Rios and Lim squatted low on the flat roof of the empty office building. It sat across the street from the address they’d come to scout.
The compact black heli-drone was fresh out of the box. Charged and ready to go, but with maddening instructions – a tiny quick-start manual with arrows, pictures and very little in the way of clarity.
‘Where did they get this thing?’ Rios asked.
‘I don’t know, but the instructions are in Farsi,’ Lim said.
‘You don’t speak it?’
‘I’m rusty.’ Lim shone a penlight on the folded-out instruction sheet before screwing it up and tossing it away. ‘Let me…’ Lim pushed her way in front of Rios and reached beneath the body of the drone.
‘What are you doing?’ Rios asked.
‘Pressing all the buttons at once,’ Lim said.
As if by magic, a thin strip of red and blue lights blinked into life on the side of the drone. They held steady.
‘Huh,’ Rios said in surprise.
‘Works every time,’ said Lim.
The drone reminded Rios of a bug, with four legs and a twin pair of rotors. Lim picked up the accompanying tablet and pushed the start button. The miniature rotors whirred into life. Rios watched as she moved her finger over the pad and the drone lifted in near silence into the night air. The screen on the tablet displayed a bird’s-eye view of the street from the camera on the underside of the drone.
As Lim piloted the drone high across the street, Rios returned to her comfort zone – belly down on a rooftop. She rested her elbows on the ledge and peered through the night-sighting on her G28 rifle. There was little-to-no activity in the surrounding neighbourhood, so Rios turned on the laser microphone attached to the top of the barrel. She removed her earpiece, plugged in a new one paired with the rifle and turned up the volume.
Rios scanned the building across the street. ‘So I guess you’re like me, huh?’
‘Like you, how?’ Lim answered.
‘We’re the criminals of the group,’ Rios continued. ‘You trust any of ’em?’
‘Trust is irrelevant,’ Lim said.
‘But do you?’ Rios asked, sweeping floor to floor with the laser.
‘There is one thing I know,’ Lim said, ‘Gilmore doesn’t trust us. And neither do the others.’
Rios took her eye from the rifle sight. ‘They said that?’
‘They don’t have to,’ Lim replied, getting to grips with the drone.
‘Then us bad girls better stick together,’ Rios said. ‘I’ll watch your back if you watch mine.’
Lim looked across at Rios. It was a stern, sincere stare that reminded her of Sister Carolina, from her days at the Santo Niño orphanage. ‘In this business, you watch your own back,’ she said, returning her eyes to the screen. ‘And only your own.’
Rios refocused on the building across the street. She aimed the laser through a window, picking up the sounds of footsteps and Wells grumbling to himself.
‘You see anything?’ Rios asked Lim, keeping her eye behind the sight.
‘No,’ Lim said. ‘You hear anything?’
‘Only a gringo whining about the stink of piss.’ Rios swept the laser to the right of the building, across the top floor. There was a gap in a boarded window, through which she could direct the beam. ‘Wait, I’ve got music. Sounds like opera.’
‘Switching to thermal imaging,’ Lim said.
Rios peered up into the night sky and saw the drone hover over the top of the building.
Rios looked over her shoulder at the image on the tablet. White heat signatures moved around different parts of the fourth floor.
‘Think I’ve got something,’ Lim said.
Rios aimed the laser in through a skylight. ‘Me too… I’ve got voices. Can’t make out what they’re saying. Music’s too loud. What are you seeing?’
‘I’m counting four individuals,’ Lim said, showing her the tablet. ‘At least one of them armed.’
Rios watched three white figures surround another. ‘Night Owl, come in.’
‘Go ahead Night Cap,’ Wells said.
‘Potential hostiles on the fourth floor. East corner.’
‘Copy that, Night Cap,’ Wells said. ‘I’m on my way.’
Lim shook her head, her eyes glued the screen. ‘That’s not good.’
‘What’s not good?’
‘Driver’s walking into trouble,’ Lim said.
Rios pressed a finger against her ear. ‘Night Fox, do you read? Maintain your position. Wait for Night Owl.’
‘Say again?’ Driver replied. ‘I can’t hear over the music.’
‘Hostiles in the east corner,’ Lim said.
‘I can’t hear,’ Driver continued. ‘I’m checking it out.’
Lim watched Driver’s heat signature moving towards the room where the music was playing. She was going in unsighted, her judgement clouded by whatever thing she had going on with McNeil. It was a stupid-ass move, her mind ruled by revenge.
Rios knew the feeling.