Day of Reckoning Read Online Free Page A

quiet and focus,” came the calm reply. “ I’ll guide you in. Three hundred meters.”
    For a moment, the driver took his eyes off the target SUV two cars ahead, glancing nervously once more at the Glock. He’d never killed a man, but this —this was justice…
    “Two hundred meters,” the voice in his ear intoned. The driver hit his turn signal and accelerated hard into the fast lane…
     
    Defensive driving hadn’t been a part of Hell Week, but the Secret Service had taught Ramirez everything he needed to know on the subject.
    A curse escaped his lips as he saw the Toyota in his driver’s side mirror, accelerating fast. A threat.
    Alerted by his bodyguard’s outburst, Lay looked up into the mirror. The small sedan filled his field of view, and in that moment he knew. It was them…
    There was no time to react, no time for self-recriminations or doubt. It all happened too fast.
    Ramirez put the wheel over, hard to the right, flooring the accelerator in an attempt to thread the needle up the shoulder of the road.
    Too late.
    The sedan impacted hard against the front driver’s side of the SUV, sending it skidding toward the guardrail on the right shoulder.
    Impact .
    It struck David Lay with the force of a punch as the airbags inflated, slamming him back against the seat. Dazed, he reached for the clasp of his seatbelt. There was little time. He had no idea how little.
     
    The men inside the “stranded” Durango watched the collision unfold from several hundred meters back along the interstate. The driver lowered his high-powered binoculars from his eyes, glancing down at the phone which lay open on the seat beside him. A simple, pre-paid flipphone, a number already dialed on the small screen.
    A grim smile crossing his face, he reached down with a single finger…pressing SEND.
     
    No. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, the man thought, flailing against the airbags that pinned him against the seat of the Toyota. The Glock . Where was it—where had it gone?
    Outside the passenger’s side window, over the billowing airbag, he could see the guardrail he had slammed into, coming to rest direct in front of the SUV. He swore, knowing that every second he struggled decreased his chances of success. That they would win once more.
    The next moment, his world erupted in a blinding flash of white. Flames and fire…
     
    The driver of the Durango watched in silence as the explosives layered into the frame of the Toyota detonated, sending both vehicles careening through a wall of traffic toward the median.
    People…were so easy to deceive, he thought—perhaps because it was easier for them to believe a lie that confirmed their beliefs than a truth that contradicted them.
    Tell them what they want to hear .
    It was the secret of any good recruitment. He looked over at his partner. “Good enough, don’t you think, tovarisch ?” Comrade.
    A nod, and he reached forward, a gloved hand closing around the ignition key. One target down.
    One to go.

Chapter 2
     
     
    7:01 A.M.
    CIA Headquarters
    Langley, Virginia
     
    The interrogation had been going on for just under an hour and a half when Harry’s tactical satellite phone went off, buzzing loudly against the table inches from his hand.
    “Ignore it,” came Ellsworth’s peremptory command, annoyance at the interruption in his voice.
    Harry ignored him with a smile, palming the TACSAT and flipping it open. “Nichols here.”
    It wasn’t a social call and the smile faded from Harry’s face as he listened. Finally, “All right, boss. I’ll be with you in five.”
    Returning the phone to the pocket of his jeans, he rose, roughly tearing off the electrodes taped to his arms, while the inspector general watched, speechless.
    “We’re done here.”
    At that, Ellsworth seemed to find his voice, springing up from his seat like a jack-in-the-box. “I should say we are not ! Sit down, Nichols.”
    Harry turned, coolly looking the bureaucrat in the eye. “We’re