It was soon to be one left.
Her fist drove up and through the man’s throat at the same time that she cantilevered her body to a seemingly impossible angle, whipping around him like he was the pole and she was the dancer. She kicked his legs out from under him and delivered a crushing blow to the back of his neck. He coughed once and lay still.
Not missing a beat, Chapman launched herself at the remaining man, who was already halfway to the door, in full retreat.
When he saw what the man had thrown Stone screamed, “Look out.” He fired. His rounds ripped through wood, plaster, but unfortunately not flesh.
The mini-explosion ripped through the place. The flash-bang completed half its mission, the blinding flash. Stone had covered his eyes just in time.
Chapman caught it full in the face and yelled in pain.
Stone stuffed his shirt collar in his ears and then covered them with his arms. An instant later came the bang. Now they’ll regroup with reinforcements and come back to finish the job, thought Stone.
What they hadn’t counted on was Stone not being paralyzed. He rolled right, snagged Chapman’s Walther off her, and held it in his left hand. He grabbed Chapman by the arm and slid her behind his desk. He gripped his customized pistol in his right hand and waited.
The first man came through the door, his submachine gun on full auto. Stone ducked down, slid sideways, and fired through the opening under the desk. His rounds hit their target: the shooter’s knees. No Kevlar on legs. The man went down screaming. The second man started to hit the opening, but Stone fired three shots through the gap.
A few moments of silence. Then, a siren in the distance.
Stone called out: “I’ll make a deal before the police get here. I’ll let you take your wounded buddies out. You have five seconds. After that, we all take our chances. And from what I’ve seen, you’re good, but I’m better.”
The siren drew closer.
“All right,” a voice said.
The men were slid out. A few moments later Stone heard a vehicle start. Then silence again. The siren also faded away. Going somewhere, apparently.
He rolled Chapman over, checked her pulse. She was alive. He cradled her in his arms.
A minute later she opened her eyes, stared up at him. “Bloody hell,” she exclaimed. She looked around. “I know I got two of them. I think I killed one of them. Where the hell are they?”
“We came to an understanding.”
They both jumped up as something slammed against the remains of the front door.
Stone aimed his gun at the doorway and Chapman leapt to her feet as Stone tossed her the Walther.
“Oliver?”
“Annabelle?” he said, when she appeared in the doorway.
A second later Reuben fell into the room, landing on the wooden floor.
“Reuben,” exclaimed Stone.
Annabelle helped Stone get the big man up and over to a chair. Blood was seeping down his forearm and his face was pale.
“What happened?” said Stone.
“We were followed in Pennsylvania. Got into a gunfight. Reuben was shot. He needs a doctor.”
Reuben put a hand on Stone’s arm and pulled him downward.
“I’ll be okay,” Reuben said weakly. “One in the arm went clean through but it hurts like hell. Other one nicked my leg.”
Stone looked down at the hole in Reuben’s pants leg.
“You need to go to the hospital. Right now.” He looked angrily at Annabelle. “Why haven’t you already taken him?”
“He insisted on coming here. Reuben wanted me to run for help, but when I heard all the shooting I had to come back and make sure he was okay.”
Stone glanced at Chapman before looking back at Reuben. “Did you see anything that might identify the men?”
“They were good, Oliver,” he said. “Trained very well. That’s what I wanted to come and tell you. I don’t know how I got the jump on them. Better to be lucky than good. Got hold of one of their weapons, opened fire and they all took off.”
“Trained very well? Meaning?” said Stone.
He turned to Annabelle. “Go get it from the car.”
“But Reuben, we need to get you—”
“Get it and then I’ll go quietly.”
She ran out to the car and was back in a few seconds. She was holding something. She handed it over to Stone.
He looked down at it and then glanced at Reuben. “Do you know what this is?”
Reuben nodded. “Figured you would too.”
Chapman looked at it over Stone’s shoulder. “That’s a 9mm Kashtan submachine gun.”
“Yes, it is,” said Stone. “Russian made.”
Reuben grimaced and clutched his arm. “That’s right. Russian made.” He glanced up at Annabelle. “The weird language those guys were talking when they took down the hoop?”
“You think it was Russian?”
“I’d bet a year’s pay it was. Not that that’s a lot of money, but still.” He grimaced.
“Weird language?” asked Stone.
Annabelle started to explain what had happened, but Stone stopped her. “You can fill me in later. We need to get him to the hospital.” Stone put an arm under Reuben’s shoulder and helped him to his feet. He turned to Annabelle. “Stay here and call Harry and make sure he’s okay and then do the same with Caleb. Then join us at Georgetown Hospital.”
“Right.”
Chapman got on the other side of Reuben and the three made their way slowly to Chapman’s car. The ride to the hospital was quick, and while Reuben was being checked out Stone sat in the waiting room with Chapman and Annabelle, who had just gotten there.
“Did you get ahold of them?” asked Stone.
She nodded. “Both okay. Finn is still on assignment. Caleb is at his condo. I told Harry to be extra careful and Caleb to stay put.”
“Good, now tell us what happened in Pennsylvania.”
She explained what had happened in the bar and afterwards. When she gave him the exact location of the attack, Stone hurried off to make a call. When he came back she picked up the story again. “So after I found Reuben we circled back to the highway. Guy in a truck stopped, asked no questions and let us hop in the back. I managed to get the bleeding to stop, but I was afraid Reuben was going to pass out on me. The guy dropped us off at a car rental place. I got us another ride and drove back to D.C. as fast as possible. I wanted to stop and get him medical attention, but he wouldn’t let me. Said we had to get to you. And show you that gun.”
“Did you get a look at any of them?”
Annabelle took a deep breath. “Not really, but one of their trucks flipped over. Some of them have to be hurt or even dead. If you get some people up there to check on it. I gave you the location.”
Stone said, “I already made the call. They’re heading there right now.”
Twenty minutes later Stone got a response. He listened, asked a few questions and then put his phone away.
“The truck is gone.”
“That’s impossible. It flipped over. I saw it. The people had to have been hurt, maybe killed.”
“But you can have all that cleaned up in less than thirty minutes. They did find some shell casings and an indentation in the dirt where the truck rolled and a few bits of wreckage, but that was all.”
Annabelle said, “These people are good.”
Stone looked at Chapman. “Yes, they are. They clean up after themselves really well.”
“Submachine guns,” said Chapman. “Heavy firepower. And he had what, a pistol?”
“That’s right. But he said he was going to do what you would do, Oliver. Be unpredictable. So he waited for them to start reloading and then he charged their position. I guess they didn’t expect that.” She shuddered and let out a gasp. “I thought for sure he was dead.”
Stone squeezed her hand. “But he’s not. The doctors said he’s going to be fine. He’s just out of commission for a while.”