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  “So what? They’ve earned it.”

  “Except they’re going to be as unhappy down south as they are here. Maybe more. A mansion on the beach isn’t going to change anything, if they make it that far. Once there are no more jobs and no one else to kill, they’re going to see how empty they are inside. All that inner hatred won’t suddenly go away because there are palm trees around.”

  “Then why did you tell Ophie you will be coming with them?”

  Lowering the glass to her waist, the liquid swishing inside, her unblinking eyes watched me for several long seconds.

  “You really don’t get it. I’ll be able to come back to America, David. No one knows who I am. And unless the cops pin the Saamir job on you, they probably won’t know you, either. But Matz and Ophie and Boss are in too deep, and people would be trying to kill them their entire lives if they stayed here. You think they’re living in this house in the middle of nowhere because they can plug back into society whenever they want? Caspian went home to see his mom when she got her diagnosis and he disappeared within a week. There’s no going back for them. Retiring down south is their only solution to the one problem they can’t kill. So, yes, I’m going to help you guys move. And after that, I’ll keep visiting to make sure that all of you are okay, because I’m terrified that you won’t be.”

  Her eyes turned toward the sky for a moment, and then she flung the remaining few sips of wine off the porch. She took a final drag from her cigarette and threw that off, too.

  Without looking back, she said, “Goodnight, David.”

  “Goodnight, Karma.”

  She vanished, leaving me as she found me.

  CONDEMNED

  A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

  -A precipice in front, wolves behind

  CHAPTER 15

  Boss’s phone rang at lunch the next day. He always carried two, though I had never seen him receive a call on the second one.

  “Send it,” he said, followed by a long pause. “Good afternoon, sir.” He snapped his fingers and pointed toward a pen and paper. I set them in front of him.

  “Yes, sir, go ahead.” He began scrawling, and I struggled to follow his cryptic shorthand. Above a single line of text, he wrote FIVE. “Understood. That won’t be a problem, sir. We’re on it.” After another long pause, Boss smiled. “Sir, if this call could be traced, we wouldn’t be the team you wanted… Yes, sir.”

  He hung up and looked at us.

  Ophie said, “Sounded like that went well.”

  “Looks like the information Ian pulled out of that van paid off, after all. The Five Heads have a meeting in two weeks to figure out how to prevent exposure. We’ve got a date and a time, but no location other than somewhere in Colorado. And that was the Handler himself, not his assistant.”

  Matz asked, “All of them will be there at the same time? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “They must be getting desperate. Ophie, spin up Joe for an out-of-state flight; total weight will be double the last job, if not more, and we’ll get him the details as soon as we have them. Matz, take David and start getting all the team gear loaded and ready for transport. I’m bringing in Ian.”

  “What’s the mission?” I asked.

  Boss looked at me with a vacant stare. “To kill them all.”

  * * *

  The next day, a single car drove slowly up the long dirt driveway. Its lone occupant parked in front of the house and stumbled out of the vehicle before grabbing a carry-on bag from the trunk.

  Ophie, watching from the front door, yelled, “Coffee! Get this man coffee!”

  I poured a cup and returned to see Ian staggering inside with his satchel slung over one shoulder. His eyes were bloodshot, set over black rings.

  Matz said, “What the fuck happened to you?”

  “I haven’t slept since I got the call. We found the site. Let me brief you guys, and then I’m going to pass out for a few hours while you start planning.”

  Boss asked, “Do you want to lie down first? You look like shit.”

  “It’s big. You guys need to get started now.”

  Ian arranged maps and photographs on the kitchen table, and we crowded around him. He drank half the cup of steaming coffee in a series of long sips before setting down the mug. Then, he removed a round tin from his pocket, pinched out a small amount of brown powder, and snorted it. After repeating the process with the opposite nostril, he closed the tin and put it in his pocket.

