Part 57 (1/2)
”Goggles,” we said in unison. The shooter had to be wearing night-vision goggles.
”s.h.i.+t, where's that flashlight?” I asked. We had two of them in the cabin. But where were they?
”More important,” said Sarah, ”where is everybody?”
She was right. Where was our backup, the four agents we had around the perimeter? Even with the shooter behind them, they still should've located him by now.
Unless he got to them first.
No. No way. Not all four agents.
Sure enough, the two-way radio at my waist suddenly crackled with static. ”Anyone hit?” came a hushed voice.
I grabbed the radio, whispering back. ”We're good so far,” I said. ”He must be wearing-”
”Yeah, goggles,” said the agent. ”Moving in with the same. Two to a side.”
I'd lost track of who was on what s.h.i.+ft around the cabin. At least this guy sounded experienced.
”Which one is he?” I asked Sarah.
”Carver,” she reminded me. ”Agent Carver.”
Cavalry was more like it.
Chapter 90
THE ONLY THING worse than the sound of all h.e.l.l breaking loose around us was the feeling of helplessness that came with it.
All of it happened so fast. The bright beam of light outside our window followed by a barrage of gunfire echoing through the woods.
Four against one out there. I didn't have to be Jimmy the Greek to like those odds. But it was what came after-the stone-cold silence and the feeling of dread sweeping over me-that I didn't like. Not one bit.
There was nothing Sarah and I could do. Agent Carver's radio was off. All the radios were off.
I slid across the floor amid the shards of gla.s.s, leaning up against the wall next to the window.
”What are you doing?” whispered Sarah, the subtext being that whatever it was, I shouldn't be doing it.
But I had to look. I had to try to see what was happening. A quick peek, that's all.
Not quick enough.
My head barely made it past the wood trim alongside the window when-pop-pop-pop!-I nearly caught one between the eyes. My neck snapped back, pure reflex at the sound of the shots, as more gla.s.s rained all over the cabin.