Hunt Them Down(55)

Then the doorbell rang. What the fuck?





CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Hallandale Beach, Florida

Hunt spotted a dark late-model Range Rover turning into the parking lot.

“Is that him?” he asked.

“Yes.”

A moment later, Tony and Tasis climbed out of the car. Anna unlocked the doors of the Jeep, and both men joined them inside.

“Get your stuff, and move it to the Range Rover. Mauricio will dispose of the Jeep,” Tony said without preamble.

“But Tony, I thought you wanted me to help with—” started Tasis, but Tony cut him off.

“Mauricio, take the Jeep, do what you got to do, and then go back to the compound. Make sure the guys fixed Anna’s issue. I don’t want the body to pop up, so burn it if you can. I’ll call you if I need your assistance. Understood?”

Anna’s issue? Burn it if you can? What the hell is Tony talking about?

Hunt looked at Anna. She was massaging her neck. She locked eyes with him and shook her head. “Not now. Please.”

“You didn’t tell him?” Tony asked.

“Tell me what?” Hunt asked.

It was Tony’s turn to look at his sister, a scowl of annoyance on his face. “Tell him.”

Hunt didn’t like to be kept in the dark, but what he liked even less was Anna being bullied into revealing something she was clearly not ready to divulge.

“She said later, Tony. Let it go.”

Anna thanked Hunt with a small nod.

Tony’s body tensed, but he let it go. “Whatever,” he said, and then turned toward Tasis. “You can go, Mauricio.”

Hunt could see Tasis wasn’t thrilled about leaving his boss with Hunt.

“Give me the damn keys, Hunt,” Tasis said.

Hunt grabbed his backpack and the rest of his gear and handed the Jeep’s keys to Tasis.

“Okay, let’s go,” Tony said.

Tony got behind the Range Rover’s wheel while Hunt took the passenger seat. Anna settled in the back seat with her computer and mobile phone. A moment later, the Jeep exited the parking lot and accelerated away. Hunt was glad to see it go. It had become a liability.

Tony shifted in his seat and handed Hunt and Anna a small digital radio and an earpiece each. “So what’s the plan?”



“If Anna can open the front gate, shouldn’t we go in this way?” Tony asked after Hunt shared his plan.

“Absolutely not,” Hunt said. “They’d see us coming.”

“And there would be no way for me to hide the fact that the gate is being opened remotely,” Anna added.

“It would tip our hand, Tony,” Hunt explained. “Better to approach stealthily by the beach, get in position, and then let Anna work her magic.”

Tony thought it over for a minute and then said, “Are you sure they’ll come out of the house?”

“Not at all.”

“If they don’t, we’re fucked.”

That was stating the obvious. The objective was to get covertly in position with Tony at the front door and Hunt waiting by the large patio door at the back of the house. Once they were in place, Anna would remotely activate one of the motion sensors in the backyard to draw at least one man out to the back. Because Hunt wanted to get in the house by two different entry points—from the door leading to the rear terrace and the front door—they needed someone to unlock the patio door, as Anna had determined there were no electronic locks she could hack at the back of the house. The moment Hunt confirmed he had gained access, Tony would enter from the front door, the point of entry where Hunt expected the least resistance.

That was the plan, anyway.



Hunt took a gamble. A calculated one, but a gamble nonetheless. Anna told him there were motion detectors but couldn’t say what kind they were. Motion sensors usually fell into two categories. There were those that worked by infrared—heat sensors—and those that worked by ultrasound. The infrared motion detectors detected infrared energy—heat—given off by animals or humans. When there was an upsurge in infrared energy, the alarm sounded. They worked well outside in cold-climate countries, or inside any residence, but they weren’t the best in Florida. With nighttime temperatures often reaching the midnineties, the sensors weren’t effective at distinguishing a human from the ambient air. With that in mind, Hunt bet that the outside motion detectors were ultrasonic devices. If he was wrong, he’d know soon enough, and their plan would go bust.

After parking the Range Rover on a side street, they found a public pathway to the beach about a dozen or so mansions north of the Black Tosca’s safe house.

“How will you know if it works?” Tony asked.

“If no light comes on, it means it’s working,” Hunt said. A bead of sweat rolled down his back. It was a warm and muggy night. There was no breeze, which was unusual. Crouched on the beach with his back toward the ocean, Hunt scrutinized the house with his ATN night-vision monocular. Was Leila there, only two hundred feet away? He was sure that, right behind him, Tony was wondering the exact same thing about his daughter. Hunt didn’t like what he was seeing with his monocular. The house was in total darkness. Not a single light was on.

It could be a trap. He said so to Tony.

“What choice do we have?”