The Project 05 - The Tesla Secret

up with Ogorov. Forget Foxworth. We have to get back to the boat."
    "It's a long way across that room." Ronnie pointed with his MP-5 at the ceiling. "If someone's on that balcony, we're sitting ducks."
    "Ducks?" Korov said.
    Nick shook his head. "I'll explain later."
    "There is another set of steps down," Korov said. "To the right as we go out. Not far, maybe five or six meters."
    "I saw that. They have to lead back to the lower level. I don't want to cross that room again." He looked at the others. "All right. We go for those stairs."
    They stepped out of the library. The chandeliers erupted in a blaze of light. The adrenaline hit him, the aliveness, the fear. The rush.
    "Drop your weapons!"
    The voice came from above.
    "Go!" Nick yelled. They ran for the stairwell opening. Nick lifted his MP-5 and fired blindly up at the balcony as he ran. The room filled with the sound of guns. Bullets ricocheted and whined away off the stone floor, leaving puffs of white dust where they hit.
    One of the men on the balcony fell over the railing and plunged to the floor below. It sounded like someone had dropped a large watermelon onto the marble. Korov went down. He cursed in Russian. Ronnie and Nick kept up heavy covering fire and Lamont helped him to his feet. They reached the steps and started down.
    The steps ended in a short hall. They ran to the end and found themselves in the long passage leading to the boathouse. Lamont fired a burst at someone who'd made it down the stairs. They reached the boathouse door, slammed it shut behind them and ran down the steps and out onto the platform. The boat was still there. The engines fired with the touch of a button. Ahead, the gates began to close. Someone had triggered them from inside the house.
    Lamont grabbed the throttles and the boat leapt forward. The gates scraped along the fiberglass hull as they cleared the boathouse. An Uzi sounded nearby and the back row of seats shredded in bits of foam and leather. Nick lifted his gun and shot a man firing from the steps. He tumbled down the stairs onto the landing and lay motionless in a crumpled heap.
    They cleared the end of the landing. Lamont put the helm over and opened the throttles. The cigarette lifted up and shot down the river toward the sea. The villa disappeared behind them.
    They were moving too fast. Lamont throttled back.
    "How's the boat?" Nick asked.
    "I think we're cool. He blew the hell out of the seats but missed the engines. I don't think we're taking water. Lucky."
    "Foxworth will have everyone after us. Head south down the coast. I'll get hold of Harker and call for extraction."
    They reached the open water. Lamont increased power and turned south. The cigarette was a black arrow skimming over the waves. A wide, foaming wake trailed behind, phosphorescent in the Tuscan night.
    Nick turned to Korov. "You were hit?"
    "Yes. But your vests are good. I have soreness, no more."
    Nick nodded. Korov was right, they were good, the latest model. 30 layers of Kevlar, the best gear America made. It would stop a .308. Heavy, but effective. The thought reminded Nick of Selena.
    What if she can't ever walk again? It was your fault. Your fault. How could you forget?
    There had been plenty of missions in the old days without vests or with vests that were a joke, that would barely stop a .22. But the new ones would have stopped the round that hit her. The ones he'd forgotten to pack.
    He knew he'd never forgive himself if she was paralyzed.
    I fucked up. His mood turned dark.
    "Nick." Ronnie's voice brought him back. "Hadn't you better call Harker?"
    "Yeah." Nick took out the satellite phone, punched in the code. Two rings.
    "Yes, Nick."
    "We have a problem." He briefed her.
    "All right. I've got you on screen."
    In Virginia, Elizabeth watched the marker from Nick's GPS moving south along the coast.
    "You're passing Livorno," she said. "You should see it on your left."
    "I see it."
    The lights of Livorno were already falling behind as they sped over the water.
    "The next town along the coast is called Rosignano. It's about 20 kilometers from where you are. There's a big castle there, built on a hill overlooking the coast. You'll see it coming. Get ashore there and I'll have someone meet you. Stay out of sight until I can set up extraction."
    "Roger that." He paused. "How's Selena?"
    "She's out of danger. Call me when you make shore." Elizabeth broke the connection. She wasn't about to tell Nick it looked like Selena might be