Stone - 25 - Collateral Damage

“go down the block that way. You,” she said to the other one, “follow me.”
    Holly ran up the block in the street, her hand still in her bag, looking into every vehicle as she went. At the next corner she looked both ways, then ran across the street and into a subway station, waving for her man to follow her.
    She leaped the stile and headed down the escalator, holding one position and looking at every person ahead of her.
    There, she thought, standing on the platform, back to her, waiting for the train.
    “That one,” she said to her man, pointing. “Approach with caution, but fast. Police!” she yelled, parting the people ahead of her on the escalator and pushing past them, the gun out now. As she hit the bottom, she flicked off the safety with her thumb; one round already in the chamber. Her man moved up beside her. The train came rumbling into the station, the air brakes hissing as it stopped. The crowd on the platform surged forward onto the car, blocking her way.
    She was nearly to the car when the doors closed. Swearing under her breath, she ran alongside the car as it began to move. A woman sat down on the other side of the car, facing her. Jasmine. Holly brought up the weapon, but a wall was coming at her as the train went into the tunnel, and she had to stop.
    She dug into her bag and came up with her cell phone, pressed a button.
    “NYPD. Commissioner’s office,” a male voice said.
    “Emergency! This is Assistant Director Holly Barker of the CIA. Give me the commissioner now!”
    The commissioner came on the line five seconds later. “Holly?”
    “Explosion across the street from our building—a restaurant, I think. I’ve already called it in. One of my men and I pursued Jasmine into a subway station on Lex. She’s headed downtown. Have them stop the trains.”
    “It’s already being done—part of our protocol.”
    The lights went off in the station, and Holly heard brakes hissing from down the tunnel. “Have them detain every unaccompanied woman who comes close to Jasmine’s description,” she said, then broke the connection and dug into her bag for the small but powerful lithium-powered flashlight she carried everywhere. She turned to the man behind her. “Come on!” She turned on the flashlight, jumped onto the tracks, and started running, the man close on her heels.
    “What’s your name?” she shouted back at him.
    “Troy.”
    “You’ve seen the flyer with the woman’s photograph?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “We’re going into the last car on the train and work our way forward. She will resist, and she may have an explosive or a gun. Take no chances, be prepared to kill her.”
    “I’m with you!”
    Holly could see the train fifty yards ahead, now. The emergency lighting had come on in the cars, and they were dimly lit. She reached the rear car, got a foot on a step, and grabbed the door handle. Locked. She banged on the glass with the butt of her gun, and someone looked at her from inside. A man came and opened the door.
    “Police!” she yelled. “Stand back!” Her man climbed in behind her, and she started moving down the packed car, the flashlight playing on each face. Nothing in the first car. She moved into the next car and searched it thoroughly, then moved on to another car. This one was very crowded, and as she opened the door, she saw a side door open ahead of her. “Police!” she kept yelling. “Everybody down!” People hit the floor in a hurry, and she could see the open door. She leaped over the prostrate people and jumped out the door, looking both ways.
    Troy jumped down beside her. “I saw somebody run past the car on the tracks, headed back uptown. I couldn’t tell if it was a woman.”
    “That way, then!” Holly yelled, and started to run back the way she had come. She checked between each car as she passed, then shone her small beam down the tracks. A shape was moving away from her. She ran after it.
    Ahead another sixty yards or so she saw someone trying to climb onto the platform, and a couple of men were helping her. Holly sprinted toward the spot. “Troy!” she yelled. “Give me a leg up!” He did and she hit the platform on her knees and got to her feet. “Police!” she yelled at the crowd. “Which way did she go?”
    Half a dozen people pointed toward the escalator. “Come on, Troy, the power is off. We’ll gain on her!” She elbowed her way through the crowd, shouting at them to get out of her way, and as she did, the