Night and Day (Book 2): Bleeding Sky (42 page)

I
got off three shots, two more hits, neither fatal, before Burlong got the
sub-machinegun up and aimed at me. The open door wasn’t going to stop the
bullets. About that time, a Security Force Humvee came squealing around the
corner at Buchanan, one block south of us.

I
couldn’t see the driver on the ground, but Burlong looked over his shoulder,
saw what was coming, and made a run for it. I continued to fire at him as he
ran, scoring hits but none that stopped him. The troopers who piled out of
the Humvee as it screeched to a stop behind the cab opened up with automatic
rifles. He didn’t make the sidewalk.

I
stood and turned, but the follow car, Takeda’s Hummer, had come up at high
speed from behind the Caddy and Brenner had retreated. I saw Takeda out of
the car, firing. Shuster was on the other side of the car, his arms braced
on the hood as he fired. I looked to the right in time to see Brenner race
up the steps of an apartment building and crash through the glass
door.

Another
Humvee came down Davis and stopped just short of the intersection, near the
back of the Cadillac. Four Security Force troopers came out, rifles
ready.

I
turned. The driver of the cab was sprawled on the ground, bleeding from a
hole in the top of his head. Two troopers stood over Burlong. His hat was
still on his head. Maybe it was glued there.

“Good
job,” I said to Martinez. “It’s over. You can get up.”

“No,
sir, I can’t,” she said through gritted teeth. “I lost a hunk of my calf and
I don’t think I can stand.”

I
looked back at Takeda. She was beside the Hummer, apparently talking on her
throat mic. “Medical!” I shouted. “Martinez is hit.”

She
nodded and continued speaking.

Shuster
came over. “Brenner walked into that one,” he said.

“We
both did,” I said, squatting next to Martinez. The bullet had clipped the
side of her right calf, tearing a nice hole through her pants and the side
of her calf. It was bleeding pretty good, but it had missed the
shin.

As
I unbuckled my belt and wrapped it around Martinez’s leg just below the
knee, I said,“I should have realized something was up with the Caddy when it
shot past and turned a couple of blocks down.”

I
tightened the belt and she gasped. “It’s a flesh wound, Lita,” I said with a
smile. “If I had a band-aid, I’d slap it on and you’d be good to
go.”

“Too
bad you don’t have a band-aid, sir,” she said softly.

Takeda
came up behind me. “Her wound is not serious?” she asked, looking
down.

“No,
just lost a little skin and meat.” I paused. “She’ll be back on duty in an
hour.”

“You
better believe it, sir,” Martinez said.

I
stood and turned to Takeda. “Brenner?”

“He’s
not going anywhere,” she said. “I have a team deploying in the back yard of
the building and...” She held up her hand. “This is Takeda.”

She
listened to the voices in her earpiece for a moment. “Deploy in defensive
positions, but make sure he is aware of your presence. If he attempts to
flee, order him to stop. If he refuses, lethal force is authorized.” She
listened again. “In that situation, you are to consider the hostage
expendable.”

She
nodded, then focused back on me. “The vehicle deployment was
acceptable?”

“Right
on the money,” I said. “I never got into multi-car surveillance with
Brenner,” I said. “He probably assumed this was just like our training
sessions. One car. He wouldn’t know about the chase car and the other two
shadowing us on First.”

I
glanced up at the apartment building, then looked at Shuster. “Any chance
he’ll just give himself up?”

“None.
We’re gonna have to go in and get him.”

“And
we will,” Takeda said. “On his feet or on his back.” Behind her, I saw the
approaching red lights of the ambulance. As it got closer, I could hear the
siren.

“Hit
him fast?” I asked.

Shuster
shook his head. “Nah, he’s probably in an apartment, maybe even has a
hostage or two, even though he knows that won’t keep us back. He’ll be
expecting a quick assault.” He paused. “Let him wait a few minutes, wonder
what we’re up to.”

