Page 47 of Acting on Instinct
“That will not happen,” White said.
“Havoc, Jeopardy, and Nitro are on the transportation team, removing the six tangos to White’s X.” T-Rex said, “I’ll gowith Ty and Rory up to the production apartment and see what’s what. That way, if there is a kaboom, we don’t lose the targets.”
“Or the whole team,” Nitro said grimly. “T-Rex, you’re our commander. You should be with our targets and the team. I’m the explosions expert, I’m the one who would best understand what’s happening if the production apartment has something to do with bombs.”
“All right,” T-Rex said.
“I have another way to deal with this, and it’s possibly simpler,” Havoc said. “Do you remember reading in the news how the men in a small town in Bolivia were raping the women by sending veterinary gas through the windows until they passed out? We could wait until they’re asleep and gas them.”
“That would be simple. But there are a lot of variables we don’t know we could account for,” T-Rex said. “If this were a house in the country, I’d be checking on what those men used. Not in a city apartment building, though.”
“Examples?” Havoc asked.
T-Rex stretched his legs long, crossing one ankle over the other. “Seeping into adjoining apartments and asphyxiating someone’s memaw or newborn.”
“Yeah, no,” Havoc said, “we can’t risk that.”
“Or our guy’s allergic and goes into anaphylaxis,” White said. “Again, I can’t question them if they’re dead.”
“That could happen with the shots, too,” Havoc said.
“They’re pretty widely tolerated,” T-Rex said.
“What if the neighbors get curious about moving carpets so late at night. Would they get involved?” Ty turned to White.
“Not in that part of town,” White said. “Everyone keeps their eyes on their own shoes. But I had the same thought. And just in case it’s helpful, I have access to three carpet cleaner vans. And yes, the targets all have rugs that are big enough for the job on the floor.”
“France is going to just let us slip on out when we’ve bagged our targets?” Ty asked.
“Because things are diplomatically tense, there has been some hesitancy to help us. If anything were to go wrong and the public became aware that the United States was operating on French soil, it would cause significant political fallout.”
“How’d you get them to agree?”
“I talked to my DGSE cohort and mentioned that the terrorist attack we thwarted on European soil was made possible by sacrifices made by a special forces operator and a CIA field officer that were career-ending. I requested that, in good faith, we be given a blind eye to go after the group as we believe they're planning an attack on American soil. Of course, if it came out that we asked for France’s help to stop the attack and they refused …”
“We could ask them for their equivalent of a SWAT team to post up outside until we have control.”
“They don’t want the public to notice anything. There is a great deal of fear in Europe right now, and rightly so, that American allies will be targeted for terrorist attacks. Because of Europe's proximity to the pressure points, Europeans are much more likely to be targets. We are hardening protocols at the various embassies and suggesting the same at America’s European industry headquarters and anywhere American tourists and military personnel might congregate. Anxiety is high.”
“Is there any chance this group is State-sanctioned?” T_Rex asked. “That an adversarial government might be running them as a cell.”
“We’ll know when we can ask our prisoners,” White said, pressing her lips into a thin line, then stood. “Gentlemen, it’s time for us to go. Leave the mess. I have someone coming toclean up. A quick stop to your lockers, get your sedation drugs, and gather Rory’s supplies, then we’re off to Paris.”
Chapter Fifteen
Kira
Kira sat on the edge of her couch in the front room of her little house. Her feet planted flat, she’d been sitting there like that, with London’s ring held between her fingers, feeling completely numb.
She hadn’t moved on that center cushion since she’d said goodbye to Lula.
The room had been bright with sunlight, one of the reasons she loved her little house so much had always been the cheeriness of the sun.
With every light in the house still off, the room had grown dim and then dark.
She was rousing from her stupor because she needed to pee.
And here she sat, feeling the ballooning pressure of her bladder, wishing that Ty would be coming back to her home and climb into bed to spoon and keep her warm.
