Deep Sleep (Devin Gray #1)(20)

“Maybe less,” said Gentry. “Someone could slip into his apartment during the day and leave something. We’d never know. If he runs a solid surveillance-detection route, we don’t have enough assets to track him.”

“If he runs a remotely competent SDR, we’ll lose him, and don’t even get me started on his apartment. No listening devices or cameras authorized?” said Ward. “This almost feels like pointless busywork.”

“What are you talking about? We’ll be using tracking devices,” said Rudd. “CONTROL made it clear that aside from Sandy, they want us to keep our distance. He’s a trained countersurveillance expert. Former FBI intelligence investigator. This guy spies on spies for a living.”

“We all read that in the data packet,” said Walsh. “But his SDR might involve the Metro, an Uber, a public bus, changing vehicles. If he’s as good as his file suggests, we don’t stand a chance of following him without making it really obvious.”

“And he probably sweeps his vehicle for bugs,” said Gentry. “I agree with Leo. CONTROL can’t seriously think we’ll be able to keep good enough track of him. I bet they’re prepositioning us for a hit. They probably have an entirely different team—a specialist group—looking for Berg or other contacts of interest. If Berg or someone else shows up, they’ll call us off our pointless surveillance and ready us for action. Why else would they change Berg’s status?”

Rudd considered Rick’s theory for a moment. It didn’t actually sound that far-fetched, given the reality of their next-to-impossible assignment. Jolene had said as much before everyone had showed up, and he’d agreed. CONTROL was asking the B-team, more like the C-team, to do a job meant for the A-team. Looking at it from Rick’s perspective made a lot of sense.

“We’d already be familiar with his daily routine. His favorite restaurants, coffee shops, shopping stops. His habits,” said Rudd. “Taking him out would be a simple job for this over-the-hill crew.”

“Why not just tell us all of that up front?” asked Sandy. “If it’s even true.”

“Probably because they see some value in our surveillance and want us focusing on one job at a time,” said Rudd. “It won’t be a perfect surveillance job—”

“Not even close,” said Gentry.

“They know that. They have to know that,” said Rudd. “By putting us on the job, no matter how futile it turns out to be, they gain more surveillance coverage than they had before—without eating into their limited pool of specialists. This job would be near impossible for even the best in the business, especially given Gray’s background. I think they’re parking us on Gray in case they decide to eliminate him. If we happen to stumble on a clue to the whereabouts of his mother’s suspected hideaway or catch him meeting up with Karl Berg, all the better.”

“We’re just pulling stuff out of our asses right now,” said Clark.

“This is brainstorming,” said Rudd.

“This is pointless,” said Clark. “We execute CONTROL’s orders to the best of our ability. Just like we’ve always done. If they decide to kill him, we kill him. Until then, we watch him. That’s it. I don’t understand why we’re yakking about this. We do what CONTROL tells us to do. Period. Any questions?”

“Okay then,” said Walsh, rolling his eyes. “I guess that’s it.”

“Always a pleasure,” added Sandy, nodding at Clark.

Rudd still didn’t understand why they had been brought together like this. The one thing CONTROL had most definitely accomplished with this awkward, impromptu social gathering was to drive home the fact that he wouldn’t miss any of them when this was over. Maybe that had been a part of their intention. If so—mission accomplished. He hoped to never see any of them again after this trip.

Rudd had the same thought again, ten minutes later, after he’d backed their loaded SUV out of the garage and stopped at the bottom of the driveway. He pressed the garage remote and took Jolene’s hand, watching the bay door slowly close on the home they had shared for close to three decades. If his instinct about this upcoming mission proved correct, this would be the last time he looked at their house. Oddly, he wasn’t sad. He felt more relieved than anything. A little excited, even.

“I’m ready to move on from this place,” he said. “All of it, if that’s what they intend.”

She squeezed his hand. “Me too. Just promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“I get to kill Gray.”

“Only if CONTROL orders it,” said Rudd, kissing her cheek.

“Of course,” she said. “I’m not a psychopath.”

They both chuckled a little. That was one of the many things he loved about Jolene. Her sense of humor. Of course, she was a psychopath. They all were. How could they not be—and still do this cold-blooded work for all these years?





CHAPTER 10


Devin dropped his toothbrush in the stainless-steel cup next to the bathroom sink and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked like shit, to put it mildly. The past ten days had taken an unexpected physical toll on him. He’d expected the emotional wipeout, which he understood would knock him down a few notches physically. But this was something entirely different. He felt as he had when he’d woken up the morning after his first marathon. Every marathon, for that matter. Utterly spent and fatigued to the bone.