Page 42 of Shadow of the Moon

“Okay. That’s good, at least. Yes, sir. No, we’re going in tonight.”

She paused, her eyes dropping to her laptop, though she wasn’t really seeing. “I knew you would. That’s why I didn’t say anything. Yes, sir.”

And she hung up the phone. “He’s not happy you’re involved, but he says as long as I stay in charge, we’ll be okay.”

Dev looked at her incredulously. “Seriously? He wants you to pull rank on me?”

She shook her head, sighing. “I have no idea. And they think they figured out who the granddaughter belongs to.”

“Who,” he demanded.

“Alfred J. Hatchett.”

Dev could have been blown over by a feather. “No way! Old Man Hatchett? Your old boss? Seriously? Has anybody even seen him since he retired?”

“I don’t know. Brown didn’t say how he learned the information.”

That was a little shocking. The Old Man had been tough and thorough, but Dev never would have thought he would work against the country in any way. He’d been patriotic to the bone, first being a Marine, then working for the Agency for more than thirty years. “That sounds so out of character…” Dev murmured.

Amberly looked at him, her eyes troubled. “I know. It’s not sitting well with me, either.”

“I wonder who researched it?”

She shook her head. “He didn’t say.”

They continued digging, Dev eventually getting on and plugging in the address they’d found on Zed’s GPS. It looked like it was a cattle ranch. For some reason, he’d thought it was going to be an encampment in the woods. Actually, it was a ranch at the base of a mountain. There were a few pics online he found connected to a young girl’s Instagram account.

He created an account and logged into the property valuation office, but he couldn’t find the address even listed. Hm.

Dev supposed he’d be going in blind. He only needed to get close enough to take a shot.

To that end, he unboxed his rifle, put it together, and mounted the scope. He wouldn’t know until tonight how well it worked. He didn’t have Kevlar anymore, or anything even comparable, so he would be going in very exposed. Dev had a feeling there would be more than one target, and he also knew they would be loaded for bear.

His chances of making it out alive were not great. And if they had a gun in their hands, they were enemies.

Anxiety churned in his gut at the thought of what was coming tonight. When you were a part of a team, you had guys to depend upon. When Dev had been on missions, he’d normally had a spotter with him, someone to call out ranges on his shots as well as watch his back. He’d have armor to drive in to the target and armor to drive him out. And the entire team to support.

Dev didn’t even want to take Amberly in with him. Not that she wouldn’t be great support. She would be. But he had a feeling that when it got down to the nitty-gritty, she would want to try to apprehend Regent rather than kill him.

Dev wanted to leave her behind just to keep her safe, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen either.

He was getting his pistol ready when his phone buzzed on the table. Picking it up, he swiped his thumb across.

You have a delivery.

Hm. Stepping to the door, he peered through the security hole, but didn’t see anyone standing there. Cautiously, he opened the door and peeked out.

There was a kitted out flat black 4x4 Jeep four-door truck parked in the spot directly in front of the door. It was a damn fine piece of equipment, and seemed to be tempting him. Maybe he could ‘borrow’ it for tonight.

Then he caught sight of the key fob ring around the antennae. Seriously? Was this for him to use?

He looked around, trying to see who it might belong to. There were a few people moving around at the end of the building, but they were unloading a Tahoe. He pulled the key fob off the antennae and hit the button. It beeped and the lights flashed.

“What’s going on?” Amberly asked, stepping beside him.

“I think Charley is my long, lost fairy godmother,” he murmured.

Moving to the driver’s side door, he pulled it open. There was a Post-it note on the steering wheel. Don’t forget to check the back!

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