Up ahead, a custodian pushed a cart through the tunnel. The woman turned and looked at Blayne for a fraction of a second before turning down another tunnel. “It’s her.” He’d recognize those glaring eyes anywhere. It was the eyes from his nightmares. Without thinking, he bounded down the hallway after the woman.Is she here to finish the job?He reached the intersection where the custodian had turned…and there was nothing. He listened and didn’t even hear a cart being pushed. Nothing was echoing in the concrete and tiled hallway.
“Are you okay?” Lucas gasped out. Blayne looked down at the young guy, who was panting.
“I thought I saw someone,” Blayne admitted. “Must have been a trick of my eyes.” Even as the words came out of his mouth, Blayne wasn’t sure if he believed them.
* * * *
Dr. Hennigan
The Constitutional Liberation Army were minor players as far as extremist groups went in the US. Still, the chance to take out some of the leadership of the National Democratic Party of Germany was just too enticing to miss the opportunity. When they heard that a small contingent of the CLA’s leadership would meet with thugs from the far-right NDP, they decided to liquidate the leadership of both groups, hoping the vacuum would cause enough instability in both to sideline them.
Her two best operatives, Denzili and Richardson, were already in place when she arrived at the Toyota Center. Hennigan had slipped in with the loading crew, which was easy. They’d gotten full-access badges from an inside source, so the three had complete access to the facility. She looked like any other personnel working for the arena in her gray coveralls. She passed through the metal security detectors with zero problems.
“I’m inside,” Dr. Hennigan said.
“Good,” a voice responded in her ear. “I can see your location. You’ll go down to the third door on your left and open it. You’ll find a cleaning cart with your supplies.”
Dr. Hennigan walked down the hallway and followed the instructions. She opened the door and slipped inside. Sure enough, the cart was waiting for her. Inside, she found a coyote beige-colored bag. It looked like an oversized attaché case, but she unzipped it to find what she needed for this evening’s operation, a modified B&T SPR300 Pro rifle. At only one-hundred-and-twenty-one decibels, the .300 caliber ammunition wouldn’t be heard firing over the concert sounds. The gun was perfect for this type of job because it was as close to silent as a high-powered rifle got. She inspected the firearm, putting it together before pulling it apart.
She put the bag back into the cart before exiting into the hallway. “Ms. Wilson, I’m heading to staging point one.”
“You are a go,” Ms. Wilson responded in her earpiece.
Dr. Hennigan pushed the cart through the maze of tunnels toward one of the elevator bays marked for staff only. She heard voices coming from her left. She swiveled her head.Fuck. She pushed through the intersection. “Ms. Wilson, I just saw Blayne Dickenson. I think he recognized me. I need an escape route…fast.”
“How did he recognize you? He never saw your face.”
“I don’t know.”
“Straight ahead, take the first turnoff on the right. It’s thirty feet ahead of you. You’ll then go another twenty feet to a secondary hall on the left. The third room down is a security room with keycard access.”
Hennigan followed Ms. Wilson’s instructions and barely got into the first hallway before she heard Blayne’s feet hit the intersection. She didn’t wait to see if he would pursue her. She kept going, keeping the cart as quiet as possible until she was safely behind the security door.
“How did that happen? How did we not have eyes on him?”
“He was in Bond’s dressing room. He must have left. There’s a blind spot in the security feed in that section.”
“Why didn’t we install a camera there?” Hennigan questioned.
“Nothing on the itinerary we hacked had Mr. Bond and Mr. Dickenson rendezvousing until the green room. You would have been in your position before that happened.”
“Dammit,” Hennigan said. This operation began to feel like the clusterfuck that started in New Orleans.What about these two men keeps royally screwing up my plans?
“I now have Dickenson on a security feed heading toward the green room. He did not pursue,” Ms. Wilson let Hennigan know.
Hennigan pushed her cart back into the hall and made it safely to the perch she’d picked out for the evening’s operation. Now, she simply had to lie in wait.
“Ms. Wilson, is everyone in position?”
“Yes. All is a go.”
* * * *
Blayne
Blayne was already questioning his sanity. Admittedly, it wasn’t the first time he’d seen the no-name, no-face woman over the last month. But those eyes… Those dark pits had been soulless as they’d pointed the gun at Ethan. He hadn’t gotten as good of a look at them as Ethan had. Ethan had yelled for Blayne to run, but he still heard the woman’s voice as she calmly instructed Ethan, “I wouldn’t move if I were you,” as Blayne had run for his life.
“What’s wrong?” Kira said, eyeing her friend warily as he entered the green room.
