In the Grey (45 page)

A spasm wrenched through
Samantha’s body. Her head whipped back. If Eoin hadn’t been holding
her arm, she would have fallen back. She closed her
eyes.

“
I love Earl Grey tea,”
Samantha lisped.

When she looked up at
Eoin, she was present.

“
Get Colin,” Eoin ordered.
“Now!”

Samantha nodded and ran to
Colin’s front door. Eoin watched her for a second, before going to
the basement door. He saw Alex’s body crumpled on the floor outside
her office. Hector James was standing by her. Eoin got out his
keys.

“
Fuck’s sake! That God
damned woman changed the locks,” Eoin swore.

“
Eoin?” Hector James’s
voice came from the other side of the door.

Eoin grimaced at himself
for swearing in front of him. He’d never hear the end of it from
Cian.

“
I’m here, son,” Eoin
said. He pressed his face against the glass, and Hector James
giggled.

“
I can’t let you in,”
Hector James said.

“
I see that,” Eoin said.
“Skanger forgot that I’m a Mac Kinney.”

Eoin pushed Raz’s feet out
of the way and kneeled down at the door. He pulled off his gloves
and began working on the locks with his pick.

“
The skag was a nun when I
picked up this habit,” Eoin said to himself.

He got through the lock on
the security door with ease. He pulled the door open and looked at
the inner door. Someone had taken a propane torch to this lock.
Eoin swore. She probably did this to every door. He looked at the
door hinges. They had originally been set by the CIA security team.
The glass was bullet proof and inset. That glass was not going to
be broken. He leaned back on his heels to think.

“
What do you need?” Colin
asked. He was kneeling near Raz’s head. Samantha threw a heavy wool
blanket over Raz’s body.

“
No idea,” Eoin said. “The
lock is jammed. The door was set by the CIA. I . . .
Fuck!”

Eoin shook the
door.

“
It’s steel,” Colin said.
“Listen I’d love to help, but . . .”

Colin gestured down at
Raz. Eoin nodded.

“
No, no, that’s fine,”
Eoin said. “I probably have something in the back of the
car.”

Eoin ran to his SUV. He
fumbled with his keys before opening the back. A tank of liquid
nitrogen sat at a jaunty angle beside the fresh blackberries,
blueberries, raspberries, and chocolate chips he’d planned to put
in the ice cream they were bringing for Thanksgiving. Eoin
laughed.

“
Thank you Lord,” Eoin
said.

He made the sign of the
cross. More to comfort himself than anything else, he began saying
the rosary in Irish Gaelic.

“
Creidim i nDia, an
tAthair uilechumhachtach, cruthaitheoir neimhe agus
talún
 . . .”

He grabbed the tank of
liquid nitrogen and set it on the ground.

“
Agus in Íosa Críost, a
aon Mhacsan, ár Tiarna, a ghabhadh ón Spiorad Naomh, a rugadh ó
Mhuire Ógh . . .
”

Pushing the ice cream
supplies out of the way, he dug out the car jack.

“
A d'fhulaing páis faoi
Phointius Píoláit, a céasadh ar chrois, a fuair bás agus a
adhlacadh . . .
”

He stuck the car jack into
the back of his pants and picked up the liquid nitrogen
tank.

“
A chuaigh síos go
hIfreann, a d'éirigh an treas lá ó mhairbh, a chuaigh suas ar
neamh, atá ina shuí ar dheis
Dé . . .
”

He walked back to the door
as fast as his heavy load would let him.

“
An tAthair
uilechumhachtach, as sin tiocfaidh sé chun
,
Breithiúnas a thabhairt ar bheo
agus ar mhairbh . . .”

Eoin kneeled down to look
at the door. He laughed.

“
Creidim sa Spiorad Naomh,
sa Naomh-Eaglais
chaitliceach . . .
”

Colin said something and
Eoin looked over his shoulder. Raz’s eyes were open.

