Karen Vail 01 - Velocity (48 page)

Robby felt Quintero slump against the wal but did not celebrate. Standing fifteen feet away, holding a hulking chrome .45, was a person Robby never expected to see again—hoped never to see again.

Ernesto “Grunge” Escobar.

Escobar stepped across the threshold. “You are lucky I came when I did,” he said to Vil arreal. “Looked to me like your own man here was about to shoot you.”

With his cannon aimed at Robby, he stepped toward Diego and kicked away his Beretta, sending it skittering out of sight. He then walked toward Robby and, with the .45 pointed at his head, bent down and removed the Smith & Wesson from Quintero’s stil ed hand.

Vil arreal squared his jaw. “Sandiego was a fool. I don’t know what his problem was. But I have little tolerance for those who cannot fol ow my wishes.” He shook Escobar’s hand. “Something like this wil not be forgotten.”

Robby, stil on the floor, peered at Diego. A blood-soaked pulpy exit wound in the center of his friend’s forehead stared back at him.

Vil arreal took a few steps closer to Robby. “So, Mr. Hernandez. As I said earlier, it was premature to thank me. I am truly sorry for what I must now do.”

81

V
ail felt the familiar thumping rotor vibration in her chest. She repositioned the headset and pushed her hair away from her ears. As the helicopter approached the strip below, bright lights of al colors splashed across the landscape in a dual line along a central roadway. “Las Vegas Boulevard?” Vail asked over her headset.

“Affirmative,” Agent Clar said.

Dixon craned her neck to get a better view. “I haven’t been to Vegas in about twenty years. Looks like a total y different place.”

Mann chuckled. “Glad I don’t have their electric bil .”

“Lots of wind,” Clar said, shaking his head. “I hope that doesn’t give us a problem.”

DeSantos motioned out the window. “The wind’s not our only problem. If SWAT

has to lumber in on the armored rig they’ve got, it ain’t gonna happen.” Below, South Las Vegas Boulevard was a tangled mess of vehicles. “I don’t know what the deal is, but no way are they getting through.”

“I’l let ’em know,” Dixon said as she keyed her radio.

Vail studied the packed streets below. DeSantos was right. “Then we’re gonna do this differently. Mann, you stay behind with Clar and be our quarterback. The rest of us are going in from the air.”

Clar quickly glanced back at Vail. “Our orders were to support SWAT, let them do the heavy lifting.”

“We don’t know how long Robby has,” Vail said. “And you see what the traffic’s like. The only way in is by air. Last I checked, we’re the only ones airborne. Now—

is there a helipad nearby where you can land and drop us off?”

“Just that tour place a mile down. But—”

“No,” Vail said. “Something closer.”

“A roof would be the closest I can get you. There’s no real clearing where I can set down.”

“So a roof it is.”

Clar reached forward and checked a dial as the Huey was noticeably shoved sideways.

“Karen,” DeSantos said, “give me LOWIS. I want to see if I can triangulate on the cel phone. See if we can tel which roof to land on to get us as close as possible to Robby.”

Vail handed it to him. DeSantos studied the colored LEDs on the otherwise dark display.

Dixon pointed at a dazzling spray of white shooting toward them from the center of a large body of water. “What the hel is that?”

Mann sat forward in his seat and stretched toward Dixon’s window. “That’s the Bel agio, their water show. Every fifteen minutes, miles of pipes shoot water hundreds of feet into the air. It’s al choreographed to light and music that blasts from loudspeakers around the lake.” He watched a moment as they neared, the water spiraling into the night sky beneath the bottom of the craft. “I was stationed here back in ’98 when they opened it. Next time you’re in town, you’l have to catch it. Nothing like it.”

Vail watched as the plume of water danced left, then right, then straight up toward them.

“Approaching CityCenter,” Clar said. “Vdara’s that flat semicircular high-rise coming up ahead. I’m betting this is where your cel is located. I’m taking us lower.

You should see a brown LED on LOWIS.”

The chopper descended abruptly, then came to a stop and hovered above the tal , narrow building.

“Yeah,” DeSantos said, consulting LOWIS’s console. “Vdara’s the ticket. Directly below us. How’d you know?”

