The Cleric's Vault (32 page)

Sean
was already on it, looking up the information on his phone.
 

Mauricio
had decided to wander over to the window to take a look outside and check on
his men.
 
It was hard to see
through the downpour.
 
Both guards
had taken shelter in the black SUVs.
 
Then, across the other side of the plaza, headlights from three vehicles
came into view.
 
They looked like
they were in a hurry.
 
No doubt it
was the team of agents that had been watching them before.
 
“Gentlemen,” he announced in a serious
tone.
 
“We have company.”

*****

Hunter
was about to make his move towards the first guard when he saw the beams from
the headlights coming from behind.
 
He figured it would only be a matter of time until the group of
assassins caught up, though he thought it would take them a little longer.
 
Now he was caught in the middle with
nowhere to run.
 
The trucks whipped
into the square and were coming around the corner.
 
He had to act fast.
 
So he did the only thing he could think of.
 
He dove underneath the nearest vehicle.
 
Since he was already soaking wet from
the monsoon-like rain, he didn’t care that he was lying in a puddle.
 
He just hoped that between the rain,
the curb, and the SUV, no one would see him under there.
 
The first vehicle in line pulled up
about thirty feet behind just after he scuffled underneath.
 

*****

“Stop
right here,” Angela commanded.
 
The
driver obeyed, halting the SUV immediately.
 
Two black trucks were parked directly in front of them.
 
She couldn’t believe their luck.
 
Somehow they’d managed to catch
up.
 

It
looked that the vehicle closest to them had someone inside, the faintly dark
silhouette was somewhat distinct, even with the blurring of the falling
rain.
 
She quickly surveyed the
building’s exterior.
 
Without any
prior planning, they wouldn’t be able to cover all of the exits.
 
The church facility was too large and
there were too many possibilities.
 
Splitting up and searching the building was their best move.
 
“We’ll have to split up and search the
place,” she said to the driver who was obviously awaiting instructions.
 
She touched her earpiece and spoke into
her microphone.
 
“Team, this is
Agent Weaver.
 
I am in charge
now.
 
Our plan of attack is to go
in through the front and split up by vehicle.
 
My group will go forward and search the sanctuary and
anything else straight ahead. We need Schultz alive.
 
Kill the others.”
 
She divided up the remaining men into two groups.
 
Group one, she ordered to search the
left part of the building.
 
The
other half were to go left.

“Don’t
we have one of our own with them?” the driver asked.
 

“Not
anymore,” she said coldly.

*****

Will
noticed the headlight beams flash on the walls and stepped over to the
window.
 
A quick look through
revealed the three vehicles pulling in behind their own.
 
He’d wondered how long it would take
Angela and James to catch up.
 
He
watched as the group in the last vehicle opened their doors and stepped out
into the rainy night.
 

Mauricio
pulled his gun from inside his jacket.
 
He touched an earpiece and said something quickly in Spanish, then
cracked open the front door.
 

“We
need to hurry, gentlemen,” he stated the obvious.

“Got
any more of those secret passages?” Sean asked, only a little hopeful.

His
big friend turned around for a second, smiling at the sarcastic remark.
 
“Not this time, amigo.”
 

Sean
stepped quickly to the door and looked out at the scene in the street.
 
Without warning, Mauricio’s guard in the
second SUV opened his door and fired his weapon at towards the new
vehicles.
 
A round caught one of
the men in the stomach, sending him to his knees.
 
The man behind the fallen assailant froze momentarily before
lurching behind the second truck in their caravan.
 
Mauricio’s guard in the front vehicle poked out of the
driver’s side of his car and squeezed off four shots.
 
One of the bullets caught a target’s shoulder and the man
fell backwards behind the cover of his SUV.

Maurico
had an excellent vantage point in the doorway of the church.
 
Calmly, he raised his weapon and aimed.

*****

All hell had broken loose and there wasn’t a thing that Hunter Carlson
could do about it.
 
He had his gun
in hand, ready to fire in any direction.
 
Bullet casings fell near him onto the wet pavement as the guard in the
car above continued to lay down a consistent barrage towards the
newcomers.
 
