Code Name: Nanny (SEAL and Code Name #5)(80)

Glass struck glass, then more silence. Had Underhill lied? Was the code correct?

Sweat trickled into her eyes, but she didn’t move to blink it away.

Noise discipline was a bitch, she thought grimly. At least she wasn’t hunkered down in a wall of bushes near the Schuylkill River, surrounded by hungry mosquitoes, like her last assignment. She still had marks from the mosquito bites, along with a nasty knife scar at her ankle as a memento.

She tried to relax. Gabe was damned good, judging by what she’d seen so far.

Air hissed across her face as the air-conditioning kicked in.

One minute left.

Peering down through the open grate she saw Gabe shove something inside his nylon vest. When he looked up, she gestured sharply.

Get up here. Now.

He nodded, checking the flap pocket on his tactical vest. He was below the ventilation grid when booted feet approached, echoing loudly in the night. Something moved at the edge of Summer’s vision—not a uniformed security guard, but a pair of dusty feet.

A boy with crooked teeth and a torn Arizona Diamondbacks shirt slipped out from behind a lab table, staring warily at Gabe. The boy’s eyes widened when he looked up, seeing Summer and the open grate at the ceiling.

The thought of knocking out a kid was repugnant, but Gabe wouldn’t have much choice with a guard coming.

She looked down at the boy and managed a smile, then held a finger over her lips. His dark eyes grew even wider as he stared first at Gabe, then up at her. Summer realized her jacket had shifted, revealing a line of jagged scar tissue above her wrist. The boy looked at the skin gravely.

A dog barked somewhere nearby, the sound low and angry, rumbling through the lab, and Gabe took a step back, blocking the boy and motioning for him to run.

Protecting him from the dog, Summer realized, even if it cost Gabe precious seconds. But the boy’s crooked teeth flashed in a sudden, wide grin, and he shook his head, pointing to Gabe, then up at the ceiling.

He was telling Gabe to go, Summer realized.

The barking grew louder. But the boy shook his head hard, pointing up, never saying a word.

Gabe did a smooth pull up off the table, swinging into the open hole while the unseen boots hammered closer. Quickly he leaned down and slid the mesh back into place while the boy stood below them, his face grave.

A guard’s shoulders appeared. A big Doberman hurtled into view, its paws planted firmly on the boy’s shoulders. The guard laughed and nudged the boy with the butt of his gun, showing no surprise at seeing him in the lab.

Suddenly the dog’s tail began to wag, and the walkie-talkie screeched again. Impatient, the guard fiddled with the unit, barking a question at the boy, who shook his head gravely.

Gabe and Summer waited tensely. If the boy talked . . .

The guard asked more questions, and the boy shrugged, snuggling up to the dog, who lapped his face with barely contained joy. Finally the guard shoved the dog with one foot, then moved out of sight, speaking impatiently into his handset.

As Summer watched, the boy looked up once, smiled, and vanished in the other direction, the dog at his side.

The silence seemed to clutch at them as Summer and Gabe crawled back toward their access point. Gabe scrambled up, then reached down for Summer, his penlight gripped between his teeth as he pulled her up after him. Inside the shed, the bound and gagged guard was writhing vainly against the wall, but he froze at Gabe’s muttered command.

Low voices drifted toward them in the night. A truck engine growled.

“Izzy, sit-rep.”

“Path is clear. Go.”

Gabe tapped Summer’s shoulder and opened the door. Immediately humid air washed over her, and Summer realized she was soaked in sweat. She followed Gabe outside, staying close to the building and then cutting across the lawn, retracing their steps toward the back wall.

Gabe tapped his mike button twice, signaling Izzy.

“Glad you made it. Okay, you’ve got guards near the patient quarters.” Suddenly Izzy’s voice tightened. “Holy shit.”

Summer looked right and left, but saw nothing. “Guards?”

“Worse.”

Summer’s foot slipped in the grass, and she caught an unpleasant canine odor. She tapped Gabe’s shoulder, trying to warn him as a growl came out of the darkness. A moment later it was echoed by a deeper growl.

Too late for warnings.

Directly in front of them two snarling Dobermans stood blocking their exit route.





[page]chapter 29

As Gabe stepped in front of her, Summer dug into her pocket. “I’ve got the Taser gun.”

Gabe opened one of the pockets on his vest and pulled out a similar unit. “We may not have much time. These things are tested on people, not dogs.”

The two animals edged forward, their growls menacing. Somewhere a man shouted, and Gabe stretched out his hand. Two visible lines of current shot through the air. The bigger dog whined, his body going rigid. But when Summer directed a blast at the other dog, he barked sharply and kept coming.

“You’re losing charge.” As Gabe turned and aimed at the big head, a twig broke behind them. Suddenly the second dog dropped to the ground, his tail banging on the grass. To Summer’s surprise, the boy in the torn shirt walked out of the shadows and touched Summer’s arm, then pointed to the top of the wall.

Who was he, Summer wondered, and why was he here at the clinic?