Page 71 of Eyes in the Shadows

Wes nods, sets the bag of chips on the far edge of the desk—I know because it’s out of the view of the cam—and pulls up the app on his screen. Dimitri answers on the second ring.

It’s dark, his face is barely illuminated from the brightness of his screen as he holds his phone up. The car is dark around him, some flickering street lights in the background show an empty cul-de-sac. It’s not where I’d pick to do surveillance—a lone occupied car in an otherwise empty street tends to make people take notice, especially in the burbs—but Dimitri has his own ways. I know for a fact it’s much closer to the house than where I’ve been parking. He does like to be closer to the action.

“Any sign of Rossi?” I ask.

“The house is quiet. Interior camera feed is quiet. No movement in the main living room, back door or garage.”

Wes sighs. “That’s the issue with borrowing the feed on cameras already in someone’s house. They never put them in the places they spend most of their time—bedroom, toilet, kitchen.”

“I think we all know that the likelihood of Rossi showing tomorrow is low. We’re not even sure if he’s still in Jersey, right?”

Wes brings up a window on his other screen and types in a few things that show up as green typeface on a black background. It’s real matrix-looking shit. “No hits on his passport or license, so he hasn’t flown commercial—not much of a shocker, there. Could still have chartered something private. But a car registered to him went through an EZ pass lane through Pennsylvania. No pictures of the driver, so it might have been his wife.

“I’m getting the camera access to his other homes. California just came through, still working on Colorado and Florida. He’s smart, or someone who works for him is—they used different security companies. It’s been a real pain in my arse.”

“If he does not show, we have our backup plan,” Dimitri says. “Neutralize the team, blow the unit.”

The backup plan does take care of most of our problem, admittedly. But an explosion that destroys the unit and all the weapons will easily destroy most of the storage facility, and Eleanor is right—there’s no way to plan for everything. Any person in the wrong place will be a casualty.

“Yeah, but we know guys like him. If, after tomorrow night, he has no weapons, nothing to sell, and all his top guys are dead, he might just disappear and slip away. And he has enough money that—if he’s smart—we’ll never find him.”

“Okay, get to the point, James,” Dimitri says impatiently.

“I think we need a new Plan B. If the deal doesn’t draw him out, we’re going to have to do it.” I inhale and turn to Wes. “How many times have you had to remove Dimitri’s picture from that site?”

“Three, now.”

Dimitri rolls his eyes and mutters something in Russian. I catch the word for “persistence.”

“I think at this point, it’s pretty clear that he thinks Dimitri is a threat, and I think we can use that. They think Big D’s after the weapons, so let’s goafter the weapons. If we steal the shipment and D takes credit for it, I think it will piss him off enough to actually go on the offensive. And, if we leave just enough of his men alive, he’ll feel safe enough to show his face and have something to prove to them.”

Wes sits back, tapping his fingers on the glass top of the desk as he thinks. “He’s got an ego, we know that much. Wounding it could be the trick.”

Dimitri’s jaw grinds. He doesn’t like the idea, but he didn’t turn it down flat so he doesn’t hate it either. “If we take the guns, the buyer will be out for blood. Rossi will be out for blood.”

“That’s kind of the point.”

“Anger could make him unpredictable,” Dimitri argues. “Or, the buyer may try to kill him, thinking he crossed them twice.”

“Double crossed,” Wes corrects.

“That is what I said.”

“It’s a risk,” I agree. “We can probably figure out how to take care of the buyer, though. What do you think, Wes?”

Wes cuts me a look. He doesn’t like to appear to be taking sides, he likes to be the impartial one who weighs the decisions based on logic. “I think… I’ve been nervous that we’d drive Rossi underground tomorrow night. I think it could work, but I’m not the one whose face is plastered all over fucking Craigslist for assassins.”

“Yes, that is me. And I do not like it. It is too big a change, too last minute, too many factors out of our control.”

“Well, let’s figure out how to control them. We still have time. You’ve got nowhere to be tonight, right?” I ask with a grin. Dimitri would never admit to it, but I know he gets bored the same as anyone else on surveillance duty. And nighttime watch is especially bad. “Let’s start with how we’d steal the weapons and work out from there.”

Dimitri looks thoughtful. “For this, I might have an idea. But it is more work for Wesley.”

Wes cracks his knuckles and grins. “I could do with a challenge.”

It’s hours before we’re done, but in the end, we have a plan—divert the truck, kill the drivers, stash the weapons and I’m on cleanup. I’m cool with it, since it’sstill mostly my idea. Wes is excited—he’s a creature of chaos at heart, so he loves any time he gets to hack a public office. Dimitri is comfortable with the plan, which is the most we ever really get from him.

Wes has a long night ahead of him, so he follows me out of the office to head into the kitchen for another energy drink. I’m headed upstairs. But before we part ways in the foyer, he clears his throat.

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