Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Oh, the gunfire is us,” Jing told Dante, just as a car blocked the end of the alley we were making our way down. “Fuck, fuck, just meet us at the safe house where Chris is taking the sister and her kid. Don’t go back to the hotel.”
“Sorry,” he told her. “We have to. Can’t leave a trace of anything there. Plus, hello, we need our clothes.”
Leave it to him to be practical in the face of death.
Garland, who I did not realize had a MAC-10 under his arm, stepped in front of us and used the submachine gun to clear the street.
“Impressive,” Jing told him.
“It’s small, easy to conceal.”
She nodded.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” Nam informed us, moving over next to a dumpster.
“Just so you know,” Dante came back on, sounding far too cheerful, “we killed two guys in Nam’s apartment, before anyone else showed up, and they were both carrying Glocks.”
Shit.
“So not military,” Dante confirmed. “The Royal Thai Army are carrying the Colt 1911. Means maybe cops or triads.”
“That’s great news,” Hunt announced sarcastically, suddenly on our party line. “Colonel, I’m going to need to cover Mr. Cerreto and Ms. Stewart as they return to the hotel because the street is full. Chris also reported that he’s going to need backup with the sister and niece, so I’ll be on my way there as soon as the personal effects from the hotel are secured.”
“Copy that.”
“I’ll return the second I can, as I think we can all safely say that you’re the real target.”
“Where are you getting that?” I asked as we made our way down the opposite end of the alley once Nam finished puking.
“Everyone had some trouble, yes, but the bulk of this attack is focused on you.”
I was starting to think he was right. We were taking a lot of fire, the others not as much.
“You need to move,” Dante said solemnly.
“Yeah, I know, we’re on our way. We’ll meet you at the safe house.”
“Copy that,” Dante grumbled, and I knew he wasn’t happy.
At the end of the alley, Jing stepped out after a quick look, and I yanked her back before a blast from a shotgun exploded the wall to her right, spraying her with fragments of drywall and brick. I drew down on the man, and he was dead in the street moments later.
“Thank you,” she said to me, and I noted the scrapes on her face and winced. “It’s fine,” she assured me, and she was about to dart to the right but stopped suddenly. “Wait. We should go back.”
“What?” Garland snapped at her.
“I don’t hear any sirens, so I say we go back and get one of the cars those guys left.”
“Fuck. That’s brilliant,” Garland said, and she smiled at him. He then reached into a pocket of his cargo pants, pulled out a small plastic bottle, and passed it to her.
“It’s lavender oil,” he told her, gesturing at her face.
“Oh, thank you.” She shoved it in her pocket, then ran left, making a square of our route, all of us going back the way we came.
A dark sedan was parked at the end of the street, still idling near the entrance of the souvenir shop. As we ran for it, we heard police sirens in the distance. They would arrive any minute now.
Jing slid into the driver’s seat as the rest of us climbed in. I took the passenger seat, and Nam and Garland took the back as Jing threw the car into drive and whipped us away from the curb. We left just as police cars came flying down the street on the other side.
“That was a little close,” Jing said drolly.
I didn’t even have a response for her.
SEVEN
“Anyone now?” I barked, and Garland, who was sitting behind me, turned around in his seat to check.
“No, sir. We’re not being followed,” he assured me as Jing sped out onto the expressway, urging the sedan to seventy miles per hour.
I called Darius, who answered on the first ring.
“Is it your safe house or one Hasana found?”
“It’s mine.” He clipped the words.
“Why’re you mad?”
“You’re dropping a lot of bodies. What happened to a surgical strike?”
“Oh, I think surgical anything is over,” I said flatly. “I bet we got tracked to the hotel, right?”
“You did, but Dante and Arden were very thorough, getting everything that belonged to everyone. There’s not even a gum wrapper or a piece of paper left in the garbage. That’s the police chatter, at least. According to them, there’s not a scrap of credible DNA evidence, as the entire place was sprayed with bleach.”
“She’s thorough,” I told him, praising Arden.
“Well, your cover at the hotel will hold, in so much as no one will be able to prove Jared Colter was there.”
“That’s all I need—plausible deniability.”
“Which you have.”