End of Days (Pike Logan #16)(42)

Two minutes later, Knuckles said, “He’s on the move. I have five-five. Same path.”

I clicked on the net and said, “Koko, Blood, you ready?”

Jennifer said, “Car is staged. Engine running.”

Brett said, “Yeah. You call him on the ramp, and I’m on the move.”

“Roger all. Carrie, what’s your status?”

“In the Rover and on the way. Don’t wait on me. I’ll be there.”

“Good to go.”

Two minutes later, Knuckles said, “He’s in the park. Headed your way.”

I glanced left and saw the Professor, moving at a leisurely pace and glancing around. Looking for the bad man. He passed right in front of me and began the long walk down the far side ramp out of the park. I said, “All elements, all elements, I have control. Stand by.”

And rose to follow.

When he reached the point where his head was below the walls around him I said, “Execute,” and saw Brett coming up the other way. We closed on him rapidly, meeting at the bottom of the ramp, with about twenty feet to the street. I tapped the target on the shoulder and he turned. I put my pistol into his gut and said, “Don’t move.”

Brett came up behind him and trapped his arms behind his back. His eyes went wide and he sagged into the stone wall.

Perfect.

He was the bad guy, and he knew it. But he wasn’t willing to fight.

I said, “Hand me the laptop.”

He did so. I continued, “We’re going to walk out of this park and one block up. If you try to fight us or flee, you’ll be dead. Do you understand?”

He nodded dumbly and I said, “Let’s go.”

From the top of the ramp, Knuckles said, “Hold what you got. Biker on the way.”

I pushed Professor into the wall and said, “Just remain quiet. Any noise, and you’re dead.”

I glanced up and saw a guy on a mountain bike coming down the path, decked out in cycling gear. Brett let go of the target’s arms, but I kept the pistol in his gut, hidden by my body. The biker slowed down due to the slope of the ramp and the stairs at the bottom, coming almost to a standstill right next to us. I heard Brett hiss, “Gun!” and then heard a suppressed pop.

The Professor’s head exploded right in front of me, the stone wall coated with brain matter. He collapsed like someone had turned off the power to his body, rolling on the ground, his left eye open, unseeing, his right a gout of blood.

What the fuck?

For a split second, I couldn’t assimilate what had happened, but my reflexes took over. I rotated my pistol to the biker and saw him racing away, Brett chasing him with his own pistol out. The biker jumped down the small set of stairs at the bottom and disappeared.

Aaron came on, saying, “Couple coming up about to enter. What’s the status?”

I said, “Stall them.”

Brett came racing back to me and said, “What the hell just happened?”

I said, “I don’t know. Find the drive. Get the drive.”

We ripped through his clothes, Brett finding a thumb drive in his jacket pocket. He held it up and I said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

We speed-walked down the ramp and stairs, passed Aaron asking a couple for directions, and then began sprinting up the street, me on the net saying, “All elements, all elements, abort, abort, abort. Meet back at the hotel.”





Chapter 27




George Wolffe finished his overview of Pike’s actions in Switzerland and paused, waiting on the inevitable questions from the Oversight Council. Unfortunately for him, the lead-off batter was President Hannister himself.

He leaned back in his chair and said, “So we gave you authority to capture this guy in Switzerland, and you killed him instead. That’s not something I would expect with Taskforce operations. You are the scalpel I use when absolutely necessary, not a killing force like Putin employs. This guy was in no way DOA. I never said that, and from your briefing, I’m unsure if that’s exactly what Pike executed.”

DOA was a Taskforce designation rarely employed, meaning the threat was so great to United States interests that the target could be neutralized dead or alive. It was the closest designation in the United States government sanctioning an assassination, but only if capture was not feasible, and only if the threat was so great it posed an existential threat.

It was one more example of the illegality of the unit, because it directly went against EO 12333, an executive order that prohibited assassination signed by President Hannister, like every president before him since Gerald Ford had created it. Wolffe knew the delicate nature of the designation, not the least because he knew how Taskforce operators treated it when assigned.

When it was given, the Taskforce operators colloquially called it “Dead on Arrival,” because it was much easier to kill a man than capture him. If DOA was given, nine times out of ten, the target was going home in a body bag. But that wasn’t what had happened here.

Wolffe said, “Sir, as I said, Pike didn’t kill him. Someone else did, and we think it was precisely to keep Pike from knowing what was in his head. In my opinion, the Israelis may be right on this. There’s something more at play than Keta’ib Hezbollah. This isn’t Iran pulling strings because we killed General Soleimani.”