“Which one of the monitors is showing my brother’s team?” I ask her in a low voice.
“This one, and this one.” She shows me where to look and I nod, relieved. They’re spread out in a grouping I recognize from when the MacTavish compound was attacked. They move like a single, deadly organism and the pounding in my heart slows a bit.
“And Alastair?”
“The boss is up here on the main monitor,” she explains, pointing to the huge one just above us. “You’ll see the coverage change when one of the other teams is actively engaged, but we always keep track of the boss, first and foremost.”
“Good. Thank you, Lucy.” I fold my arms awkwardly, I can’t seem to find a place to settle, feeling gangly and out of place. She gives me another wink and hooks her boot around one of the rolling office chairs, pulling it to me.
“Come sit by me, I have the best job,” she says, smiling happily.
“What’s your job?” I ask, gratefully settling in.
Her fingers are poised over her keyboard, the index finger quivering slightly as if she’s barely containing her excitement.
“Explosives.” The single word comes from her in a blissful sigh as I hear someone counting off in her earpiece.
“Three, two, one…”
Her finger stabs down on the ‘enter’ key on her board and the monitor to the right of us whites out, blindingly bright and I have to close my eyes, trying to rub away my spotty vision.
“Goddamnit Lucy!” yells one of the other guys, “Will you warn us next time? Fuck!”
There’s a round of sympathetic laughter before everyone focuses back on their work.
“That’s the first round of explosives detonating around the Chen safe house,” she explains. “He might have hostages inside, so we can’t risk blowing the entire building before your brothers clear it.”
Listening to their frequency, I can hear the joking is gone, replaced by terse, short orders and responses. My gigantic, glaikit brothers have transformed into a ruthless fighting unit.
Haoya Chen will never know what hit him. Until it’s too late.
Turning back to the main monitor, I chew on my lip as I watch Alastair’s group take on heavy fire.
“Yep, Zhang did keep his strike team with him,” Terrence mutters, rapidly toggling the surveillance drone over the gated mansion. I can see part of the tall iron fence is torn down and my husband’s men are pouring through, only to be faced with an even larger fighting force.
“No, no, no…” I whisper, trying to not draw attention to myself. They all need to be focused on their roles.
“Not to worry,” Lucy tells me, “see that signal?” She’s pointing to a blue blip streaking behind Zhang’s force. When it gets into range, I recognize it instantly, even with the grainy footage. It’s Alastair’s helicopter, two men are hanging out either side of the open doors and they’re holding…
Squinting, I lean closer. “Are those… rocket launchers?”
“Yes!” Lucy says happily. “This is the best part!”
A massive explosion rocks all the cars in the courtyard of the mansion, four of them go up in flames and the section where the bulk of Zhang’s men were fighting is nothing but a hole in the ground.
“Man, look how far all the bits and pieces flew!” Terrence says happily. I realize he’s talking about body parts and press my hands against my stomach to push down my nausea.
As long as it’s not Alastair,I think.
***
Glaikit - Scottish slang for silly or joking
Chapter Thirty-Five
In which the betrayal is painful.
Sorcha…