“This is where Vil arreal’s condo is,” Clar said. “Fifty-seventh floor, number 5711.”

“That roof,” DeSantos said. “It’s so freaking narrow.”

“I can’t stay this low,” Clar said as he struggled with the control stick. “Too much wind. Can’t risk hitting the antennas down there. I’m taking us up.”

As the Huey rose, Vail looked down at the CityCenter complex and saw a concentration of oddly shaped, stylish buildings, architectural y angled, twisted, and curved, dramatical y lit from above and below. Colors and landscape like nothing she had seen before. “Impressive,” she said.

“Actual y,” Clar said, “the impressive part is gonna come from you people.”

“Us?” Vail asked.

“There’s no place to set down,” DeSantos’s voice said in her ears.

“Robby’s in that building directly below us. But the roof’s not large enough for us to land on, and there’s no flat ground that can accommodate us, unless we’re far off the property.”

“No, no. There’s no time. Robby’s down there,” Vail said, thrusting a finger toward the floor. “Get us down there.”

“Only way is to drop one of you in,” Clar said. “Onto the roof.”

Vail looked out the window. Robby was somewhere directly below her. “I’l go.”

“Have you ever rappel ed before?” Clar asked.

Vail pul ed her eyes from the airscape and looked at the pilot. “Rappel ed? Yeah, from a training tower, lots of times. From a moving helicopter? Twice. But it’s been about six or seven years.”

“It’s like riding a bicycle,” Mann said. “Comes right back to you.” He rapped DeSantos on the shoulder with his artificial hand. “I think she should go Aussie.”

Vail pressed her headset against her ear. “Aussie?”

“Head first,” Mann said. He gave her a thumbs-up. “Big freaking rush.”

Dixon grabbed Vail’s shoulder. “You sure you want to do this?”

“I’l go,” DeSantos said. “I used to be a jump master with SRT. Last time was a couple months ago in the Ukraine.”

Vail looked at him.
The Ukraine? Is he serious?
But she knew by now not to ask such questions of Hector DeSantos. “No. I’m the team leader. I’m going.”
Did I just
say that aloud?

Clar peered ahead, at the bril iantly lit landscape. “I can drop the rest of you by rope onto the boulevard, about 100, 150 yards from Vdara’s entrance.”

“Think about this, Karen,” DeSantos said.

I don’t want to think about this, thank you very much.

DeSantos looked down at Vdara. “Rappel ing onto a narrow roof isn’t easy. It’d be a first for me, too.”

“I can’t stay here,” Clar said. “Not with this wind. Now or never.”

Vail thought of Jonathan, of Robby. She glanced at LOWIS, which was nestled in DeSantos’s hand. “Al right, let’s do it.” She reached forward and snatched the electronic device. “And none of that macho Aussie shit. I’m going down feet first.”

Dixon looked at Vail and their eyes met. Dixon understood that she needed to do this.

Clar tightened his grip on the control stick as another wind gust slapped the chopper. “Behind the seat you’l find a harness, gloves, and carabiner. Someone help her get that shit on, wil you?”

“You got a tactical helmet?” Vail asked.

Dixon located the equipment and held up a black shel . “Affirmative on the helmet.”

“Okay,” Clar said. “There’s a donut in the floor of the Huey.” He kept his eyes ahead while he spoke into his headset mike. “Attach that thick wire to the donut ring. Karen, you’l step into the harness and clip the carabiner on the front. The rope goes through the carabiner.”

Mann slid open the side door. A rush of air blew into the cabin. “Got it,”

DeSantos said as he helped prepare her harness and then rigged the carabiner to the clasp. “You’re going back first, butt first.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Good. I’m stil gonna tel you. I don’t want to overlook anything.” He wrapped the rope around to her front. “You’re gonna lower your feet onto the skids outside the chopper. Form an L-shape with your torso—”

“With my ass hanging out the window, I know.”

“Right. And the rope that’s wrapped around you—that’s your brake.”

Vail, stil wearing her headset, nodded. With DeSantos guiding her, she moved onto the skids. The downdraft from the rotors rhythmical y slapped her back. As she positioned her feet, she caught a glimpse of the buildings and lights below.
I’ve
got the best view in Las Vegas.

She felt a surge of adrenaline as the wind rippled through her clothing.

