Chapter 41
Bronsky and Parker reached the back corner of the main house and paused against the wall to wait for the three who’d been in the guesthouse to join them.
Bronsky had to admit that so far Parker was living up to the hype.
Parker caught Bronsky’s attention, then nodded toward the area beyond the far end of the house. It took the Russian a few seconds to pick out the dark shapes of three men moving through the rain.
As soon as the group reached the building, Parker said over the radio, “Door.”
There were several doors along the back of the house. Parker, Bronsky, and the three men converged at the one Parker had picked out when he’d planned the mission. It was the only one without a window or any nearby.
When Parker looked at the lock, he sneered.
“Problem?” Bronsky whispered.
Parker snapped his gaze at him, in a gesture clearly meant to tell Bronsky to be quiet. He then pointed at the dead bolt.
Bronsky took a closer look and immediately realized the issue. It was one of the best locks on the market, and nearly impossible to open without a key. Only a few people in the world had ever done so successfully.
He thought Parker would have to look for an alternate way in, but the man pulled out a small tool satchel from his gear bag, then crouched down in front of the lock, ready to pick it.
Just as Parker was about to get to work, the crack of a rifle sounded over the rain.
Parker froze.
His team had all been issued silencer-equipped weapons, so the shot had to have been made by Felicity’s people. Which meant the men he’d sent to the garage must have run into a problem.
He cursed under his breath, then gestured for one of his men to check around the back left corner of the house and another the back right, leaving him, the client, and Frank at the back door.
It took several seconds for the pair he’d sent away to get into place, and another few for them to carefully look around both sides. Each man then clicked once on their radios, indicating that they saw nothing unusual.
Two more rifle shots boomed.
All eyes turned to him, including those of the client, who looked like he thought the mission was about to implode.
The guy may have been Russian intelligence, but Parker was beginning to think it had been a long time since he’d been in the field.
Parker took a moment to think things through, then he toggled his mic.
“Check the front and report back,” he whispered and returned his attention to the dead bolt.
Stone led Dino along the front of the house until they were a few feet from the end.
He listened for anything that might indicate someone was along the side of the building, but the rain made that impossible.
He was about to lean forward so he could check the right side of the house, when the end of a large black silencer inched out from around the corner.
Reacting on instinct, Stone grabbed the cylinder and yanked it forward. The second the man holding the weapon stumbled forward, Stone tackled him to the ground.
The man tried to twist out of Stone’s grasp but then froze when Dino pressed the end of his pistol against his head.
Dino plucked the radio out of the man’s ear and searched him, coming up with a pistol, a knife, and a set of zip-tie cuffs, in addition to the automatic rifle. He used the cuffs to secure the man’s hands behind his back, which allowed Stone to finally get up.
“What do we do with him?” Stone whispered.
Dino shrugged. “Put him in the house?”
As they yanked the guy to his feet, he made another attempt to struggle free. Dino put a quick end to that by slapping him in the face with his pistol.
They manhandled him in the direction of the front door.
Before they reached it, Ed jogged up to them and said, “I see you found one, too.”
“Where’s yours?” Stone asked.
“Sleeping.” Ed motioned to their prisoner. “Shall I?”
“Be my guest.”
At a speed worthy of someone half his age, Ed circled behind the man and wrapped an arm around his neck. Within seconds, the man was unconscious.
“That’s four,” Ed said. “That means there are at least three left.”
“Back of the house?” Stone asked.
“That would be my bet.”
“Lead the way.”