a lion’s body and an eagle’s head and wings, often symbolizing Christ’s majestic power over both land and sky.  Charlie recalled that the griffin sometimes served as a symbolic defender of the Church.  I hope that these griffins can defend me this evening, he thought as he paused to catch his breath.

  Wondering why the sniper had not shot at him for almost a minute, Charlie peeked out from behind one of the griffins.  That is definitely Sam, he realized with some sadness as he got a clear view of the man with the rifle on the ledge of the building on the north side of Market Street. 

Charlie noticed that the ledge upon which Sam stood was lined by a number of gargoyles, hellish creatures that seemed to stare defiantly at the griffins directly across the street.  I wonder whether the architects planned it that way, Charlie speculated.  Well, at least Sam is amongst friends.

As he supported himself against a griffin, Charlie was able to get some surreptitious looks at Sam.  He noticed that Sam’s head was tilted slightly upward.  He thinks that I moved up to the roof since it is the highest level, Charlie realized.  That is what he would have done if he had been in my position.  That probably would have been the smart thing to do.  That would give me a better angle from which I could shoot down at him.

It certainly would have been smart of me to have gone up there.  However, now it would be too dangerous to try to get up there.  Let’s see if I can turn my misstep to my advantage.

Five seconds later, Charlie saw his opportunity.  While remaining behind the gargoyle, Sam stood up in order to get a better view.

Charlie sprang up with his gun aimed directly at Sam, who saw
him just a fraction of a second before Charlie fired three shots.  Two of the bullets shattered the gargoyle’s head, its hideous visage crumbling into fragments and dust.  The third bullet flew through the empty space where Sam had been an instant earlier.  Sam’s lightning-fast reflexes had kept him alive. 

Sirens from numerous police cars grew steadily louder.  I need to leave now or I will be captured, Sam realized. 
Besides there is no longer any reason to kill this detective, his partner, or my own partner.  My cover is blown, and my career in the FBI is over.  Sam Troutman is no more; from this moment on, I am Saud Tariq and jihad is my life.

I will leave this country in the morning.  However, I still need to kill Fatima and Dennis
Sandhaven in order to try to stop the Intelligent Agency program.  Our scientists in our secret laboratory have almost perfected a doomsday virus, but the virus will be worthless if Intelligent Agency is activated; Intelligent Agency can easily defeat our doomsday virus.  I must stop Intelligent Agency.

With nightfall complete, Saud Tariq descended down the dark stairwell and vanished like a phantom.

While Saud Tariq made his escape, Charlie cautiously moved into the open, keeping his gun trained across the divide that had separated him from his foe.  Charlie knew that Sam could have feigned a retreat in order to draw Charlie out into the open.

When he was convinced that Sam was actually gone, Charlie headed down toward Jenny, David, and the numerous police officers who were beginning to swarm up both buildings and all over the surrounding city blocks.

“Charlie!”  Jenny ran into his arms.  “I was so afraid that you had been killed!”

“I’m a bit surprised that I am still alive.  I was overmatched both in firepower and in skill.
”  As Charlie withdrew from her hug, he looked at David.  “The sniper was Sam Troutman.  I got a clear look at him.”

David shook his head.  “Unbelievable.  Sam killed Robert Webber.  This is like a nightmare.”  He pulled out his cell phone.  “I need to make a couple of calls.  With all these sirens wailing, I won’t be able to hear out here, so I’m going back inside.”   David went into the office building in which the FBI offices were located.

Charlie and Jenny conferred with other detectives and police officers who had arrived, anxious to hear their account of the sniper attack. 

About twenty minutes later, David emerged from the office building and approached them.  “The big shots are on the way here,” he declared.  “Some FBI officials and the top government
computer experts are taking redeye flights to St. Louis tonight.”

“Why?”  Jenny asked.

“They want to get that Intelligent Agency program running as soon as possible. The computer experts want to meet with Fatima and Dennis Sandhaven tomorrow morning.”

“That’s fast work,” Jenny said.

“Yes.  And, with some luck, Intelligent Agency will be up and running by tomorrow afternoon.   The anti-viral, anti-biological warfare program will be safe then because it will be stored on dozens of mainframe computers all around the United States.  Sam and the other terrorists won’t be able to stop it.”

“Great,” Charlie said.

“Speaking of Fatima and Dennis, where are they?” David asked.

“They are staying in two rooms at the Holiday Inn on Hampton Avenue.  Sergeant Mitch O’Brien and two other police officers are protecting them.”

“Good.  When the computer experts arrive in the morning, I will have them brought directly to that hotel.  We can set up a temporary computer lab in one of the hotel’s conference room and get Intelligent Agency activated.”

Charlie glanced at the time on his cell phone.  “Jenny, you and I need to get over to the Holiday Inn.  We are scheduled to be the overnight bodyguards.”

“Charlie, you were almost killed about a half hour ago!” Jenny exclaimed.  “You should go home and get a good night’s sleep.  We can get another cop to take over your guard duty tonight.”

“I’m irreplaceable, my dear,” Charlie said, grinning wryly.  “Haven’t you figured that out by now?”

“Actually I have,” Jenny laughed.

Meanwhile, about a mile away, Saud Tariq had successfully slipped past the small army of police that had converged near Union Station.  After boarding a
Metrolink train heading west toward Shrewsbury Station, Saud sat down, took out his cell phone, and made a call.

“Hello, Agent Troutman,” Franklin
Kincell answered.  “I’m surprised to hear from you tonight.”

“Yes, well, I’m surprised to be calling you.  Listen, I don’t have much time.”

“No, I don’t suppose so,” Kincell chortled.  “You’ve gotten yourself into a very difficult situation.”

“You already know about that?”

“I try to keep on top of things.  I’m sorry that the information that I provided didn’t help you more.  However, I do still expect to be paid.”