Kodiak Sky (Red Cell Trilogy Book 3) (26 page)

“If you know they aren’t really bringing any money with them, then why are we doing this?”

“Because they both have a bounty on their head. It don’t matter if they’re dead or alive, the bounty’s good. And it’s way more than a hundred grand each.”

“How do you know?”

Kyle grinned. “I overheard the Aussie prick when he didn’t think I could.”

“How much is it?” Ray asked. “The bounty, I mean.”

“It’s in the millions for each of them.” Kyle’s grin grew wider. “Now get the rifle out of your truck.”

CHAPTER 34

“S
EVEN MILES
out,” Jack called as he followed the map moving across his phone’s small screen.

Troy was driving, and he’d told Jack to count out every mile after they’d turned off the Jersey Turnpike at Exit 9 fifteen minutes ago. Getting off at Exit 8A would have been a more direct route to the small town of Creighton, which was eleven miles east of the turnpike in the central part of the state, an hour south of New York City. But Troy had wanted nothing to do with predictable as they approached the hostage exchange location, which was a cemetery on the west side of the little town of fewer than three thousand residents.

Neither of them was familiar with Creighton, so they were flying blind. Despite not knowing the area, Troy was determined to keep surprise on their side. Troy coveted surprise and stealth, Jack knew. He had ever since they were kids tracking wildlife on the Jensens’ vast property. He loved seeing how close he could get to a deer or rabbit before they raced off. Then he’d chase to see how long it took the animals to lose him.

More than once Jack had hiked home alone after Troy disappeared into the forest in pursuit of something. Jack always tried to keep up for a while, but inevitably, he was never able to. And it wasn’t like he was slow. He was the fastest kid in his class—but the slow kid at home.

“Give it to me every half mile now,” Troy ordered as they sped along a one-lane road that twisted and turned through the dark, heavily wooded area. “When we get to four miles out, I want to stop and figure out a back way into that cemetery,” he said as he swerved to avoid a deer darting across the road in front of them. “See if you can find anything on the map, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Jack winced as he shifted in the passenger seat. The bullet had only grazed his side, and the bleeding had stopped hours ago. But the wound still hurt like hell.

“Jesus,” he muttered as the horrifying scene came rushing back to him for the umpteenth time since they’d left Brooklyn.

“What’s wrong?” Troy asked.

“A little sore from that bullet,” he answered, dodging the truth. He wanted to talk about what had happened, but he knew Troy didn’t.

“You’ll be all right. We’ll clean it out when we get home, when we’ve got Little Jack and Karen.”

They’d barely spoken during the drive south from the city.

“Six-point-five,” he called out as he glanced over at Troy. “Hey, are you—”

“I’m fine,” Troy interrupted in a steely voice. “I don’t want to talk about it. We’re gonna get L.J. and Karen, and then we’re gonna go home. Leave me alone about the other stuff, okay?”

When Jack called out “four miles,” Troy pulled off into a driveway entrance to check the map on his phone. It was a few minutes after two-thirty in the morning, so they still had almost half an hour to make it to the exchange location.

“What was that text you got earlier?” Jack asked. “Right before I got the one about Karen’s ransom.”

Troy hesitated. “I can’t tell you what it—”

“Don’t give me that,” Jack shot back. “Even if it’s RC7-related, you can’t be holding out on me at this point.”

Troy scrolled through the map on his phone for a few more seconds. “All right, I got a ‘go deep’ message.”

“Explain.”

“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.

“T
HERE’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 fucking pain in the ass.”

“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.”

“Bullshit. 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!
Damn 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
damn
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 hell 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.”

“You can’t put Red Cell Seven ahead of Karen and L.J.”

“I would never do that.”

Jack wasn’t so sure. “Well, then—”

“Are we clear?” Troy asked.

“Yeah, we’re clear all right.”

Whether or not he called 911 would be a second-to-second decision. He was going to trust himself on that one and no one else, including Troy. If a shootout exploded, they might need help.

Troy tapped Jack’s pistol. “You ready to shoot that thing?”

“Hey, don’t—”

“I’m serious,” Troy cut in, grabbing Jack by the chin and pulling it so they were staring straight into each other’s eyes. “Are you ready this time?”

Jack glared back at Troy. “I’m ready.”

Troy nodded and gave Jack a firm pat on the shoulder. “Remember, start moving when I’m halfway across the cemetery. Keep low behind the wall, and keep checking your phone.”

And then Troy was gone, up and over the wall and moving in among the tombstones toward the far side of the cemetery, carrying the heavy canvas bag.

Eyes just above the top of the wall, Jack waited until Troy’s shadow was halfway across. Then he took off, hunched down so he wouldn’t be exposed above the wall, and keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of trouble ahead.

When he reached the first corner, he hesitated and rose up. But Troy had disappeared into the darkness. The moon had slipped behind a cloudbank.

Thirty seconds later he reached the next corner, and he peered around it cautiously. Still no one around the van he could see, and no sound of a motor idling. Still no call or message from Troy, either.

Finally, his phone vibrated, and he pulled up the new text immediately. Troy had made it to the far wall and was ready to jump over and approach the van. Jack was to go over the wall now so that he was inside the cemetery, then move along the wall until they saw each other, where he was to hold until Troy went over. Then he was to rise up as well and cover Troy as Troy headed for the van, which was in the parking lot about thirty feet outside the cemetery.