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Kai went into the crowded café, scanning the interior swiftly. The crowds made her feel comfortable, but she unconsciously noted every face inside, filing them away in case one of them showed up again somewhere they didn’t belong. Her conversation with Jared the night before had left her even more cautious and wary than normal. But while she fully agreed that she needed to minimize her exposure to faces and people in the city, Kai also had no intention of hiding away in the hotel suite without coffee.
She joined the long line snaking from the door to the busy counter and glanced at her watch. She just had time to get her morning fix before making one more stop on her way to the hotel. She shifted the strap of her cross body bag on her shoulder, adjusting where the bag sat against her hip. The weight of her laptop was a reminder that this was the last day to prep for what had to be the most insane mission she’d been part of yet. Once she reached the hotel, she would work with Asher to make sure the virtual reality compound he was generating would be ready for the team and their run through this afternoon. Her lips curved faintly as a wry smile crossed her face. And run through was the operative term. They would have to move rapidly to get to Masha’al before he had any idea what was happening.
“So this is your secret distributor,” a voice said behind her.
“Not much of a secret anymore,” she said, turning to look at Asher. “How did you find me?”
“I installed a tracker on your phone,” he said with a grin. “I did it last night.”
Kai’s eyes narrowed. “And how do I stop that from ever being done again?”
“You mean after this operation is over and we go our separate ways? I’ll download an app onto your phone that will alert you if anyone else tries to do the same thing,” he promised, his eyes dancing. “But only when I’m finished with you.”
Kai couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re lucky I like you, Asher.”
“I am? Why?”
“Because if I didn’t, putting a tracker on me is enough to warrant a few broken bones at the very least.”
Asher swallowed at the look on her face.
“But you do like me, right? And besides, I only did it so that I could give you this.” He handed her the flash drive she’d given him the day before. “I didn’t think you’d want any of the others to see it.”
Kai palmed the drive, sliding it into her jeans pocket. “You’re right. I don’t. Were you able to find something?”
“Of course I was.”
She raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Well?”
“I matched the shadows to a make and model of helicopter, but you’re not going to like it,” he said in a low voice. “I know I don’t like it.”
She frowned, studying his face. “Are you going to tell me, or do I guess?”
“It’s all on the drive. I got a match on the chopper and then cross-referenced it with all flight plans logged at that time. There’s only one possibility. I triple checked to be sure.”
It was obvious that Asher was rattled about the results of his check, and Kai’s frown deepened.
“You’re next,” he said, nodding towards the counter.
She turned and went to place her order, moving along the counter as they prepared her tall black coffee. A moment later, she had paid and had it in hand while Asher was getting his own. She moved away from the counter, sipping the strong, fragrant blend with satisfaction. Thoughts of helicopters and Asher’s obvious discomfort with the flight that had visited Masha’al that day evaporated as she enjoyed that first sip. She hated the city, but there was no denying the Egyptians knew how to make an outstanding cup of coffee.
“Oh my God, this is awesome,” Asher exclaimed, joining her with his own cup. “How did you know about this place?”
“I found it last year. I won’t get my coffee anywhere else when I’m in Cairo.”
“I don’t blame you.” Asher glanced at her. “You know what I’ve been meaning to ask you? Why are you staying in a little hole-in-the-wall hotel all on your own? Why not the same hotel as the rest of us?”
She smiled faintly. “I like being alone.”
“So do I, but I also like not traveling across the city to get to work.” Asher sipped his coffee. “Although, I’d travel across town for this every morning. I’m glad I hunted you down.” They stepped outside and he looked at her. “Are you coming back to the hotel? We can share a taxi.”
“You go ahead. I have one more stop first,” she told him. “Thank you for tracking down the helicopter for me.”
He nodded and met her gaze soberly. “I don’t know what that’s all about, Ruby, but it’s not good,” he said in a low, urgent voice. “If you’re planning on doing anything with that information, you need to be very careful. That’s a road that I wouldn’t want to go down.”
“Then it’s a good thing it’s not your road to travel,” she said with a flash of white teeth. “Don’t worry about me, Asher. I’ll be just fine.”
He shook his head and shrugged. “It’s your life,” he muttered. “What you do with it is up to you. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I won’t.”
