Breaking point - By Tom Clancy & Steve Perry & Steve Pieczenik Page 0,73
post porno in church web pages. You went outside your authority, and I don’t know what it is you stepped into, but whatever it is, it is on your shoes and it is your responsibility now. I want to know just what the hell is going on—”
His virgil, which he had forgotten to turn off, bleated the opening notes from the old rock and roll song, “Bad to the Bone.”
Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dump!
The director frowned.
“Sorry,” he said. He reached for the virgil to shut it off, but saw Jay’s face on the tiny screen. If Gridley knew he was here, he wouldn’t have bothered him if it wasn’t important. “Jay?”
“Looks like John Howard is gonna make it, Boss.”
“Thank God!”
“Already sent a few prayers in His direction.”
“I appreciate the call, Jay,” Michaels said. He discommed, then looked at the director. “Howard is going to pull through.”
“That’s good news, at least. Why don’t you see if you can’t add to it?”
26
Tuesday, June 14th
Anchorage, Alaska
When John Howard awoke, the first face he saw belonged to Sergeant Julio Fernandez. With consciousness came the awareness that he was in a bed, in a hospital room, and that his right side and belly hurt like hell. He also had a headache, his mouth was dry, and his arm had an IV tube running into it. His last memory was of passing out in the woods, and of all the hoopla before that—he knew what had happened. He had been shot.
“He’s awake,” Fernandez said.
“How bad?” Howard asked.
“John!” That was Nadine.
He turned his head slightly—that was a good sign, he could do that. “Hey, babe. Julio?”
“You’re shy a loop of small intestine, but you won’t have to poop into a bag for the rest of your life or anything. Won’t even have a bullet scar in the front, they took that out when they went in to fix your plumbing, but you will have one in the back—round went right through, didn’t hit anything else worth mentioning. Missed a kidney by a cun—uh, by a hair.”
Howard nodded. “Thanks.”
Nadine was there then, and there were tears and hugging. After which she called him a few names, the least of which was “stupid.”
Man, he was glad to see her.
“Dad?”
“Hey, son.”
Fernandez cranked the bed so Howard could sit up. Tyrone came over and smiled at him.
Howard said, “Where’s your little friend?”
Tyrone frowned, then saw Howard grin and realized it was a joke. “She’s in the waiting room. I’ll go tell her you’re okay. They wouldn’t let anybody but family in.”
Howard looked at Fernandez. He shrugged. “I told them I was your brother. They decided it wasn’t worth arguing about.”
A nurse came in, asked a couple of questions, then looked at the beeping machine to which he was wired. “The doctor will be in to see you in just a minute.”
“Uh-huh. Sure. I’ve heard that one before.”
She shook her head and left.
“How long have I been out?”
“Not long,” Fernandez said. “Been about six hours since you got here.”
“Where is here?”
“Anchorage. That’s in Alaska.”
“Thank you for that information, Sergeant. How did you get here so fast?”
“I have a friend in the Air Force who owed me a big favor. You haven’t lived until you’ve done a supersonic barrel roll. Yee-haw.”
Nadine said, “Are you okay, John?”
“I’ve felt better, but yeah, I’m okay.”
“Good. I have to go to the bathroom. Stay right here.”
He laughed. “Don’t do that. It hurts to laugh.”
She headed for the bathroom. Howard grinned as he watched her walk away, then looked at Fernandez again. “You want to tell me about it?”
“Why don’t you go first? I’ll fill in what we know that you don’t.”
Howard nodded. He laid it out, the whole thing; it was vividly clear in his mind.
When he was done, Fernandez nodded in return. “Ninety yards, huh? Hell of a shot.”
“That’s what I thought. I wouldn’t want to meet this guy one-on-one in the daylight.”
“Your tactics could have been better.”
“I lie corrected, Sergeant. Your turn.”
“Well, you actually did better than he did. The marshals had one wounded, but they collected two corpses, one by the fence, one in the SUV. One in the car was in the passenger seat when they found him, but holes in the windshield and spatter pattern says he got it while driving. How many rounds did you fire at the driver?
“Three.”
“All in the glass, four-inch group. And they counted five holes in the back.”
“I shot six.”
“You missed one. You need more practice.”
“Five out of six at ninety yards, in the dark, car