The Norse Directive (10 page)

Atlanta

Sean felt more at ease as he slid the Springfield XD .40-caliber into a belt holster. For all the time he spent trying to avoid guns, there was something comforting about having his trusted piece on hand, especially after the events of the previous day.

The four made their way down a flight of stairs that turned sharply into a basement door. When Sean opened it, a long six-door garage and twenty shiny motorcycles greeted the group. The two-wheel vehicles varied in style and color, though most were cafe racers. Some of the cafe bikes were Japanese, made in the 1960s and 70s, refurbished and converted to Sean’s preferred style. Others were true cafe bikes, British in origin. The two Nortons and the Vincent were the pride of his collection, though he loved every one of his rides.

“You certainly have quite a collection here, Sean,” Coop said, admiring the bikes as the group made their way to an Audi Q5 parked in front of the closest door. The garage featured doors on both sides of the showroom, allowing easy pull-in, pull-out access.

“Yeah,” Sean said, gazing at the beautiful sight. “Originally, I didn’t mean for it to be a collection, but every bike has its own distinct qualities. I couldn’t help myself. I fell in love with every one of them, and still love them.”

“You might want to watch how you say that around your lady friend,” Charlie quipped and cast a playful glance at Adriana.

“Actually, Charlie,” she replied curtly, “I’m only with Sean for the bikes. I think I may love them more than he does.”

“Perfect. Now there are two of you,” the older man grumbled and climbed into the back of the black SUV.

Sean had been converted to the Audi after an intrepid journey in Adriana’s Q7 while in Las Vegas. Impressed with the way the automobile performed, he decided to go with a slightly smaller, quicker model.

He slid into the driver’s seat and revved the engine to life. After a second of thought, he peered into the rearview mirror at Coop. “You still got the coin and the diary, right?”

The bearded man beamed and patted his jacket. “Yep. Got them both right here.”

Sean gave a quick nod and put the SUV into gear as the garage door opened. Sunlight poured in, and Sean eased the vehicle out onto the driveway.

Adriana flipped on the satellite radio to one of her favorite alternative music stations and leaned back in the seat. The SUV rolled leisurely down the hill, past the magnolias, maples, oaks, spruce, hemlock, and poplars, toward the front gate. A row of fiery-pink azaleas bloomed along the right side of the driveway.

Coop stared out the window at the property. “It’s like a little piece of heaven in the middle of the city,” he said, admiring the landscape with a longing stare.

“Thanks,” Sean said. “I used to work on a piece of property very similar to this when I was in high school. I always said that when I had enough money, I would build a sanctuary like that one. It’s like my fortress of solitude.”

“Okay, Superman,” Adriana laughed and shook her head.

Sean ignored the jab at first, but a thin smile slipped onto his face.

As the SUV rounded the curve in the asphalt, Sean slowed down upon seeing a white utility van parked on the street near the gate. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he eyed the vehicle. The sticker on the side said it was a plumber’s van. Why it would be parked there, however, he wasn’t sure.

The gate opened automatically as the Q5 drew near, and Sean steered it through at a near crawl. When the front wheels touched the main street, he could see around the front edge of the van. The plumber’s right side tire had gone flat, which explained the odd place he’d decided to park.

The hapless man in jeans and a T-shirt was busily trying to figure out what to do with the spare.

“You need any help?” Sean asked after rolling down his window.

“Nah,” the plumber said. “I think I got it. Just frustrating. I have to get to a job here in the next thirty minutes, and this happens. That’s what I get for stopping for breakfast.” The man reached around his back in a motion Sean had seen dozens of times before.

Sean didn’t wait to see what he was grabbing. He mashed the gas pedal, squealing the tires briefly as he whipped the car out onto the street. “Get down!” he shouted to his occupants.

The words hadn’t come out of his mouth completely before loud pops started echoing from next to the white van. Rounds pounded the back of the Audi; a few spun through the rear window, shattering it into a tangled spider web of glass.

