He put the thought aside for the time being and focused again on where the shot might have originated. Bones was also on his feet looking around. There weren’t many perfect places to take a shot at someone coming down the steps, but there were plenty of decent ones. For a good shooter with the right weapon from fifty or sixty yards away, that’s all they’d need even in the blizzard conditions.
“Bones, we better get out of the open.”
“Yeah, but we gotta get her this time. There she is!”
Bones started running like a man possessed and Dane followed. He could barely make out a figure in black through the snow. Lucky for them, the shooter hadn’t been smart enough to avoid the dark clothes in this weather, or more likely had lacked the time to change.
They were closing the gap. By now he could see that Bones had been right and it was a woman. She must have realized that carrying her rifle was slowing her down, because she tossed it into some bushes.
Bones shouted to her when he had pulled within ten yards. “Hold it there, sister! The longer you make me run, the madder I’ll be when I catch up with you.”
She showed no sign of hearing him. Soon enough, he reached out a large hand and pushed her over into the snow face first. He put a boot on her shoulder. “Stay down.”
Her black headgear covered her entire skull except for her nose, mouth, and gray eyes. Dane could see enough wrinkles on her face to know that she was no twenty-something. The side of her head pressed into the snow, she glared at Dane when he caught up with them. “Let me go!”
“Not until you tell my friend with the size thirteens here why you’re trying to kill us.”
She remained silent.
“Look, we know about the Sons of the Republic,” Dane said.
“Stupid name if you ask me,” Bones chimed in.
“We know you guys are hell bent on taking back the country, whatever that means. You’re willing to kill anyone who gets in your way. Here’s the thing. We were just minding our own business. Would have been happy never to hear about you again. But we land in Philadelphia and suddenly it’s all-out war with two Navy SEALS. What gives?”
“Minding your own business? Right, that’s why you killed two of us in Boston. That’s why you tried to beat O’Meara to Washington’s grave.”
Bones said, “Didn’t anyone tell you? Jillian Andrews asked us to help her. We didn’t find out she was one of you until she drew down on us.”
“Right, and now she’s dead,” the woman snapped. “You had nothing to do with that?”
“Are you kidding? Dane yelled at her to be careful, but she was way too full of herself over what we found to give it any thought. You watch any Indiana Jones movie and that’s what happens when you ignore the booby trap.”
The shooter just looked up at him. Dane decided to try another approach. “What’s your name?”
She paused. “People call me Long.”
“So tell me Long, why did you get into this?”
“Because things have got to change. Our government is corrupt, half the country is on the dole and half the rest just don’t care. The founders would have been disgusted.”
Bones laughed. “The founders were—”
Dane cut him off with a look. “Hey, I agree with you.”
Bones said, “You do?”
Dane ignored him and continued. “That’s why we joined the Navy, to protect the country and help it to become a better place. But those people who don’t care are still our fellow Americans.”
Long met his eye and then jerked her body up, sending Bones slipping to the ground. He landed on his wounded shoulder and let out a curse. Long crouched like a sprinter and exploded to her feet in a run.
Dane gave chase. She had gotten twenty yards with her surprise move, but Dane figured he could close the gap like they had before. Then she turned, her fingers wrapped around a small handgun.
“Stop right there.”
Dane didn’t stop, didn’t think, he just dove into a shoulder roll. He heard a shot fire and he knew he had no time and no more options. Coming out of the roll, he reached into his coat for his Glock. Instead of popping onto his feet, he went into a side roll and ended on his stomach with the gun stretched in the direction of Long.
Her aim was just settling on him as he whipped his head up and fired two shots.
She dropped quickly.
Bones reached her before Dane did. He kicked the gun out of the one remaining finger attempting to grip it, but he needn’t have bothered. Both of Dane’s shots had hit her in the chest, and she wasn’t wearing armor.
She was still alive, though. She coughed, and Dane knelt next to her.
“I hope it was worth it.”
She tried to force a laugh, but managed only a ragged cough. “Most of it was.”
“We still have no idea what you guys are after. As near as I can tell from what happened in Boston, you guys don’t even trust each other.”
Her eyes narrowed in thought and she nodded. “I don’t trust any of them.”
“Then why join them and why the hell try to kill us?”
She coughed again. “I was a sniper a long time ago. Back when women didn’t go into combat. Whenever they needed a kill at a distance, one of them would call me. Sort of pitiful.”
Bones said, “So tell us who they are. You know you’re not going to make it and they’re the ones who put you in this situation. Don’t protect them.”
Dane held his breath, hoping Bones hadn’t just killed any chance of getting the woman to talk. Telling someone they’re about to die doesn’t tend to put them in a good mood.”
Long shook her head. “No. I’m not going to give them up. Killing’s going to have to happen to get this country back on track, but not like this.”
Silence descended for a moment, and Dane held her gaze. Then her eyes softened as if she had made a decision. “Look for the Celtic Cross.”
With an obvious effort, Long whispered, “Look at the King of Pawns.”
Then her eyes lost their spark with a suddenness that surprised Dane, even though he’d experienced death up close before. He watched her for a few more seconds before standing up.
“Bones, I—”
“Don’t say it, Maddock. One more second and it would have been you instead of her. You gave her every chance and then some.”
“Yeah, I know, I just wish… ” He stopped and shook his head. “We’re going to have to call the cops.”
“The cops? Are you kidding? They’re never going to believe that this woman was such a threat that two trained soldiers had no choice but to shoot her in a blizzard down by the river. We call the cops and there’s a hundred percent chance you wind up in jail. Better than fifty-fifty, so do I. And if you’re in jail, your whole career is in jeopardy.”
Dane knew it was wrong to just leave the body here and not call the cops. He didn’t just know it, he felt it to his core. But he also knew Bones was right. He wasn’t willing to go to jail for defending himself after being attacked three times in the past thirty hours.
“How about we call in an anonymous tip?”
“Again with the anonymous tip. Fine, dude, but first we move the car far away from here.”
“Sure, Bones. And then what, the library?”
“Screw the library. I never really liked that place. Isn’t our course of action obvious?”
“Humor me, Bones. It’s not every day I kill someone.”
Bones looked as if he might apologize, a grim expression on his lips. Then he shook his head and his smile returned.
“We need to go find the King of Pawns.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
They drove several miles before stopping at a pharmacy. Dane drove while Bones examined his wound, and pronounced it a mere scratch. Dane caught a glimpse of a big red gash right on the top of his shoulder and suspected his friend was downplaying it, but it did sound like the bullet had at least missed bone.