He watched as one man
took a bullet in the stomach and collapsed to the ground, writhing in
agony.
 
Then, he saw three others
jump behind one of the other trucks behind his position.
 
He could see their legs and feet but
not much else.
 
A different
sounding gun fired from the direction of the church.
 
Hunter looked back and saw one of the attackers who’d taken
cover behind the second car had fallen to the pavement.
 
The man wasn’t moving.
 
A shot rang out again and another of
the men fell backwards but managed to scramble to the other side of the
car.
 
Unfortunately for him, more
rounds were coming from the driver’s side of the SUV in front of his position
and he was cut down almost instantly.

*****

Angela
felt a wave of panic for the first time in a long while.
 
She ducked down just before a bullet
pierced the windshield directly in front of her and thudded into her seat’s
headrest, rupturing the black leather.
 
Everything had turned to chaos in just a few seconds.
 
Why
weren’t her men in the other trucks firing back?
 
As if hearing her silent question, the doors in the second
truck opened and a barrage of rounds were unleashed at the two guards.
 

The
men in the second truck were more careful than the other group, making sure
they used their car doors as shields from onslaught.
 
One man fired shots towards the church, shattering one of
the windows.
 
Then the men in the
back seat of Weaver’s vehicle opened up their doors and started firing.
 
The two guards had maximized the
element of surprise but now they were out-gunned and out-numbered.
 
What had been a precise pre-emptive
attack had turned into firing blindly from the cover of their vehicles in an
attempt to keep the attackers at bay.
 

Angela
sat back up cautiously, her own weapon in hand.
 
She opened up her door slightly to assume a safe attack
position.
 
“Finish them,” she
ordered.
 
She raised her weapon and
found the front passenger’s seat of the car in directly ahead of her in her
sights.

*****

A
bullet shattered the window next to where Mauricio was standing, sending shards
of glass across the thin carpet.
 
He shut the door and jumped back.
 
“We’re going to have to find another way out of here,” he said to the
others.

Tommy
clutched the wooden cylinder in one hand, a small .22 caliber Walther in the
other.
 
Sean also held his Ruger
.40.

“There
are probably exits on the other side of the building.
 
That would be our best bet,” Sean said.
 
“Can you get our rides over there?”

Mauricio
nodded and said something in Spanish into his microphone again.
 
“I told them to meet us on the other
side of the building.
 
We must
hurry.”

*****

Agent
Weaver squeezed the trigger sending a bullet through the back window of the SUV
in front of her.
 
A few seconds
later the guard dropped to the pavement next to the vehicle.
 
A bullet hole at the base of his right
ear oozed blood.
 
The first SUVs
engine revved and spun its tires on the wet street.
 
The volley of bullets continued to pound into the metal of
the rear door and a spider web of cracked glass stretched across the back
window.
 
Weaver’s group continued
shooting as the truck whirled around the corner and out of the plaza, narrowly
making an escape.
 
She jumped out
of her position and ran forward to the guard she’d just shot.
 
He lay face down on the wet street, his
head turned sideways.
 
Her shot had
gone through at the base of his skull and out the front left of his face,
leaving nothing but a bloody crater of bone and tissue.
 
The rain carried away a thin river of
blood towards the curb.
 
She had
seen some gruesome things but that site was disturbing even for her.
 
The rest of her team had joined her
position and were awaiting orders.
 
“Split up once we are in the church.
 
Remember, Schultz alive.
 
Execute the others.
 
Find them!”

*****

For
the moment, Hunter Carlson was glad he’d hidden under the second SUV.
 
Problem, was, he was still trapped in
the wet and, now bloody street underneath the truck.
 
He’d seen the guard fall to the ground, shot from behind in
the back of the head, the ugly visual just a few feet from his hiding
place.
 
He watched the feet come
close to the body.
 
Fortunately, no
one bent down.
 
They seemed
convinced that the man was dead.
 
The rain continued to pour, sending a stream of blood and water just
past his head.
 
Over the sound of
the deluge, he could hear the woman barking out orders.
 
They were going into the church to find
Wyatt and his group.
 
