Page 70 of Embedded
The phone in my pocket vibrated, and I pulled it out and squinted at the screen. The dust in their air made me cough.
“Frank?” Chili questioned.
“No. Pull over, fast.” I jumped out and answered. “What is it?”
“Paul, we got a problem.” Brick made a noise like he was inhaling smoke, and I spun around to look at Chili through the open door. Devil’s Reach had been watching Bruno’s place. “Her light’s been on all night, fuckin’ place is too quiet. No one coming or going. She knew the plan, an’ I think she’s tryin’ to tell us something.”
A pain exploded in my head.
“Can you,” I cleared my throat, but the emotion was too strong, “can you send someone up there?”
“Rail’s on the way back now. He went to see what he could figure out. Just needed you to know somethin’ ain’t right, man.” There was a reason Trigger kept Brick so close; his intuition was normally dead on. I fought not to panic. I was trained for this, but it was Nicole we were talking about.
“Did you let Cole know?”
“Not yet. Figured you’d call the shots here.”
I looked up at the sky. “Okay, loop Cole in, and text me the minute you know anything. Don’t use names, keep the texts clean.”
“Yeah.” He hung up, and I got back in the truck.
“We good?”
“Not even close.”
I filled Chili in as we drove and kept a close eye on my phone. Cole had men listening to the bugs the maid had planted, but apparently nothing informative had come of it. I wondered where the maid had been able to plant them, because so far, they’d been useless. We knew Bruno’s mother showed up, but then the signal had gone shitty. They were working on it, but I was worried they’d been compromised.
“Shit, Chili, I wonder if they jammed the signal.”
“Just breathe, man, one problem at a time. We’re here.” He leaned out and pushed the button near the gate. “Just stick to our story, and if there’s trouble, we’ve got our signal.” He drove through, and I forced myself to breathe.
“Out.” The soldier pointed an automatic rifle at us. “IDs.”
Chili handed him our IDs. The soldier was young, barely past eighteen.
“Check your records, son. I've been cleared, and Bruno is expecting my visit,” he snapped at the kid.
The kid studied me. “You carrying?” I raised my shirt to show him I wasn’t.
“You’re not on the list.”
“Yeah, he is.” Chili grabbed the clipboard and jammed his finger at it. The kid blinked at him, confused about what to do next. “See,” Chili pointed, “EN.” The kid reached for his radio, and Chili raised his arms like he was pissed. “Make us late, then. I'll let him know it was your fault.”
“Go.” The kid tossed the clipboard and waved his gun at the truck.
“Hey, kid?” I pulled out the toothpick I’d put between my lips and pointed at his gun. “Your safety’s on.”
He quickly turned the gun over as I rolled my eyes.
We climbed back in the truck, and Chili laughed as we drove off. “Just like old times.”
“Those days are long gone now.” I checked the mirrors and looked straight ahead.
“Fuck, Paul,” he laughed, “what are the chances he’ll buy this?” Chili smacked me on the back. “Yup, just like old times.”
I refused to comment and shook my head at him as I got into character.
He parked, and I glanced at myself in the mirror. I hated that I looked like the past. “This is our only chance.” I fixed my shirt and threaded a pair of sunglasses through my shaggy wig then stuck the toothpick back between my teeth. The beard that was glued to my face felt like I was suffocating. All signs of Agent Paul were gone. “For the record, I hate every second of this.”
