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When we got to the jail, Chris showed his ID card to the guard at the gate and handed him a stack of papers. As the guard leafed through the papers, Chris turned to us. “The papers let him know who we are and why we are here. They’ll also let the warden know I’m authorized to receive Dr. Rogers.”
“Everything looks good, Agent Marshall.” The guard handed Chris back the stack of papers. “I’ll just need your gun before you go on.”
Chris passed his Sig readily to the guard.
“The rest of them, too. The guard raised an eyebrow and kept his hand out. “I’ve dealt with you SATURN guys enough to know you’re loaded.”
With a short chuckle, Chris threw the car into park and leaned down to pull a small pistol from his ankle. “Glove compartment, Matt.”
I leaned forward to look over Matt’s shoulder as he opened the glove compartment, pulled out a gun and a pair of spare magazines, and handed them to his brother.
“Pop the trunk.” The guard took the weapons Chris offered and nodded to the rear of the car.
Chris’s shoulders tensed, but he didn’t argue as he popped the trunk and watched in the side mirror as the guard lifted out a pair of suitcases.
“You can pick it all back up on the way out.” The guard stashed the suitcases in the gatehouse and waved us forward.
“He wasn’t kidding when he said you guys were loaded, was he?” I knew Chris was a trained law enforcement officer, but seeing that kind of firepower made me feel just a little more impressed.
“One of those suitcases was my clothes.” Chris laughed as he pulled ahead. “Just be glad he only asked for the guns. If I had to give him the rest of my gear, we’d be here all day.”
He found a parking spot near the front of the main building and turned off the car. He had chosen the closest spot, but we were still parked several rows from the door.
“You guys stay here,” he reminded us as he got out of the car. “Go ahead and change seats, but don’t leave the vehicle for any other reason. I’ll be back with Dr. Rogers in a little while. You may as well watch for us and pick us up at the door.”
As Chris headed toward the entrance, Matt slid over to the driver’s side and I moved up to the front beside him. Then we settled down with some homework we’d brought with us to kill time while we waited.
After about an hour, Matt elbowed me. “Chris’s coming out. That must be Dr. Rogers with him.”
I put down my homework and looked up. Chris was talking with a tall, thin man with dark hair and glasses. The man looked weary and apprehensive, as if he thought his release were too good to be true.
“Here’s where we come in.” Matt stuffed his homework into his backpack and started the car.
He pulled the car out of its parking spot and down the row. Reaching an intersection, he paused for a large, black sedan to cross ahead of us, then turned in behind it toward the building. He braked as the sedan stopped a few feet away from Chris and Dr. Rogers. A short man dressed in a guard’s uniform got out of the passenger’s side and walked up to Chris.
“I wonder what’s up,” I said worriedly. “I hope nothing’s gone wrong.”
“Maybe Chris forgot to sign some paperwork or something.” Matt shrugged. “I just hope we don’t have to go back and wait.”
“I don’t think it’s that. Look!”
Whatever he had said had caused Chris to take a defensive stance, placing himself between the man and Dr. Rogers. Dr. Rogers looked scared.
“Is Dr. Rogers afraid of the guard, or of something the guard said?” Matt sat up straighter and moved one hand to the gearshift.
“I think it might be the guard,” I said urgently. “Chris seems to be trying to edge away from him toward us. Pull up closer.”
“I’ll try.” Matt shifted the car into drive and maneuvered the car around the sedan. “That guard is between us and Chris. Do you think we should call SATURN?”
“Let’s give Chris a minute to handle it first.” Still, I pulled the phone Chris had given us out of my pocket.
The man in the guard’s uniform lunged at Chris. Chris took a swing at the man that drove him back long enough for Chris to yell to Dr. Rogers, “Get to the car!”
Dr. Rogers hesitated, as if he wanted to help Chris, then started for the car.
“Get the car closer to Dr. Rogers.” I really didn’t even need to say it, Matt was already in action. “I’ll call SATURN.”
I tapped number “one” on the phone with one hand as I leaned back and opened the rear passenger’s door with the other hand so Dr. Rogers just had to jump in.
“Mr. Jackson?” I asked as soon as the phone connected. “This is Scott McCully. Something’s gone wrong. There’s been an attempt to kidnap Dr. Rogers.”
I watched Dr. Rogers through the window as I spoke. He was moving too slowly, distracted by the fight between Chris and the phony guard. I was pretty sure that Chris was stalling to give Dr. Rogers time to get to the car, but Dr. Rogers just wasn’t moving fast enough.
“Details, Cadet,” Mr. Jackson barked. “My men are less than a mile from the jail. Will Agent Marshall need backup before they get there? I can call the warden to send in more guards.”
“These guys are dressed like guards.” I waved for Dr. Rogers to hurry. He didn’t even notice. “At least the one I can see. He came out of a black sedan. Chris seem to have him under control, but I don’t know if there is anyone else in the...”