Coop and Charlie bent forward, while Adriana slid down in her seat. She reacted quickly after her initial defensive posturing, and pulled a Glock subcompact from an ankle holster.

Sean quickly put distance between the gunman and themselves, but up ahead, the road was blockaded by a white SUV. Two more men stood in front of it with pistols extended at the oncoming Audi.

They opened fire, sending rounds pinging off the hood and grill. One found the center of the windshield and went through to the back, finishing the job on the rear window and causing it to cascade to the ground in a waterfall of broken glass.

“No way the insurance company is gonna cover this,” Sean joked and slammed on the brakes. He spun the car around in a quick U-turn and accelerated the other way. The two men rapidly reloaded their weapons and continued firing.

The man by the white van had pursued on foot, but now Sean noticed another vehicle blocking the road in the other direction. Adriana rolled down her window and leaned out as they zoomed closer to the fake plumber. Bursts of flame erupted from her weapon’s barrel as she unleashed a hail of hot metal. Sparks shot up from the asphalt around her target. One bullet found the back window of the van. The man stood his ground, bravely returning fire at the oncoming vehicle until one of Adriana’s rounds found his leg. He dropped to the ground on one knee, but still fired off two more shots, emptying his magazine. Sean veered the Q5 at him. The target dove out of the way, rolling underneath the white van just before the front bumper of the SUV could strike.

“What in the blazes is goin’ on?” Charlie yelled from the back, still keeping his head down.

“Just stay low, Charlie. I’ll get us out of here.” Sean pressed harder on the gas pedal, then quickly let up.

On the road ahead, a silver sedan sat in the way, blocking both lanes. Standing by the broad side of the car was a man Sean had seen before. The Russian leveled a submachine gun, pointing it at the oncoming SUV and waited for them to be within range. Sean had to think fast and act faster. Within a few seconds, they would be peppered with a wave of bullets. He slammed on the brakes, bringing the Q5 to a skidding stop, and then shifted into reverse. The Russian up ahead didn’t wait any longer and started firing his weapon as Sean gunned his vehicle backward. As soon as he neared the front gate to his property, he hit the button to open it and swung the SUV around, pointing the nose at the driveway.

A slight flick of the wrist shifted the Audi back into drive, and he pounded the accelerator again. The gate doors were only half-open when he sped through. As a result, the two side mirrors exploded when they struck the wrought iron rods. Adriana winced and ducked her head to avoid the flying debris. Sean reached up and pressed a button on the light console. Behind them, the gate started closing again.

“That won’t hold them for long, will it?” Adriana asked, looking back at the metal blockade.

Sean sped up the driveway and glanced into the rearview mirror. “It’s stronger than you think. At worst, it will slow them down.”

Charlie looked up, noticing the immediate danger of flying bullets had momentarily passed. “We’re going back to the house? Now they’ll have us cornered like rats.”

“Back door to the bat cave,” Sean said, his face grimly focused on the asphalt in front of him.

“What?” Charlie said, but was involuntarily shoved against the door when Sean spun the steering wheel hard to the right, guiding the SUV around the house.

The trees and shrubs zipped by outside. Sean kept his foot on the gas pedal, forcing everyone in the SUV to lean to the right. A few seconds later, everyone jerked upright as Sean straightened out the vehicle and aimed it down a narrow drive through a thick stand of maples and hemlocks. Another gate lay closed at the bottom of the second driveway but began to open right after Sean hit another button on the overhead console. The rear gate differed from the front in that it was a single unit and slid open on wheels as opposed to the two doors that swung open on the other.

“Use this exit often?” Coop asked, finally brave enough to sit up straight.

“More often than I’d like,” Sean answered.

The SUV zipped through the opening and out onto the road, narrowly missing a sedan full of young commuters. The guy behind the wheel honked his horn angrily, which Sean responded to with an apologetic wave of the hand. “Sorry,” he said and pounded the gas again, whipping the SUV into the other lane.

