24: Deadline (24 Series) by James Swallow Page A

agent tried to turn and the pistol dug hard into his skin. “Wait, no…”
    “Kilner, right? From DC?” said Jack. “I remember you.” He gave him another prod with the gun. “Drive.”
    “Did you kill those men up there?”
    Jack snorted quietly. “They’ll survive. Now get this thing moving. I’m not gonna ask you again.”
    “Okay…” Kilner put the Ford into gear and pulled out into traffic.
    “Step on it,” Jack insisted. “Don’t stop for anything.”
    Kilner moved the car into the middle lane and started heading west, in the direction of the Hudson River. “Where are we going?”
    “Just drive.” Out of the corner of his eye, Kilner saw the other man lever off the back of the cell phone he had taken and pull the SIM card and battery, temporarily rendering the built-in tracking device useless.
    “Bauer … Jack .” Kilner swallowed and tried to keep his voice even. “There’s still time to end this. Give me the weapon, let me take you in. We can work this all out.”
    “You think so?” Jack shifted a bag on the backseat and leaned closer. “I go in, I’m going to disappear. I know how this works. Either my own side drops me down a deep, dark hole or the SVR gets to me first.”
    “SVR?” Kilner repeated. “The Russians can’t move on you…” He caught up with his own words. “At least, not legally.”
    “Now you’re catching on…” Jack’s tone shifted as Kilner took his foot off the gas. They were coming up to the crossing with Eighth Avenue and the traffic signals were against them. “I said don’t stop!”
    Kilner was about to answer, but a flash of headlights in his side mirror caught his eyes. A glossy black Ford Expedition SUV was coming up fast behind them, and he glimpsed a familiar face behind the wheel—Markinson. In the passenger seat was Hadley, a pistol in his hand and a phone at his ear.
    Suddenly, hidden strobes flashed blue and red from behind the Expedition’s grille and the SUV crowded in on the smaller sedan.
    Jack pushed forward and grabbed Kilner’s knee with his free hand, clamping it like a vise. He forced Kilner’s leg down on the accelerator and the Fusion’s engine snarled as it leapt forward.
    The agent gripped the steering wheel tightly and snaked the car through the lines of traffic crossing the junction, a storm of blaring horns and shouted curses following them as they hurtled across and down the next block. The speedometer ticked up and up as Jack continued to force him to accelerate.
    Hadley’s SUV was still coming, the larger vehicle losing precious seconds as it slewed to avoid a bus.
    Jack pointed the Springfield back toward the Fusion’s rear window and fired off two rounds. The first turned the clear glass into an opaque, frosted mess; the second blew out the window and gave him a clear line of sight toward the pursuing Expedition. He aimed carefully and loosed off another shot, this one blinding one of the SUV’s glaring headlights.
    Agent Hadley was already up and leaning out of the passenger side window, a weapon in his hand. He returned fire, putting shots into the sedan’s trunk. Then the SUV put on a surge of power and closed the distance as the Ninth Avenue intersection came up at the end of the block.
    Ahead of them, a pair of water trucks filled the westbound lanes from one side to the other. Kilner moved to hit the brakes, but Jack had other ideas. At the last moment, he reached forward and yanked the steering wheel to the left, throwing the car across and into the path of oncoming traffic.
    “ Shit! ” Kilner veered to avoid a head-on collision with a people-carrier and shot across the intersection. Markinson was still with them, however. The female agent nimbly powered the tall-sided SUV through the same maneuver, rocking it dangerously on its higher suspension as both pursued and pursuer wove back and forth across Twenty-Third Street. “Are you trying to kill us?”
    “Turn off at Tenth,” Jack demanded. He paused