Neve stopped next to Zadie, still looking as if she’d been rolling around on the bed for the past hour. “This had better be earth-shattering.”
Scout snickered. “We didn’t interrupt something, did we?”
“Yeah, the best damn sleep I’ve had in years.” Neve nodded at the monitor. “What’s Ramsey up to now?”
Zadie tapped on the keyboard, bringing up the transmission she’d intercepted. “I can only assume that after our interaction with him earlier, he’s upped his security. Started sending out his orders in short bursts of highly encrypted texts, all of which erase after thirty seconds. I was only able to grab one of a series of them that just went live.”
“And…”
“He’s sanitizing everything to do with Bralorne, including all the vehicles he used to transport his men up there.”
Neve nodded, looking way too sexy with her hair still down, a healthy glow on her skin. “And we care because…”
“Because they’re not just your average four by four. They’re high-tech machines, each of which will have GPS hard drives and possibly EDRs.” She smiled when Neve frowned. “That’s a vehicle’s version of a black box. If we can grab either of those before Ramsey destroys them…”
“We’ll have more than just proof. We’ll have waypoints of every place that truck has been.”
“Might give up another location — allow us to plan an ambush — or even link Ramsey back to Finch and Hyperion.” She sighed. “There’s just one catch.”
“There always is.”
“The trucks are already on the move. They’re heading to Miller’s Metal and Salvage located in a dead-end industrial zone outside Chilliwack. Not nearly as remote as we’ve had in the past.”
“Which means, we need to be aware of possible civilian overlap, RCMP response if we use firearms or explosives. You got an ETA?”
“Let’s just say, if we don’t leave now, we’ll lose our window. And it doesn’t sound as if Ramsey will be there in person, this time. He sent the message to one of his lieutenants.”
Neve nodded. “Which actually works in our favor because this isn’t an assault. It’s a smash and grab. Zero contact. Zero shots fired unless it’s life and death.” She glanced up at him, tilted her head. “You up for this?”
“I didn’t put on my cargo pants for nothing.”
She smiled, then schooled her features when the rest of her team beamed. “Shepherd? We could use a driver. Wynn and Zadie will stay in the vehicle with you. Run interference. Be ready if we encounter trouble or need medical support. The rest of us will infiltrate the yard, grab a unit, then bug out. Preferably without any of Ramsey’s men knowing we were there.”
Her teammates nodded, filed out of the room, all heading for the rear door.
Coulter hooked her elbow before she could dart away. “I know you’re skilled, just be careful. I want my turn.”
“Then, I guess you’ll have to stay alive, too.” She tiptoed up, kissed him. “I’ll be careful. Promise.”
Coulter simply nodded and followed after her. Careful or not, he’d ensure she made it back in one piece because he hadn’t been joking. He never quit on a mission, and Neve had become his most dangerous op.
CHAPTER TEN
The headlights sliced through the darkness, the twin beams softening the shadows along the edge of the deserted street. Neve sat in the passenger seat as Shepherd navigated the outskirts of the industrial park. The engine purred in the background, the occasional creak groaning through the struts as the wheels bounced through a pothole or over a patch of rough blacktop.
Empty parking lots and large, commercial warehouses graced every lot, the underlying growl of heavy-duty engines rising above the hum of the tires on the road. Shepherd slowed as he reached the final junction, turning left before pulling over to the side.
Ahead on the left, a wall of chain link and razor wire followed the road, stacks of twisted metal blocking out the view of the salvage yard beyond. A pale glow brightened a patch of sky a hundred meters off — a machine working through the night or maybe an office. Either way, it suggested they hadn’t arrived first.
Neve slipped out the door, Coulter and Scout following suit. They checked their gear one last time before Neve leaned in. “We’ll minimize any comms chatter in case they’re scanning frequencies. Zadie, if you see any signals you think you can block, that would be appreciated. Our oh-shit word is pineapple.”
Coulter chuckled. He’d always picked some random word for their “bug out” signal, and she’d carried on the tradition.
They headed for the fence, sticking to the shadows. The air smelled of old diesel and exhaust mixed with a hint of rain rising up off the wet asphalt. In the distance, a steadyclunkpounded up through the ground, the dull sound fading into the hum of engines idling beyond the metal stacks.
Scout led them along the chain link, starting and stopping a few times before finally pulling up short at a section where the ground had eroded away from the main post. She crouched, checking every direction before using a pair of insulated wire cutters to snip a small line up the side, pulling the wires away — creating enough space that they could shimmy beneath it without the ends catching on their clothes.
Coulter went first, every tight press of his mouth or hushed grunt was a hit to Neve’s heart. He didn’t look nearly as stiff, but she knew certain movements still hurt. But he’d made a career out of boxing up the pain, focusing on the task.
