The phone went dead, and Noah turned to Sarah. “Everything cool on your end?”
She shrugged. “No worse than usual,” she said. “When Neil saw Ortiz come in, he told me to get over here quick, so I’ve been cruising around, waiting for him to give me the word that you left the bar. As long as I keep the car moving, nobody bothers me too much, but when I have to stop for gas I feel like a goldfish in a shark tank. What is it with Mexican men when they see a blonde? Am I wearing a sign that says, ‘Here I am, who wants a piece of ass?’ Feels like it, sometimes.”
“I can imagine,” Noah said. “Let’s run by my hotel so I can check out, then get back across the border and get some rest. Tomorrow’s gonna be a busy day.”
Sarah nodded, and maneuvered the car through the city until she got to the Hampton Inn. She waited in the car while Noah hurried upstairs to his room and packed quickly, remembering to remove the microphones and flush them down the toilet. He came down the elevator and checked out, then loaded his bags into the trunk of the car.
Sarah got back on the road, headed for the bridge back into the US. It took about an hour to get across, mostly because of the delay in showing ID to get back into the states. Noah used the time to put in a call to Allison.
“How’s it going down there?” Allison asked.
“Pretty hairy,” Noah answered. “I’m changing the game up a bit. Intel was right, I found out Ortiz definitely has a contact for nuke juice. I made a deal to make a purchase of some material, but I’ve got to send Moose to Dubai as fast as possible. He’s going to pose as my client, who’s known as the Dragon, so that he can inspect the material and take possession.”
“Making an actual purchase wasn’t in your mission parameters. What brought this on?”
“Spur of the moment decision. It was too easy to put the deal together, I just can’t stand the thought of leaving that material out where some real terrorist can get his hands on it. I’ve already got Neil setting Moose up with a flight, but I’m hoping you got some assets in Dubai that can back him up.”
She was silent for a moment, and he could hear computer keys clicking. “Team Aladdin is close to there, getting ready for a mission of their own in a couple of days. I can put them on him tomorrow. Noah, how confident are you that this is a real buy?”
“I’m pretty solid on it,” he said. “Ortiz seemed awfully excited about the possibility of a big payday. He quoted me twelve million, which is about three million over market value. Apparently, he’s in tight enough with these people that they trust him for the money, because he assures me we can take delivery as soon as I have Neil make the transfer to him.”
“Okay, I’m going to back you on this. I’ll be honest, I normally wouldn’t allow a new asset like you to make a call like this, but we both know that I’ve got a lot of confidence in you. Let’s just hope that computer you use for a brain is working up to its usual standards. You’re putting Moose out there at some risk, but I’ll grant you that the payoff sounds like it’ll be worth it. I’ll make sure Aladdin is briefed and ready, and I’ll send Moose their contact info.”
“Cool,” Noah said. “As soon as I’ve gotten the word that he’s taken possession, I’ll complete my mission here.”
“Good, make sure you do. Eliminating Pablo Ortiz is a top priority; he’s one of the major conduits for getting ISIS cells into the US. If we can lay our hands on some real nuclear material, that’ll be a bonus, but your mission takes top priority.”
“Got it, Boss lady.” He ended the call without another word, and grinned at Sarah. “See how easy that was?”
The blonde shook her head. “Yeah, well, you just better hope it pays off. Rumor has it that she’s been known to eliminate agents who went off the reservation and did things outside of their normal mission requirements. Don’t forget that if you get eliminated, there’s no guarantee something nasty won’t happen to us.”
Noah’s grin never slipped. “You worry too much,” he said. “You heard the lady, she has a lot of confidence in me. Let’s just get back to the hotel, so we can rest up and be ready for tomorrow.”
Sarah let out a sigh, and drove on through the city. A half-hour later, they parked at the Holiday Inn and made their way to their rooms.