Free Blackout (Sam Archer 3) by Tom Barber Page B

coffee, newspapers abandoned on seats. She looked left and right around her at the empty room.
    ‘OK. Now what?’
    ‘Go to the window.’
    She did.
    ‘Look past the parking lot. Do you see two guys inside a car on the far side of the street? Black, license plate beginning FG6.’
    Her eyes narrowed as she peered outside.
    ‘Yeah. It’s headed into the car park.’
     
    As this exchange took place, the phone on Porter’s uniform started ringing. It was hooked up to a hands-free inside the car, so he pushed Answer, returning his hand to the wheel.
    ‘Porter,’ he said.
    ‘Sergeant, this is Dr Jim Keith from HAZMAT ,' a man's voice said, filling the car. 'I'm here at the Embassy examining the package.’
    ‘How's it looking, doc?’ Porter asked.
    ‘I have some news. My team took a sample from the package and tested it here at the scene, ' Keith said. 'The powder immediately showed up as just two ingredients mixed together. Hydrated magnesium silicate and sodium hydrogen carbonate.’
    Pause.
    ‘Is that bad?’ Porter asked, the car speeding down the street.
    ‘ No, not at all,’ Keith said. ‘Quite the opposite in fact, Sergeant. It ' s talcum powder and baking soda. This isn’t anthrax. It’s a hoax.’
     
    In the ARU’s briefing room, Nikki watched the black car suddenly speed forward through the parking lot and pull up outside the front of the building. The front doors opened and two men stepped out, dressed in black, balaclavas over their heads, black and brown AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles in their hands.
    They slammed the doors shut and ran forward towards the entrance of the building below, each man pulling back the cocking handle on each, chambering a bullet.
    ‘Oh my G od, ’ she whispered, still on the phone to Archer. 'Arch, help!'

EIGHT
    At the front desk downstairs, Clark had his head down reading something so he didn’t see the two men coming.
    He looked up just as the front doors were barged open, and was momentarily frozen as the two intruders stormed inside the building. Before he could move, one of the two gunmen raised his Kalashnikov and immediately pulled the trigger, three bullets thumping into Clark's chest, the spent cartridges flying out of the side of the automatic rifle. The force of the gunfire threw him back off his chair and the policeman collapsed back in a heap to the floor, blood and pieces of his torso spattered all over the reception area.
    Upstairs, everyone stopped when they heard the gunfire.
    Cobb was inside his office, still thinking about the Charlie Adams puzzle, but he froze when he heard the three gunshots. Unlike his tech team, who were sitting motionless at their desks and unsure how to react, he had no such doubts.
    He leapt up from his seat, ran across his office and pulled open the door just as Nikki ran back into the operations area from the briefing room, a look of sheer terror on her face.
    ‘ Everybody get out! ’ she screamed.
    The tech team saw and heard her and panic instantly set in, flooding the room. None of the armed task force officers were there. These were all analysts, unused to combat or any confrontational situations. They started to rise from their seats and scatter as they heard the slapping steps of boots racing up the stairwell, but Cobb took charge instantly, thinking clearly.
    ‘ No! Everybody, in my office! Now!’ he bellowed, quickly pushing back the door to his office. ‘Now!’
    The entire team responded to the order, running over into the glass-walled room, uncertain and frightened. Once the last person ran inside, Cobb dragged the door shut and quickly entered a six-digit code on a keypad on the wall, each button beeping as he pushed it. There was a click as the door locked.
    Seconds later, two men in balaclavas ran into view dressed all in black, fearsome assault rifles in their gloved hands. They quickly scanned the level and saw the tech team huddled together inside the office through the glass. One of the armed men ran