Read The Edge of Armageddon for Free Online Page B

now.”
    Drake sprinted out the door.
     
    *
     
    Hayden raced down the stairs and towards the building’s basement, Kinimaka at her back. Fury rode her and beat at her as if with a devil’s wings. Anger forced her legs to go faster and almost caused her to trip. Her Hawaiian partner grunted, slipped and picked himself up almost without stopping. She thought about her friends in dire peril, rushing off to different areas of the city with no idea of what to expect, laying themselves on the line without question. She thought about all the civilians out there and what the White House might now be thinking. It was all well and good to have protocols and plans and workable formulas, but when the real, working world became the object of extreme threat—all bets were off. At the bottom of the stairs she hit a corridor and sprinted. Doors flashed by to either side, most unlit. At the far end a row of bars were quickly slid aside for her.
    Hayden held her hand out. “Gun.”
    The guard flinched, but then acquiesced, orders from above having already reached his ears.
    Hayden took the weapon, checked the thing was loaded and the safety was off, and burst into the small room.
    “Ramses!” she shouted. “What the hell have you done?”

CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    Drake dashed out of the building, Alicia, Mai and Beau at his side. Sweat already soaked the four of them. Determination sprang from every pore. Beau fished a state-of-the-art GPS out of a pocket and pinpointed the Edison.
    “Times Square area,” he said, studying the route. “Across third and over Lexington Avenue. Make for the Waldorf Astoria.”
    Drake raced into plodding traffic. There was nothing like trying to save the life of a New York cabbie as he tried desperately to break your legs at the knees, inching forward as best he could. Drake jumped at the last second, sliding over the front of the closest yellow cab and landing in full flow. Horns blared. Each member of the team had managed to commandeer a handgun on the way out and brandished them now whilst wishing they had more. But time was already wasting away. Drake checked his watch as he hit the sidewalk.
    Seventeen minutes.
    They crossed Lexington and then ran alongside the Waldorf, barely stopping as the cars along Park Avenue crawled along. Drake fought his way through a crowd at the traffic signal, finally confronted by an angry, red face.
    “Look, buddy, I’m crossing here first if it kills me. Bosses’ bagels gonna get cold and that’s a damn no-no.”
    Drake skirted the angry individual as Alicia and Mai burst past on the outside. The signals changed and the road was clear. Now with guns concealed they headed hard for the next main street—Madison Avenue. Again the crowds thronged the sidewalk. Beau skipped out onto 49 th , hopping between cars and gaining a lead. Luckily, the traffic was now moving slowly and afforded them clear spaces in between rear bumpers and front fenders. The women followed Beau and then Drake fell into line.
    Drivers shouted abuse at them.
    Twelve minutes left.
    If they were late, where would the terrorist cells strike? Drake imagined it would be in proximity to the Edison. Marsh would want the team to know his orders had been carried out to the letter. A car door opened ahead—just because the driver could—and Beau leaped over the top just in time. Alicia took hold of the edge of the frame and slammed it back into the man’s face.
    Now they cut to the left, approaching 5 th Avenue and even more crowds. Beau slipped through the worst of it like a pickpocket at a pop concert, followed by Alicia and Mai. Drake just shouted at everyone, his Yorkshireman’s patience finally running out. Both men and women blocked his path—men and women who didn’t give a rat’s shit whether he might be rushing to save his own life, one of his children’s, or even theirs. Drake muscled his way through, leaving one man sprawling. A woman with a baby glared at him hard enough to make him feel