Xander’s gang seemed uninhibited by Chris’s fire, continuing to shoot and advance on him, so he flicked his selector switch to full auto and sprayed at them, hoping to discourage them from shooting at Hannah and Sonny. Steam rose from the heated barrel of Chris’s carbine, and his bullet spray caused Xander and his men to direct their fire away from Hannah and Sonny, and give Chris their undivided attention. An enemy round struck the metal fence behind him, and bullets splashed the water, one striking his pant leg.
Bullets seemed to fly everywhere: left, right, above, below, front, and behind. One struck his chest, but one of the magazines of ammo in his vest stopped the round from striking flesh. The cell phone in his pocket exploded. Both the impact of the shot to the chest and his cell phone knocked him to the ground. He thought he felt the little communication bud fall out of his ear as he half-crawled away from the shots. He rose awkwardly to his feet, then a whizzing bullet ripped past his neck.
“You killed Evelina!” shouted Animus. “Now it’s your turn to die!” His voice was so full of anger Chris’s body faltered, weakness seeping into his muscles.
Snap out of it, Chris! he commanded himself.
Then his weapon ran dry and he had to move. As he ran, he repositioned his trigger finger and ejected the empty magazine, while with his other hand, he removed a full magazine from his vest and reloaded. He finished just before he jumped the fence between him and his retreat. Then he dashed across the street and bumped into a parked car, which stopped him before he could slow down.
A woman crawled through the water in his direction, seeking cover from the butchers. One of her legs appeared to be wounded. She wore a rose-colored dress that reminded him of one of the young women in his congregation back in Dallas. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to safety, using the vehicle as a shield. Like a flock of angry woodpeckers, bullets jabbed holes in the car. The woman shuddered and cried, but the rain came down so heavily Chris couldn’t distinguish between the flow of rain on her face and tears. He desperately wanted to help her, but if he stayed where he was, they’d both surely die.
Above the terrible racket of gunfire and rounds hitting the vehicle, he said close to her ear, “Close your eyes and play dead. You’re going to survive.” It was a promise he’d made as a SEAL…more times than he cared to remember. Sometimes the promise was fulfilled, and sometimes it wasn’t. It was a promise he couldn’t guarantee. But whether the woman lived or died, she deserved hope. Everyone did.
Xander and his men must’ve guessed Chris would try to follow Hannah and Sonny around the west side of the building because Xander’s gang blasted a hail of bullets in that direction, preventing him from meeting up with his team. He wanted to talk to Hannah and Sonny, tell them where he was going, find out if they were okay, but his cell phone had been obliterated in the firefight and his earpiece was gone.
One of Xander’s men struggled to climb a section of metal fence surrounding the park, but he couldn’t get over it. The half dozen or so who made it over the fence, or found the gate opening, came in Chris’s direction just before he turned the building’s east corner.
Breathe.
He sprinted with every part of his muscles he could muster, splashing as he ran. The water level seemed higher now, and it sucked his energy, but he tried to ignore it as he focused on picking up his thighs and putting them down, his legs like pistons.
Hannah and Sonny were nowhere in sight, but enemy shots came at him from behind. He cut sideways until he reached Carlton Street, where the groundwater became shallow, and raced south as swiftly as he could.
He arrived in St. James Park, a different location from the flooded park in St. James Square where he’d come from. He still didn’t see Hannah and Sonny, but Animus and his men — numbering half a dozen — sloshed through the water after him. With the team split up and on the receiving end of superior firepower, there was no sense in pausing to look for one another and getting the whole team killed. Being split up had the added advantage of splitting up Xander’s forces, but now Chris was on his own and had to escape. He switched into E & E mode and would try to make it to the River Thames. Hannah and Sonny would switch into E & E mode, too, pressing through the city.
There were a lot of civilians in the immediate area, some stopping and looking around. Chris was sure they’d heard the commotion up north, but these people had yet to find out what the noise was all about. He took cover behind a tree, turned towards Animus’s men, aimed, and fired at the nearest enemy combatant, a barrel-chested man, stitching up his barrel. A pedestrian squealed.
Animus’s men hid behind streetlamps, parked cars, trees — whatever was available. Animus only had a lamppost between him and Chris, so Chris took a shot, but he hit the post in front of Animus with a loud thwang, missing him. Chris hoped the near miss would slow Animus, but he expected it wouldn’t.
People in the area shouted and ran for safety. Chris met up with a man who stood immobile with shock. Chris gave him a push. “Get down!”
The man fell out of Animus’s line of fire. Off to the side, an older woman with white hair crouched down next to a man of similar age who was likely her husband, who was lying down. Chris couldn’t tell if he was wounded or just being safe. He neared St. James Park Lake, and a woman wearing a dark skirt and jacket was running away from the shooting. She fell and hit the wet grass with a smack, but he wasn’t sure if she’d tripped or been shot. She was too far away for him to help her, either way, and if he neared her, he’d bring Animus’s wrath with him.
He tried to visualize a map of the area in his mind. The River Thames was about half a klick east.
If I can make it to the water, I can swim my way to safety. The water is my haven.
He ran past the lake, and as he came to a war memorial, he could see a dirt parade ground across the street and a massive building behind it. Trapped. To the right was the Cabinet Office and 10 Downing Street, where the prime minister resided. Police cars blocked off the street, and the officers were armed with submachine guns. They called out to Chris to drop his weapon and surrender, but with Animus so close to the north, he couldn’t just stand in the open with his hands up, waiting to be killed.
In the distance was the London Eye, the enormous Ferris wheel standing over a hundred meters tall on the other side of the River Thames. Knowing he was close to the river lifted his spirit.
There has to be an opening somewhere…
Chris zigzagged between the trees, away from the police to the east. They opened fire. One bullet tore through the tail corner of his jacket and another ripped the heel off his right shoe, causing him to lose his balance. He tumbled and almost fell over. Police sirens, megaphones and shooting sounded from another area, but Chris couldn’t focus on it.
He hoped Hannah and Sonny were okay, and he pressed forward harder, determined to get to rendezvous with them in one piece. He rounded the corner of the Ministry of Defense, where a police car screeched to a halt, and he ran past as two armed officers jumped out. They didn’t shoot, probably out of concern for hitting innocent bystanders in the area. The sound of thumping footsteps came behind him. The police were chasing him, yelling at him to stop, which caused him to run faster. His thighs felt like gelatin, as if he had no more power in them. He wished again he’d done more physical training, but it was too late now. He almost turned right but realized it led to a dead end and continued straight, instead.