The Naked Edge

^{A young man with a knapsack saw them coming.}

^{Raoul shouted a warning.}

^{The team member looked confused.}

^{Raoul shouted again.}

^{The team member saw Carl chasing Raoul. Fear tightening his face, he turned and ran.}

^{Chapter 27.}

^{"What's this about?"}

^{In the communications truck, an FBI agent pointed toward a monitor.}

^"Where?"

^{"Here. This ."}

^{Cavanaugh and Jamie walked toward it.}

^{"Somebody's in an awful hurry to go the wrong way," the agent said.}

^{"Not one person. Three," Jamie noted.}

^{The camera was angled downward from a roof. The screen showed the crowd filling the street, countless protestors shifting away from the conference center. Breaking the pattern, a line of three men charged in the opposite direction, thrusting their way through the demonstrators.}

^{"Seems like the guy in back's chasing the others," the agent said. "Look at how frightened they are. They keep glancing back to see if he's gaining on them."}

^{"And what about this ?" Another agent pointed toward a monitor that showed a commotion nearby. People formed a circle around a man scrunched sideways on the pavement. He held his stomach, which was dark with spreading liquid. A woman raised her face and soundlessly screamed.}

^{"Looks like he's been shot," an agent said.}

^{Cavanaugh concentrated on the three men forcing their way south as everyone else went north. "Can you get a closer view of the guy in back, the one who seems to be chasing the others?"}

^"Sure."

^{The agent twisted dials. Immediately the camera magnified the man at the rear of the line.}

^{As the face got larger, Cavanaugh felt a chill speed along his nerves. "Not shot. Stabbed."}

^{"How do you know?"}

^{"Because the guy chasing the others is Carl."}

^{Chapter 28.}

^{Eight minutes before ten.}

^{Fighting his way through the crowd, Carl saw another young man with a knapsack. Raoul shouted a warning. When the man, already on edge, looked behind the team members charging toward him and saw the rage on Carl's face, he too broke into a run. Carl shouldered through more protestors.}

^{"Hey, dickhead, watch who you're slamming into," a man said, only to groan and double over as Carl lunged past.}

^{Ahead, Raoul hurried straight ahead while the team members he'd warned dropped their knapsacks and split to the right and left, racing down side streets.}

^{They'll alert the rest of the team , Carl thought in a fury. I trained them to feel they belong to a tightly knit unit. That's how they'll act now, protecting each other.}

^{Because of Raoul. All the effort I spent on him, he's still a punk.}

^{Ramming through the crowd, getting nearer, Carl angrily calculated that he had sufficient time to teach him the consequence of disloyalty.}

^{Ahead, the son of a bitch hurled his knapsack away and shouted to a team member waiting farther along the block.}

^{Chapter 29.}

^{"What are they throwing away? Knapsacks?"}

^{"They seem to be shouting at people at the side of the crowd." Cavanaugh stared at the monitors.}

^{"Men standing against walls," Jamie said. "They all have knapsacks. Here, here, here, and . . . My God, once you notice them, they seem to be everywhere."}

^{"I hate to imagine what's in them." An agent picked up a microphone. "Surveillance One to all units."}

^{As the agent described what he saw on the screens, Cavanaugh pointed toward the one that showed Carl. "What street is he on?" he asked another agent.}

^{"Girod near Fulton."}

^{Cavanaugh grabbed a lapel microphone and an earbud. "Keep telling me which direction he's taking."}

^{Before Jamie had a chance to think about going with him, Cavanaugh opened the door and jumped to the street.}

^{"Grab the guys with the knapsacks!" the agent said into a microphone. "For God's sake, be careful. We don't know what's in them."}

^{When Jamie jumped to the street, Cavanaugh had disappeared into the crowd.}

^{Chapter 30.}

^{Seven minutes before ten.}

^{Without looking back, Raoul had a visceral sense that Bowie was gaining on him. His stomach felt on fire. His lungs ached. His legs felt wobbly. Although he stayed along a wall, there were still too many people in front of him. Crashing, shoving, he shouted to another team member, "Bowie lied! Something's wrong! Get rid of the knapsack!"}

^{The already-nervous team member seemed to be grateful for the excuse to run. Raoul leapt over the dropped knapsack and veered left onto Fulton Street. The side street had fewer departing protestors, giving Raoul a chance to run faster.}

^{But he continued to have that visceral sense that Bowie was gaining on him. He saw yet another team member and shouted his warning. For proof, all the man needed was a frightened look behind Raoul toward where Bowie was getting closer. The man dropped his knapsack and raced toward the next corner.}

^{Perhaps Raoul only imagined the footsteps pounding behind him. But he didn't imagine the increasing tightness in his lungs, the worsening unsteadiness in his legs. Never having been tested, never having passed five missions, he was ruled by fear instead of using adrenaline to give him strength. Gotta breathe. As long as I'm running, he has the advantage. Gotta stop. On the opposite side of the street, an archway beckoned. Gotta fight.}