“We’re instruments of God, Sister,” answered Thorne. “And if the good Lord is looking for revenge, I’m just the ticket He needs to do the deed.”
Sister Isabella looked Thorne in the eye. “I’ll continue to pray for you. I understand your anger, but you must give faith a chance.”
“Thanks, Sister. Just pray I shoot straight.” Robert shot Thorne a hard look and cleared his throat. “Let’s stick to the task at hand. Sister, find out if they have a match on those fingerprints. Father Kong, I need everything you have on the compound, fast. We’re going inside tonight, just after nightfall. Post two people there to keep watch. Have them report back, and let us know if Rinaldo and Dianora are there, and if they notice anything suspicious.” Everybody snapped to their task. Robert pulled Thorne aside. “A little heavy handed, don’t you think?”
“Look whose talking. Not too long ago, I had to pull you back,” she said.
“I feel you, but let’s keep these people on our team.” Thorne gave Robert a hard stare. “We almost got killed last night. I just don’t want any misunderstandings. You know me, if I have to die, it won’t be all by my lonesome.”
Robert smiled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less, just don’t take any of us with you.”
Thorne smiled back. “Keep your head low, and that won’t be a problem.” They both laughed.
Thorne went to help Sister Isabella. Robert, once again in his life, was glad Thorne was there with him, as she had always been. He pondered the glue that kept them together, a team, and the dark secret Cardinal Maximilian eluded to back in Chicago, the one important moment in both their lives, when Robert was there for her.
Twenty minutes later, Robert examined a hand drawn layout of the compound, and went over it with Father Kong. They estimated that twenty guards patrolled the area in and around it, with several more patrolling the heavily wooded area around it.
Initially, Robert suggested that they hire outside help. He had two six-man mercenary teams on standby, men he and Thorne had worked with in the past, people he knew he could trust. Father Kong and Sister Isabella objected, but Robert kept his men on standby, just in case.
“We’ll try to go in quietly,” said Robert. “Thorne and I will be armed, but I want everyone to carry tranquilizer dart guns. Thorne will get them from our people.”
“Good,” said Father Kong. “We’ll take out as many guards as possible without killing them. But how will we know where to find Rinaldo and Dianora once we’re inside? And what about the cameras and alarms? I’m sure their security system is top of the line.”
“With all those men, plus the house staff walking around, I bet most of the sensors and motion detectors will be down. Thorne can disarm the security system once we’re inside the compound, if necessary. We’ll spot as many cameras as we can before we go in, and deal with the rest as we go,” said Robert
Father Kong agreed.
“We’ve got a hit,” an excited Sister Isabella chimed in behind them.
She laid out pictures of the two men killed at the castle on the table.
“Both of them worked for Rinaldo and Dianora.” Thorne eased up beside her. “Good job, Sister. That’s the last piece we needed.”
Robert leaned on the table, then looked up at the others. “Let’s do it.”
A priest walked in and whispered in Father Kong’s ear. The priest thanked him and faced everyone. “Bad news, the police have issued an all-points bulletin. You and Thorne are to be arrested for killing two police officers. You’re considered armed and dangerous terrorists,” said Father Kong.
Robert shook his head in disgust. “Nothing we can do about it now.
Let’s get ready to go.”
Everybody went to work. Robert stared out at the woods in the canyon below. He closed his eyes and prayed for Samuel, the Hammer of God, and himself.
56
T wo cars, with four passengers each, including Robert, Thorne, Father Kong and Sister Isabella, glided through the dark back roads, passing a few cars along the way, with no police in sight. As a precaution, Robert and Thorne rode in separate cars, hunched down in the backseat, their heads covered. Everyone was clad in black from head to toe, including gloves and skullcaps.
Robert closed his eyes, as he always did right before a mission, and played the details over in his head. The compound sat on fifty-two acres, which was good news. They’d be able to enter at the far end of the complex without detection, and walk up to the main area; a walled off six acres, with another wall around the main house. If they avoided booby-traps and land sensors they’d avoid being announced too soon.
Their next potential hazard would be any roving security team on patrol, but with such a large area to cover, Robert thought the chance that they’d be discovered was small.
Robert had finally managed to convince Father Kong and Sister Isabella to let him bring in three of the men he had on standby, by telling them that if things got too heavy, they’d need back up. Despite their assurances of faith, they finally agreed.
Robert, Thorne and Sister Isabella would make the final approach inside the house. Father Kong, one of his people, and Robert’s men, would post up just outside the wall around the house, and would be ready to rush in at Robert’s signal. His men were directed to shoot only if necessary.
Father Kong turned onto a dark country road, lights off. Drove two miles, and eased to a stop next to some high brush and trees. From there, they hiked through the expansive acreage. Thorne walked the point, using a metal detector to pick up any sensors or traps. The rest of them followed in twos, with one of Robert’s men covering the rear. From where they entered it was about four miles to the main wall, then half a mile to the wall around the main house.
They kept low in the brush and took their time, quietly navigating the tall grass, with only the moon lighting their way. The excursion reminded Robert of covert incursions they’d run everywhere from North Korea to the Ukraine, and each step brought back the keenness of his senses and training. Adrenaline pumped into his veins, his heartbeat steady, controlled.
Thorne lifted her right hand in the air. Everybody came to a stop and dipped down lower in the grass. Three minutes passed without a sound.
Thorne came back to Robert.
“We need to tighten up the line and keep it narrow right behind me,” she whispered. “I found a Bouncing Betty.” Robert rallied everyone into a narrow formation. He’d seen the havoc a Bouncing Betty could do to a human being. When stepped on, it propelled itself upwards about waist-high and exploded, sending dense shrapnel buzz sawing through its victim, tearing their torso in half. The device was used heavily in Vietnam, when thousands of U.S. soldiers made its rude, deadly acquaintance.
Despite the threat, the team made it to the first wall, then moved to the wall just outside the main house without incident. Robert used night-vision goggles to scan the front gate and the area along the wall, searching for the right spot to enter. Armed sentries patrolled one thousand foot sections of the wall. All of them looked diligent, as though they’d been warned to keep an eye open for intruders.
To get over the wall without being seen, Robert estimated that they’d have to immobilize all three guards on one side of the wall, simultaneously. He dispatched Father Kong to the far end, Thorne to the middle, and he took the guard closest to him. Everyone used their radio headsets to signal that they were in position. Robert counted three. Each of them shot a tranquilizer dart into the guards, and by the time each man realized they hadn’t been stung by a bug, they were deep asleep, face down in the dirt.
Robert, Thorne and Sister Isabella grouped together. As planned, Thorne ran to the ten-foot wall, tossed up a grappling hook and climbed to the top with ease. Robert saw her use night-vision binoculars to scan the other side of the compound.
“Come one at a time, on my mark,” she said in Robert’s earpiece.
“Three, two, one.”
Sister Isabella ran to the wall and made it up like a pro. By the time Robert pulled himself up and over, both