“If they knew where we were,” Adriana said with a tone of warning, “they’ll probably know where we’re headed.”

A cough echoed from the back seat. She looked back where Coop sat clutching his left side. Thick crimson liquid seeped through his hands.

“Coop’s hit,” she said urgently.

Adriana opened the glove box, pulled out a fistful of napkins, and passed them back to the bleeding man.

“I’ll be okay,” he said, still trying to force a grin on his face. “Just drop me off at the hospital when you get a chance.” His casual demeanor would have been funny if Coop hadn’t been bleeding.

“Keep pressure on it,” Adriana said, pushing the napkins into the wound.

His hand futilely attempted to prevent the bleeding. “It’s only a flesh wound,” Coop said, gritting his teeth. It was evident he didn’t want to look down at the damage.

“Hold on,” Sean said. “There’s a hospital not far from here. Just hang on, Coop.”

Sean jerked the wheel down a side street, cutting off a produce delivery van in the process.

The Audi roared down the road, zipping by craftsman homes, restored modern ranchers, and old brick houses. Sean was forced to slow down upon reaching a busy intersection. He slammed on the brakes as the light turned red and patiently watched as a couple of young men in business suits strolled through the crosswalk. To the right, a young guy in a blue hoodie sat at a cafe, drinking a coffee beverage of some kind and typing furiously on his laptop.

“Sean, you need to hurry,” Adriana said, looking back at Coop, whose head was now slumping to the side.

“Yeah, screw this,” he said and stomped the gas again. He deftly swerved the SUV around a minivan that was creeping its way through the intersection and flew by it, clearing the crossroad in only a few seconds. Another car going the other way honked loudly, the driver clearly unhappy with Sean’s disobedience of the traffic laws.

He paid no attention and corrected course, getting his vehicle back in the correct lane and speeding toward the hospital. Sean guided the SUV through the North Druid Hills area of Atlanta, doing all he could to avoid slowdowns in traffic. With his intimate knowledge of side streets and driver tendencies, he was able to save precious time.

Ten minutes and several angry drivers later, the Q5 screeched to a stop in front of the emergency room at Emory Hospital, next to a parked ambulance. The tall white building overlooked the Atlanta skyline, standing between it and the burgeoning cityscape of Buckhead, just to the north.

Sean hopped out of the driver’s seat and opened the back door, careful not to let Coop fall out. “Coop, can you hear me?” He gently smacked the man’s face repeatedly to make sure he was still conscious.

Coop’s eyes were closed, but he opened them slightly. “Dizzy,” he mouthed through pursed lips.

Adriana ran through the hospital’s sliding doors and vanished inside.

Charlie leaned over and spoke loudly. “Coop, you’re gonna be all right. Just hang in there, buddy.”

It was the first time Sean had ever seen anything closely resembling worry or caring in his old friend’s face.

“What do you know?” Coop said just above a whisper, then coughed a sickly laugh.

Adriana reappeared through the glass doors, followed closely by a nurse with a gurney.

The woman saw and assessed the situation instantly. She yelled back through the sliding doors for two more people to come out; they were names that Sean didn’t recognize and wouldn’t remember anyway. A male nurse and an orderly jogged through the opening and ran over to where Sean and the nurse were helping Coop onto the rolling stretcher.

“We’ll take it from here,” the woman in the pale-blue scrubs said. “Are you related?”

“No,” Sean said bluntly.

The two men wheeled the gurney into the hospital while the nurse lingered behind. Sean caught her eyeing the damage to the SUV with a suspicious gaze. “What in the world have you all been up to?”

“It’s a long story,” Sean answered as coolly as possible. He watched out of the side of his eye as Charlie followed Coop into the hospital. “We drove through a bad part of town.” He hoped the lie would render her less paranoid. “He’s been shot. Not sure if any vitals were hit though.”

“It's a long story,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to make sure your friend doesn’t die. It looks like he’s lost a lot of blood. We may need the cops here to make sure whoever did this doesn’t come to finish the job.”