“And when the authorities respond to the inevitable emergency calls from the lab?”
“We let the situation develop naturally. Sometimes, doing the right thing means breaking the rules.”
I’d made similar choices myself.
“Reynolds copies,” Scarlett cut in. “We’ll coordinate timing on our end.”
“Appreciated. Rav, Brooke—watch yourselves down there,” said Bobcat. “If they got the system in place without us seeing them on the cameras, there might be other surprises we aren’t ready for.”
Surprises were the last thing I wanted. The last thing anyone on our team wanted.
I pulled a drone out of my backpack.
Brooke pulled out the second drone. “Did you get close enough to test the trucks?”
“Only one of them,” he said.
“And?”
“The field test kit lit up. The truck had definitely been in contact with the chemical.”
“Fuck,” muttered Brooke. “Well, at least we know we aren’t chasing our tails. Did they clock you?”
“No. We waited for them to make a pit stop, busted the lock on the back, and peeked inside. Ran the test before they were back out.”
Brooke scrunched her nose. “They didn’t leave someone in the truck?”
Bobcat grunted. “They were probably told to drive around randomly for a few hours. I’d bet they had no idea what they were doing.”
“Anything else?” I asked.
“That’s it for now.”
After Bobcat disconnected, I set my drone down, and Brie did the same. Will’s latest design was virtually silent with low-light cameras and infrared.
Through my earpiece, Scarlett asked, “What are you thinking, Rav?”
“We need to do the drone test.”
“Seriously.”
I rose from my crouch and stretched my knees, watching Brooke do the same. “We’ve missed something. Decoy trucks mean they know someone’s watching. If Noah’s to be believed, they still only know about Pendragon. But three trucks is a classic shell game?—”
“And the pea is never actually under one of the shells,” Scarlett finished for me.
I nodded slowly, taking Brooke’s hand. Taking strength from her presence. I had too much to look forward to for this job to go south. “So the question is, where’s the pea?”
One of the drones launched from the ground, rotors spinning, barely louder than a whisper. “Camera feed is crystal clear. Let me test the second one.”
As the second tiny aircraft rose and pivoted, Scarlett said, “We’ll talk it over here. See if we can figure something out. Maybe I’ll get on a call with Bobcat myself.”
Under Will’s expert guidance, both drones disappeared into the tunnel ahead, then zipped back to us. He said, “Both birds are working perfectly. Path looks clear for the next hundred feet.”
“Want to scout ahead for us?”
“Roger that.” Both drones quickly vanished from our sight. “Switch your comms to passive, and we’ll let you know if we find anything.”
We muted our microphones but left the channel open. Random chatter from the team filled my ears, but I turned down the volume.
