His fingers wrapped around something against the wall, and Sean realized what it was.
An axe.
The giant lumbered at him and raised his right fist like a hammer about to squash a bug.
Sean squeezed the axe handle and lifted it from the hooks holding it to the wall. He sidestepped the big man’s hammer punch and raised the axe over his head. With no time to spare, he aimed for the man’s side and swung as hard as he could.
The blade whipped through the air in a dramatic arch and stopped suddenly as it struck. But it hadn’t struck the target.
The giant had seen Sean’s move and blocked the blow with his hand, grabbing the shaft of the axe below the base only a split second before it delivered a mortal blow. The big man’s thick fingers squeezed, and he easily jerked the weapon free from Sean’s grip.
Sean took a step back. His eyes darted left and right, scouring his surroundings for another weapon. There was nothing. Then he remembered his pistol. He was between the driver and the firearm.
He turned and took off toward the weapon. It was twenty feet away, but it may as well have been a hundred yards. Just two yards from the gun, Sean started to dive for it, but he heard a loud grunt and glanced over his shoulder in time to see the giant throw the axe.
The blade zipped through the air — end over end — at Sean’s head. He flipped over onto his side, the sharp metal edge missing his neck by less than an inch.
The good news was that he’d dodged the axe. The bad news was the heavy weapon hit his gun and knocked it over to the wall and far out of reach.
Sean was going to have to win this fight fair and square.
He stood up and rolled his shoulders. Never show fear.
The giant grinned and stepped at him again with the same boxing-style attack he’d used before. Sean knew one thing before the big man threw his first punch: no way he’d expect a quick counter.
Bullies liked to rely on intimidation. They used their size as a way to strike fear in their opponents. That fear caused bad decisions. Bad decisions led to pain.
Sean had already made a few of those, and the pain was evident. Time to fix that.
The giant fired out a jab, but this time Sean twisted his body, grabbed the big man’s wrist, and yanked him forward. The driver was thrown off balance and stumbled, leaning over at the waist. Sean continued his spinning motion, swinging his right leg around to give momentum, and jumped. He twisted in midair and hovered for a second over the giant.
The big man had recovered and started to raise up, but Sean dropped down onto his back and hammered down with his fist as hard as he could — striking the man at the base of the skull.
A gasp escaped the driver’s mouth, and his body twitched. Sean wrapped his legs around the man’s torso and his left forearm around the neck, squeezing with all of his might. His opponent wobbled, the effects from the first strike causing him to nearly lose consciousness.
Sean didn’t give him a chance to recover. He clenched his fist and pounded the same spot on the back of the giant’s head again. The massive body weakened further and dropped to one knee. The man braced his fall with his hands. One more time, Sean mustered all his strength and raised his fist high. He leaned back to get all the power he could behind it and drove his knuckles into the man’s head.
Instantly, the body went limp and dropped to the floor, trapping Sean’s feet beneath the heavy torso.
He wrested his left hand free from the giant’s throat and then wiggled one foot loose, then the other. His breath came in quick gasps, and for the first time since his battle began he realized how exhausting the fight had been. He spotted his weapon over by the wall, but his first order of business was making sure no one had seen what was going on.
The entire struggle had happened behind the farthest truck in the line, away from where the forklift incident occurred.
Sean scrambled to his feet and rushed over to the back of the truck. He leaned around the tailgate and saw the men had just secured the wooden crate and were resuming their normal activities.
He ducked back behind the side of the truck and lifted the canvas top — snapping one of the buttons that held it in place. He reached up, grabbed the side, and hauled himself into the back.
The cargo area was dark, but enough light snuck through the cracks to let him see what he was doing. The crates were nailed shut.
He would have killed for a crowbar, but after a quick look around realized the truck was without one. Unless it was in the cabin. He didn’t have time to look.
The long crates were stacked two high and in three rows. He climbed on top of the closest one and wiggled the end of the lid. To his surprise, it wasn’t sealed as tightly as he suspected. With a slight tug, he opened the lid wide enough to get one of the homing beacons inside. Sean opened the cargo pocket on his pants and pulled out the little container. He removed one of the devices, pressed the button, and slid it into the crate.
After mashing the lid down with his weight, he moved to the next one. It took considerably more effort but he eventually managed to get a wide enough opening for another beacon. Again, he activated the signal and put it in the wooden box.
Then he heard men’s voices outside the truck. They were getting closer.
Sean was trapped in the back. If someone looked in the cargo area the mission would be compromised. The same could be said if someone saw the unconscious giant lying outside the truck’s cab.
He needed to move the body but wasn’t sure if he could manage it. On top of that, if that guy was the driver, who was going to drive this truck?
Sean was starting to realize he hadn’t fully thought things through.
31
Sean had to act fast. He still had one beacon left, but by the time he got the last crate open he worried the men outside might already be all around.
Another gut-wrenching thought occurred to him. What if he was putting all his eggs in one basket? By placing the homing devices in crates in the same truck, he was taking a big risk. If something happened to this truck en route to wherever the missiles were going, the rest would be lost, as would the mastermind behind everything.
The voices grew louder, drawing ever closer.
No time to change course now, he thought. Two beacons would have to do the trick.
He climbed back out of the truck and ran around to the front. No time to move the giant’s body. Sean stayed in front of the truck’s hood and waited, watching as three men appeared around the back and kept walking, heading toward a door in the corner. One of them was tapping a pack of cigarettes while another had already fitted one in his mouth, preparing to smoke.
Taking a smoke break?
Sean wondered why they didn’t just smoke in the warehouse, and then he remembered the missiles. They must have been paranoid about setting off the warheads.
These guys really don’t know anything about what they’re moving.
As soon as the door closed behind the three smokers, Sean dashed out of his hiding place and over to the big man on the ground. He grabbed him by the wrists and grunted.
The dead weight was easily over three hundred pounds, but it felt like a ton. Dragging went slowly. At one point, Sean considered rolling him. But he didn’t need to get him far. Another stack of boxes was close by.
Once the body was near enough to the boxes, Sean stopped moving him and started stacking them in front. Relocating the empty cardboard proved much easier than dragging the huge man. By this point, Sean believed the guy was dead. There were no signs of life, and the man’s skin was starting to get a little cold in spite of the heat inside the warehouse.