Ultimate Weapon (McClouds & Friends #6)(46)

“Get up, Steele. You have to drive.”

It was Janos’s faintly accented voice. Calm, cool, and even.

Profound relief rushed through her. She kicked herself for feeling it. That man was not her friend or her savior, no matter how things looked right now. On the contrary, he was probably the prime reason she was in this fix to begin with. And she might be obliged to kill him.

Like it would be so easy.

She let out a shuddering breath, peering into the darkness under the seat to seek out Rachel’s tiny hunched form in the dark. She reached out, groped until she snagged a handful of Rachel’s coat.

“Are they dead?” Tam asked Janos. The question sounded shaky, stupid and scared.

“I’ll make sure. You drive the bus.”

“You drive the f*cking bus, Janos,” she snapped. “I’ve got Rachel to take care of.”

Janos snarled something in Roman dialect about the sexual depravity of her dead sainted ancestors. She ignored him, shimmying under the seat to drag Rachel out and up into her arms.

The sickening crack of a man’s neck being broken took her by surprise. Ouch. Grow up, Tam, she scolded herself. She’d gotten soft.

Janos leaned over, peering down through those goofy round glasses at Thick Neck, who was slumped sideways on the seat. “How long will the drug you sprayed on him last?” he asked.

“Not long,” she said. “Ten minutes, maybe fifteen. Small dose.”

Janos put his gun to the nape of the guy’s neck.

She jerked upright. “Don’t you dare!”

He gave her an incredulous look. “Excuse me?”

“You *!” she hissed. “Not in front of the child! Are you crazy?”

He rolled his eyes but let Thick Neck be and proceeded to the front of the van. He gently lifted the bloody, dripping head of the dangling driver and peered into his eyes. He reached for the man’s wrist, felt for a pulse. His eyes flicked to hers. He shook his head.

He grabbed the driver’s big, heavy body under the armpits and heaved him into the first passenger seat without apparent effort. The man’s legs draped obscenely across the aisle. Tam hugged Rachel’s face to her chest. Not that the kid was noticing anything. She was locked in her own inner world, and from the looks of her, it wasn’t a pretty one.

Janos slid into the driver’s seat and put the vehicle in gear. They peeled out onto the road, tires squealing, and picked up speed.

“Where are we going?”

“The lot where you parked,” he said.

“How do you know where I—”

“Later,” he cut her off brusquely. “I’m thinking.”

Oh, indeed. God forbid she should keep a man from actually doing that. She almost said it, but until she knew exactly what the f*ck was going on, even she knew how to keep her big mouth shut.

On a temporary basis, anyway.

It scared her that Rachel wouldn’t speak or make eye contact. Nor was she clinging to Tam’s neck as she usually did when she was terrified. She was limp, clammy, and pale, which frightened Tam more than the bullets had. She preferred a screaming, writhing meltdown to this total withdrawal. Cold air blew in the bus’s shattered windows.

The van slowed, slewed into a sharp turn, and bumped over the barrier into the long-term lot where she’d left her car. The bar rose for the shuttle automatically. The guy in the window didn’t even look up from his magazine.

No one was waiting for a ride when Janos braked at the bus shelter. Unheard-of luck. She’d been bracing herself for a nasty public scene when the bus stopped, and she hadn’t been looking forward to it.

Janos looked over at her. “Get out,” he said. “I’ll deal with the last one when you and the child are clear of the bus.”

She slung the diaper bag and purse over her shoulder, pressed Rachel’s face to her chest, and clambered over the legs of the driver.

They climbed out of the death bus into the fresh morning air. Dawn wasn’t far off. She dragged in a breath.

Thud. She felt the silenced gunshot vibrate in her gut as Janos’s bullet punched into Thick Neck’s nape and finished off the job.

Janos came out, jerking his chin for her to follow him.

She clutched Rachel more tightly to her chest. “I’m not going to let you take me to Georg Luksch,” she said, suddenly exhausted. “I would rather die.” It was a pointless declaration, but she made it on principle.

He stared at her, eyes narrowed. “I’m not taking you to Georg.”

She blinked at him, bewildered. Her eyes burned and stung in the breeze that kicked up. “Ah…no? Then what are you doing here?”

“I am helping you,” he said curtly. “Follow me. Quickly.”

After a second, Tam followed him, for lack of a better plan.

“Somebody’s going to get a nasty shock this morning when she tries to get the shuttle to her flight,” she said.

Janos walked quickly, not looking at her. “Not our problem.”

“It will be when they dust for prints, and investigate that goddamn passport,” Tam said sourly. “Just what I need. A murder rap, and I didn’t even have a gun. Like I don’t have enough problems.”

“Faster, please. Do you want to talk to the police about it now, while half the world is trying to kill you, or later?”