Page 77 of No Vow Broken

“Sure. It’s less than a mile from here,” Elvis said. “If you’re sure that’s what you want to do.”

“I’m sure. Let’s go.”

“Lexi, proceed straight ahead for about a quarter of a mile, then turn left onto a gravel road after you cross a small creek,” Elvis instructed. “The trail they’re on intersects the road about half a mile down on the right.”

No one spoke as we reached our turn and headed up the gravel road. As we approached the spot Elvis had indicated, I could see a pickup parked in a pull-off area. Looked like the operators were still here.

I opened the car door and jumped out. “Back the car down the road to the turn. Then call the church and get some police up here as soon as possible. Hopefully, they’re already on their way. Otherwise, sit tight until we signal.”

I motioned to Tito to follow me. “You wanted more action, so let’s go. We’ve still got some work to do.”

FORTY-ONE

Hugh Tranh

“Are you sure you got them, Hugh?”

Hugh gave his partner, Charlie Tubbs, a steely glare as they scrambled down the uneven and rocky trail, nearly tripping several times in the process.

“What kind of question is that?” he replied, huffing. “You saw the explosion, didn’t you?” His nerves were rubbed raw from the intense concentration of flying the drone, not to mention the physical activity he’d been forced to endure. On a normal day, his heart rate peaked when he got up from the couch and went to the fridge for a beer. Today he’d climbed a freaking hill and hiked more than he had in years.

But the money for this gig had been too good to turn down, at least when they first started. He never imagined he could have so much money in his entire lifetime, and then it had fallen right into his lap.

At least it was finally done. At this point, he only worried about the feds. If they had failed, it would be the fedsandan international mafia group—or whoever had made the down payment for their work—coming after them.

He totally preferred the feds to a gang with the resources these guys seem to possess.

“Yeah, I heard it,” Charlie complained. “But the explosion seemed a little delayed. That’s all I’m saying, man. Maybe it missed and hit something else.”

“It didn’t miss. It was heading right at the windshield when the signal ended. Why else would the signal quit if the drone hadn’t exploded?”

“I guess you’re right. I’m just nervous about this one. These guys who hired us don’t play nice, so I just want to be sure. What are you going to report?”

“The truth. Mission complete. Confirmation that both targets were in the car and terminated. I’m just glad that all that hiking and then sitting around on this stupid mountain was worth it. We were assured the targets would be here, but after four hours of twiddling my thumbs, I wasn’t so confident.”

“Yeah, and what a stroke of luck they both got into the same car. Made our job that much the easier.”

“Sure did.” Hugh smiled, thinking about that. “You know, they gave us a good run, Charlie, but they never had a clue we were just herding them at the end. It was more fun than I expected.”

“We’re the best drone pilots for a reason.”

“Yeah, we are.” Hugh fell silent, thinking.

“Do you think the feds will figure out it was us based on our reputation?”

“Unlikely. We used common drones, wore gloves, and no one can pin us to the scene of the crime. Our phones are still back in Ashburn at our pad, so no tracking us that way.”

“You know, Charlie, it still bugs me how we got set up, though. Big payday and telling us that they needed us to take out a couple of foreign businessmen. Low-risk, nothing left behind, and two hundred grand for our efforts. Then we find out Secret Service agents were driving the targets when our ‘piece of cake’ ambush went down. Now we’ve got the FBI and the Secret Service turning over every rock trying to find us.”

“I’m nervous about that,” Charlie said. “We’re good, but we’re talking about the FBI here.”

“Don’t worry. We were careful. The drones are untraceable, and they have just been sitting on the shelf since we purchased them over a year ago.”

“I know.” Charlie slid a few feet down the hill before stopping himself. “But we don’t need trouble like that. The feds? Really?”

“We’ll be okay. But we need to get out of here and fast. We aren’t the only ones who saw that explosion. Let’s find a spot to bury these controllers. Wouldn’t look good to be caught with them.”

“Sure wouldn’t.”

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