  “Okay, let’s get started,” he said. “The meeting will take place within this walled compound.” He pointed to a photograph of an overhead view. “Pretty remote—used to be a private estate, and now it’s rented out for private events and rich businessmen to fuck their mistresses. As you can see, we’ve got a main building, guesthouse, and pool house next to—”

  “Was that cocaine?” I asked.

  “What? No, just nasal snuff.”

  “David,” Boss said, “shut up. Ian, go ahead.”

  “So this compound is something of a retreat, set out in rolling hills with a scenic view. The main drive runs out to a two-lane hardball, and most of the surrounding area is crisscrossed with dirt roads. The Handler was right: each of the Five Heads will be there on the date he specified. Since they all operate independently, their personal security details will escort them to and from the site once the inner and outer security rings are set.

  “The inner security ring will start with a full sweep of the site, which means counter surveillance for listening devices and bomb dogs sniffing for explosives. Once it’s clean, they’ll be strong-pointing the compound and controlling access in and out. We can safely assume they’ll conduct roving patrols into the dead space within five hundred meters or so of the compound.

  “A third-party company will set up the outer security ring. That will include blocking access routes while the meeting is underway and conducting vehicle patrols along the surrounding roads. I’d also bank on them having observation posts for every major intersection within two kilometers. Anything suspicious will result in a call for one of their vehicles to check it out.”

  Boss asked, “How many security guys in each of the rings?”

  “Too many. We don’t have a number yet, but it’s going to be a lot. More than you can take on directly.”

  Ophie said, “I believe the doctrinal term is a ‘metric fuck-ton.’”

  Matz looked at Ian. “Can we hit the principal vehicles on the way in or out?”

  “You could cherry-pick one or two, but you won’t get them all. Their arrival and departure will be staggered.”

  Boss said, “Their departure won’t be staggered if a ground assault initiates an evacuation. They’ll be fighting each other to be first out the gate, and if their drivers are worth a shit—which they are—they’ll be bumper-to-bumper on the way out with the lead vehicle setting the speed. That puts them in a single convoy, ripe for the picking. Is the third-party security responsible for evacuation?”

  “No, that’ll fall on their personal security details. The auxiliary security would cover the area while the principals are loaded and shipped out.”

  “So it’ll have the added benefit of leaving most of the guards at the compound. And the convoy”—he pointed at the map—“will have to traverse this stretch of road to the next major intersection before they can split up. What if we set an ambush along that, maybe at a turn where they naturally slow down? Explosives alone could do the trick if we’re lucky. Throw in a few guys with rocket launchers and a medium machine gun, and it’d be a sure thing.”

  “That’s a hardball road,” Ian pointed out. “You’re not going to be able to dig in and place an IED.”

  Matz leaned forward, setting his fists on the table. “We could still dig under it, and if we use enough explosives along the side of the road it won’t even matter. I’m talking P is for plenty, Fourth of July, total destruction, overkill to the highest degree. The last thing we need is for some security vehicles interspersed in the co
nvoy to eat the blast and let a principal escape.”

  “Even so, when would you dig it in? The outer security ring will be patrolling that area.”

  Boss replied, “Not a week before the meeting, they won’t. We could go in early, identify the best kill zone, and bury our explosives during a period of darkness. Hell, we could bury the rockets and machine gun, too, and then camouflage everything and leave. Before the meeting takes place, we do a vehicle drop-off outside their security perimeter and move quietly through the woods to the ambush site.”

  Matz asked, “But how do we get them to evacuate in the first place?”

  “Mortars should do the trick.”

  “What are mortars?” Karma chimed in.

  Ophie cut his eyes toward her. “That’s what you get for bringing a woman into a man’s work, boys. Karma, mortars are those big tubes on a bipod you might remember from every war movie you’ve ever seen in your goddamn life. One guy adjusts the angle and another drops in a round, the tube goes boom, and something far away gets blown up.”

  “Got it.” Karma nodded.

