Night is almost over when the chopper settles down in an industrial neighborhood. Reid can see the distant glow of a city, the softer lights of the area they are in few and far between. An old warehouse hunkers across the parking lot.
“Everybody out!” The soldiers herd Reid and his friends out onto the pavement where more are waiting for them. Drew grabs Reid’s arm, shows him a bundle the boy has hidden inside his T-shirt. So Drew managed to do it. The fabric-wrapped package smells of dust. Of course. That’s why Drew was clutching his stomach back at the prison. To protect his cargo. Reid nods to him. “All secure?”
Drew grins. “He’ll get his dust,” he says. “Exactly as you instructed.”
Reid leads the way toward the darkened warehouse, his friends staying close, Minnie practically pressed to his legs as she looks around. A small group of soldiers continue to herd them forward, weapons ready.
At least they aren’t being shot on sight. That’s an improvement over last time.
The small side door swings open and Reid enters. The place stinks of old fuel and age. He easily spots Syracuse up ahead in the wide open bay area even though Reid’s last dose of dust wore off in the helicopter on the way here. Still, he feels almost like he did on dust only now he is in full control.
He’ll take the improvements.
A soldier stands next to the fat man and Reid is shocked he recognizes him. Commander Rhymer scowls at Reid, lean face as cold as ever.
So Syracuse had a man inside all along. Reid can’t bring himself to be too surprised. But it does raise questions.
“You obviously knew where we were,” Reid says without greeting the fat man in the expensive suit, cigar clamped between his teeth. “Why the game, Syracuse?”
The man grins at him around the glowing end of his smoke. “Why do you care? You’re out, aren’t you? I kept up my end of the bargain.” He extends his thick-fingered hand.
Reid gestures to Drew who pulls out the bag of dust. Drew takes a step forward, handing it over to Syracuse, before retreating back to the pack.
“A deal is a deal.” Reid glances sideways at his friend then back at Syracuse. “Now, we’ll be going.”
The soldiers don’t budge. Neither does the aim of their guns.
Reid is hardly surprised by this, either. “Our bargain is done,” Reid says. “We agreed.”
Syracuse nods and draws a big puff from his cigar, the smoke spiraling upward to the single bulb flickering overhead. He stands under the glow as though it’s meant for him alone, a fat man in a spotlight. It’s only then Reid realizes Lucy is hiding behind him.
He knows the smell of her anywhere.
“Now, now,” Syracuse says. “Let’s not be hasty. There is more business open to us, Reid. You and I, we make a good team, yes?” Reid doesn’t say anything. Just scowls. Syracuse takes a step forward, out of the light and into Reid’s reach. The man is either supremely sure of himself or wants Reid to think he is.
“Listen,” he says softly, “I know how you’ve been treated. How I’ve treated you. Hell, I’d want to cut and run too. But this thing, it’s not over yet.” Smoke wafts upward, tickling Reid’s nose.
“Go on,” he says while his friends shuffle uncomfortably around him.
Syracuse grins. “There’s no love lost here, boy. Not between us. But there’s less for her.” Reid knows who the man means. Dr. Lund. “And you know she’ll never stop looking for you.”
“You didn’t kill her?” Reid already knows the answer. Of course that got screwed up. She is way too slippery to be caught so easily.
“Sadly, no.” Syracuse takes another drag, lets it drift out between his thick lips. “Not for lack of trying.” His growled unhappiness is the first utter truth he’s spoken since Reid got there. “But we’re still looking, trust me.”
“Then why do you need us?”
“You want the chance to kill her yourself, don’t you?” The fat man’s fingers flick the ash from his cigar. “To exact your revenge?”
Reid shrugs. There’s been enough killing. Well, almost enough. His eyes flicker to Lucy and back again.
“I can offer you the chance to kill her. And rescue your girlfriend.” Syracuse leans back. “If those things are important to you, that is.”
Leila. “How do you know about her?” Rhymer. Has to be. Damn it.
It’s Syracuse’s turn to shrug, the action shifting his enormous weight and dropping it so his belly jiggles. “It’s not like I didn’t know what was happening. Reid, I needed to know I could trust you.” He winks. “I was going to have my man here contact you shortly. But you got to me first. Clever. Don’t know how you did it. But very, very clever.” He digs into his suit pocket and holds up a hand-held device. Reid hears Marcus gasp softly. They both recognize it.
GPS.
“I know the manifest of you all, you see,” Syracuse says. “I’ve seen the roster. And she’s not here.” He wiggles the screen at Reid.
“Reid,” Drew whispers. “We have to get out of here.”
He nods but he’s not listening, not really.
“Drew’s right,” Marcus says from his other side. “He betrayed us once. He’ll do it again. We’ll find her, Reid. But not this way.”
“What about the others.” Reid ignores his friends. “The rest of the pack.”
Syracuse makes a face. “Most of them were killed protecting Dr. Lund when she escaped. I think she managed to take one or two with her.”
“Leila,” Reid says.
Syracuse just smiles and smokes.
“What did you need our dust for, then?” Drew’s voice is deeper than normal, full of emotion. “Your soldiers could have harvested plenty for you.”
“Unfortunately, the entire place was destroyed by a bit of a missile.” Syracuse giggles like a girl. “Made a nice mess, from what I understand. I lost some good men.” He sobers at that, nods to the soldiers around him. “But it was worth it.”
His men. Not the regular army then. What happened to Syracuse’s friend, the general? As usual, nothing is as it seems.
“So how are we supposed to find Dr. Lund?” Marcus speaks up next. “She’s bound to have gone to ground. If I were her, I’d have a secondary location already chosen the moment I moved into the first one.”
Reid nods. Marcus is right, his father’s military background serving them for once.
“That’s obvious, isn’t it? You hunt.” Syracuse steps back. “You work for me, make it as clear as you can you’re out there, killing. And she’ll come to you. Come now,” he says as Reid is about to protest the logic and the necessity of killing. “You know how insane she is. She will be watching and waiting. And the moment she catches even a hint of activity, she’ll be all over this place.”
Reid hesitates. He doesn’t want to listen but the plan sounds like a good one. Better than fighting their way out of the heavily armed warehouse.
“Then what?” He knows there is much more to the fat man’s plans beyond killing Dr. Lund.
“You take care of her and the rest of that pack of hers,” Syracuse says. “And then you go free.”
Like that’s ever going to happen. Still, they need a safe place to regroup and get their bearings. This seems like as good a spot as any. And as much as he hates to keep working with Syracuse, it means Lucy is close by. And he’s fine with that.
He won’t have to go far to catch her when the time comes.
“We want the GPS chips in us removed.” He already knows the answer to that request but gives it a try anyway.
“After this is over,” Syracuse says smoothly. “I want to be sure I can keep an eye on all of you. Just in case you need me.”
It’s disgusting and horrible and maybe the worst thing he can do, but Reid sucks up his hatred and fury and agrees.
***