Blood and Fire (McClouds & Friends #8)(84)

“I want the cops to be able to look at it,” Bruno said. “I don’t want those bastards to be able to retrieve it. And I don’t want that nurse bitch to have an easy ride. Let her hike in the snow if she’s still alive. Let’s go, before they come down on us.”

“Who the f*ck is ‘they’?” Sean’s voice was harsh with frustration.

“If I knew, I’d cut the head off the snake and burn it,” Bruno said.

They took off the chain, hiked up the steep road to the cabin. Bruno bundled her into the back of Sean’s Jeep, then pushed her to the middle seat and got in himself, fastening the seat belt over her.

Sean’s bright gaze did not miss the proprietary way that Bruno pulled her close to lay on his shoulder. “Rest,” he said.

McCloud’s grin flashed. “If you can. I’m going to go way too fast for the driving conditions.”

“Punch it,” Bruno said fervently.

Lily’s head rocked back as the vehicle leaped forward.

Bruno leaned forward as they rattled and bounced. “Hey.”

“Yeah?” McCloud shouted back. “Speak up.”

“Thanks, for helping,” Bruno blurted. “Sorry. About before.”

McCloud slewed the vehicle around the hairpin curve and gunned the engine as soon as they were on the straight stretch. “Wait until we’re safe to thank me. I’ll enjoy it better when I can gloat.”

“Don’t wait,” Lily said. “Get it while you can.”

The men glanced at her. She looked back. Like it had to be said.

There wasn’t any safe, anymore. Ever again.





“Try her again,” King rapped out.

“I just did,” Hobart told him. “She’s not responding. And I can’t—”

“If I hear you say the words ‘I can’t’ one more time, I will pull up your Level Ten mortal command sequences right now. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Hobart’s frantic typing filtered through the microphone.

King stared at the large screen. There were insets on the side, one of which displayed Hobart’s pinched face. The agent who had been, along with Melanie, inexplicably left behind. The other insets were charts showing the vital signs of the four operatives who had gone on this ill-fated mission. Three were flatlined. The other was close.

His anger was crippling. It was difficult even to breathe, let alone think. He could not believe that mistakes this hug could be made by his own operatives. How in the hell . . . ? It made his brain hurt.

The rest of the screen was filled with a satellite image that showed a dense, waving mass of conifers. The microchip in Zoe’s clavicle blipped in a mass of rocks near a creek. She was not visible. Her chart showed an erratic heartbeat, a falling temperature. Manfred, Jeremy, and Hal were cooling fast. Three hundred million dollars, turned into buzzard bait. “Show me the view from Zoe’s com,” he barked.

“Yes, sir.” Desperate tapping, and the picture transformed into an indistinct blur. Rocks covered with waving fronds of fuzz.

Oh, for God’s sake. It was underwater. Of course Zoe was not answering her com. It had been dropped in the creek.

“Sir?” a timid voice offered. “Here is the coffee that you—”

“Get away from me while I’m busy,” he snarled at Julian, who was presenting the coffee and the plate of cookies dipped in dark chocolate.

Julian scuttled away. It occurred to King that he had, in fact, ordered the snack. But a special series trainee so close to the end of his training should have the sensitivity to intuit a good moment to serve it.

“Explain to me again why you and Melanie are in Tacoma, thumbs fully inserted up your asses, a six-hour drive away from this disaster.”

Hobart passed the buck. “Ah . . . ah . . . well, Zoe was team leader, and I . . . ah . . . she’d decided that speed was crucial, so she, ah . . . well, our intelligence indicated that McCloud was going to be—”

“Do not speak of intelligence,” King cut in. “That quality has not been demonstrated to me, certainly not by you. No one else available? What about Nadia? She’s had three times as much combat experience as you, Hal, or Jeremy. Why was she not on the team?”

“Uh . . . uh . . . well, Zoe assigned her to Aaro, and he—”

“Who the hell is Aaro?” he bellowed.

“An associate of the McClouds. He transported Ranieri and Parr to the cabin after the fight at the diner. Zoe wanted Nadia to plant tracking and spy software on Aaro’s phone, and the only way—”

“Planting tracking software took precedence over this mission? How far is she from the cabin? Patch her in to me immediately.”

“Um . . . there’s a problem. With Nadia.”

“What?” he roared.

“Well, uh . . . she’s dead.” Hobart’s voice was a miserable croak.

King went very cold. Several seconds ticked by. “Explain.”

“She, ah . . . her cell phone just exploded. Twenty minutes ago.”

King struggled for self-control. “It took you twenty minutes to come to the conclusion that this fact might be of interest to me?”

Hobart began a gabbling litany of excuses. King called up Nadia’s signal to see for himself. Sure enough. Flatlined. “Where is her body?”