The scene back at the jail was pandemonium. The front of the building crumpled, preventing access for rescue workers, but it was clear that the explosion had taken out the reception and security area and everybody in it. The bodies of three guards and civilian workers were evident among the rubble, along with the bodies of another guard and Karina Wright outside. The policeman who had opened fire on the van was sitting in a state of shock, still clutching his weapon, with blood oozing from the wound in his arm.
People were flooding in from surrounding businesses, stores and local administration buildings, and a harassed officer was shouting orders to get props under the sagging ceiling structure to reach people trapped under the fallen beams and brickwork.
Tom Brasher grabbed Ruth and pushed her towards the rear of the building while Vaslik made his way to the front to see if he could help. He passed two guards carrying an injured woman and saw two men lying unconscious against a wall, covered in dust. The air out here was thick with smoke, and he grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed a lick of flame coming from a demolished section of wall leading to the front lobby.
Amazingly one of the security guards who’d checked them in was standing in a corner where a section of wall had left him completely untouched. He was blinking in shock and looked at Vaslik as if he’d seen a ghost.
‘You OK?’ Vaslik said, and shook his arm.
The guard nodded. ‘I think… I guess so. What happened?’
‘I don’t know. I think it was a rocket launcher. My colleague and I checked in our weapons and phones when we arrived. Where are they?’
‘Over here.’ The guard stumbled to a bank of secure lockers and opened one, and let Vaslik help himself. He stared uncomprehendingly at Vaslik and said, ‘What the hell do we do now?’
‘Make sure the building’s secure and help your buddies.’
He left the man and ran down a corridor where he found a fire door standing open and ran outside, heading towards the front entrance. The sound of gunfire had stopped so he didn’t expect to find anybody. In any case he figured that with all the confusion, there would be few armed officers or guards out here to do anything if the attackers launched another assault.
He skidded to a stop among the ruins of the entrance. It was as if a giant tin-opener had torn open the building, exposing the inner structure along with electrical wiring, water pipes gushing fluid and workers trying to clear rubble to reach the injured.
He recognised Karina Wright’s body, but she was beyond help, so he ran over to an officer with blood on his arm who was being tended to by a civilian on the front grass.
‘Where did they go?’ he asked.
The officer pointed, his eyes dulled by shock. ‘They headed south, then turned east… a white van with side doors… and one of those plastic windows on the roof.’ He sucked in air at a sudden movement of his injured arm. ‘Christ, man, it came out of nowhere. They had a rocket launcher and fully automatic weapons… and they just… they just hosed us down!’
‘How many men?’
‘I saw two but there had to be a driver, too. The launcher was in the back.’ He pointed to a tube lying in the street. ‘That’s it there. I returned fire and scored some hits but it didn’t slow them down any. They didn’t give a damn about who they hit… are you going after them?’
‘I might just do that.’ Vaslik punched in Dave Proust’s number and the former FBI man answered immediately.
‘What’s going on there?’ Dave demanded.
‘The jail’s been hit,’ Vaslik told him. ‘Three guys in a white van. There’s no way the locals can get a response in the air in time, so we’ll have to do it. Can you get here and pick me up? I’m right outside the jail. Look for the smoke – there’s enough space to land on the intersection nearby.’
‘On my way. Three minutes.’
Moments later Tom Brasher and Ruth arrived and Vaslik gave them a summary of the situation.
‘What are you going to do?’ said Brasher.
‘Stop them if we can. Dave’s on his way in and the attackers are heading east. It shouldn’t take long to catch up with them.’ He checked his gun and handed Ruth her weapon and cell phone.
They soon heard the throb of rotors, and turned to see Dave’s helicopter appear over the rooftops. It hovered for a few seconds to clear the intersection beneath, flattening the trees and scattering dust and smoke further over the surrounding buildings, before settling on the asphalt.
‘I’ll clear it with the local force and state police,’ Brasher said, ‘Just don’t go getting yourselves killed. I’d come with you but I need to talk to a few people in Washington before this gets out of hand. We can’t afford to have law enforcement all over the Altus area, but the White House needs to know what the situation is. Call it in when you find them.’ He nodded at Vaslik and clapped Ruth on the arm, then ducked back towards the building.
Ruth and Vaslik ran across to the helicopter and jumped on board.
‘Those guys must be suicide jockeys,’ Dave shouted as they belted themselves in and the machine rose in the air, over the noise of the rotors. ‘They have nowhere to go but open country. That means they could be looking for hostages. If we’re quick maybe we can stop that happening. You guys ready for this?’
They both nodded.
‘Armed and ready,’ said Vaslik.