Deadly Testimony (Safeguard #2)(69)

There was a brief flash, catching her eye. She froze and slowly crouched down as she peered up at the first stack. There, the short end of the container, second from the top, had tarp stretched over its end instead of two closed metal doors.

A puff of white vapor slipped out from the edge of the tarp. Hard to see, definitely. If she hadn’t been watching for it she’d have missed it.

Gotcha.

She crept in close until she was pressed to the side of the bottom container of the stack. The metal wall of its side was cold and rough with rust. It smelled metallic and salty and she wondered how many times this particular container had traveled the Pacific.

Hefting the flash grenade, she considered her options. Flash grenades were heavier than they looked and made a decent amount of sound in conjunction with the blinding flash. Once it detonated, the light from the flash grenade would sear his retinas and potentially do permanent damage.

Which was why she was going to lob it someplace else and not be looking anywhere near its direction when it went off.

There wasn’t much time before the rest of the team arrived with Kyle. This sniper needed to be neutralized and she needed to be in her own perch well before they arrived.

She yanked the pin, drew back her arm, released the handle, counted slowly to one-Mississippi and threw the flash grenade. Without waiting, she turned and began to climb as soon as it hit the ground and began to clatter along the asphalt. The tarp above her flapped slightly.

She definitely had the right location. Good. Otherwise, she’d end up shot in the back.

The flash grenade went off less than a second after bouncing, casting the metal under her hands in brilliant white light. She kept climbing, scrambling furiously now. As she reached the edge of her target container, she gathered her legs under her and launched herself into the tarps.

Heavy fabric parted for her and she plunged into darkness, hearing more than seeing the man inside. He’d been lying on the floor, close to the edge and she’d managed to land partially on him. As he rolled away from her, she managed to kick his trigger hand. His rifle fired and she kicked again, sending the rifle out and over the edge.

His knee connected hard with her cheekbone as he cursed.

She rolled onto her back and pivoted on her tailbone to bring both her legs together between them. Her two-footed kick contacted with the soft portion of his torso and she was rewarded with his grunt of pain.

In the dark, she heard the telltale click of the safety coming off his secondary weapon. Question was whether he could see her or not and how much time she had to disarm him.

She could see his faint form as a darker shadow against the black. He was in reach, she could do this. In two seconds, this would be over either way.

*

“It’s five to two.” Kyle stared at his watch. “Why aren’t we getting out of the car?”

Marc sat in the driver’s seat, dressed as a chauffeur. “Technically, we were just waiting here until it came time to drive out through the shipping container lot over there.”

Lizzy’s teammate was a genial man and tended toward a bit more easy conversation than either Lizzy or Gabriel Diaz. Despite using more words, Kyle was finding that Marc didn’t actually answer his question any more than Lizzy did until he was ready to.

Tricky conversationalist.

“All right, why are we waiting?” Kyle was trying to be patient but he was reaching his limit.

Marc was looking around them, studying the other cars and surroundings. “Surveillance cameras are all disabled, as far as I can see. Doesn’t look like Lizzy’s work though.”

“No? Is that bad?” Kyle leaned forward to peer through the tinted windows.

“Not necessarily.” Marc tapped a small radio set against the dash. It wasn’t a part of the car and didn’t look like a model Kyle had seen before. But then, he didn’t spend a lot of time noticing what was in the front of most car service vehicles. “We all break silence in a few minutes. There’ll be a set of orders and we’ll have confirmation about whether we’re proceeding as planned. If Lizzy doesn’t check in at that time, then we worry.”

Two minutes never passed so slowly.

At exactly 2:00 a.m., the radio came to life.

“Diaz here.”

Marc lifted a handset and spoke into it. “Lykke here. We’re in position.”

“Scott here.”

Kyle sat back, relief flooding through him. Everything was going to be okay if she was out there.

Diaz’s voice came across and it was grim. “We’ve run into a delay here closing up the charity event. Edict decided to pay us a visit. Guessing they anticipated you’d try to meet up with the team but they missed you. Ash and I are a minimum of thirty mike out. You’re going to have to stall.”

Kyle tried to swallow past a hard lump in his throat. Could they? “Who or what is Mike?”

Marc turned his head to answer over his shoulder. “Mike is minutes. Radio protocol tends to have us use ‘mike’ for minutes and ‘sierra’ for seconds. It’s a military thing.”

“Negative.” Lizzy’s voice was low and urgent. “They’re here. I have eyes on one older businessman, three bodyguards and our two targets. This situation will not remain stable for thirty mike. It’s going to be over in ten or less.”

Diaz was for a moment. “Scott, are you in position?”