Part 24 (1/2)
”It means dive into any hole you can find as fast as you can, because RC7 agents are under attack. It means take all necessary precautions and trust no one. It's a code we worked out a long time ago. It means something very big and very bad is going down.”
Jack glanced around the area. Christ, one more thing. ”What is it?”
Troy shrugged. ”Message didn't say. They never do, for security reasons. But I bet it's wrapped up with L.J. and Karen being kidnapped on the same day. And I bet it's related to someone telling Jennie where I was last month. I think it could actually involve Dad.”
”Seriously? You really think he's still alive?”
”I didn't say that. I said it involved him. What I should have said was that it could involve Red Cell Seven.” Troy hesitated. ”Like I said before, we make certain we aren't being followed when we leave for missions, and while we're on the way to the destination. We check constantly for any signs that something's up, and I didn't notice anything the whole time I was on my way to Spain or while I was there.”
”So what exactly are you getting at?”
”I don't think anyone followed me to Europe. I think whoever told Jennie where I was didn't have to follow me because they already knew where I was going.” Troy hesitated. ”And the fact that she knew enough to accuse me of killing Lisa Martinez is another red flag.”
”Are you saying it's an inside-”
”I think we'll know a lot more in thirty minutes,” Troy answered, nodding ahead of them into the darkness as he put the SUV back in gear.
”If we're still alive in thirty minutes,” Jack muttered under his breath.
”THERE'S BEEN a development.”
”What are you talking about?” Sterling asked as he spoke on his cell phone.
”The plane's been delayed.”
”I know that, but it's almost ready. They're installing the new part as we speak. I just got a text. They should be wheels-up in ten minutes. Then it's a fifteen-minute flight from Philadelphia, if that. Then you're done. Then your part is over, and you get all your money.”
”I want more,” Kyle said firmly. ”We weren't supposed to have them for this long.”
”Too bad.”
”The little kid's been whining for hours, and the woman's awake again. The sedative's worn off. She's a f.u.c.king pain in the a.s.s.”
”Deal with it. Stuff a rag down her throat.”
”I did, way down.”
”Then what's your problem?”
”I just told you. I want more money.”
Sterling had been waiting for this. Jennie Perez had warned him that Kyle might be a loose cannon. ”Get them to the plane. Then we'll talk.”
”Bulls.h.i.+t. Then I've got no bargaining power. Then I've-”
”What's going on?” Sterling asked loudly as Kyle interrupted himself to talk to someone else at the other end who sounded aggravated.
”I've gotta call you back,” Kyle muttered. ”Remember, I want more money.”
”Kyle! Kyle! d.a.m.n it,” Sterling hissed as the line went dead.
He gazed into the darkness of his room at the inn as he considered what he'd just heard. Zero hour for Operation Anarchy might have to be moved up. And so what if the payday ended up at only two hundred and fifty million? So d.a.m.n what. It was still an immense amount of money.
A SINGLE, narrow street wound its way from the main road through a dense oak and elm forest to the Glen Haven Memorial Park, and Troy wanted no part of it. One way in and one way out through woods like that made them too vulnerable, he claimed. Obvious and without cover, they could be picked off easily or trapped.
So they'd run to the cemetery through the trees and the darkness from a secluded spot a mile-and-a-half away, where they'd parked the SUV.
As long as Jack had known Troy, he still marveled at his younger brother's endurance as they closed in on the cemetery. They'd both been awake for almost twenty-four hours, and it had already been a h.e.l.l of a day. But Troy wasn't missing a beat. His mind and body were still working at peak efficiency, even though he'd taken a bullet, too. He was barely breathing hard, and his strides looked smooth and effortless.
Jack was operating on pure adrenaline, but he could feel exhaustion creeping up on him. Fatigue hadn't made a dent in Troy, not even a ding.
Jack marveled at Troy's sense of direction, too. The stone wall they were approaching had to be the cemetery's perimeter. He'd led them straight here from the SUV without checking his bearings once. Granted, the moon was casting a decent light down through the leaves, but still. The trees in this forest were densely packed. Doing what Troy had just done in the daylight would have been extraordinary. Doing it at night was off the hook.
Troy had that bloodhound gift. He could smell his target from miles away even when that target was emitting no scent.
Jack leaned over beside a tree and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath when Troy reached out to stop him. They were still thirty feet from the cemetery wall.
”Stay here,” Troy whispered. ”I'll be right back.”
Jack took a few more deep but quiet breaths, then pulled the pistol from his belt and glanced around through the shadows. It was eerily quiet out here. There wasn't a wisp of a breeze or a call from the wild-mammal, bird, or insect.
”Come up,” Troy called quietly.
Jack cringed as he moved. His footsteps on last year's dead, dry leaves seemed so loud. ”See anything?” he asked as he reached Troy, who was hunched down behind the three-foot wall.
”There's a van in the parking lot.” Troy gestured across the cemetery, which was half the size of a football field. ”It's the only vehicle over there. See it?”
As Jack rose up slightly and squinted, he spotted the top of the vehicle through the night. ”Barely, but I don't see anyone around it.”
”Maybe someone's behind it. I doubt L.J. or Karen are in it. It could just be a decoy. Still, that's where they told Jennie to have us meet them.”
”What are we going to do?”
”Split up,” Troy answered, dropping a medium-sized canvas bag on the ground.
They'd bought it at a Walmart on the way there. Inside it were several reams of paper. It had to at least look like they were carrying cash.
”I go first. I'm gonna cut through the tombstones, so they can see me if they're watching. I'm gonna try and make them think I'm the only game in town. When I get halfway across, you start moving around the outside of the wall. I don't know how much Jennie told them about us before tonight. But on the call I listened to, she only mentioned one of us, like I told her to.” He pointed right. ”Go that way around the wall so I'll know about where you are. Keep your gun in your right hand and your phone in your left.” Troy gestured down at Jack's pocket. ”Put it on vibrate only.”
”It already is,” Jack said, pulling the device out.
”All right, go all the way around to the opposite wall, the one that parallels this one. Wait for me there to text or call before you do anything.”
”Maybe we should call the cops, Troy.”
”No.”
”Troy-”
”No.”