Dr. O’Rourke crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “About?”
“When I was chipped, I was told to remove it if I ever got in trouble. I was told that if it no longer was in contact with my body, an emergency signal would be activated and reinforcements would be sent.” The doc opened her mouth to speak, but Sin held up her hand to stop her. “I want to know if it can be removed without the signal going off.”
“I’m a doctor, not an IT specialist, how would I know?”
Charlie, who had stayed quiet to this point interjected. “If you will let me, I think I might be able to shed some light on the matter.”
Dr. O’Rourke nodded.
“The government has been doing some experimenting with micro-chipping their covert ops units. It’s a way of keeping tabs on them when they are deep under cover.”
Dr. O’Rourke nodded. “Go on.”
“The chip is temperature controlled. As long as it stays in contact with living tissue or,” he held up a finger for emphasis, “maybe a living lab culture that would also be at body temp, the alarm won’t trigger.”
Now it was Dr. O’Rourke’s turn to interrupt. “So, if I can remove the chip and transfer it to a tissue culture, it should stay active.”
“Right,” Charlie smiled.
“But,” Dr. O’Rourke addressed Sin, “if it tracks your moves, won’t it seem suspicious if it stays in one place?”
“It won’t stay in one place,” Charlie said.
“Care to explain?” the doc said.
“Yeah,” Sin joined in. “I’d like to hear this one, Obi-wan Kenobi.”
“You remove it, and I will take care of moving it,” Charlie snickered.
“I’m beginning to think you really are crazy,” Sin said.
“Crazy as a fox,” Dr. O’Rourke said. “That plan just might work.”
Dr. O’Rourke felt Sin’s wrist. “There are a lot of nerve endings in this area. It’s going to hurt afterward.”
Sin rolled her eyes. “Hell, that beats the way the FBI wanted me to extract it.”
“Which is?” Dr. O’Rourke asked.
“Bite it out of my own wrist.”
Dr. O’Rourke looked at Charlie and pointed at Sin, “She’s wrong, she is the crazy one.”
When Dr. O’Rourke finished the procedure, she wrapped Sin’s sutures with medical tape. “So,” she said, “you never said where you would be while your chip is vacationing in the Florida Keys.”
“The less you know, the better,” Sin said through gritted teeth.
“I think we’re past that point, don’t you?”
Sin took a deep breath, puffed out her cheeks, and exhaled through pursed lips. “I’m going to Central America to cut off the head of a snake.”
After Dr. O’Rourke left, Sin went outside and made a phone call. Coming back in, she placed her hand on Charlie’s forearm. “I contacted my unit. They are meeting me in Honduras. From there we will plan the attack on Veloz. The way I figure, this should be a three day mission, tops.”
Sin didn’t like lying to her friend, but she knew he would have never let her go alone.
Charlie nodded. “I figure I can keep whoever is tracking your chip on the run for four days. After that, they should be able to catch wind of the deception.”
Sin nodded. “Then let’s not waste any time. Can you fly me over to Honduras?”
“Yes, but I will need international clearance to land.”
“Not a problem, you won’t be landing.”
“So, I’m dropping you off midflight?”
Sin nodded and handed him a list of names. “When you get back from our flight, I want you to gather these people and tell them what’s going on.” Sin pointed to the bottom of the page. “In case something goes wrong, call this number.”
“Whose number is it?” Charlie asked.
“Someone I hope you never have to meet.”
28
Just before they reached the terminal point of the flight, Sin checked her gear one more time.
Charlie yelled her name over the engine noise and pointed to the controls. “Time to go.”
Sin pulled her goggles down over her eyes and gave thumbs up sign. She turned to get ready to jump when Charlie grabbed her by her jumpsuit. “If I don’t hear from you in four days, I’m coming back.”
Sin leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you, too.”
She opened the side door of the plane and felt the hot, humid air hit her like a wet blanket. Her sweat mixed with her anticipation and fear resulted in a near orgasmic adrenaline rush. A sly grin caressed her face as she jumped into the night sky. Sin drew both of her arms into her body to streamline her shape, tucked her chin into her chest, and shot through the blackened night like a missile. At an altitude of one thousand feet, she flared out her arms and legs, arched her back, and pulled the ripcord. It felt as if she had pulled the emergency brake at one hundred miles an hour. If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn she stalled in midair. With the comforting sound of the chute opening, Sin grabbed hold of the toggle lines and steered free of any obstacles. At one hundred feet, she pulled straight down on the toggle handles and readied herself for an easy landing.
Once on the ground, Sin didn’t have to look long to know exactly where she was. Charlie had timed the drop zone perfectly for her to land on the outskirts of Choluteca, Honduras. The town, once rich from gold and other metals, was now just a poor, old, mining town known more as stopover in southern Honduras for people looking to cross over into Nicaragua.
Sin asked to be dropped in Choluteca because she had an old contact there.
Although she had lied to Charlie about contacting her mercenary unit, she hadn’t lied completely. She had contacted Manuel Juarez, a man with connections—legal and otherwise.
She reached Manuel’s place and saw a lone light bulb flickering on the porch. The light was her sign that she was clear to approach. With a final look both ways, Sin pulled her semiautomatic
