Jewell answered quickly. “Already working on it, and preliminary results show that payments have been steady and increasing.”
He glanced over at Rook. “No longer an assumption.”
Rook rolled his eyes. “All right, hotshot. What are you going to do about equipment?”
“Minimal. Doggie drugged jerky, a folding lock kit, a micro breaching charge for a door if needed, a compact handgun for close work if necessary, a small med kit, electronic jammers to disable cameras and nearby cell phones, and of course, at least three knives. Efficiency, silence, and then my exit.”
“Okay, before we get to exfil, what about target location.”
“From what I saw when I was in the house?—”
“You were in the house?”
“I said I planted disrupters.”
Rook’s eyes popped a bit, and his head jerked back. “I thought you meant on the perimeter.”
“Nope, I played bug man.” Blake shrugged; he’d been bolder when the situation called for it. “Sprayed the house with water. His bedroom isn’t for comfort. He’ll be in his office. It’s filled with all his accolades and is homey. That’s where he spends his time.”
“Balls of steel, dude. You have balls of steel.” Rook laughed.
“Like you haven’t paid a visit in advance.”
“Well, poison is an up close and personal thing. Need to know the habits and such unless you can catch the bastards in a social setting. Motherfuckers are pretty paranoid, though. Tough to catch them out and about.” Rook shrugged.
“So, your balls are lead-lined steel, then.” Blake laughed and pushed Rook gently with his elbow.
“Maybe. Talk to me about exfil. When and where will we rendezvous with you? The ancient sewer?”
“No, here. You can keep her safer here.” Blake sighed, his eyes going back to Elise as she walked down the pier. “When CCS sees me exiting, they’ll start raising hell with disruptions in the camera system, and the power will brown out before they take down the grid. That will give me seventeen seconds to sprint to the culvert.”
“Where is that?” Rook pulled the map Blake had drawn off the trunk and held it in front of him.
“Here.” Blake pointed to the mark.
“Dude.” Rook looked at him. “If you can trust her to stay put, I’ll go with you to give you cover fire.”
“And could you run through a sewage system?” Blake held up his hand. “The answer to that is no, you physically can’t do it at this time.”
“Then get someone here who can.” Rook’s voice was loud and pissed off, and it carried, drawing Elise’s attention to them. Blake lifted a hand to her, and she waved back and continued down the pier hesitantly.
“I can make it, and if I can’t, you’ll take Elise to the border and get her out of the country. Duct tape her to the roof of the car if you have to.”
Rook’s laugh echoed around the lake. “I want to be in your mind for just a minute. Where in the hell do you come up with this shit?”
Blake smiled and laughed. “You don’t want to know. Anyway, the paperwork arrives tonight, along with her computer and the necessary evidence to write and submit the article. I’ll ask her not to go online to submit it until after I’ve gone tomorrow night. Even with the immediacy of online publications, the editor would have to receive it, verify the information, and then send it out. By the time that happens, I’ll be at the house, and Zajac’s minutes will be numbered. Plus, someone would have to read the article online and get the information to him. Not sure howmany people in his employment read French newspapers. For the world to know, it would have to be picked up by one of the major news outlets, which will also take time.”
“You’ve thought this through.”
“A thousand times.” He wanted Elise to have her moment, but it couldn’t jeopardize his mission.
“Which is expected for what we do. Do you have a change of clothes? No offense, but you reeked last night. Just saying.”
Blake gave Rook a cutting look. “Hey, I was ass deep in that mire, believe me, I know how I smelled. I’ll have a vehicle hidden about a mile from the exit of the conduit. From there, I’ll drive directly here and shower. We’ll hit the road within five minutes of my arriving. However, if I’m not here by eleven, you get her in the car and you go. Leave my papers on the table. The route out of the country will avoid airports and main rails, and CCS will send you the directions to your phone tonight.”
“All right. Let’s go over contingencies. What if shit hits the fan inside the compound?”
Blake watched where Elise had sat at the end of the pier and gazed out over the lake, appearing lost in thought. “If things get hot at point zero, I have one option. It would lead me through the boiler room and up a ladder onto the roof. From there, I can jump to the compound wall and then get over it.”
