Page 66 of Freedom Fighters
Chapter Twelve
Joshua groped his hand across the nightstand, reaching for his cellphone, which buzzed frantically. It was face-down, so no screen glow told him where the damn thing was and he was only half-awake.
He picked it up and glanced at the caller ID, then answered it. “Nick, what’s wrong?”
“What makes you think something is wrong?” Nick asked.
“It’s three in the morning for bothof us. I sincerely hope somethingiswrong.” Beryl stirred next to him and Josh pulled himself out of the bed. “Wait a second, let me get somewhere I can talk above a whisper.” He trod out to the living room, flipped on the lamp and sank onto the sofa. “Okay, what’s up?”
“I need another favor,” Nick said.
“Does the time of day mean you need this done sometime yesterday?” Josh asked.
“Preferably.The safety goggles that your miners use. I need two hundred pairs of them in Acapulco before midday.”
Josh’s jaw dropped open. “You’reshittingme,” he breathed.
“They pack almost flat and two hundred of them would fit in one big carton. There’ll be a courier company somewhere in San Diego that will happily take the fee, although Astra Corp has three Cessnas and each of them could manage theload. The airport in Acapulco can handle all the way up to 747s. It’s a three hour flight from where you are. That gives you until sometime after eight am to get the plane into the air.”
The intense hard note in Nick’s voice told Josh he was very serious indeed. “Will this make a difference?” Josh asked.
“All the difference in the world.”
Josh didn’t press him for details. Cellphones were wildlyinsecure and if the Insurrectos weren’t tracking every cellphone in the big house they were more stupid than they had let on so far.
“I’ll bring them down myself,” Josh said, standing up. “Anything else?”
“Thank you,” Nick said. It was a heart-felt expression, gusty with relief. “I don’t suppose your company stocks climbing gear?”
Josh blinked at the unexpected question. He made himself notask why on earth they wanted climbing gear. The quality in Nick’s voice, the hard and quick way he was talking, told its own story. This was urgent. Critical.
“I’ll knock over the nearest mountaineering store on my way to the airport,” he told Nick.
“Thank you again,” Nick said. “Although you might want to rethink coming down here yourself.”
“Why?” Josh asked sharply.
“Check a weather forecastfor this area,” Nick told him and hung up.
* * * * *
Daniel felt one of his phones vibrate against his hip and shifted around under the blanket until he could haul it out of his pants pocket. It was stifling inside the little tent, hotter than he could remember Vistaria being in quite some time.
He didn’t recognize the number, but that didn’t mean anything. Now the phones and the Internet wereuntraceable conduits, any phone could be used to reach him, as long as the cloak had been installed.
“Hello,” he said shortly.
“Daniel.Mi amor.”
He drew in a heavy breath, happiness making his heart leap. “Olivia. Your voice is heaven to me.”
“I can’t talk for long,” she said. “I just wanted to hear your voice and know for myself that you’re okay.”
“I’m okay. Better than okay now,” he toldher truthfully.
“Duardo wants to speak with you,” she said. “It’s urgent.”
“Put him on.”