“
You’d better back up,”
Eoin said. “

“
Sami?” Colin took one
side of Raz and Samantha took the other side. They slid Raz toward
the gate and away from the door.

“
I gcomaoin na
naomh . . .
”

Eoin sprayed a slow line
of liquid nitrogen. He counted carefully – ten seconds in a spot,
move, ten seconds, move.

“
I maithiúnas na bpeacaí,
in aiséirí na colainne . . .
”

He felt movement near him,
and Samantha was holding the tubing. Very slowly, they outlined a
box in the metal of the door.

“
What are you saying?”
Samantha held her jaw.

“
Rosary,” Eoin
said.

“
Where are you?”
Samantha’s voice was slurred.

“
Agus sa bheatha shíoraí.
Áméin,
” Eoin said. “Just finished the
Apostle’s Creed. Ready? Cover your eyes.”

She turned her back, and
Eoin looked away. He tapped the tire iron to the door. Tap, tap,
tap.

“
Our Father
in my head,” Eoin said.

Samantha nodded. She was
saying the prayer in her head too.

Eoin fell backward onto
the cold sidewalk. He raised his knees. With as much force as he
could muster, he slammed his feet into the square. The first layer
of steel cracked and broke inward.

“
One down,” Eoin
said.

“
Eoin?” There was a little
knock. Hector James’s voice came from the other side of the door.
“She’s waking up.”

“
You know what to do,”
Eoin said as he sprayed a line of liquid nitrogen on the diagonal
bar in the center of the secure door. “Use it again.”

They heard another pair of
feet run down the stairs. Eoin tapped at the inner bar and it
cracked.

“
What are you doing?”
Hermes’s voice came through the door. “Uh oh.”

Eoin sprayed another line
of liquid nitrogen around the bottom of the diagonal
bar.

“
Hermes is here,” Hector
James said.

Eoin tapped the bottom
line of liquid nitrogen. Samantha grabbed it and yanked on it. The
bar broke.

“
You have to get back from
the door,” Eoin said. He started to spray the inner steel panel of
the door.

“
Ok,” Hector James said.
“Hermes got his taser.”

“
Good,” Eoin said. The
liquid nitrogen tank sputtered. “Oh Lord, please don’t let this run
out.”

“
It’s the moisture,” Colin
pointed to the nozzle. Snow and ice had crusted on the
tip.

“
Crap,” Eoin tapped the
nozzle on the ground. When most of the ice had broken off, he
sprayed another box in the steel. He heard a sound.

“
Can you look?” Eoin
asked.

Samantha got up to look
through the window.

“
Hermes is jumping up and
down,” Samantha said.

“
It’s the tasers,” Eoin
lay back again. He hit the panel with his feet, and it moved. “Alex
gave those to them. They’ve not used them on other people
before.”

He kicked the panel again,
and it broke free. He took off his scarf and covered the jagged
edges of the metal opening. Without hesitation, he pushed himself
through the hole. He got stuck around the middle.

“
Fuck’s sake!” he swore.
“You’re a Mac Kinney. Get yourself through the fucking
door.”

He felt Samantha pushing
on his behind. He pulled with his arms until he was through the
hole. He ran down the stairs. After their big celebration, the boys
looked at him with wide, frightened eyes.

Alex was crumpled in the
doorway. She looked as if she had been tossed there by a brutal
wind. He bent down. She was breathing. Dried blood marked where the
knife had gone right through her shirt and body armor. There was a
small puddle of blood around her, but it looked like the
anticoagulant must have done the trick.

“
Is she alive?” Samantha
appeared at his side.

“
How . . . ?” Eoin asked.

“
I’m smaller than you,”
Samantha said.

Eoin nodded.

“
She’s alive, but just
barely,” Eoin said. “I need to check Neev and look for Steven,
Wyatt, and Max.”

“
I’ll stay with Alex,”
Samantha said. “But you’ll have to unlock the door so that Colin
can get in.”

“
Won’t do us any good if
any one of these mind controls goes off the rails,” Eoin said. “Can
you find Pershing? He’s down here somewhere.”

