42 RIVERGATE STREET
ALEXANDRIA, VA
Curran walked up the stairs to the rundown waterfront property, the dilapidated exterior, the smell of rotting wood and sea salt put all his senses on edge.
Thorpe wouldn't have invited them to rescue Casey if he wasn't sure they'd be killed doing it, his guess was that if Thorpe and Casey were indeed inside, then the place was probably rigged with any number of booby traps designed to maim or kill the intruder.
Curran pulled out a pair of thermal sensor goggles and looked at the building in front of him, the room immediately in front of him showed no signs of life at all, although the basement was giving a slight thermal reading it could easily be a small animal rather than two adults. Turning back down the stairs, he made his way back to the car.
Webb leaned against the car, viewing the house though the same thermal goggles.
"What reading are you getting?"
"Slight elevation in the direction of the basement, but that could just be a cat."
"He's in there, I can feel it." Webb looked through the goggles again." You think he's in the basement with her?"
"My gut feeling is that that's exactly where he is."
Curran growled.
"Then lets go get this bastard."
Curran placed his hand on Webb's arm.
"Wait, listen Thorpe has handed us this invitation to come get him. What does that tell you?"
"That's he's psychotic?"
"And that he's sure of his territory. My guess is that if we go in there he's going to have it rigged to explode and they're going to be fishing parts of us out of the Potomac for the next 6 months."
"So what are you suggesting?"
"Setting off the traps first, then going after Thorpe.'
"You have a plan?"
Curran nodded.
THORPE'S HIDEOUT
42 RIVERGATE STREET
ALEXANDRIA, VA
Thorpe listened as the footsteps came up the stairs again, stopping at the door before opening and entering.
"Showtime."
Thorpe grinned maniacally.
"NO...IT'S RIGGED GET OUT!!!" Casey screamed her warning at the top of her lungs, desperate to warn the two men upstairs of the impending danger.
Thorpe lashed out and punched her across the face, silencing her.
The footsteps halted and then continued.
Suddenly the remote in Thorpe's hand beeped, then an explosion rocked the upper level of the house tearing a hole in the floor to the basement and sending dust and fragments of timber floating into the air in the basement below.
"CURRAN...ARE YOU OK? ANSWER ME." The voice belonged to Webb." Oh Jesus Christ"
Casey sobbed as she thought of what must have happened to Curran, her only thought was that she was glad it had happened quickly and he ahd not suffered.
"Thorpe, where are you, you damn coward? Come out and face me!"
Webb's voice floated down through the exploded hole in the floor.
"We're down here Webb, come and get me."
Thorpe taunted.
Gun drawn Webb walked towards the hole in the floor and looked down.
Two bullets whistled past his head and he pulled back, he had managed to catch a glimpse of Casey tied up and bleeding on a wooden cross. She was not moving and he hd no idea if she was still alive after trying to warn them of the explosives in the floor.
"Casey?" He yelled " Can you hear me?"
"Webb, get out, he's going to kill you..."
The sound of flesh contacting flesh rang out as Thorpe rammed his fist into the side of Casey's head. knocking her out.
"Such a brave woman Webb, you didn't deserve her at all." Thorpe said as he moved towards Casey, holding the knife to her throat. "Come down and face me Webb."
Webb looked into the eyes that glittered with hatred and insanity, he had seen that look before in the eyes of Clark Palmer.
"Let Casey go and I'll come down." He tried.
"Do I look stupid to you Webb?"
"That's a rhetorical question right?"
Webb shot back, he hoped to God that Curran's plan worked.
Webb walked to the stairs carefully looking for any more traps likes the ones that Curran had set off.
"What guarantee do I have that you won't kill her if I come down?"
"None, I don't give guarantees."
Webb moved to the first step catching a slight movement out of the corner of his eye, in all likelihood a cat, he thought to himself.
A minute later Webb stood in the basement of the house facing the man that had killed his son.
The two men stood barely two paces apart pistols raised in the dark dankness of the basement, the air crackling with equal parts hatred and anticipation.
Webb's pistol was heavy in his grip, the moment he had waited months for was finally here and he wondered if killing this man would be justice or merely an easy way out for Thorpe. The thought that he may not live to find out did not enter his mind.
