Hardesty's acrid cigarettes.
By reflex, Saxon shrank into the gloom, placing himself behind the bulk of a low-slung aircraft tractor-the dense construction of the service vehicle would hide his heat signature if either of the men chose to sweep the area with his optics. Dropping into a crouch, Saxon forced himself to slow his breathing and become as silent as possible. After a moment, their voices came to him on the faint breeze. He strained to hear what was being said.
Hardesty was speaking again. 'I'm not trying to second-guess you, Namir. I know you got your reasons.' He turned away to exhale and Saxon lost the next few words. '… Don't trust the limey, period. He's a liability.'
'So you keep saying,' Namir replied, his voice level. 'But your personal aversion is not my concern.'
'This isn't personal!' Hardesty insisted hotly. There was a moment's pause. 'Okay, screw it. Yeah, it is personal. The son-of-a-bitch walks around like his shit don't stink, with all that noble-soldier, honor-of-the- regiment crap. I've seen his kind before. I don't like Saxon because he thinks he's better than the rest of us.'
'He's good at what he does. More than a match for you.'
Hardesty was silent for long seconds, and Saxon wondered if he had been spotted; but then the American went on. 'That's not the problem. It's not that he's a threat. He's weak inside. I know what happened in the fight room. When push comes to shove, he's going to fold. Believe me.'
Saxon's lips thinned, but he kept his silence.
'We'll see,' offered Namir.
But the next words Hardesty uttered froze Saxon's blood in his veins. 'You should have let me deal with him after Rainbird.' Just hearing him say the name of the grisly failure made Saxon's gut twist with anger and sick dread. Namir's reply was lost as the wind dropped for a moment, but Hardesty's answer was clear. 'We don't need them both. Gunther's the better choice. I say we put Saxon down. He's never gonna be a cold eyed stone killer. He just doesn't have it in him.'
When Namir replied, Saxon heard the steel in his tone. 'As I said, that choice has never been yours to make. I recruit operatives with potential, men and women whom I consider worthwhile. If the group is endangered, then the decision will be made. No one is bulletproof, Scott. Not Ben, not you, not even me. Never forget that.' Footsteps scraped on the asphalt; they were coming back.
Saxon glanced around; if he left his place of concealment, there was no way he could make it to other cover before Namir and Hardesty entered the hangar. He had no choice but to stay where he was and remain silent. He had little doubt now that if they found him, Hardesty would make him answer for it with a bullet. His mind still racing, Saxon went as low as he could, pressing into the wheel well of the tractor vehicle.
'You're certain that Temple was killed?' asked Namir as he passed.
'Burned to a crisp,' Hardesty replied. 'Incendiary grenade will do that for you. The cops will be sifting through the ashes of that place for weeks.'
'The more important question remains to be answered, however.' Namir reached the access ramp at the rear of the jet. 'Was the Killing Floor compromised?'
'I don't think so-'
'But you don't know,' Namir cut him off. He paused, then shook his head. 'We can't let that possibility deflect us. Put these concerns to one side, let me deal with the fallout. In the meantime, concentrate on the preparations for the next operation. On that, we can have no margin for error. Clear?'
'Clear.' Hardesty stood unmoving, his gaze turned inward as Namir boarded the aircraft.
From his hiding place, Saxon glared at the other man. More than anything at this moment, he wanted to know what Hardesty knew about
Operation Rainbird. He wanted to beat it out of him-the old, familiar anger ran through him, setting his teeth on edge. And that phrase, this
Killing Floor… When he had confronted Kontarsky in Moscow, the hacker Janus had mentioned the same thing…
Finally, Hardesty turned and walked away across the hangar. Saxon watched him go, suddenly unsure of his next move. The chill fear that had been lingering at the base of his thoughts for so long was now in sharp, icy focus. He felt the same sensation at the pit of his gut as he had the night Strike Six had set off across the Grey Range.
He was in enemy territory.
In a secure room aboard the jet, Namir shrugged off his combat jacket and settled into a chair. The console in front of him unfolded into panes of holographic imagery, a global map displaying lines of communication spiderwebbing the world. Bright nodes of light sparkled into life in place over cities spanning a dozen nations; the group was giving him a moment of their precious time, and he was contrite. He understood how important they were; to even consider directly interfacing with the Tyrants… that was something that happened only in the most pressing of circumstances.
'Let's cut to the meat of this' said the voice from New York. 'What effect will there be with the loss of the Temple asset?'
'None, sir,' Namir said immediately. 'We have what we needed from him. We've had a contingency for his removal in place since day one. This only brought that forward.'
'That was held off because there was a chance the asset might have had more value down the line.' The woman in Hengsha made the point.
'We couldn't have foreseen this development with the Kelso woman.'
'Random factors are always the most troublesome,' offered another voice, this one transmitting from Singapore.
Namir glanced at a tertiary screen. As he watched, he realized it was footage from a security camera equipped with low-light capability. He saw a woman entering a wide hallway, approaching a man sprawled at the base of a staircase. She touched his neck, and then moved on.
'This was obtained by our associate in Montreal, from the estate's security server,' said the man in New York. 'The footage has already been repurposed for our needs.'
Namir cleared his throat. 'I have an operative tasked for deployment in the Washington, D.C., area in connection with the primary mission. I took the liberty of activating her early. She may be able to isolate the Kelso woman, if she did indeed escape the Temple hit…'
'Keep us informed, Namir,' said the woman. 'Whatever happens, Anna Kelso has gone from being a minor irritant to a potential threat. If she raises her head again, she'll be dealt with. But it is imperative you understand she is only of secondary importance. Stay on-mission.'
Then as quickly as they had come to him, the ghostly avatars of the group vanished and Namir was plunged back into gloom, his masters gone like gods passing beyond the affairs of mortals.
Silver Springs-Maryland-United States of America
Kelso hauled the daypack around on its strap and put all the force she could into swinging it at her assailant. Part of her mind was reeling at what she saw; Anna knew that advanced augmentations like optical camouflage existed, but she had never dreamed she'd see it this close, on someone intent on killing her. The name flashed through her thoughts; the Tyrants. They had set her up, and now they would destroy her.
The fractal-edged combat blade whispered through the air and slashed through the material of bag without stopping, opening it along the whole length. The contents spilled out and scattered over the floor. Anna tried to fall back beyond the reach of the dark-skinned woman, but instead she put herself in the open. The woman pivoted on her long, machined legs of carbon steel and plastic, swinging one up to strike Anna across the side of the ribs. The blow connected with a solid smack of metal on flesh and Kelso choked out a lungful of air; the impact vibrated through her bones with such force that it threw her down, and she had to swallow the urge to vomit. Pain lit fires all down her side as she collided with a low stool and crashed to the living-room floor.
She was barely able to blink before she saw the blade coming down again, the shining point aimed at her throat. Anna's off hand shot out to deflect the weapon and she grabbed the assassin's wrist, struggling against her. The woman made a negative noise at the back of her throat and followed through, putting her weight into it. Anna winced as new pain blossomed; her attacker put a steel-capped knee into her stomach and pressed hard.
Anna coughed, tasting blood. She couldn't take her eyes off the tip of the blade as it came inexorably downward toward the bare skin of her neck. The woman had gravity and training on her side; it would only be a
