Spector nodded. “This really is the middle of nowhere except for Buckley’s compound.”
“Buckley?” asked Pine.
“Yes. I guess you don’t know who he is.”
“Only that he has a brother named Ken,” said Mercy. “I guess Ken Buckley.”
Spector started to speak, but, surprisingly, it was Blum who ended up telling them all about Buckley and his family’s past.
“This was long before your time at the Bureau, Agent Pine.” She glanced at Spector, as if to say, And yours, too.
If Pine noticed this look, she said nothing.
Blum continued, “He told me this was not really about avenging his brother, but his father, and everything he stood for. He seemed very excited about it, in a sick sort of way.”
Spector nodded and said, “When he explained it to me, he seemed a bit . . . mad actually.”
“Have you known him long?” asked Pine.
“I’ve done other work for him,” said Spector vaguely. “But nothing personal like this. And he was never part of those missions. He just paid me to go in and do what needed to be done.”
“And your name is . . . ?” asked Pine.
“I would prefer to keep that to myself.”
Pine stared at her for a moment, but didn’t push the point. Spector said, “Okay, we need to set up a perimeter. And I’m sure you’re hungry after beating each other up. And an army can’t fight on an empty stomach.”
Later, after they had eaten and had some water, Pine took the first watch. She noted that Spector’s choice of locations had been a good one. The road coming in here was narrow and provided her with an excellent sight line. Blum was in the SUV with a blanket around her, and Mercy standing guard.
Pine held the sniper rifle with the attached scope as she lay on top of a flat ledge that jutted out from the wall of the canyon. Spector had taken some things with her and disappeared down the road.
Clipped to her belt was a walkie-talkie that Spector had given her. She’d told Pine that she had taken a set with her from the compound but set them to a different frequency. Pine had used it to check in with her from time to time. Spector had reported back that there was no sign of Buckley and his men. “There are a maze of canyons and switchbacks and foothills around here. They lost sight of us for a bit, and that’s when I made my turn into here. We passed some of them on the way here, so they’ll have to check those first. Knowing Peter, they’ll be very methodical, meaning it will take them time to find us.”
But Pine knew at some point they would find them.
She looked behind her for a moment, where the two most important people in her life were: Blum and her sister. They really were her family, the only one she was ever likely to have now. And it was at least even money that she was going to lose her family and her life right here. But if it came to that, she told herself, she was fortunate indeed to have found Mercy before her end came.
And if this is our Alamo, at least we’ll take as many of them with us as we can.
Later, as she sighted through the scope, Pine stiffened. A figure was running toward her location. Pine’s finger slid to the trigger guard and held. Until she could make a definite ID she would not fire. Her walkie-talkie squawked.
“It’s me,” said the voice over the ether.
She relaxed as Spector reached the ledge.
Spector said two words, the only ones she needed to say:
“They’re coming.”
CHAPTER
74
I’LL TAKE THE SNIPER RIFLE,” said Spector. “They’re on foot now, going slow and taking no chances. We’ve got about thirty minutes.”
“I’m good right here,” replied Pine.
“I’ve got something else for you to do. Quick, follow me.”
Pine reluctantly handed over the rifle and followed her back to their campsite. They told Mercy what was happening; Mercy gripped her pistol and said, “They’ll have to go through me to get to Carol.”
Spector popped the cargo door on the SUV and opened a small duffel. She pulled out a small drone and its accompanying remote control.
“Ever use one of these?” she asked Pine.
“Yeah, for surveillance. In the hinterlands of Arizona, it comes in handy. How’d you score that?”
“It belongs to Buckley. He uses it to keep an eye on his property. He doesn’t like trespassers. I thought I could put it to better use, so I pinched it.”
“Good thinking,” commented Mercy.
“Okay, this remote has a screen, so you see what the drone sees. I want you to take up position behind the boulder next to the ledge where you were.”
“And then what?”
“I want you to fly this sucker straight down the road where they’re heading in right now. Keep it at about a hundred feet. It’s small enough, and it’s dark enough that they won’t be able to see it very well.” She pointed to the drone’s underbelly. “Now this is the key. When the drone is right over them, hit this button on the remote.” She indicated the button on the right. “I’ll do the rest.”
“You don’t have to do it all,” said Pine.
“I won’t. There are too many of them. They’re going to breach our outer defenses. When they do, well, it’s going to come down to hand-to-hand and whatever tricks we can come up with. But I’m betting on us.”
Pine looked at the sniper rifle. “You sure you don’t want me to do that part?”
Spector looked uncomfortable. In a low voice she said, “You know HRT?”
“The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team? Yes, of course.”
Spector gripped the rifle. “Well, I was a sniper with them for two years. This is the same model rifle I used back then.”
She didn’t meet Pine’s gaze. At first. When she did look up, Pine’s eyes were boring into hers.
Spector licked her lips nervously.
“Then you better get in position. And good luck,” Pine said finally.
“Thanks, Agent Pine.”
She hustled off. Pine checked on Blum, and then had a brief word with her sister.
Pine handed Mercy her walkie-talkie and told her if anything came up to contact Spector right away. She added, “If this goes sideways . . . I . . . Look, I’m just so happy that we found each other.”
Mercy clipped the walkie-talkie to her waistband and looked down at her sister. She put a hand on her shoulder. “It won’t go sideways. We’ve got a job to do and we’ll do it. These assholes won’t know what hit them.”
Pine gripped her hand and squeezed it.
“I just have to get us down the tree, like you said.”
“But this time, I’ll help you do it, Lee.”
Pine hurried off with the drone and took up her position. She glimpsed Spector up on the ledge in a prone position; the tripod legs of the sniper rifle were deployed, and she was sighting through the night vision scope. It seemed the woman’s focus was complete.
HRT? thought Pine. They were the best of the best. It was good to know about the woman. And also troubling as hell.