He knew they
would most likely be heading towards an exit on the other side of the
building.
 
The team of killers ran
off towards the entrance of the building.
 
If he was lucky, he could head off Wyatt at the back.

Slowly,
cautiously, he pulled himself along the undercarriage of the SUV and over to
the curb.
 
He grabbed a rail step
and pulled himself out from underneath, careful not to draw the attention of
any stragglers.
 
He peered through
the driver’s side window and saw the armed group entering the church.
 
With his left hand, he pulled on the
wet door handle.
 
As soon as he
did, the vehicle started dinging, signaling the keys were in the ignition.
 
Quickly, he eased the door shut and
ducked down, fearful the annoying alarm had caught the attention of the
enemy.
 
Another peek through the
windows revealed that everyone had already entered the church.

Carlson
let out a long breath of relief and opened the door again.
 
He slid into the driver’s seat and
started up the engine.
 
Odds were,
the other driver went to pick up Wyatt’s group from behind the church.
 
If they hadn’t seen the guard get shot,
they might be expecting both trucks.
 
Perhaps, he finally had an advantage.
 

*****

Sean
and the others ran down the corridor between classrooms and offices.
 
The hit squad would no doubt be coming
in at any moment.
 
They turned
right down another hallway that looked the same as the one before and kept
pressing on.
 
The floor panels in
the hallways were hardwood and were significantly loud underfoot as they made
their way, clacking and creaking with every shoe’s impact.
 
Light flooded into the dim hall up
ahead.
 
An exit.
 

The
men came to a halt at a pair of metal doors with a bar handle.
 
Through the wire enforced glass they
could see the two bullet-riddle SUVs in the street.
 
“Sean,” Tommy said quickly, “you and Maury take the first
vehicle.
 
Will and I will take the
second.
 
Meet back at the
hotel.”
 
Wyatt nodded.
 

Mauricio
opened the door slightly to give a quick glance down the street in both
directions.

Empty.
 
The sounds of running footsteps echoed
down the corridor.
 
Their pursuers
were right on their heels.

“Gotta
make a run for it boys,” Sean said.
 
He opened the door and held up his gun to cover the others.
 
“Go!” he ordered.

The
other three men took off across the street towards the two SUVs.
 
Once they were clear of the building,
Sean darted towards the first vehicle.
 
He and Mauricio jumped in quickly on the same side.

“Get
us back to the hotel,” Delgado ordered the driver.
 
The guard didn’t hesitate and stepped on the gas.
 

Tommy
arrived at the front passenger’s door and flung it open as Will opened the
back.
 

They
were greeted by a pale, damp face and a gun extended across the center console.

“Get
in right now or I will shoot you both.”
 
Tommy glanced to his right as the other SUV sped off.
 
He started to get in but Will stood
still.
 

“Leave
your guns on the ground,” the stranger’s voice added.

His
eyes were cold, full of resolve.

Tommy
obeyed and dropped his weapon.
 
Will hesitated for a second then dropped the gun he’d been given earlier
by Maurcio.
 
The black metal
clanked against the wet street.
 

Both
men slowly got in the car.
 
Will
peered angrily at the driver of the vehicle.

“If
you get any ideas back there,” the stranger spoke firmly, “I will kill your
friend here and then you.”
 

He
kept the gun trained on Tommy as he closed the door
 

“Who
are you?” Tommy asked.
 

“Don’t
concern yourself with the inconsequential,” the man replied.
 
Then he noticed the wooden cylinder in
Schultz’s hand.
 
“Now what is that
thing?” he asked.

“We
aren’t sure,” Tommy responded angrily.

The
man put his clammy hand out in a silent request for the item.
 
Tommy shook his head, clearly not
wanting to give up the map.
 
“I can
just shoot you and take the thing if you want.”

“Yeah.
 
You could.
 
But what if you can’t read what’s inside?”
 
Schultz played the only hand he had.

“Ah,”
he said with sudden realization.
 
“So that
is
the map.
 
“Very well, then.
 
Hand it over and I won’t shoot you in
the leg.”
 
This time, he lowered
the weapon and pulled the hammer back on his weapon.