Kai watched as he headed up the street before she turned to go in the opposite direction. The frown returned to her face and she chewed the inside of her lip thoughtfully. Asher was an experienced agent, yet whatever he’d uncovered had clearly shocked him. A shiver of uneasiness went through her.
What the hell had Jared gotten her into?
Kodak looked at his watch and sidestepped a man pushing a basket on wheels filled with market shopping. The van that he was taking to his appointment was in a parking garage a few blocks away. Rina had assured him that it had a full tank of gas, and he hoped she was right. He was meeting his contact outside of Cairo and didn’t want to have to stop on the way. He was already running late.
He didn’t like using a vehicle that would be used again during an op, but they had no choice. The amount of equipment he was picking up was far too much to fit into the SUV. It had to be the van, and there was no way to avoid the arms dealer from seeing it. He may do business with these people on a regular basis, but that didn’t mean he trusted them. Oh, they were careful and discreet enough when it came to the transaction, but people were people, and people got curious. The last thing any of them needed was a curious supplier tracking the van down tomorrow.
Kodak shook his head as he strode through the morning throng crowding the city street. They would put clean plates on it before taking it out to Tanta tomorrow, but he still felt uncomfortable using the van today. Rina had told him to stop being ridiculous, and she was probably right. He was being overly cautious, but he really wasn’t happy with this whole operation. It was too rushed, and something was niggling him in his gut. It was a feeling he never liked, as it almost always preceded a huge, god-awful mess. The last time he had this feeling, he’d escaped out an eighth-story window and down a rusted fire ladder that snapped off the building halfway down. It was only by some miracle that he’d managed to grab hold of the edge of a balcony. The target had been eliminated, and he’d gotten away safely, but it had been damn close.
And now here he was, with the same feeling in his gut on the eve of one of the most insane operations he’d ever been part of.
It was of absolutely no comfort that all of them were experienced and deadly agents. If anything, that only seemed to make it worse. A whole team of assassins? It was a recipe for disaster...or brilliance. He still hadn’t decided which.
He turned into an alley that would cut through to the back of the parking garage, glancing over his shoulder as he did so. He knew there was no possibility of being followed, but he looked anyway. Better to be safe than dead.
Turning his head forward again, he sucked in his breath and his heart surged into his throat as a figure moved in front of him, blocking his progress. Reacting on instinct and without thought, Kodak swept his foot forward, making contact with the person’s ankle and throwing them off balance at the same time that his left hand grasped their throat. Spinning, he slammed the body against the side of the building, his fingers squeezing. He focused on the face pinned against the wall a split second before a fist buried itself in his sternum.
“Ruby!” he choked out, releasing her as he doubled over, the air forced out of him.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you,” Kai said, glancing down at him as she moved away from the wall. “You okay?”
Kodak gagged and sucked in air, looking up at her.
“Do I look okay?” he demanded hoarsely. “God, woman! Do you have brass knuckles?”
“You shouldn’t have grabbed my throat!” she exclaimed, reaching out to help him straighten up. “What was that all about?”
“Reflexes.” He took a deep breath and a dull pain spread over his abdomen. That was going to be a bruise. “I wasn’t expecting someone to surprise me.”
She looked at him for a minute, then smiled sheepishly. “Fair enough,” she admitted. “I’m sorry. I was trying to catch you before you left for the shopping.”
He looked down at her and turned to continue down the alley. “Well, you caught me. What’s up?”
“Remember the other day when you said if I got into a bind, you’d consider passing on the name of your supplier?” she asked, falling into step beside him.
“Yes.” When she didn’t answer, he stopped and looked at her with a frown. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know yet, but I think it might be a good time to be prepared for anything,” she said with a shrug. “Something’s not right.”
“We’re all on edge,” he said after a second of silence. “It’s because this whole operation is not what we’re used to, and we’re being forced to rush it. That’s all.”
“It’s not the op,” she said slowly, “although, you’re right about that. It’ll be a miracle if we pull it off.”
“If not the op, then what?”
“It’s something else,” she said evasively. “All I can tell you is that things are going in a direction that I don’t like. I want to have a contingency plan in place in case I need it.”
“What kind of contingency plan?”
“The kind where I can get gear and get gone without Mossad knowing anything about it,” she said bluntly. “And before you get all disapproving on me, I’m not talking about going rogue and turning on the agency. Far from it.”
