Page 94 of Unmade

“Hillcroft dispatch, please state your operator number and name.”

Oh shit. “Uh, I don’t have an operator number,” I said, turning away from Coach and the others, a feeble attempt to tune them out. “I’m recruit Leighton Watts, and I’m stuck in a van with Coach.”

“I understand,” the woman said on the phone. “How can we help? Can we speak to Coach?”

“Not at the moment—he’s busy,” I replied. “I just wanna relay some information. We’re traveling in a dark blue van, a Mercedes Sprinter. I don’t recall seeing the license plate, but there’s a white logo on the side. Don’t remember those details either. We headed up South Eads, and I think we just turned right on Army Navy Drive. Over.”

“Thank you, recruit Watts,” she said. “We are tracking Coach’s phone, and we have operators on the way.”

“Okay, copy that. Just so you know, we left two targets behind on the road, and both should be injured,” I added. “The first was shot in the leg, and the other was pushed out of the vehicle when it moved.”

I felt kinda awkward. Had this been the Army, I would’ve known how to phrase myself. This was… Like, did I treat this like a regular fucking phone call, or did radio comm terminology apply?

Coach tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. I ended the call and turned around, and he switched on his flashlight too, but kept it downcast. My light wasn’t as bright.

“It’s gonna be a shoot-first, ask-later situation the minute the van comes to a full stop, not counting turns and stoplights,” he said. “How many rounds do you have?”

“Fifteen plus one, and an extra mag,” I replied. “And whatever’s in the gun I lifted from that guy. What’ve you learned?”

“Gimme the other gun.” He held out a hand, and I handed over the gun. “Immigrants tricked into working for scraps,” he said. “They’re staying—or more like being held—in a house near Fredericksburg, but I’m not sure that’s where they wanna take us now that we’ve joined the ride.”

“So, it’s close to where Beckett is,” I blurted out. It had to be connected, all of it.

Coach shot me a look. “How do you know that?”

Oh crap.

“Um.”

He shook his head quickly. “Never mind. They’re likely gonna drive someplace secluded to get rid of us, so I need your help. Are you up for it?”

“Absolutely, sir.” Finally, someone letting me play. Because he literally had no other options. “Tell me what to do. How many are there?”

“Two.” He cleared his throat and glanced over at some of the others, and he asked something in Spanish. A moment later, he looked back at me. “Ifwe make it to their house, there will be three or four others to worry about—but it doesn’t make sense to me that they’d wanna expose their business. Chances are they have stateside operations in making money off the vulnerable.”

I shook my head grimly. “Do I have to aim for shoulders and knees or, you know…can we go for the head?”

“You eliminate threats,” he told me firmly. “Sometimes, that’s done by shootin’ them in the shoulder. Sometimes, that’s not enough. Use your head, recruit.”

Fair enough.

The way we picked up speed made it clear we were heading outside the city, so Coach and I sat down on the far ends of the benches. Because this would probably take a while. Coach reported to dispatch too, and he told backup to stand down and merely follow.

“They’re improvising this,” I noted. “The targets, I mean.”

“Without a doubt,” he muttered. “They’re not bright either. Everyone has a cell phone that can be traced, and I’m guessin’ they’re at a loss for how to remove ours.”

Exactly. I mean, they couldn’t have done anything earlier, but wherever they went now, they risked being followed. In addition, they had to know who they were dealing with since they’d targeted Hillcroft.

“The bomb that went off,” I said quietly. “Do you think it was supposed to be a warning?”

He tipped his head, weighing his answer. “It’s a possibility. On the other hand, it’s tough to cause a significant amount of destruction to our building, and they can’t get in. Blowing up the lobby or the delivery bay are the two options at ground level. One will guarantee a single loss of life, and the othermightresult in three or four casualties if you arrive at the time of a supply delivery.” He checked his watch, and I saw the seconds tick. It was a timer. I should’ve thought of that. He was keeping track of how long we’d driven. “I just know Gina’s gonna hand in her resignation now.”

“And that bothers you greatly,” I guessed. I had no idea why, but he looked really annoyed.

“You could say that.”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

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