Thorpe eyed his opponent, standing so still before him, he was more nervous than he thought he would be. Justice was within his grasp, he would make Webb feel the pain he had suffered for the last 6 years after the loss of his brother. He looked at Webb and wondered how the man could be so calm in the face of losing the woman he loved, perhaps Webb thought that he had nothing left to lose, he was wrong.
Thorpe fired first, but not at Webb, he aimed and fired at Casey, the bullet catching her in the upper arm.
Webb fired reflexively at Thorpe and caught the man in the chest, hurling him backinto the darkness of the basement.
Thorpe's second shot was at the light bulb hanging from the ceiling, it's shattered glass raining down hundred of tiny, scalding shards on Casey's head and shoulders, leaving marks in their wake.
Running for cover in the newly darkened room, both men listened intently to the shuffles and muted sounds of the other. Webb was satisfied to hear the low rasping of Thorpe's breath as he struggled to breathe through a punctured lung.
Thorpe admitted he had underestimated Webb, the man was a good shot, but was still vulnerable while Casey was in the room. He looked to where Casey hung on the wooden cross, and was greeted by nothing but empty space.Fury ripped through him as he thought of all the planning and time he had put into this particular endeavor, once again Webb had ruined his life and he would pay.
"Where is she Webb, what have you done with her?"
"With who?"
"McDaniels, where is she?"
Webb looked toward the cross that Casey had been placed on, pieces of sliced duct tape and a small slick of blood were all that remained. He smiled, Curran had done it after all, he had set off the triggers and gotten out of the house before the explosion hit, when the lights went out he must have come down and cut Casey down and carried her out, leave it to a SEAL to show up the spook.
"Looks like she got tired of your game and decided to go home Thorpe."Webb said with a grin. "I on the other hand, am in the mood to finish the game."
With a roar of pure rage, Thorpe ran at Webb his pistol raised and fired three times hitting the other man in the chest and throwing him back onto the stairs. Winded and gasping Webb thanked God for the Company's regulation Kevlar vests one more time.
As he lay there Webb looked up the stairs and saw Curran, struggling to get Casey out of the stairwell. Curran was holding his side and it didn't take Webb long to notice the 6 inch piece of wood protruding from a wound in his abdomen.
Firing into the darkness, hoping to hit Thorpe at least once more Webb scrambled up the stairs and grabbed Casey's other arm.
"We've got to get her out of here, she losing a lot of blood."Curran gasped.
"News flash, so are you."
Webb said looking at the piece of wood once again.
"Is he dead?"
Curran asked.
"No, and right now I don't care, I just want to get her out of here."Webb said. "Don't suppose you have any explosives on you?"
"Grenade do?"
Curran said with a smile that reminded webb a lot of Harmon Rabb.
"Perfect, can you get Casey to the car alone?"
"Sure thing, where will you be?"
"Finishing the game."
Webb said as he let go of Casey and walked towards the hole in the floor.
Curran slung Casey's body over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and moved as fast as he could towards the door.
Making it out the door and down the stairs was made more difficult by the fact that Casey had started to come to and was fighting him, in all likelihood thinking he was Thorpe. As he made it down the stairs and across the road to the car, he put her down.
She struggled away from him, her eyes wild with fear, her self preservation instinct kicking in.
"Casey, it me, it's Curran."
She blinked, her eyes losing some of the feral gleam they had held only seconds before.
"Curran?" It was a whisper.
"Shhh I'm here, you're safe now." He reached out and took her hand.
"Webb, I heard his voice where is he?" She asked.
"He's still inside, I'm going back for him but I need you to stay here OK?'
"No" Casey shook her head." I want to go with you."
She struggled to get to her feet, failing even to make it to her knees.
"Casey, listen to me, you've lost a lot of blood, you can't help us in there, you're just going to slow us down. Now stay here and call for our backup, they should have been here 20 minutes ago."
Casey made moves to argue, but Curran silenced her with a look.
"Just do it McDaniels."
"Yes Sir."
She said without a smile.
Curran made it to the door as the second succession of shots were fired.
"...going to die screaming Webb. You'll never ever get rid of me."
"The only one dying around here is going to be you Thorpe, in fact I'm about to show you the same consideration you showed my son and Georgina."
Webb pulled the pin on the grenade and threw the device down the open hole, running towards the front door as he did. Webb and Curran barely made it off the porch as the explosion ripped through the building, sending shards of glass and wood splinters flying through the air.
Laying on the road, ears ringing from the explosion Webb murmured to himself.
"End Game."