  Ian shook his head. “Boss, if they receive indirect fire they’re more likely to hunker down and wait it out. They’ll know you don’t have unlimited rounds.”

  Boss closed his eyes and inhaled. “Not if we convince them they’re going to be overrun.”

  Matz replied, “We don’t have enough guys to do a ground assault. Not by a long shot.”

  “They don’t know that, and these guys are even more terrified of the Handler than Ian is. If we start dropping 120mm mortar rounds, then switch to 81mm and then 60mm, shifting fire as we go, that’ll be pretty fucking convincing that a ground force is moving in from the opposite direction. They’ll evacuate any principals left alive, right toward our ambush. And if they don’t evacuate at all, then they’re stationary, and we’ll put every mortar round we can into their position and leave as planned. If anyone survives, we police them up in secondary hits once Ian can pinpoint their locations.”

  Ian leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Tactical plan sounds feasible, if you can man it. The secondary hits are where I disagree. My strongest recommendation is that you retire after this mission, no matter the outcome. Leave the final payment and make this the last job you do. Boss, did the Handler tell you how he knew the date and time of the meeting?”

  Karma stood, holding a fist pensively under her chin. Her eyes met mine, and I looked to Boss.

  “No,” Boss said. “He didn’t.”

  “He’s been in talks with the Five Heads. The account information from that Sprinter van on the last target drove them to negotiations, just like I told you it would. Now, the Five Heads and their organization are considering peace terms ranging from a friendly merger all the way to just buying their way out of being hunted. The details are being finalized that day. Did he tell you any of that, Boss?”

  “No.”

  “Then he also didn’t mention that he’s going to be on a conference call with the Five Heads at that meeting.”

  “No.”

  “Exactly. He’s playing along with the negotiations just to get them consolidated so he can send you guys in for a decapitation strike. He doesn’t care about the potential for financial gain or expansion, no matter how many tens or hundreds of millions in profit that may earn over the long term. And we know by now that he is a very long-term planner. What does that tell you?”

  Boss replied, “He’s setting a precedent.”

  Ian nodded slowly. “The world isn’t big enough to hide his enemies. A challenge to his organization is an open-ended death contract that can’t be bought or backed out of. If the other side had been successful, I have no doubt that he would have taken it to the point of mutually assured destruction, and that’s not because he isn’t calculated.”

  “Then why is it?” Matz asked.

  “I think he’s like you guys, in a way. He’s chosen his path, and he’s committed himself to it at the exclusion of all else. He’s done his time in the trenches, and now he’s the one moving the chess pieces. And I think he enjoys it. If I were trying to recruit him as a source, I would offer him more of what he’s doing. Not money, not women. I don’t believe in evil, but I think this man is as close to that force as you’re going to encounter in this lifetime.”

  Ophie straightened his arms up and outward in a long stretch. “Hopefully evil pays, because I’m ready to start working on my tan. And stop with all the melodrama, Ian. You’re scaring Karma.”

  Ian frowned. “Finish this target and leave upon completion. Skip the final payment and call it a day. He’s going to have a list of secondary targets to clean up, no matter how many you kill at the meeting, but you’ll never get to the end of that list.”

  I asked, “Then why not bail now?”

  Matz answered, “If we don’t complete this job, we’re as good as dead. Once we finish the work, he won’t pursue us. Taking the deposit and leaving the remainder of our final payment is a standard assurance that we’re gone for good, and that’s the only way you get out of this game without dying. Ophie, where would you set up a mortar point?”

  Ian leaned back and folded his arms, looking first to Karma and then to me, but remained silent.

  Ophie studied the map and pointed to a spot. “I’d say somewhere on this hill. That’s about three kilometers from the target, so it’s pushing it for the 60mm range, but easy money for the 81 and 120. Any farther and you’re losing the 60; any closer and you’re within the outer security ring.”

  Matz said, “We’ll have to do the same thing we have planned for the ambush site. Dial in the mortars to the target, waterproof the cannons and the rounds, camouflage everything, and then come back to it right before the hit.”