“Really? Because that’s what it sounds like to me.” Kodak shook his head and stared down at her. “If you’re not trying to get out, then what?”
She bit her bottom lip for a second, the only indication of indecision in her emotionless face.
“I may have got in the middle of something more complicated than I was expecting,” she finally told him. “I just want to know that I have access to untraceable hardware if I need it. That’s really all I can tell you.”
Her eyes met his and Kodak could see the worry in them. He pressed his lips together and stared into her face, a surge of something like protectiveness going through him. The feeling made him almost smile. Ruby was one of the last women he knew that would ever need protecting.
“You’re sure?” he asked. “These aren’t people you want to know unless you have to.”
“I’m sure.”
He stared at her hard for a minute, then nodded slowly. “All right. I’ll talk to them when I get there. No promises.”
She smiled. “Understood. Thank you.”
He shook his head and started walking again. “Don’t thank me yet. As I said, these aren’t people you want to know unless it’s necessary.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” she said dryly, her lips curving humorously. “But I wouldn’t exactly consider myself as harmless. I can take care of myself.”
Kodak looked at her with a grin. “No doubt, and that’s the only reason I’m agreeing to this. I like you Ruby, but you’ve got a mean streak that even I wouldn’t mess with. Just be aware that they’ll slit your throat for less than half what you pay them for firepower if they think it will benefit them.”
The smile that crossed her face was chilling and he shivered despite the Egyptian heat.
“I’ll take my chances.”
“Shira’s in,” Raj announced, sliding his phone into his pocket as he walked towards the small group in the center of a large, empty warehouse on the outskirts of the city. “She made contact with the real cook and was able to convince her to send her as a temporary replacement.”
“How the hell did she manage to do that?” Rina demanded, looking up from where she was peering over Asher’s shoulder at one of the screens in front of him.
“I keep telling you that she’s got skills,” he said, shaking his head. “All of you need to learn to have some faith.”
“She actually got a recommendation from her?” Kai asked, surprised. “Did it work?”
“Of course it did. The real cook called them on her cell phone and sent them a photo of Shira. When Shira showed up this morning, they were waiting for her. She’s in and it’s all good.”
“There’s no wifi to the compound,” Asher said, looking up. “How are they using data on their cell phones?”
“Burners, most likely,” Rina said, straightening up and stretching. “Or they’re buying data by the month.”
“If they have cell phones, they have internet. I was told they didn’t have internet,” Asher said with a frown.
“Is that a problem?” Raj asked.
“Of course it’s a problem! It means they can have security measures in place.”
“We already knew that was a possibility,” Kai said. “Why is it a problem now?”
“It’s one thing to have an in-house, closed-circuit surveillance system in place. It’s another to have outside access to security footage. I’ll have to locate the link and shut it down before any of their cameras pick us up.”
“In case they’re sending it to a server off-site?” Rina asked. “Don’t you think that’s unlikely given what we know of Masha’al? He’s not exactly known for riding the technology train.”
“He’s not, but one of his men may be,” Kai said. “Asher’s right. If there’s an outside server, we need to shut the cameras down before they can transmit images of us.”
“I won’t be able to do it until I’m inside,” Asher said, turning to look at her. “If it’s closed circuit, and I’m sure it is, I have to physically hack into the camera system.”
“What if they’re wireless?” Raj asked.
“They can’t be. There’s no wifi for them to run off of. They have to be wired. If I can access one, I can control them all and sever the links, but that means physically being at one of the cameras.”
“The SEALs will cut all power to the compound,” Rina said after a moment. “Once that’s done, the cameras will be useless anyway. Can’t we just avoid them until then?”
“We can, but Raj and Kodak will be picked up as soon as they go on to the property,” Kai said. “We won’t be coming out of the tunnel until the Americans cut the power, but they don’t have that luxury.”
“Can they wear something to cover their face?” Asher asked.
“No. Shira will need to recognize Raj.”
“You guys are worrying about something that you don’t need to worry about,” Raj said. “Shira can shift the cameras so they don’t catch us. No problem.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Kai said irritably. “They’ll notice as soon as one of the cameras shifts, especially with two strangers on the property.”
“And they won’t notice if all the cameras go down when he hacks into them?” he retorted.
“No, because Asher’s not talking about taking them down. Hacking into them doesn’t mean taking them down. Use your head, Raj.”
