White Death (NUMA Files 4)

Austin gripped Them's hand. "Ready?" he whispered.

She squeezed back.

"Mush!

Austin sidestepped to his left, yanked Therri practically off her feet, and lunged toward a gap in the line of pickets. The guards saw them break out and tried to head them off, like defensive lineback- ers converging to stop a runner with the ball. They raced toward the closing gap. At the last moment, Austin changed direction. He shook offTherri's hand, and putting all the weight of his body behind his shoulder, smashed into the midsection of the guard to his left. The man let out a sound like a malfunctioning steam engine and doubled over.

The other guard charged in, hatchet in hand. Using the bounce from his first encounter, Austin came out of his crouch and slammed into the man with his other shoulder. The impact lifted the other man off his feet. The hatchet went flying onto the grass.

Therri was right behind him. A few more steps and they were at the sled. The dogs noticed their approach and perked their ears up. Austin grabbed the sled's upright framework and held it tight. He didn't want; the dog team to bolt off. Without being instructed, Therri rolled onto the steel-mesh platform, then sat up, legs extended forward, hands gripping the uprights in front of her. Austin kicked off the brake.

"Hike!" he snapped in a clear, commanding voice.

The sled's regular driver probably used an Inuit command, but the team knew from his tone what Austin wanted. Mushers don't use the word "mush" to get dogs moving. The word is too soft. Austin was a man of the sea, but he wasn't above developing land-based skills. Dogsledding, unfortunately, wasn't among them. He had tried dogsled driving a few times as a diversion on ski trips, and after being thrown into snowdrifts a couple of times, he discovered that it looked easier than it was. The driver had to balance on runners that seemed as thin as knife blades, while trying to control a pack of an- imals only a few generations removed from their wolf brethren. Sled dogs were deceptively small, but welded together in a team, they produced an incredible explosion of power with their short legs.

He knew, too, that a dogsled driver had to come across as the leader of the pack if the strong-willed dogs were to respond to his commands. The team was on its feet even before he shouted the com- mand. The gang line connecting the dogs to the sled went taut, and the wheel almost jerked out of his hands. Austin ran several steps, helping the sled along, then he jumped on board and let the dogs do all the work. They bayed loudly, happy doing what they did best, which was to run their hearts out.

From the instant he had gotten his hand on the sled, the whole op- eration had taken only a few seconds. Scarface's men tried to cut the sled off. The dogs were too fast. They barked gleefully as they out- distanced their pursuers. Once they were in the clear, Austin exper- imented with the steering. He tried "gee" and "haw" commands to make the dogs go right and left, and he was glad to see that the team was multilingual. Steering required a tender touch on the wheel, es- pecially on the curves. Turn too sharply and the sled acted like the business end of a bullwhip, although the weight of two people kept all four wheels on the ground.

The combined load also kept their speed down. Austin hadn't considered this a problem, figuring that they could still outdistance a running man, especially the burly Scarface and his short-legged cohorts. His confidence drained away when he looked back. Umealiq s on the other sled in hot pursuit. Austin steered off the grass onto a paved walkway. The sled picked up speed on the smooth asphalt.

But he had to share the walkway, and this was presenting a problem, as he wove around obstacles like a slalom racer. He narrowly missed a young couple, then brushed by a man walking a toy poodle that yapped at Austin. He drove a woman on Rollerblades up on the turf and she swore creatively at him. Angry shouts and curses followed the sled as he pushed the dogs to even greater speed.

He tried to figure out how long the team would last, running at full tilt, and decided he didn't have much time. Sled dogs are accus- tomed to running in the cold and snow, and with their thick fur coats they would quickly become overheated in the warm evening tem- peratures. He glanced around to get his bearings. They were mov- ing across the Mall, away from the museum, toward the Castle and the Smithsonian quad. He looked behind him. Umealiq had gained ground, and it would be only a matter of time before he caught up.

"Easy," he commanded the dogs, and he put pressure on the brake to reinforce his command. They slowed.

"What are you doing?" Therri said.

"Get off!"

"What?"

"Get off and make a run for the lights and people around the Smithsonian. I can't outrun him with you on board. It's me he really wants."

Therri reluctantly overcame her natural inclination to argue. Comprehending the danger, she rolled off the sled, then got to her feet and started running. Austin shouted at the dogs to get moving. The team took off again in a neck-snapping start. He made a right- angle turn onto another path. The sled felt lighter and more re- sponsive, and he was moving faster than before. He was glad to see Scarface still chasing him. Therri was safe, but pausing to let her on had given Umealiq the chance to gain ground.

