Shattered Lies (Web of Lies #3)(59)

24





“Jason!” Dalton called out as they raced down the steps with Secret Service emblazoned across the back of their vests. “Locke is going to bomb the exchange!”

Dalton threw the vest at him and handed him the M-16. People were giving them wide berth, and some were even taking pictures. Dalton stepped into the street and held up his hand. A minivan screeched to a halt and a scared woman clung to the steering wheel.

“Secret Service. I need your vehicle. It’s a matter of national security,” Dalton yelled, but the woman just shook her head.

“We don’t have time for this,” Grant told him as he looked around for another ride.

Dalton slammed the butt of the gun through the driver’s window. “I said it’s a matter of fucking national security!” He reached inside and opened the door as the woman screamed. He used his knife, sliced the seat belt, and dragged her out as he hit the unlock button. Jason jumped into the back and Grant took the front as Dalton sped away. With his hand on the horn and weaving in and out of traffic, it wouldn’t take long to get there, but could they find Locke in time?



* * *



Valeria’s arms sliced through the air as she sprinted straight down the middle of Broad Street. Lizzy was right behind her. Neither talked. Eleven minutes. Valeria was counting down in her head. They wouldn’t make it.

“There!” Lizzy shouted. Two blocks ahead was Wall Street. The cobbled street was cut in half by barricades as a large American flag stretched across the six Corinthian columns starting around two to three stories up from the ground and stretching upward toward the pediment. The sculpture of Integrity, with her arms stretched outward and her hands clenched in fists, came into view right as a minivan slid to a stop before hitting the barricades.

A large mountain of man in Kevlar leapt from the front. “Grant!” Valeria screamed over the traffic at the same time shouting erupted.

“Ten minutes,” Lizzy called out from behind her as the men ran toward them.

“We have to get these people out of here,” Valeria yelled as Jason went right toward the guards and began talking to them.

“We know Locke,” Dalton told them as they stood with their hands on their hips in the middle of Broad Street as hundreds of people came and went. “You two get people out of here. Folks in the other buildings should find a safe place to hunker down or evacuate away from the exchange.”

“I’ll block the street with the minivan. Good luck.” Lizzy placed a quick kiss on Dalton’s cheek and then ran toward the minivan.

“Stay safe, lass,” Grant whispered to Val. She closed her eyes for one second taking in his voice, the press of his lips on hers, the hardness of a gun being shoved into her hand, and then he was gone. When she opened her eyes, the fear was pressed deep inside her as she surveyed the best way to evacuate thousands of people.



* * *



Alex’s body shook, but his fingers did not. “Nine minutes,” he said out loud. “I got through to the security at the exchanges. Let’s hope they believe my bomb threat. The exchange hasn’t frozen trading yet, though.”

“Shut it down,” Roxie said in the same voice devoid of emotion. “The group is working on the other locations. I almost have London’s exchange safely closed and the bomb threat was called in. I fully expect we’ll be shut down quickly since they’ll have our phones.”

“Birch will take care of it,” Alex said as he worked his way through the highly protected firewall of the exchange. “This is going to take a while.”

“We don’t have a while,” Roxie reminded him. “Dark Surfer has Australia taken care of. He’s called in three threats to different agencies and trading has been frozen. He’s moving onto Zurich now.”

“Fire Dragon is locking down Hong Kong,” Alex said as the message flashed across the top of his computer. “He needs five more minutes.”

“Eight minutes,” Roxie said as the clock continued to move.



* * *



“Why the fuck aren’t you evacuating?” Dalton demanded as the guard outside the main entrance refused to let him in without authorization. A couple of the guards moved Dalton and Grant away from the entrance and to the side of the building as a few more guards began to surround them. Jason had taken off the Kevlar and was mingling through the pedestrians as a fire alarm sounded in the building Valeria had ran into. Six minutes.

“Why don’t you show us your badge?” the main officer asked with his hand on the butt of his holstered gun.

“Call the president. He ordered us here,” Dalton said with clenched teeth. This was the one time he’d kill for identification. The guards laughed and Grant nudged him. When Dalton looked up, Grant was focused beyond the cluster of guards they were standing with at the side of the building. Flashing a badge and walking right through security was none other than Brandon Locke.

His hair had turned lighter, his features leaner, but there was no mistaking that sharp nose and the scar that ran along his cheek. There was no doubt in the way he held himself, the way he walked with purpose, that he was ex-military. And there was no doubt there was a bomb in the bag he carried in his right hand.

A second alarm sounded from behind them and the guards turned to look. It was the building Lizzy had gone into after blocking traffic a block away. But there were still too many people on the street and Locke was almost to the front door.