I broke off. A second man jumped out of the back of the sedan and grabbed Dr. Rogers. He was shoving him into the back seat of the car.
“They’ve got Dr. Rogers,” I shouted into the phone. “Send everyone you can, now!”
I hung up the phone and stared helplessly as Dr Rogers struggled against the man. He was also dressed like a guard, but I recognized him easily as the same man who had attacked me.
“What do we do?” Matt pounded the steering wheel with his fist.
“I don’t know, maybe Chris...” I turned my attention to Chris just in time to see him turn toward Dr. Rogers. The man he had been fighting took the opportunity of his distraction to give him a stunning blow to the back of his neck. Chris fell to his knees on the pavement.
“Chris!” Matt jammed the car into park and reached for the door handle.
I grabbed his arm to restrain him. “He said stay in the car, no matter what.”
Matt hesitated, his eyes still on Chris. I turned back to Chris also, half expecting him to jump to his feet and take his attacker down. Instead, I watched as the impostor guard pulled a gun from inside his jacket. He took a step away from Chris and leveled the gun at Chris’s head. SATURN still wasn’t here, and I saw no sign of the real guards.
“I don’t care what Chris said.” Matt shook off my hand and grabbed the handle again. “I’m not going to sit here and let my brother get executed!”
“Maybe we don’t have to.” My mind raced for a solution. Matt would be shot by the guard long before he could get to Chris. “Run the car at the guy with the gun.”
“And hit him?” Matt asked incredulously, even as he shifted the car into drive. The guard was saying something inaudible to Chris, giving us scant moments to act.
“I’m sure he’ll move before that happens.” I really didn’t care at that moment whether he did or not. “It’s the only way we can save Chris.”
Matt hit the gas as I made sure all the windows were closed and the doors locked. Help us save Chris without getting ourselves killed.
As Matt picked up speed, the man looked up at the car nervously. He stood his ground, his gun still leveled at Chris. Matt carefully maneuvered the car to avoid Chris, who glared angrily at us as he pushed himself shakily to his feet. Matt accelerated again and the car roared toward the guard. The guard looked at us indecisively, but still didn’t try to get out of our way.
“What if he doesn’t move?” Matt asked worriedly as he closed the distance to the guard.
“He’ll move,” I assured him, more confidently than I felt. We were only feet away from him now.
Just then, he did move. He turned and pointed his gun toward us instead of Chris.
“Duck, Matt!” I doubled over and shielded my head with my arms.
Matt ducked below the dashboard as two rapid gunshots thunked into the hood of the car, and a third crashed through the windshield. He kept his foot on the gas and the car pointed at the last spot we’d seen the man, not daring to poke his head up above the dashboard to check to see if he was still there. We heard four more shots, each of which slammed into the front of Chris’s car.
After a moment, the car jumped the curb onto the sidewalk in front of the building and the gunfire stopped. Matt slammed on the brake and we cautiously peered out the side windows. The real guards poured out of the building as the impostor jumped back into the sedan and rode off. Chris was heading toward us, talking into his cell phone.
Matt shifted the car back into park and sank back into his seat with a sigh.
“I told you he’d move,” I said weakly.
Chris knocked on Matt’s window as he slid his phone back into his pocket. His lips were a tight line and his eyes flashed.
“We stayed in the car, just like you said,” Matt tried to justify our actions as he hit the power lock, opened his door, and grinned crookedly at Chris.
Chris opened his mouth angrily, then closed it again. The corner of his mouth twitched into a half-smile and he shook his head. “I guess you did. I don’t have much room to complain, I’d be dead now if you guys hadn’t intervened.”
“It was Scott’s idea.” Matt thumbed the blame to me.
“I should have guessed.” Chris looked over the car with exaggerated dismay. “Scott would find a way to wreck my car.”
I followed his gaze to three holes in the windshield with spidery cracks spreading from them. I had counted seven shots. The other four were embedded in the front of Chris car.
“What happened out there?” Matt asked Chris. “I thought there wasn’t supposed to be any danger until after we left here.”
“That’s what we thought, too.” Chris looked back at the guards processing the scene. “I think we’ll find that the guy who attacked me worked here. That would explain the uniforms.”
“Did you see the man that grabbed Dr. Rogers?” I asked doubtfully. He had been kind of busy. “He was the same one that attacked me earlier.”
“Doesn’t surprise me.” Chris said grimly. “The phony guard mentioned the Snake, also.”
“So now the Snake has both Gene and Dr. Rogers,” Matt said, anger edging his voice.
“And my parents.” Hatred for the Snake welled up inside me again. “I couldn’t help them and I couldn’t help the Rogerses. If anything happens to them, I’ll...” An overwhelming desire for revenge start to overtake me. Dear God, help me.
“I know they’re all still alive.” I clenched a fist so tightly my nails bit into my palm. “I just worry about what that monster is doing to them.”