Austin's eyes were blurred with the sweat running down his fore- head. He wiped away the moisture with the sleeve of his tux and glanced over his shoulder. Scarface had cut the distance in half. Austin dodged another pedestrian and looked ahead. He could see the white spike of the Washington Monument in the distance. There might be armed security guards around the monument, but he would never make it that far. The dogs were becoming weary. He could feel them slow their pace slightly, and the sled was acting like a car run- ning out of gas. He urged the team on with the kissing sound he had heard the drivers use during the race.

Cars were moving along the street ahead of him. With luck and timing, he could put the traffic between him and his pursuers. The sled emerged from the Mall onto the sidewalk. Austin saw an open- ing between two moving vehicles and steered for it, hoping to whisk through to the other side of the street. The dogs hesitated, but he urged them on. The paws of the lead dog had left the curb when one of the ubiquitous limos that prowled the streets of Washington came out of nowhere and cut him off.

Austin cut the steering wheel hard. The lead dog was way ahead of him and had already changed directions, dashing off to the right with the team and the sled behind him. The sled heeled over at an angle like a boat sailing close to the wind. Austin compensated with his body, and the sled slammed back down on all four wheels and straightened out. The dogs were pulling the sled along the sidewalk. Scarface had cut the angle and was pacing Austin along the side- walk a few yards away.

The two sleds raced along the sidewalk like the chariot racers in Ben-Hur. The dogs swerved around pedestrians. Austin had just about relinquished control, conceding that the dogs could steer the ed far better than he could, and simply concentrated on hanging on. Even at top form, his skills would have been no match for the other driver. The sleds were running side by side, almost close enough to touch. Then Scarface upped the ante and aimed a pistol at Austin from a few feet away.

Austin had the feeling that someone had just painted a bull's-eye on his forehead. But getting a clean shot wouldn't be easy. Scarface held the wheel with his left hand and the pistol in his right. Without the stability of two hands holding on to the wheel, the sled wavered from side to side, and Scarface was finding it impossible to keep the pistol barrel leveled. He tried a shot anyhow.

The bullet missed Austin and went high. Austin took little com- fort from the wild shot. Scarface would keep trying until he emptied his gun. Even if the flying lead missed Austin, someone else could be hurt or killed. Acting more on instinct than intellect, Austin quickly touched his brakes. The Eskimo's sled pulled slightly ahead of him. Borrowing a page from Umealiq's book of dirty race tactics, Austin angled his sled to the right. His front wheel slammed into the rear wheel of the other sled, and Scarface fought to maintain control.

The maneuver was risky, but it had the desired effect. With only one sweat-soaked hand gripping the steering wheel, Scarface was unable to stop the rim from spinning. The sled's front wheels jack- knifed. The sled itself fishtailed, then flipped, and Scarface tumbled off, the pistol flying out of his hand and clattering onto the sidewalk. He rolled several times before coming to a stop. His dog team kept on running, dragging the sled on its side, before they figured out it was a waste of time.

Austin was in no position to celebrate. His team was pulling the sled toward Constitution Avenue. He yelled a command to stop and jammed his foot down on the brakes, but it was no use. The dogs had been spooked by the gunshot and unnerved by Austin's erratic driv- ing, and he realized he was simply along for the ride. They plunged into the busy boulevard without looking.

The sled flew off the curb, became airborne and slammed down on all four wheels. Austin's teeth rattled in his skull. There was a ban- shee screech as an SUV as big as a house slammed on its brakes, its massive chrome grille only inches away. Austin caught a glimpse of the horrified face behind the wheel, the driver's eyes popping out of his head as he watched a man in a tux drive a sled team across Wash- ington's busiest boulevard.

The best Austin could do was to hang on and try to keep the sled upright. His ears were filled with the squeal of brakes, and then he heard a thud as someone rear-ended another car. There were several more thuds as the chain reaction continued. The air reeked of the smell of burnt rubber. Then he was safely across the avenue, and the dogs were scrambling onto the opposite sidewalk. The sled was mov- ing slow enough for him to jump off before it hit the curb. The dogs were exhausted from running in the unaccustomed heat and had no desire to keep moving. They simply plopped down where they were, their sides heaving and their tongues dripping like faucets.

Austin looked back across the trail of chaos he had left on Con- stitution Avenue. Traffic on his side had come to a stop, and angry people were getting out of their cars to trade registration and license numbers. Scarface stood on the opposite curb, blood streaming down his face. He pulled his knife from his belt. Holding it close to his chest, he stepped off the curb, only to pause at the sound of sirens. Then one of the kennel trucks Austin had seen near the racecourse screeched to a stop, hiding the Eskimo from view for a few seconds. When it took off a second later, the man had vanished.