was safe. Her parents were safe. Under the circumstances, that was the
absolute best she could do. Good-bye, baby.
Mommy loves you. The tears spilled down her face. Please don’t forget
me, Amy. Please.
Scales lifted up his knife and a smile crept across his face as he
looked down at the glistening blade. Light reflecting off it turned the
metal a harsh reddish color, a color it had been many times in the past.
Scales’s smile receded as he looked down at the source of this colored
light and saw the tiny red laser dot on his chest, and the barely
visible, pencil-thin beam that emanated outward from the dot.
Scales backed away, his shocked eyes fixed on Lee Sawyer, who was
pointing his assault rifle with attached laser scope directly at him.
Bewildered, the mercenaries looked at the weaponry pointed at them by
Sawyer, Jackson, the HRT and a contingent of the Maine State Police.
“Guns down, gentleman, or start looking for your brains on the floor,”
Sawyer bellowed, tightening his grip on the rifle. “Guns down! Now.”
Sawyer took a few more steps into the room, his finger closing on the
trigger. The men started to put down their weapons. Out of the corner
of his eye, Sawyer spotted Quentin Rowe trying to discreetly disappear.
Sawyer swiveled his gun in the computer man’s direction. “Don’t think
so, Mr. Rowe. Sit down!”
A thoroughly frightened Quentin Rowe sat down in a chair, the disk
gripped against his chest. Sawyer looked at Ray Jackson. “Let’s get to
it.” Sawyer started toward Sidney. At that instant a shot rang out and
one of the FBI agents went down. Gunfire erupted as Rowe’s men used the
opportunity to seize their weapons and open fire. The lawmen quickly
dove for cover and returned the fire. Muzzle flashes popped up all over
the room as instant death spewed forth from over a dozen locations. It
took only seconds for every light in the room to be shot out by gunmen
on both sides, plunging the room into total darkness.
Caught in the cross fire, Sidney threw herself to the floor, her hands
over her ears as bullets whizzed overhead.
Sawyer dropped to his knees and scrambled toward Sidney. From the other
direction, Scales, his knife between his teeth, slid on his belly along
the floor toward her. Sawyer reached her first and took her by the hand
to lead her to safety. Sidney screamed as she saw Scales’s blade flash
through the air. Sawyer swung his arm out and took the brunt of the
blow, the knife cutting through his thick jacket and slicing his
forearm. Grunting in pain, he kicked at Scales, losing his balance and
toppling over on his back. Scales pounced on the FBI agent and struck
at his chest twice. The blade, however, met the advanced-stage Teflon
mesh in Sawyer’s body armor head-on and lost decisively. Scales paid
for that defeat with a mouthful of one of Sawyer’s massive fists and one
of Sidney’s elbows slamming into the back of his neck. The man howled
in pain as his already battered mouth and broken nose received an
additional litany of injuries.
Furious, Scales violently threw Sidney off and she slid across the floor
and crashed into a wall. Scales’s fist repeatedly slammed into Sawyer’s
face and then he raised the knife, the center of the FBI agent’s broad
forehead his target. Sawyer clamped his hand around Scales’s wrist and
slowly but surely heaved himself up. Scales felt the amazing strength
in Sawyer’s bulk, raw strength the much smaller man could not hope to
match. Used to his victims being dead before they ever had a chance to
fight back, Scales abruptly discovered he had hooked a very much alive
Great White Shark. Sawyer smashed Scales’s hand against the floor until
the knife went flying into the darkness. Then Sawyer hauled back and
unleashed a haymaker that landed flush on Scales’s face and Scales went
backward across the room, screaming in agony, his nose now lying fiat
against his left cheek.
Ray Jackson was in one corner of the room exchanging fire with two of
the mercenaries. Three of the HRT members had made their way to one of