The
ambulance stopped behind Takeda’s Hummer and a couple of medics got out. One
went to the back of the rig and pulled out a gurney.

I
looked down at Martinez. “They’ll get your leg bandaged up,” I said to her.
“Just relax.”

She
nodded as the first medic moved in.

“She’d
rather not go to the hospital if you can handle it here,” I said to
her.

“We’ll
see,” she said, squatting beside Martinez.

The
four troopers from the Humvee on Davis were spread out in an arc facing the
steps and broken door of the apartment building. I walked over and stopped
behind them, Takeda and Shuster behind me.

“How
many do we need to bring in to take him?” I asked Shuster as I looked up at
the broken glass door.

“Us
three and a couple of troopers should be plenty,” he replied. “Any more,
we’re just giving him a bigger crowd to shoot at.”

Takeda
nodded and pointed to two of the troopers. “You and you with us.”

“Well,”
I said with a sigh. “I guess we might as well get this over
with.”

I
let the nearly-empty clip from my pistol drop to the sidewalk and slapped in
a fresh one. Takeda pulled the sword from under her coat, holding it by her
side in her right hand. She filled her left hand with a large automatic
pistol.

Shuster
laughed. “I guess this is our Wild Bunch moment,” he said. He pulled his
pistol from the small of his back. “So let’s go.”

As
we started up the steps, I saw a curtain move on a front window, second
floor, and raised my pistol.

“Steady,”
Shuster said, his voice calm. “It’s a civilian.”

“How
do you know?”

“Brenner
wouldn’t be that obvious,” he said. “If you saw him, it would be the last
thing you saw.” He paused. “Anyway, he won’t be on the second floor. He’ll
go higher.”

Takeda
ignored the conversation and stepped through the shattered glass of the
front door. Shuster and I followed, fanning out on either side of her as we
entered the hall.

Four
doors, two on either side. Staircase at the end.

“Mr.
Shuster?” Takeda said.

“He
was in a hurry when he came through the door,” he said. “He’d expect that
we’d pursue immediately. So he’d climb, put as much room between him and us
as possible. And he wouldn’t knock on doors, hoping to be invited in. He’d
go through, like he did the front door.” He paused. “Third or fourth floor,
maybe the roof if there’s access.”

She
nodded and started down the hall, Shuster on her right, me on her left. When
we reached the foot of the stairs, she said, “I will go first. Humans
are...frail.”

I
didn’t think frailty was the issue going up against a Special Collections
operative. They hit what they aimed at. Even when they missed. I liked
Takeda well enough, but if she wanted to take a bullet, I wasn’t going to
argue.

Takeda
started up the stairs, sword held out at an angle in one hand, pistol
extended in the other. Shuster gave her a lead of a couple of steps then
followed. I fell in behind. The two troopers brought up the rear,
side-by-side, rifles at the ready.

Second
floor landing. Four more doors, all closed. Window at the far end of the
hall looking out on St. Joseph.

“No,”
Shuster said.

She
nodded and started up the stairs to the third floor. We followed.

Third
floor landing. The same. Takeda glanced at Shuster. He shook his
head.

She
hesitated for a moment, then nodded and began to climb the last flight of
stairs. She was moving slowly, more carefully. I saw Shuster bring his
pistol up and I did the same.

Fourth
floor. Four closed doors, window at the end.

“It
seems you may have been wrong, Mr. Shuster,” Takeda said softly.

“Maybe
he found an open door, or somebody heard the commotion and was out in the
hall,” he said.

I
looked back at the troopers behind us. Both had their rifles raised,
covering the hall. Behind them...

Behind
them was a window, with the shadowy outline of a fire escape. “Or he went
higher,” I said.

Shuster
and Takeda turned to me, then followed my gaze to the window and fire
escape.

“Roof,”
Shuster said. “He can see what’s going on, front and back. Not much cover,
but he’d have the advantage, be able to take us down one at a time as we
came up the fire escape.” He paused, looked at Takeda, and grinned. “Well,
until we get a chopper here.”

