Ed shook his head. “And I didn’t see the other intruders, either. I’ll go back out and see if I can find them.”
“I’ll go with you,” Dino said.
After a beat, Stone said, “I’ll go, too.” He glanced at Felicity. “Don’t open the door unless you know it’s us.”
“Thank you for pointing out the obvious,” she said.
“You’re welcome.”
He joined Dino and Ed at the door.
“They’ve got to be either at the back side of the house or the guesthouse,” Dino said.
“Agreed,” Ed said. “You two go left, then if it’s clear, head to the guesthouse. I’ll go right, then circle around and check the back.”
Dino and Stone nodded, and Ed opened the door.
Chapter 41
Bronsky and Parker reached theback corner of the main house and paused against the wall to wait for the three who’d been in the guesthouse to join them.
Bronsky had to admit that so far Parker was living up to the hype.
Dame Felicity’s security team had been handled with stealth and efficiency, and now all that was left was to deal with the head of MI6 herself.
Parker caught Bronsky’s attention, then nodded toward the area beyond the far end of the house. It took the Russian a few seconds to pick out the dark shapes of three men moving through the rain.
As soon as the group reached the building, Parker said over the radio, “Door.”
There were several doors along the back of the house. Parker, Bronsky, and the three men converged at the one Parker had picked out when he’d planned the mission. It was the only one without a window or any nearby.
When Parker looked at the lock, he sneered.
“Problem?” Bronsky whispered.
Parker snapped his gaze at him, in a gesture clearly meant to tell Bronsky to be quiet. He then pointed at the dead bolt.
Bronsky took a closer look and immediately realized the issue. It was one of the best locks on the market, and nearly impossible to open without a key. Only a few people in the world had ever done so successfully.
He thought Parker would have to look for an alternate way in, but the man pulled out a small tool satchel from his gear bag, then crouched down in front of the lock, ready to pick it.
Just as Parker was about to get to work, the crack of a rifle sounded over the rain.
Parker froze.
His team had all been issued silencer-equipped weapons, so the shot had to have been made by Felicity’s people. Which meant the men he’d sent to the garage must have run into a problem.
He cursed under his breath, then gestured for one of his men to check around the back left corner of the house and another the back right, leaving him, the client, and Frank at the back door.
It took several seconds for the pair he’d sent away to get into place, and another few for them to carefully look around both sides. Each man then clicked once on their radios, indicating that they saw nothing unusual.
Two more rifle shots boomed.
All eyes turned to him, including those of the client, who looked like he thought the mission was about to implode.
The guy may have been Russian intelligence, but Parkerwas beginning to think it had been a long time since he’d been in the field.
Parker took a moment to think things through, then he toggled his mic.
