“But…why? What purpose do they serve?”
She gave him that look. “The less we know, remember?”
Roger groaned and shook his head. “Fine. What do we do with them?”
“We load them up and deliver them to Langley under the cover of darkness.”
Roger glanced at his watch. “That’s less than three hours.” He shook his head. “There’s no way we can breach their—”
“Gregg sent me the directions. He knows where all of their surveillance systems are set up. He said that where we are going, they don’t watch.”
“They watch EVERYTHING. This is the fucking Agency we’re talking about here.”
Lisa glared at him, her hands shaking. “Are you going to help me or are you gonna bitch out, Mr. G-man?”
Roger stretched his neck then turned and looked at his rental car. “There’s no way they’re going to fit in that.”
She pointed to edge of the garage and an old shuttle bus. “We use that.”
“A shuttle?”
“Just open the back and help me load these, will ya?”
Roger sighed and walked to the rear of the bus. He pulled at the handle and the doors opened, making a ripping sound as the dried weatherstrip peeled loose from the doors. He looked inside and did a double take. Layers of dirt and dust covered everything in sight. “Are you sure this thing will even start?”
“Sure it will.” Lisa tugged at one of the ramps, pulling it loose from the pile. “Grab the other side.”
Roger picked up his end and helped the small brunette muscle the heavy metal ramps into the back of the bus. “Will they all fit?”
She grunted and tugged at the next one. “They better. We only have time for one trip.”
The two stepped up the pace and loaded up their cargo. Roger could barely shut the rear hatch. Lisa pulled the garage doors open again. “Let’s move.”
Roger swatted away layers of grime from the driver’s seat and climbed into the shuttle. He twisted the key and was surprised when the diesel engine belched and roared to life. He held the side door open as he put it into gear.
Lisa stepped onto the loading step just as the tires began to turn and Roger fought the urge to whoop with joy that the beast still had life left in it.
“I wonder where they found this old thing?”
Lisa stood beside him as he pulled out of the garage. “Jay and the boys buy up all kinds of junk and store it all over the place. I used to bitch about the expenditures, but once he explained that in his line of work, you never knew what you might need…”
Roger gave her a curious stare. “He stores all of this junk locally? Like, here in the States?”
She nodded. “Not all of their work is overseas.” She pointed him toward the left. “That way.”
Roger drove the old shuttle and followed Lisa’s directions. She continued to glance at her phone then patted his arm. “Right up here. Pull over.”
“There’s nothing out here.”
She rolled her eyes and pointed to the other side of the road and up the hill. “Their land borders just the other side of those trees.”
“Are you serious? We have to lug these things up that?”
She shrugged. “Unless you can find a way to get the shuttle up there without getting it stuck.”
Roger studied the layout as best he could, but even in the dark, he knew there was no way the old bus would make it up the hill, much less back down.
“Looks like we’re doing this the hard way.”
Lisa lifted a pair of bolt cutters. “First things first.”
She pushed the doors open and hopped out onto the pavement.
“Where are you going?”
She shot him a silly grin. “We have to create a gate, don’t we?”
Roger followed her up the steep hill and nearly had a panic attack when she approached the cyclone fence. She began to snip at the metal fabric and Roger’s head spun side to side, waiting for a claxon alarm or the strobing blue lights of security vehicles.
When nothing came he felt his extremities go weak from the adrenaline rush. “You’re killing me, Smalls.”
“The fun is just beginning.” She pulled the section of fabric back and tugged a handful of zip ties from her pocket. “Help me zip this back.”
Roger took some zip ties from her in shaky hands and began securing the cyclone fence back, creating a roughly nine-foot gap. “What is this for?”
“Escape.” She shot him a crooked grin.
“Escape?” Roger was totally confused.
“Remember, the less you know…”
“Screw that.” He handed her back the unused ties as the two slid down the hill. “I want to know.”
Lisa paused at the back door of the bus. “Fine.” She twisted the handle and pulled the door open. “The boys are going in but they expect heat on the way out. You know what they’ll do at the guard shack if there’s trouble inside, don’t you?”
“Yeah, they’ll secure the gate and pop the bollards and whoever is stuck inside can’t get out until they lower them. At least, they can’t leave in a vehicle.”
Lisa nodded. “And the guards are definitely armed.”
“Definitely.”
“This is their back door.” She slapped him on the shoulder. “There. Now you know too much.”
“Wait…they can’t drive through here. What about all of the trees? Surely they don’t expect us to cut them down and nobody notice.”
Lisa smiled at him again. “They know what they’re doing. Trust me.” She tugged at the ramps. “Now come on. We’re burning moonlight.”
Roger groaned and helped her pull the metal ramp from the bus. “I don’t get the grass.”
“Camouflage. What line of work did you say you’re in?” She groaned as the pair carried the ramp up the hill.
Roger strained, trying to take more of the weight. “Why do they need these?”
Lisa set her end down at the fence and stood upright, stretching her back. “There’s a small creek just before the woods.”
Roger’s eyes widened. “I don’t know what kind of car they’re planning to