Samantha nodded and ran
into the basement. He sent a worried look in her direction and went
to check Neev. The boys had tasered his sister-in-law into
unconsciousness. Eoin spied Alex’s handgun just under her armoire.
He grabbed it, checked that the safety was on, and stuffed it into
his pocket.

“
Is she going to be all
right?” Hermes asked.

“
I believe so,” Eoin
checked her pulse. “Yes, she’ll be fine. Now, I need you to do me a
really big favor.”

Eoin opened the bottom
drawer to Alex’s armoire and took out a pair of handcuffs. He
cuffed Neev’s hands behind her back.

“
What can we do?” Hector
James asked.

“
Go find Mr. Wyatt and Mr.
Max,” Eoin said. “Just find them.”

“
Should we
bring . . . ?” Hermes held up his green
taser.

“
Will you taser your
brother?” Eoin asked.

Hermes shook his
head.

“
Hector James?”

Hector James shook his
head.

“
Then go,” Eoin said. “But
remember . . .”

“
Ninja style,” the boys
yelled back from the stairs.

“
He’s in the laundry,”
Samantha ran toward Eoin from the laundry room. “There’s a lot of
blood. Alex must have been stabbed there.”

Eoin ran with her to the
laundry. Steve Pershing lay where he fell.

“
That’s gonna make a nasty
bruise,” Eoin said.

He ruffled through his
pockets until he came up with a small packet of coffee
beans.

“
Help me?” Eoin asked
Samantha.

She helped him hold up
Steve’s head. Eoin opened the pack of coffee beans under Steve’s
nose and waited. Eoin moved the coffee back and forth in front of
his nose.

“
If I open my eyes, I’ll
be home,” Steve whispered. “If I open my eyes, I’ll be home. If I
open my eyes, I’ll be home.”

“
If you open your eyes,
you’ll be in Alex’s home,” Eoin said.

Panicked, Steve opened his
eyes. He tried to get up, but Samantha held him down.

“
Don’t get up,” Eoin
said.

“
Did
I . . . ?” Steve’s eyes welled with
tears.

“
You did,” Eoin
said.

Steve tried to get up
again, but Samantha held him down.

“
I need to get the door,”
Eoin said. “Colin’s outside.”

“
What happened?” Steve
asked.

“
Hector James must have
had a nightmare,” Eoin said. “He was . . .
brilliant.”

“
Oh, thank God,” Steve lay
back.

“
You didn’t kill her,
sir,” Eoin said. “That’s more than any man I’ve ever known. You
should be proud. Samantha?”

“
I’ll stay,” Samantha’s
speech was getting worse as her mouth swelled.

Eoin ran out of the
laundry room. He saw a tall, thin man leaning over Alex. The man
wore a black hoodie and thick black winter exercise tights. He was
breathing hard. Eoin crept up to the man. Eoin had never fired a
handgun before, but he would do it to save Alex. He took the
handgun out of his pocket.

“
I know you’re there,” the
man said. “Try not to shoot yourself.”

“
I’m going to shoot you,”
Eoin said.

The man turned. He grinned
at Eoin and went back to cutting through Alex’s T-shirt. He pressed
the wound.

“
Michael Junior,” Eoin
said. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. How’d you get in?”

“
I’m kind of a skinny
guy,” MJ said. “How did you get through?”

“
Hey, I’m not Cian,” Eoin
smiled.

“
What’s the report?” MJ
asked.

“
Pershing’s in the
laundry,” Eoin said. “Looks like he fought with Alex. Neev’s in the
office. The boys tasered her a couple times. I put the handcuffs
on.”

“
Max? Wyatt?” MJ
asked.

“
I sent the boys to find
them,” Eoin said.

“
Troy?”

“
Hector James said that
Neev drugged him,” Eoin said. “He thought his father was alive, but
he couldn’t wake him.”

“
Do you know where he is?”
MJ asked.

“
Chair upstairs,” Eoin
said. “I need to . . .”