Koppel’s security team gathered around Dyle as he brought them up to speed. When he finished, Tim Koppel glanced around. “This is all the men you have here? No wonder you gave me a shout. Where’s Nathan, Jaden? I don’t see him.”
“Out there somewhere with Dyle’s pet scientist,” Jaden said. “He hasn’t checked in for the last hour.”
“Are they in a dark-colored Jeep?”
“Yes.”
“We saw it from the copter as we came in. It appears to be disabled a couple of miles due north of here. You want us to check it out?”
“No,” Dyle said quickly. “I didn’t bring you here to play nursemaid to those bunglers. I’ll take Jaden and go myself. I told you, Waldridge and Michaels need to be your top priority. Get moving.”
*
“WE’VE GOT THE LOCATION,” Griffin said as soon as Lynch picked up. “Jessie Mercado called me five minutes ago, and the GPS tracker just started sending out a signal. Kendra’s in the Anzo-Borrego Desert. That’s all I know, so don’t ask questions. I’ll text you the coordinate app Jessie sent me.”
“Yes!”
“How long before you land in San Diego?”
“Another twenty minutes.”
“Then I’m not going to wait for you. I’m heading out right now. Do you want me to send a car and agent to the airport to bring you to—?”
“Hell, no. I’ll arrange for a helicopter to be waiting the minute this flight hits the ground. Just get to her.”
“On my way,” Griffin said tersely.
Anzo-Borrego Desert
“I couldn’t help it,” Biers whimpered as he gazed up at Dyle, kneeling beside him. “I told you, none of it was my fault. It all happened so fast. And then I thought I had her, but then … my head. You shouldn’t have expected me to do something like this.” He reached up and touched his blood-soaked head. “I’m hurt. I need a doctor.”
“You fool!” Dyle’s eyes were glittering with fury. “You actually had them, and you let them get away?” He looked at the wreckage of the Jeep with the body of Nathan crumpled at the wheel. “Both of you were fools. I thought with Nathan along, you’d be able to function like a real man, but I was wrong.”
“There are footprints leading to that north ridge,” Jaden said as he strode back to the Jeep. “If Waldridge and the woman are on foot, we have a chance of tracking them down if we move fast.”
“You see, nothing I did was that bad,” Biers said. “You can still catch them. But first stop this bleeding, then send me out on that helicopter and get me medical attention. I might have a concussion.”
“And I might need that helicopter pilot to get Waldridge out of here. You think I’d waste time on you?”
“Yes, of course. I’m important to you. You told me so. We’re going to be partners. I need help, Dyle.”
“Partners? That charade is over.” He turned to Jaden. “He needs a doctor just like your man did back at the lab. What’s your answer to that?”
Jaden smiled. “My choice? Then it’s the same answer we gave Brill. That’s only fair.”
“You heard him, Biers,” Dyle said as he turned away. “If I get Waldridge and Michaels back, I have no need of you. And I will get them back.” He glanced up at the helicopter that had just taken off again and was flying low, lights spearing the ground below. “Hurry up with it, Jaden. We need to deal with more important matters.” He moved toward the path leading to the ridge, and called back, “Don’t worry about the concussion, Biers. Jaden will take care of making it go away.”
“What are you—” Biers’s eyes widened in terror as Jaden leveled his gun at his head. “No, it isn’t fair. I was supposed to be—”
Jaden blew his head off.
And it served the stupid fool right, Dyle thought, when he heard the shot. “Done?” he called back to Jaden.
“Maybe not entirely,” Jaden said. “I think you’d better come back here. We may have a problem. Or an opportunity.” He dropped to his knees beside Biers’s body. “He’s been searched.” He was pointing to the lining of Biers’s pocket, which had been half pulled out of Biers’s pants. “You didn’t notice it when you were questioning him?”
“All I noticed was his whining.” Dyle had a sudden thought as he hurried back. “Check those pockets. Now.”
“The tracking device?” Jaden quickly searched Biers’s pockets. “Empty.”
Dyle cursed. “Then Kendra Michaels has her tracking device. If she managed to activate it, this whole area could soon be swarming with Feds.”
“Shit,” Jaden said as he reached for the walkie-talkie. “I’ll need to warn Koppel about it.”
“Wait.” Dyle snatched the walkie-talkie and spoke into it. “Koppel, do you read me?”
Koppel’s voice blasted over the radio, along with the sound of the helicopter rotors. “Roger.”
“I need your communications specialist up there to go to work.”
“Like he hasn’t been working already?”
Prick. Dyle held on to his temper. “Koppel, I need him to scan this area for a signal of some kind. It’s transmitting GPS coordinates.”