“I’m outside on the pavement to the south of Terminal Three.” Movement caught her vision, and Raegan realized Samer was heading into one of the airport’s smaller hangars. “I see him! Samer is heading into the metal building just around the corner of the area marked ‘Employees Only’.”
“Stay where you are,” Agent Atwell ordered.
“Sorry, Lisa,” Raegan used the woman’s given name. “I can’t do that.”
“Raegan, listen to me. If the man you’re chasing really is Samer?—”
“It’s him.”
“—then you have to wait for backup!”
“Can’t.” She pushed her legs to move faster. “No time!”
“Then at least get one of the Delta guys to?—”
“They’re all busy trying to make sure everyone in the place doesn’t die. I’ve got this, just…do me a favor and let them know where I am. And get your people here as fast as you can!”
“Raegan, wait?—”
She ended the call and shoved her phone into her back pocket as she ran. Her thigh muscles burned as she picked up speed, and her heartbeat raced with adrenaline and fear.
Pulling the Glock she’d brought from home from its concealed holster at her hip, Raegan slowed her steps as she reached the metal building’s closed door. It was the same door Samer had just walked through less than a minute before.
She opened it and walked inside. Looking around, she saw pieces of airplanes scattered about in a careful, methodical way. Gigantic tool chests lined the walls, and there were barrels and chairs and ladders abound.
More than ready to end this and put Samer out of her mind for good, Raegan moved further into the building. Knowing him for the coward he was, she knew it was up to her to get the party started.
“Come on, Samer!” Her voice echoed throughout the space. “I know you’re in here. It’s been a long time. Why don’t you come out here so we can catch up?” Met with nothing but silence, she tried again. “Don’t tell me you’re still pissed at me for shooting you in the head. I mean, clearly my bullet just grazed you, and it seems as if you’ve made a full recovery.”
One of his bullets shot out, striking a piece of metal piping resting against the wall behind her. Raegan ducked just in time to keep the lethal projectile from hitting her in the head.
“I stand corrected,” she shouted out from behind a plane’s partial tail. “I guess you are still pissed at me. But hey, to be fair, you shot me first.”
“I should have put a bullet between those pretty eyes of yours.”
Fear, grief, and a whole slew of other emotions hit hard when she heard the man’s voice for the first time in three years. But this was it. This was her final chance to bring justice to her friends. And she wasn’t about to let years of grief get in the way.
“Yeah, well…” She hollered out again. “You know what they say. Shoulda, coulda, woulda?—”
Another bullet whizzed past, but not nearly as close as the last one.
“Okay, fine. You want to kill me. Apparently you want to kill yourself, too, given the massive amount of C4 you used on that bomb of yours. Too bad it’s never going to go off.”
“It’s easily controlled, and it’s fast. And you’re right. With the amount of C4 I used, it will most definitely be effective.”
“Hate to break it to you, Samer, but my people are already on it. They’ve located the duffle bag, and one of the best demolitions guys around is currently working to disarm it. It’s over, Samer. You’re finished!”
He took another shot at her, followed almost immediately by a fourth. His aim was still shoddy, which gave her time to pay close attention to where the bullets were coming from. And when he fired his weapon again…
Bingo!
Raegan carefully started making her way to her right. Crouched down with her eyes facing forward and her weapon up and at the ready, she continued moving closer to the spot where she was almost certain Samer was hiding.
“It’s unfortunate you weren’t awake to watch the rest of your team die,” he snarled. “I would have woken you myself, just so you could see, but my men were too busy hauling me away to seek medical attention.”
Pain knifed through her as she thought of Chief Tupper and the others, but Raegan pushed all that aside to focus on what was right here. Right now.
“Why the bomb, Samer?” she hollered out. Checking her watch, she noted the bomb should have three more minutes remaining. “And why Chicago?”