Sunday, February 1
Disneyland
Anaheim, California
4:44 p.m. PST
Riley and Khadi fought hard against the flood of people. The crowd was pushing all around them. Forward progress through the sea of bodies was made even more difficult by the people’s terrified reaction to the M4 in Riley’s hands.
As they forced their way down the left side of the street, Riley scanned the faces around him. He could hear soft voices as they passed him-parents whispering to their children, “It’s okay, baby,” “Daddy’s got you now,” “Mama loves her little angel.” Several times Riley passed people who had blood on their faces. Others were limping or being helped by family members. All kept their eyes straight ahead, trying with everything they had to reach their goal of the front gates.
How many of these innocent victims will be killed if we don’t get to Sal in time? Riley wondered.
His foot caught on something that almost made him lose his balance. He looked to his left in time to see an aluminum walker tipping over and an elderly woman go sprawling after it. Resisting the urge to stop and help, he pressed forward-only once looking back to see a young man trying to help the woman back up. Lord, please help these people!
His height gave him a little advantage, and Riley was able to keep a fairly good view of the area around him. Khadi stuck close behind him. All the stores seemed to be abandoned-the employees either fleeing to the back lots or out the exit. Someone bumped hard into Riley’s side, sending a nasty message from his mending ribs to his brain’s pain sensors. He dropped one arm to protect his side.
Up ahead, under a yellow and white awning, something caught Riley’s eye. In the midst of the river of flowing humanity, there was one stationary person pressed against a wall. Riley signaled to Khadi, and they pressed that direction. When they were ten yards away, the man removed his hat, dropped it onto the ground, and rubbed his bald head.
“I think I’ve got a visual in front of the Candy Palace!” Riley yelled into his comm unit.
“Are you sure?” Hicks’s voice answered.
“Negative, not yet! Khadi, cut left and head up the storefronts. I’m going to confirm whether that’s Sal.”
Khadi nodded her approval. “Be careful, Riley.”
Riley pushed ahead, but the mass of people made forward progress difficult. Suddenly the man looked up, and Riley locked eyes with his best friend.
Lord, don’t make me do this! Not Sal! Please don’t make me…
Surprise showed on Hakeem’s face for just a moment before his body went flying backwards as a shot from Riley’s M4 hit him in the left shoulder.
“It’s him! It’s him!” Riley cried as he struggled toward Hakeem.
“I’m on him!” came Khadi’s voice in his ear. “He’s down but still-”
Two shots cut through the noise, and Riley turned in time to see Khadi’s head drop behind the crowd.
“NO!” he shouted just before he felt two sets of arms grab him around the neck and try to pull him to the ground. As he struggled to break their grips, he felt his rifle stripped from his hands. Another hand grabbed for his sidearm.
Riley drove his elbow into the chin of one of his assailants, sending him toppling. A low leg sweep followed by a forearm to the throat dropped the second.
Riley didn’t stop to find out who these guys were, but a quick glance at the first blond-haired man lying stunned on the ground in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt told him they were Good Samaritans trying to take down the guy with the gun.
With his shoulder down, Riley drove the last few feet through to the area that had cleared around Hakeem. The terrorist was struggling to roll his body onto his mangled left side. A detonator lay just out of his reach, but he was getting close to grabbing it.
Riley dove for Hakeem, but Hakeem turned in time to fire two shots into Riley’s chest.
Riley’s ballistic vest stopped the bullets from penetrating his body, but the impact drove the air from his lungs. He landed on top of Hakeem, causing both men to scream in pain.
Blackness threatened to descend on Riley as Hakeem fought to push him off. Finally Riley felt his body being rolled sideways, even as he struggled to find the strength to stop Hakeem.
And then Hakeem was free. He had the detonator in his hand.
Over the sound of the screaming crowd, Riley heard Hakeem gasp, “Not this time, Riley. Allahu akhbar!”
A loud bang and a hot liquid spray snapped Riley out of his semiconscious state. His eyes cleared, revealing the open back of Hakeem’s head. A few yards beyond, he could see Khadi lying on the ground, her gun in her hand.
Riley wanted to go to her but knew that the detonator must still be in Hakeem’s hand or under his body. As he pushed himself up to look for it, a large, dark shape dove past him from behind, clipping his back and knocking him facedown again. When he looked up, he saw Skeeter lying on the ground, gingerly holding a wired metal cylinder. “’Scuse me, sir. I got the detonator. Now go get Khadi.”
Riley nodded to his faithful bodyguard and stumbled toward Khadi. Sliding down next to her, he lifted her into his arms. He could feel the wetness of the blood that had pooled underneath her.
“Medic!” Riley yelled into his comm unit. “Scott, get me a medic!”
Khadi slowly shook her head. “He… he should have known, Riley. Never leave… never leave a sniper breathing.”
Khadi smiled weakly, showing bloodstained teeth, rolled her head into Riley’s chest, and closed her eyes.