Page 101 of Fire for Effect

“You armed?” Noam asked, tilting his head over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of Sierra in all her glory.

“Of course,” she said, “We all are.”

Noam turned back around and stared at the road, his fists clenched.

“Why?” I asked, dread seeping into my pores.

“I got a bad feeling, is all,” Noam said as his eyes darted up and down the side of the road. His hypervigilance made me uneasy.

“Tell me what happened,” I said, just as his phone came on the blue tooth.

He tapped the car’s screen to answer it.

“Open line,” he said, declaring to whoever was on the other side that there were people around listening in.

“Bravo team has been found, and they’re out.” That was Brett’s lightly accented Russian on the other end.

“Fuck,” Noam said. “Any clues how they did it?”

“No,” Brett said. “But that means you’re flying solo.

“I’ve got a really, really bad feeling about this.”

“I’m in route now,” Brett said, and there was shuffling and movement on the other end. “I’ve spun up our Emergency team, and one agent is on stand by near you.”

“He’s going to kill me. He’s gonna suffocate me with a squid like he did the guy in Monaco, then he’s gonna chop me up, and serve me on a bed of pilaf rice.” Noam’s voice remained even, but all of us in the back seat exchanged surprised and slightly worried glances.

“Yeah, probably,” Brett quipped. “We should have brought the kid in sooner.”

“No shit,” Noam punched the call off, as his eyes darted up and down the road.

“You want to fill us in?” I asked. “Squid?”

Noam let out a small groan, his wrinkled eyes seeming more tired today than they were the last time I saw him.

“I came in because we didn’t hear from one of our night teams that were watching over you,” Noam said. “Another team was already found dead. Their throats were slit.”

“Shit,” Griff said through his teeth, as his arm tightened around me.

“Shit indeed,” Noam agreed.

“And… the Squid?” Sierra asked, leaning forward in her chair until her arms wrapped around the front passenger side head rest.

“Ghost is an adept and creative killer,” Noam grumbled. “He’s never used the same method twice, or so the rumors say.”

We all waited with baited breath as Noam sighed.

“I was there when he killed a target by sticking a live squid on his face and suffocating him to death.”

“Ew,” I said.

“Thats…” Kai started but never finished.

Sierra had hearts in her eyes as she grinned, “Daddy is hot!”

“Yeah, if you like them insane, he once won a gun fight with a plastic spork.” Noam leaned forward in his seat, looking at the sides of the road.

“Is he single?” Sierra asked.

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