“I’ll record the images and create a loop that will play when you and Kodak are in the camera frame,” Asher explained. “The cameras will never go down, but you won’t be in the images.”
“Won’t they realize there are two men wandering around that aren’t showing up on the security footage?”
“They’ll assume they’re in another part of the building, if they even notice,” Rina said. “Chances are they won’t.”
“This is all if they even have someone monitoring the security footage in real time,” Kai said. “The camera feed might go to a server and sit there until they want to see something from it.”
“Then why the hell are we even discussing this?” Raj exclaimed. “There’s nothing to worry about!”
“That doesn’t mean we go in unprepared,” Rina said. “God, Raj, were you always so stupid?”
Before he could answer, the sliding door to the warehouse was thrown open and mid-afternoon sunlight streamed in. They all turned to watch as Kodak got back behind the wheel of the black van and shifted it into gear, pulling it into the warehouse.
“Oh good! The toys are here,” Rina said, turning to move towards the van. “We can go through it and make sure it’s all there.”
The engine shut off and Kodak opened the door to climb out of the van.
“Sorry I’m late. I came straight from the pick-up. Did you start yet?”
“No. We were waiting for you,” Kai said, walking towards the van. “Did you get everything?”
“Yep.” He jogged back to the warehouse door and yanked the chain to pull it down again. “Ask and you shall receive. Or, in this case, I shall receive and distribute.”
Rina reached the back of the van and opened the door. She let out a low whistle and climbed up onto the back fender.
“That’s a lot of boxes,” she said. “Everything’s here?”
“I checked as they loaded it,” he said. “I don’t trust anyone. It’s all there.”
Kai climbed into the van to join Rina. Boxes of all shapes and sizes were stacked on top of each other, taking up most of the space in the back of the van. She opened one close to her and pulled out a Sig Sauer, inspecting it.
“Good,” she said, checking the empty chamber. “Bullets?”
“In that one there,” Kodak said, motioning to another box.
She turned to open the indicated box and nodded in satisfaction at the sight of boxes of ammunition.
“It’s like Christmas,” Rina said. “I could get used to this.”
Kai chuckled and pulled a cartridge out of a different box, loading the pistol in her hand.
“Where’s Jared? He should be here, seeing as he paid for it all.”
“Well, he didn’t personally pay for it,” Kodak said, “but yeah, where is he?”
“He’s on his way,” Rina said, opening another box. “He was picking up food.”
“That man will make us all fat,” Kai said. “I swear he thinks we’re starving.”
“I, for one, am not complaining,” Kodak said. “I’ll take food anytime it’s offered.”
“We can tell,” Raj said, coming around the back of the van with Asher.
Rina raised her eyebrows and glanced at Kodak. “I think he just called you fat.”
“I’m confident in my body,” he replied with a grin. “And at least I don’t wear silk shirts.”
“Thank God,” Kai muttered, turning away from the crate of black explosive discs.
“I look good in my silk shirts,” Raj said, looking at all the boxes in the van. “Better than any of you. Did you get the charges?”
“Yes. It’s all there.”
“Awesome. Hey Ruby, can you look for them and pull them out for me?”
Kai raised an eyebrow. “What do I look like?” she asked. “Come up here and do it yourself.”
“What’s with the attitude?” he demanded. “It was just a question.”
“And I gave you an answer.”
“Oh this should be good,” Rina murmured, an unholy twinkle in her eyes.
“Is it that time of the month? Is that the problem?”
“You know, why is it that when we refuse to do something, suddenly we must be on our period?” Kai asked Rina. “How is that the only explanation for not being in the mood to deal with bullshit?”
“Because that’s the only time you people get irrational,” Raj piped up, grabbing the side of the van and stepping up onto the fender.
“It’s irrational to refuse to dig out your gear for you?” Kai asked softly. “Imagine that.”
“Ok. Not irrational. Bitchy. Is that better?”
“If you want bitchy, I can give you bitchy.”
“I don’t doubt it, but how about you move out of the way so I can look for my charges?”
Kodak’s eyes widened and even Asher took a step backwards, his mouth dropping open. There was a split second of total silence as Kai’s eyes narrowed sharply and her lips tightened. Picking up the Sig Sauer again, she turned swiftly and raised her arm. Without blinking, she fired into Raj’s forehead at point blank range.
