Stone Cold

Down the street Milton was sitting in a parked car with a cell phone in hand. He was the failsafe. If everything seemed to be going to hell, he was to call the police, the FBI, the fire department and anyone else they could think of. Since they would all be in close proximity, their response time should be very fast, although it still might not be fast enough. Caleb was back at the hiding place keeping watch over Lesya and the rest of the Fi

“This is going to take some time,” Fi

“How long is long?” the guard asked.

“Probably after midnight before it’s all done.”

“You better get to it, then,” the guard said, walking away without bothering to offer to help.

Fi

“They still work just fine,” Stone assured him. “Despite their, uh, vintage.”

“No night-vision equipment?”

“No.”

“Gray’s men will have them, state of the art,” Fi

“I’m actually counting on that.”

“And body armor, latest generation.”

“I always aim for the head.”

They put the bound Simpson behind a crate of ceiling tiles and Fi

Stone stopped at one room and looked up. “Balcony?”

Fi

“I like this room,” Stone said firmly as he stared at the waist-high concrete wall along the balcony. “High ground is always good ground. Now show me where the closest power supply is.”

After that was done, Fi

“So how do I get David out of here?” A

Fi

“You only have to walk down a short hall and there’s an exit door there. It’s not guarded and you can open it from the inside. I had an associate go through it when we made an initial penetration. It was a tight fit for him, but he was bigger than you and David. You two should have no problem; you’re both very lean.”

Stone looked at A

“I know,” A

“Alex and Reuben will be stationed near the exit you’ll be using. If need be, Alex can use his Secret Service credentials to get you past any security checkpoints.”

“So where do you want me to be, Oliver?” A

“Right here next to the entrance to the ductwork. We’ll bring David to you.”

She looked at the tall and broad-shouldered Fi

“Let us worry about that, A

CHAPTER 90

FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS, Stone and Fi

And then they were as ready as they were going to be. Stone made the call to Gray and then they both took up their positions and waited. Stone knew that Gray would send in an advance guard to recon the place. Sure enough, two hours later, men came sniffing and poking around, with the security guards out front no doubt either tied up or suitably intimidated by the men’s badges.

Then the man himself appeared. Carter Gray was looking chunkier than usual. From his sniper’s post Stone instantly discerned why: body armor. That didn’t bother Stone in the slightest since, as he’d told Fi

Next to Gray was a man pushing a hand truck with a bag on it. He unzipped the bag and helped the boy out. David Fi

“Well,” Gray said to the emptiness. “We’re here.”

Harry Fi

Gray looked mildly a

“Let me have my son!”

“Where are the orders? And where is my recording?”

Fi

Fi

The guard pushed David toward his father. Fi

“Dad!” David said in a trembling voice as he squeezed his father tightly.

Gray held out his hand. “Give them to me. Now!”

Fi

“Lots of things have survived all these years, including my mother,” Fi

Gray listened to the recording on the cell phone, then handed it to a man next to him, who placed it in a small electronic device and played it again. He read off the result displayed on an LED screen on the side of the device. “It’s the original, copied once.”

Stone had given one copy to Gray previously.

Gray smiled, pocketed the cell phone and looked at Fi

“A widow, thanks to you.”

Gray looked around. “John, I know you’re out there. Perhaps you have your little ragtag regiment with you. But just so you understand the playing field, I have this place surrounded and sealed shut. And it has been placed off-limits to the police, FBI, Secret Service and anyone else you might be counting on. I’m sure you know there is a mock terrorist attack going on outside right now. That’s probably why you selected this place tonight. You no doubt hoped it would help you to escape. But what it does, instead, is ensure that if there is any shooting in here, no one outside will hear it, or if they do, they won’t bother to investigate.”

As they listened, the sounds of staged sirens, gunfire and bombs exploding, all part of the drill, reached them.

Gray glanced back at Fi