Takeda
tapped her throat mic with the barrel of her pistol. “This is Takeda,” she
said. “Get a helo in the air. I want them at my location soonest.” She
listened for a moment. “Pull them off and get them here.”

She
looked at Shuster. “Ten minutes. They were on another
assignment.”

“So
we wait?” I asked.

She
was silent for a moment, then shook her head. “No, Mr. Welles, we do not
wait.” She tapped the mic again. “This is Takeda. We will be coming out of
the fourth floor window to the fire escape in the rear of the building.
Cover the roof area.”

Takeda
walked to the window and raised it. She looked over her shoulder at the two
troopers. “Standby at this location in case we’re wrong about the
roof.”

“Sir,”
they said in unison.

She
stepped out through the window onto the landing of the fire escape and
started up the metal steps. Shuster followed and I went out after
him.

The
fire escape ended at the roof, about fifteen feet above us. Takeda climbed
slowly and steadily, staring up, her pistol aimed upward at the rooftop.
Shuster and I were just behind her when she reached the top.

She
stuck her head up quickly, then lowered it and looked down at us. She
nodded.

“Don’t
be shy, Miss Takeda,” Brenner called from above. “I don’t bite.”

Takeda
was motionless for a few seconds, then peeked over the edge of the roof. She
stared for a moment, then slowly climbed the remaining steps, pistol at the
ready, and disappeared onto the roof.

“Gotta
love people with big balls,” Shuster muttered as he climbed up and stepped
out to join her.

I
had no desire to go up on that roof. Brenner was an area government problem,
and they could handle it. But it was my case. My only solace was that he’d
probably shoot Takeda and Shuster first, as the primary threats, give me
time to get a couple of shots off before he turned the gun on me.

 As
my head cleared the edge of the roof, I saw Brenner. He sat on the roof, his
back against the large air-conditioning unit in the middle, watching. He had
a pistol in his hand, but it was resting in his lap.

Both
Shuster and Takeda had their pistols outstretched and aimed at him. I got to
the top and stepped out, next to Takeda.

“Well
played, Glenn,” Brenner said, using Shuster’s work name. “Definitely did SC
proud this time around.”

“Sometimes
you eat the bear,” Shuster said. “Sometimes the bear eats you.”

“I
figured out the transporter thing just a little too late,” he said. “Put all
my chips on the bomb. Hoped your guys hadn’t found it.” He paused. “When I
saw Clarke on the floor at the safehouse, I knew I was probably fucked, but
it was still worth a shot.”

“Ali
actually found it,” Shuster said. “Clarke just pulled the plug.”

“Ali
is here too?”

Shuster
nodded. “Yeah, a bomb was the obvious way to go with all this security, so
I doubled up on demo guys. So how come you waited so long to try it, JJ? If
you’d found out it was a dud on Friday, you would have still had time to put
something else together.”

“Orders,”
Brenner said. “They insisted that it be done on Saturday. I argued for
sooner, but you know how that goes. They pull the strings, we obey. Then you
took out my team, and I was on my own. Harbison was in town, but he’s
weapons, not demolition.”

“That’s
Harb on the ground down there?”

Brenner
nodded. “Yeah. I wanted to do it before Heymann left the square yesterday
morning, but I couldn’t get the transmitter to work. I’m not a demo guy
either. So I sent Harb out to flush them back to the trailer while I got an
expert on the horn to talk me through my transmitter problem. By the time
they were back, I was ready. Gave ‘em a little time to settle in and pushed
the button. No joy.”

“Don’t
you just hate that?” Shuster said.

“Put
down the pistol, Mr. Brenner,” Takeda said.

He
smiled. “Sorry, Miss Takeda. I can’t do that. Special Collections doesn’t
appreciate operatives who let themselves be captured.”

“It
wasn’t a request,” she said.