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The pilots put the bird into a hover fifty feet above the dark water of the Chesapeake, and the technician in back went to work. Using an array of high-resolution and IR thermal imaging cameras, he began to survey the target.
PETER CAMERON WALKED back into the house and sat down on the couch near Rielly. With phone in hand and a genuine grin on his bearded face, he said, «I've got some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want first?»
«The bad.»
«Mitch isn't going to make it tonight, but he will be here bright and early in the morning.»
«What time?»
«Around seven.»
Rielly seemed a little dejected. She picked up the remote control and turned off the TV. It was approaching midnight, and she was tired. «I'm going to bed, then.» Rielly stood. «I assume none of your men is upstairs.»
«No. They're all down here. You will have complete privacy.»
«Thank you.» Rielly left the room, and Cameron followed her to the foot of the stairs.
«I'm going to have to leave for a little bit, but I'll be back before you get up.»
«All right.» Rielly said good night and went upstairs.
Cameron watched her ascend the staircase and admired her figure. Duser approached and did the same. When Rielly closed the door to the bedroom, Duser said, «She's got a nice ass.»
Cameron frowned and jerked his head for Duser to follow him. The two men stepped out onto the front porch. In a hushed voice, Cameron said, «Keep your head in the game, and don't even think about touching her.»
«Relax. She's going to be dead in the morning. What do you care?»
«Just keep your fucking hands off her, all right? Her boyfriend is going to be out here early, and I need you to concentrate on matters at hand.» Pointing to the vehicles in the driveway, he said, «The cars have to be moved.»
«Where?»
«I don't know, but they can't be here when he arrives.»
Duser nodded. «I'll figure something out. I need to send someone on a coffee and food run.»
Cameron wasn't sure what coffee and food had to do with moving the cars, so he ignored the comment and said, «I have to go back into the city to grab a few things. It should only take me a couple hours.» He checked his watch. «I'll be back around two. Three at the latest, all right?»
«Yeah.»
«If anything unusual happens, call me.»
«Will do.»
«I HAVE ON E individual. He looks to be standing post at the rear of the house on the bay side.»
Rapp, Coleman, and Dumond had all do
Rapp listened intently as the faceless voice described the situation at his house, the van rocking slightly as they drove east on Highway 214. The lower screen in front of Dumond showed a picture that looked like a film negative-black and-white with varying shades of gray in between. The shots were being taken by an IR thermal imaging camera. The picture on the screen changed to one filled with mostly black and areas of red, yellow, white, and blue. Rapp stared at an area he knew to be his kitchen and listened to the technician say, «The crrtains are drawn, but I'm getting two… maybe three more heat signatures on the inside… that's on the first floor of the house… and possibly one more upstairs on the second floor.»
Rapp lifted his eyes to the area above the kitchen. He eagerly asked, «Can you tell if any of them are female?»
«The guy in back is definitely male. The people inside are sitting down, so I can't tell.»
«What about the one upstairs?»
There was about five seconds of silence and then, «It could be male or female, it could be a dog. I can't tell. I'm only getting a small heat signature.»
«Are you getting any audio?» asked Rapp.
«A little background noise, but that's it. I think they might have the TV on.»
«Can you get me an idea of what's happening on the other side of the house?»
«Affirmative. Give us a minute to relocate.»
Rapp pushed the lip mike on his headset up and said to Dumond, «Get Irene on the horn, and tell her to get the Special Operations group airborne and en route to my house immediately;» While Dumond was making the call, Rapp looked at Coleman and asked, «What in the hell is going on?»
«It looks like someone is having a party at your house.»
Rapp actually smiled. This was good news. He finally had an enemy he could engage. «What do you think the chances are that the Professor is in there?»
«Based on his cell tower usage, I'd say it's a pretty good bet that he's sitting at your kitchen table as we speak.»
Rapp looked at his cell phone. «We could confirm that pretty easily.»
«How?»
«Call him right now. The bird should be able to pick up noise of his phone ringing.»
Coleman thought about it for a second and said, «Wait the time is right. Let's get out there and get the SOG in place. We don't want to spook him.»
«All right.»
«Do you think that's A
«l hope so.»
The faceless voice came back over their headsets. «We have a couple of cars in the driveway.» Rapp, Coleman, and Dumond looked up at the screen and watched. «We also have one individual standing near the front door. He ears to be carrying a weapon. Let me see if I can get a little closer.» The picture zoomed in on the warm body standing on the front porch. The man's body was mostly red with a yellow glow around the edges. Near his waist was an elongated area of blue.
Coleman spoke before the technician did. «It looks like a machine pistol with a suppressor attached to the end.»
«Either that or an assault rifle.» Rapp squinted at the image.
A second red figure appeared on the front porch and then a third. Rapp's immediate fear was that they had somehow sighted the chopper. Using their call sign, Rapp asked, «Libra Three, have you been discovered?»
«That's a negative.» It was a different voice this time. «We're two miles out and obscured by a tree line.»
One of the men left the porch and walked over to one the cars. He climbed in, and a moment later the car started moving. The technician a
«We see it.» Rapp flipped up his lip mike, looked at Marcus, and snapped, «Find out where we are, and tell him to step on it!» Pulling the lip mike back down, he asked, «Libra Three, can you keep contact with both targets?»
There was no response at first, and then, «That depends on how big the separation gets between the two.»
«Keep an eye on both for as long as you can.»
Dumond left the small door to the front of the van open and sat back down at his console. «He said we just passed Queen A
«That means we should be at the Muddy Creek exit in five minutes.» Looking at Coleman, Rapp pointed behind them with his thumb and said, «Tell the boys to be ready for some action.» Rapp watched the screen and listened to the technician call out the car's maneuvers. Rapp's thoughts kept going back to A
Coleman knew what Rapp was thinking and said, «The house isn't going anywhere.» Rapp didn't say anything, he just kept staring at the screen. Coleman said, «Did you hear me? I said the… «
«I heard you.»
The secure phone on Dumond's console started ringing. Dumond grabbed it and then turned to Rapp. «It's Irene. She wants to know what's going on.»
Coleman persisted. «Mitch, the Professor could be in that car.»
«I know, I know.» He looked at Dumond and said, «I can't talk to her right now.»
The pilot of the chopper came over the headset. «You're going to have to make a decision between the car and the house.»