“The brake is wrapped around you,” DeSantos said. “When you’re ready, move your right arm out to the side, a couple inches at a time, and that’l release the brake.”

“Got it. Then I kick off, away from the Huey.”

“Yes, and then you’l be in freefal . If you do it right, you’l only brake once, about ten feet before you hit the ground. At about ten feet, pul the rope back toward you, into the top of your ass—the smal of your back. That’l bring you to a stop.”

Vail looked at the rope, at her hand, and then at DeSantos. “Check.” She glanced down again.
Robby’s down there. Okay, let’s do it. I’m ready.
She nodded.

“Remember, it’l be a pretty fast descent. “We’re about seventy-five feet above the high-rise now.” He looked her square in the eyes. “You stil with me?”

“I’m with you,” she said.

“What are you going to do once you’re down?” DeSantos asked.

“Unclip the carabiner from the rope.”

“Good. Expect some sway from the wind.” He set a hand on her shoulder. “Last chance to back out. No one wil think any less of you.”

Vail narrowed her eyes. “Am I the kind of person who backs out of anything?”

DeSantos smiled. “Hel no. But in case al goes to shit, I had to know I tried.” He wiggled his fingers and Vail removed the headset and slipped on the helmet.

The pounding bleat of the rotors was intense without the noise-suppressing effect of the headphones. Vail gave him a thumbs-up. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she could’ve sworn his lips mouthed, “Bombs away.”

He smiled and gave her a playful thump on the top of her helmet. Vail took a deep breath, flexed her gloved hands on the rope, then squatted into an L-shape. The downdraft was strong, slamming against the back of her neck like a persistent drumbeat.

With a gloved hand, Vail pushed down on top of the helmet to seat it, shifted her feet on the skids, then kicked away.

She slid down the rope—feeling the burn in her palms, despite the gloves—then moved her right hand back to slow her fal . But the cable swayed more than she’d thought it would, and she was concentrating on the trajectory of the windblown arc.

She started to brake but not fast enough.

The wind blew her past the edge of the roof, and she missed the building’s edge.

Fuck!
She yanked her arm behind her and braked, hard, now hanging in midair.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. She was now below the top of the tower, which shielded her from the wind. She swung back hard, and the last thing she saw as she hurtled through the air was the thick, black panes of the Vdara’s penthouse glass windows.

ROBBY KNELT ON THE FLOOR beside Diego Ortega’s body. His friend’s cel phone was open, to the left of his ankle. Robby was reaching out to snag it when suddenly something slammed into the living room window.

“What the hel —” Vil arreal flinched and hit the floor as the image of a black-jacketed individual scraped across the glass, then disappeared from view.

“Federales!” Escobar said. He turned and headed out the door.

Robby, realizing he might never have another chance, lowered his shoulder and ran forward, ramming into Vil arreal’s abdomen. Vil arreal’s hip struck the bottom window sil and his neck snapped back violently, cracking his head against the glass. The expansive pane rattled but did not break.

The black figure again slammed against the window fifteen feet to their left, then disappeared into the darkness.

Vil arreal, stunned and disoriented, clumsily threw a punch that connected with air. Robby kneed him hard in the groin then searched the writhing Vil areal and the surrounding area for a handgun.

Moans from Vil arreal.

Get out now, Robby.

No weapon—but he found Diego’s cel phone a few feet away. Robby scooped it up, then scrabbled over to Quintero to search his pockets for a handcuff key. He found one in the man’s jacket and, after a quick check of Vil arreal—stil in pain but fighting to get to his feet—Robby ran out of the condo’s open door before another of the man’s lieutenants appeared. Two or three mercenaries against an unarmed cop were worse odds than what he had now.

Down the hal , he pressed the elevator button, then went about removing the handcuffs. He had some difficulty, but slowed his efforts and final y freed his wrists.

He tossed the cuffs to the floor as the doors slid apart.

VAIL BOUNCED OFF, then slapped back against the windows, scraping along the surface when suddenly she was pul ed up.
Clar must’ve brought the Huey higher.

She spun in a dizzying twirl, holding on and hoping she did not slam against the building again. It didn’t feel good the first two times, it sure as hel would not feel any better a third.