Suddenly Brightman saw an opportunity and smashed his fist into Jefferson’s throat. Jefferson had been hit a thousand times in the neck by eager young football players, both his teammates who wanted his spot on the roster, and opponents who wanted to kill him. It was a move to fracture the trachea and permanently disable the opponent. Jefferson had spent hours in the gym developing his neck muscles to sustain such blows, and now he blocked Brightman’s punch and grabbed one of his arms.
Brightman tried to put Jefferson in a headlock. Jefferson let go of Brightman’s arm and grabbed his leg. He yanked up on the leg and forced the pony-tailed giant to fall backwards, sending him crashing to the floor.
Brightman immediately sprung back to his feet.
Jefferson threw a crushing blow to Brightman’s face, splattering blood into his eyes. Brightman didn’t even stagger before returning the blow. The two goliaths traded lethal blows to the head, but neither showed any signs of injury. Brightman faked a strike to the face and then pummeled Jefferson’s ribs. Breaking bones snapped loudly as Jefferson fell against the wall.
Honing in on the point of weakness, Brightman hammered the fractured ribs. Blood flowed from Jefferson’s mouth as he fell to his knees. Brightman continued to hit the defenseless man with smashing blows to the body until Jefferson fell, face forward, to the floor.
Then Brightman turned and started coming at me.
“No, Zahar!” Keyes screamed.
Brightman didn’t hear her. He was like a beast on a hunt.
As he raised his fist to strike me, Waters slapped Keyes and she fell backward. The giant turned to help her, giving me time to pick up the battering ram.
I’d seen enough of Brightman, as had my dead, cremated friend, Andy Fowler.
I took the heavy pipe and slammed it into Brightman’s body. He didn’t fall backward like Jefferson did. Instead the giant pushed away the fifty-pound weapon and came at me again.
I swung the battering ram as hard as I could, this time centering the strike on the solar plexus. Brightman doubled over in pain from the direct hit to the bundles of nerves in his mid-chest.
The blow knocked the wind out of him.
In Brightman’s momentary incapacitation, I gathered every ounce of strength I could muster and swung the ram upward, slamming it into his chin. The force of the explosive uppercut knocked the giant backward and onto the floor with a crash. He blinked several times. Blood poured from his mouth and into his lungs each time he gasped for air. He started turning purple, suffocating from his own blood.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
I felt the Browning press to my head. “Dr. James. You’re a dead man. With the two of you gone, I’ll have no more enemies left in the world.”
Waters held the gun perfectly against my head while he stared at Keyes.
“You’ll get the death penalty for shooting us.”
“I was never here.”
Waters pressed the pistol harder against my head and said to Keyes, “Reach into my desk and get my handcuffs, won’t you, my dear?”
Keyes brought out the handcuffs and Waters said, “Put them on, both of you.”
Waters motioned me forward to join her.
Keyes and I were now chained to the wall railing.
A small speaker at Waters station squawked: “Alpha Charlie, do you read me? This is Edwards. I need you right now! Where are you?”
Turning to me, Waters said, “James, it’s your lucky day. Edwards just gave you a ninety-second reprieve, but I’ll be right back.”
Waters went to his control chair and faced Edwards in the monitor. “I’m here,” he said as he placed the Browning to his side and activated the computer system. “What’s our status? Is there another target?”
“Affirmative. There’s a suicide bomber coming for you.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
“How do you know that?”
“The intelligence people at Camp Peary. They’ve intercepted two messages from a terrorist group near you. One confirms that a vehicle driving toward you is a suicide bomber. The other message says there’s also some sort of missile scheduled to launch. We’re betting you’re the target.”
“Understood.”
“We have your Predator from Peary airborne at this time. The DE Laser is ready. This’ll be a good test for you. You can kill that bomber. He’s only three miles away.” Edwards said. “Hold on… I’ve got another message.”
Waters went to the fuse box behind the computer and flipped off all electrical power to the RV. With the heavily tinted windows, the bus was dark, barely lit by a battery-operated lantern.
Red and blue lights flashed in the windows. The police had clearly taken up a position nearby, but it was impossible to tell where, or how far away.
I said to Keyes, “Sounds like even if the suicide bomber doesn’t get us, the missile will.”
“I’m sorry, Scott. Farok betrayed me.”
Waters ran to the door.
I called out, “You can’t just leave us.”
“Why not? It’s the perfect time. To the police I’m just another frightened soul, evacuating the area. The whole, beautiful, ‘missile game’ will take care of everything else. I won’t even have to dirty my hands with your blood.”
“But what about all the innocent people in the hospital? There are over a thousand people in there! Patients and nurses and doctors! People you’ve known and worked with for years. And think of all the workers and volunteers and visitors. Let us die, if you must, but save them!”
“And blow my cover? No way. Let the hospital be leveled to the ground! Then maybe I’ll collect the insurance money and federal government disaster money as well. I’ll double my fortune. And all those poor ‘innocent people’—well, surely you’ve heard of ‘collateral damage,’ Scott.”
He turned to the door and called over his shoulder, “Say ‘Hi’ to that missile for me.”
“Please, Herb, let us go!” Keyes shrieked.
“Let your lover, Farok, free you.”
He grabbed the knob.
“WAIT!.. Aren’t you forgetting something? The Rolex Farok gave Elizabeth. It’s probably worth half a million dollars.”
Waters stopped in his tracks. He turned around and walked over to Keyes. Grabbing and twisting her arm, he took a minute to admire the jewel-studded watch: ten flawless, three-carat diamonds on the bracelet band, a multitude of two-carat emeralds on the face of the watch, covered all over with one-carat diamonds and emeralds. Waters knew real precious gemstones when he saw them. “I’m going to rub this in Farok’s ugly face someday,” he said.
He jerked the watch from Keyes arm and ran to his Aston Martin.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
I ripped a six-inch piece of wire from the wall panel attachment. Handing it to Keyes, I said, “Here, I believe you do this sort of thing in your line of work. Unlock the cuffs.”
Keyes didn’t blink. She looked over the wire for a moment, then bent it carefully and precisely and inserted it into the slot. The lock released, and off slid the cuff from my wrist.
The moment she’d freed herself, she yelled, “The bomber and missile will be here any minute!”
“Not if I can help it.”
I flipped on the electricity to the bus.
“What are you doing? We have to get out of here! Now!”
My mind flashed on the casualties and damage the weapons aimed at the hospital could do. Despite Keyes’ contention that Farok was bombing only the drone control center, I suspected that the combination of his suicide bomber and his missile would be enough to wipe out the whole hospital. The few lives I’d altered in my medical career were like a grain of sand compared to the lives that would be lost and the people who would be maimed within minutes, if I didn’t do something.