Page 159 of Secret Weapon

And I had some big decisions to make about my future.

“We should go back for Hallie.”

“I’ll take the RIB.”

“Then we need to dispose of…” Ana looked around and wrinkled her nose.“Everything.”

“How deep is the ocean floor around here?”

“I’ll check the charts and turn off the AIS.”

It was a pleasant evening for a sail.A cloudless sky, a sumptuous yacht I’d never be able to afford in a million years, and good company.Hallie stayed quiet after we retrieved her, but I suppose that was understandable after getting kidnapped yet again.Ana said this was her fourth abduction in as many years.Someone needed to teach that girl how to watch her back.

The gravesite we identified lay a hundred and fifty miles offshore, a nice spot with no submarine cables where the ocean floor dropped to thirteen thousand feet.The trip would take five hours or so.Once we’d sunk the yacht—a tragic waste but also a necessity—we’d set off toward the shore in the RIB, and Emmy’s team would pick us up.

“How can you eat?”Hallie asked from the corner of the saloon.We’d found her a blanket, and now she was huddled up in a chair, wearing a minidress that had looked black when I hauled her onto theBalestra, but which had dried to a dark grey.Her jacket was gone, stripped off in the water.“There are bodies everywhere.”

“Relax, they’re all dead.”

“That was kind of my point.”

“Why waste the food?Sure you’re not hungry?”

She shook her head.

Before he died, the chef had been proficient at his craft.There were chilled crème brûlées in the refrigerator, so I’d caramelised the tops before using the blowtorch in the IED I was building.Along with the blowtorch, I’d used fuel I’d siphoned from the jet skis in the hold, a bunch of lithium batteries, cans of hairspray, several bottles of vodka, a remote-control toy Ferrari, superglue, a Zippo lighter, dental floss, the cocktail shaker I’d thrown at the chef, and a variety of other useful objects.

Ana was driving the boat, so I took her a plate of sandwiches.

“Did you finish the device?”she asked.

I nodded.“And I searched the boat.The laptops are ready to go, but I couldn’t get the safe open, so we’ll have to take the whole thing with us.”

Complete with the piece of wall it was still attached to.I’d borrowed the chef’s meat cleaver and chopped through the wood.I’d also gathered over a hundred thousand bucks in cash, the same in rubles, and a number of other electronic devices.

“Thirty-five minutes until we reach the dumpsite.”Ana covered her yawn with a hand.“I hope Tabby went to sleep okay.”

The yawn was contagious.In our old life, showing signs of tiredness had been punishable by even more training—another of the general’s favourite mottoes was “better dead than lazy”—but in this new-found freedom, we could do whatever the hell we wanted.For good measure, I stretched my arms above my head too.

“I’m sure she’s fine.You need another drink?”

“A coffee would be good.How is Hallie?”

“Quiet.”

“At least she doesn’t get in the way.”

An hour later, the hard part was over.We heaved the safe into the RIB, loaded the rest of the goodies on board with it, and retreated to a safe distance.According to the toy car’s box, the remote had a range of a hundred metres, and I was pleased to report the manufacturer hadn’t been exaggerating.The IED blew with a satisfyingboom, and it wasn’t long before theBalestra Mbegan to sink beneath the murky waves.I hummed the Russian national anthem and gave a salute as she submerged.

“Do svidaniya, mudaki.”

“And good riddance,” Ana added.

Then we set off for home.

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