Free The Sacred Vault by Andy McDermott Page A

doing?’
    ‘Going after them!’
    ‘No, wait—’
    Too late. He powered through the opening, turning hard to head after the fleeing Nemesis. The bike’s tail light vanished into the fog.
    One of the guests, a balding, middle-aged man, hurried over to Nina and Rowan. ‘I’m a doctor,’ he told her. ‘Please, move your hand - I need to see the wound.’
    Nina reluctantly lifted her hand from Rowan’s chest, cringing as a thick crimson gush pumped from the hole. ‘Will he be okay?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said the doctor, quickly assessing the damage before putting his own palm firmly over the injury. ‘It missed his heart, but it might have punctured a lung.’
    ‘I’ve called for an ambulance,’ one of his companions reported, waving a cell phone.
    Anguished, Nina looked between the injured man and the broken window through which her husband had just disappeared. Rowan read her expression. ‘Nina,’ he gasped, his breathing hoarse and laboured. ‘Go help Eddie. Get - get the Codex back.’
    ‘But I can’t leave you!’
    ‘I’ll be okay.’ He forced a once very familiar smile through the pain. ‘Go on. Bring me some chocolates at the hospital. Dark ones.’
    Nina gripped his hand. ‘As if I’d forget what you like.’ She squeezed it more tightly, then, after a moment of hesitation, let go and stood. Rowan winked at her. Reassured, however slightly, she turned. Through the broken window, the police car’s blinking strobes caught her attention. ‘Mr Mayor!’
    Boyce struggled upright, shaking with adrenalin and fear. He looked round at Nina’s insistent shout. ‘W-what?’
    Nina grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the plaza. ‘There’s a police car outside - tell them to put up roadblocks. Now!’
    He was still too shocked to think straight. ‘But - I can’t just order them to do things—’
    ‘You’re the goddamn mayor !’ Nina reminded him as they reached the police cruiser. It was a Dodge Charger, a powerful four-door sedan in SFPD black and white - but both officers inside were slumped over, unconscious or dead. ‘Damn it!’
    ‘My God,’ gasped Boyce, recoiling at the sight. ‘Now what do we do?’
    Nina looked in the direction Eddie had gone - and made a decision. ‘We follow them. You can guide the cops to block them.’ She opened the driver’s door. The man at the wheel was dead, hit by several bullets. Suppressing her revulsion, she unfastened his seat belt, then dragged out the body.
    Boyce gawped at her. ‘You can’t do that! It’s - a crime scene or something!’
    ‘Just get in! No, in the front!’ she shouted as he opened the rear door. ‘I need you to use the radio!’
    The other cop was also dead, a bloody hunk of skin and bone hanging off his temple. Shuddering, Nina released his seat belt as Boyce ran round the car. ‘Don’t look at his face, just pull him out,’ she ordered.
    The mayor tried to follow her advice, but couldn’t help glimpsing the wound and had to stifle a yelp of disgust. However, he reluctantly manhandled the body out of the car, calling to someone inside the exhibition centre to watch over the dead men.
    ‘Come on!’ said Nina impatiently. Boyce climbed in beside her. She put the Charger into reverse. Metal and plastic graunched where the front bumper had jammed against the planter, then ripped free. She powered into the fog. ‘Get on the radio.’
     
    At the wheel of the Nemesis, Zec flipped up his visor to look anxiously at Fernandez. ‘Are you okay?’
    The Spaniard kneaded his bruised shoulder. ‘I think so. Thanks for coming back for me.’
    ‘I was hardly going to abandon you, Urbano. You haven’t paid us the rest of our money yet!’ He smiled, but Fernandez was not amused. ‘Who was it? A guard?’
    ‘No, one of the guests. Bastard! If I see him again, I’ll kill him.’
    Zec’s side mirrors revealed something approaching rapidly from behind. ‘This is your chance.’
    ‘What?’ Fernandez glared at the mirror. A