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“But he said—” And then Cat realized that he had been taking the enemy’s word for how the thing worked. Why wouldn’t he? It was an American telling him. “Bastard’s probably got a secret set of controls all primed to flood everything and somewhere there’s an LED display counting down the seconds.”
“You watch too many movies,” said Cole.
“You’re Bartholomew Coleman,” said Verus.
“Sorry I didn’t let your guys kill me in D.C.”
“Too bad you were brainwashed by the right-wing extremists,” said Verus. “I could have used someone as resourceful as you.”
“What about me?” said Cat. “I’m resourceful, too.”
“This time we get to put John Wilkes Booth on trial,” said Cole.
“I didn’t have anything to do with killing that pathetic joke of a President,” said Verus.
“You just happened to be all set to invade New York two days later,” said Cole.
“We were going to move on July Fourth,” said Verus. “General Alton’s coup was going to be our provocation.”
“So Alton was yours,” said Cole.
“Then he decides to improvise and recruit you,” said Verus. “Idiot.”
“You want it done right, you got to do it yourself,” said Cat.
“So am I under arrest, or are you going to murder me?” asked Verus.
“You’re under arrest,” said Cole.
“Either way I win,” said Verus. “Excuse me while I take a leak.” He turned and pushed his way into the restroom, slamming the door behind him before Cole could grab him.
Cole knew immediately that the restroom was not just a toilet. Before he could finish saying “Son of a bitch,” he was at the door, opening it.
Just an unoccupied restroom with a closed toilet stall. Cole immediately dropped and slithered under the stall door. Inside there was a low doorway leading to a sloping ladder going upward. He could hear Verus climbing rapidly. Cole unlocked the stall door as Cat came in. “I think I got the flow stopped,” said Cat.
“He went up here,” said Cole, ducking into the ladder-way. “I can see him.”
“Just shoot him,” said Cat.
“We want him alive,” said Cole softly. “And he knows it.”
They raced up the ladder after him. It was easy to overtake him. Verus was physically fit, but he was also in his sixties.
There was no reason to stop him, though, and risk having him fall and injure himself on the ladder. Cole just reached up and tugged on his pant leg a couple of times, to let him know he was right behind him.
Near the top, Verus slapped his hand against a button on the wall and a trap door opened automatically. If he had visions of closing it before Cole could get out, he was disappointed—Cole was out almost before he was, and grabbed him by the arm as he tried to run away. Verus fell to the ground, pulling free of Cole’s grip. At once, Cole pointed his rifle at Verus.
Cat came out of the trap door behind him. Only then did it close.
“Shit, we walked right by this and didn’t see it,” said Cat.
They were only a dozen yards from the cleared area around the observation tower.
There was a helicopter approaching from the northwest. Not the direction any task force would come from—but just the right direction for a chopper planning to take Verus to Seattle.
“No wonder the clearing around this tower’s so big,” said Cole.
Cat got his Minimi into position and fired a burst toward the chopper. It didn’t burst into flames, but the pilot got the message all the same. The chopper swerved away.
