Last Man Standing by David Baldacci Read Free Book Online Page A

looked
     around in bewilderment. “What if a dog or cat or somebody just strolling by here tripped the laser before we got there?”
    From Bates’s expression, it was clear he had already considered this possibility. “I’m thinking people were discreetly warned
     to stay away. Animals are another issue. So I’m thinking the laser was armed via remote.”
    Web rose. “So they waited until we were just about there before activating the laser. That means the person would have to
     be reasonably close by.”
    “Well, he hears you guys coming, or he gets intelligence to that effect. He waits until you’ve maybe turned the corner and
     he hits the remote and runs.”
    “We didn’t see a damn soul in the courtyard, and my thermal didn’t pick up a ninety-eight-point-six temp anywhere.”
    “They could’ve been in the building—hell, any one of these buildings. They point the device out one of the windows, hit the
     button and they’re long gone.”
    “And the snipers and Hotel saw nothing?”
    Bates shook his head. “Hotel’s story is they saw zip until the kid brought them your note.”
    At the mention of Hotel, Web thought of Paul Romano and his spirits sank even more. Romano was probably at Quantico right
     now telling everyone that Web had turned coward and let his team die and was trying to blame it on a mental lapse. “Whiskey?
     X-Ray? They had to see something,” Web said, referring to the snipers on the rooftops.
    “They saw some things, but I’m not prepared to discuss it quite yet.”
    Web’s instincts told him to let that one alone. What would the snipers say? That they saw Web freeze, let his team charge
     on without him and then drop to the ground while his comrades-in-arms got obliterated? “How about the DEA? They were with
     Hotel, and there was a crew of them in reserve too.”
    Bates and Web looked at each other and Bates shook his head.
    The FBI and DEA weren’t the best of friends. The DEA, Web had always thought, was like a little brother kicking at his older
     sibling’s shins until big brother hit back, and then the little punk ran off and tattled.
    “Well, I guess we have to accept that until something makes us not,” commented Web.
    “Guess so. Were any of you wearing night-vision equipment?”
    Web immediately understood the logic of the question. NV goggles would have picked up on the laser, transforming it into a
     long, unmistakable band of light.
    “No. I pulled my thermal after the shooting started, but assaulters don’t wear NVs. You get any source of ambient light while
     you’re wearing them, then you are basically blind if you have to take them off and start shooting. And the snipers probably
     wouldn’t have been using them during the assault; they screw up depth perception too much.”
    Bates nodded toward the gutted buildings where the guns had been set up. “The techs examined the guns. Each had a signal link
     box. They’re thinking that there was a delay of a few seconds between when Charlie Team tripped the laser and when the guns
     were activated in order to make sure the team was squarely in the kill zone. The courtyard and firing lanes were large enough
     to allow for that.
    Web suddenly felt dizzy and put his hand against the wall. It was as though he were reexperiencing the paralysis he had suffered
     during the doomed attack.
    “You should’ve given yourself some more time to recover,” said Bates as he slid an arm under Web’s to help support him.
    “I’ve had paper cuts worse than this.”
    “I’m not talking about your hand.”
    “My head’s fine too, thanks for your concern,” Web snapped, and then relaxed. “Right now I just want to do, not think.”
    For the next half hour Web pointed out the locations and descriptions of all the persons they had passed that night, and everything
     else he could recall from the time Charlie left the final staging area to the moment the last bullet was fired in the courtyard.
    “You think any one of