  “What about our getaway?” Ophie asked. “Based on the location of the mortar firing point and the ambush position, we’ll need a separate driver for each element.”

  Boss said, “I’d add a third, driving a vehicle big enough to fit the entire team. We could stage it at a three-way intersection of these narrow dirt roads and have everyone move to that point. The other two cars can park sideways on the roads they came in on, blocking them to vehicle traffic to slow down any pursuers. That has the added benefit of providing some flexibility when we leave: if one element can’t make the link-up on time, then we’ve still blocked the opposite road access without slowing their movement along the main escape route.”

  Ian said, “I can provide two drivers, including myself.”

  “Special K will be the third. That leaves the four of us, and since we’ll need at least three at the ambush site, I’d say David’s on mortars by himself.”

  “Why not Matz?” I asked. “His leg is still healing.”

  Ophie replied, “All the more reason he needs to be with Boss and me. If anything falls through on our end, there are three of us all jacked on adrenaline. Matz isn’t going to be left behind; we’ll make it happen one way or the other. I can get the mortars dialed in when we move the equipment, so long as David can hang the rounds.”

  Ian said, “You need more people. Sending in David alone is crazy, and three guys against five cars is fucking ludicrous. You almost lost David and Matz on that last hit, and that was only against four guards. Bring in some hired guns on this one.”

  The table fell silent. Boss picked up the compound imagery in one hand and the map in the other, his eyes moving between them. He set them back down, then looked at the faces across from him. Matz gave a slight nod. Ophie remained expressionless.

  Boss said, “We can handle it.”

  “How?” Ian asked. “Just hire more guys to mitigate your risk to force.”

  Matz answered, “A few more guys is a few more pay cuts. We’ve got enough shares as it is, especially since David has failed to die.”

  Boss said, “Bringing in outside guys is risky, especially if we’re approaching the end of our useful life with the Handler. It’d be tough to vet anyone in this time frame.”


  Karma’s eyes were lively with disbelief. “So you’re risking total annihilation to stack money higher than you already have? Brilliant.”

  “No one’s forcing you to be here,” Matz said in a flat voice. “You know the terms.”

  “Yeah, and I keep coming back to watch you push it just a little further. But one of these times, it’s going to be too far.”

  Ian said, “Boss, your getaway on this should take you straight to retirement. I’m serious. Pack up the house beforehand, and we’ll ship whatever you want. Don’t come back after the hit. I’ll drive the main getaway vehicle myself, and we’ll pull into the back of an eighteen-wheeler once we get away and put you in the pipeline south.”

  “I’m okay with that,” Matz said.

  Ophie shrugged. “Me too.”

  Boss asked, “Is anyone outside this room tracking David’s involvement yet?”

  Ian shook his head. “No. They haven’t been able to piece him together with Saamir’s death. And they’ve pretty much given up on Peter’s murder, which is all the more reason David should go with you: as long as he doesn’t get burned before retirement, he can liaise back to the States for anything you guys need.”

  I nodded. “I’ll rack up frequent flyer miles for you guys.”

  Boss steepled his fingers, his tired eyes settling individually on every person in the room. They lingered on me the longest as he considered Ian’s words. Drawing a deep breath while the rest of us held ours, he finally said, “Let’s set it up.”

  Ian replied, “Got it. Are you guys good with this information for now? I’d like to go to the spirit world for a while.”

  “We’re good,” Boss said. “Crash in my room for as long as you like. We’ll be here for a while.”

  Ian took his satchel and left the kitchen.

  Boss announced, “Okay, let’s red cell this so far. What issues do we have?”

  Ophie grunted. “Well, here’s a big one that Ian’s missing: setting the explosives will require us to park on a hardball road, so there won’t be any tracks on the ground besides what we can cover up in the woods. Likewise, before the hit, the three of us can drop off on a hardball and walk in without crossing any dirt roads.”