Ben felt the true horror of it all sink in. With legs turning to jelly, he managed to turn his head toward Jo. “The cops too?”
“All dead. This was a professional hit, carried out by world class pros.” He shook his head. “They’re long gone.”
But that didn’t make sense either. “It’s me they want.”
“They might not be in touch with the team sent to take you out. No strategic reason for them to be.”
Ben allowed Sam to lower him to the ground. The sudden shock of it all set in and he began to shiver. “We should go,” he heard Sam say. “We can call it in on the way. Drake needs to know too, if he doesn’t already.”
Through chattering teeth, Ben managed to say, “Why would he know?”
“This Blood King character,” Jo said. “Clearly he’s restarted his blood vendetta. I don’t know why, but everyone needs to be aware. They could be hit at any minute.”
Ben’s mind flickered back to the moment they had captured Kovalenko. “We could have killed him, you know. Back then. We could have hurled his body into a fucking abyss.”
Sam hauled him to his feet. “Stay close.”
Ben refused to move, he just couldn’t take his eyes off his parents’ place. “Oh God, Dad. Are… are they in there?”
“Yes, Ben, but we—”
“My dad. My… mum. It’s my fault.”
“No. It’s the desire of a psycho. Now come on, man. Other people’s lives are at stake.”
The last sentence penetrated the fog of despair that had incapacitated his brain. Karin is still out there!
Forcing his legs to move, Ben shuffled along with Sam. Jo led the way. The front part of the Mercedes was visible at the top of the driveway, headlights shining. As they approached, a horrific figure stepped out from the utter darkness of the nearby trees, a figure covered in concealing bits of shrubbery, and lobbed something underhand at them.
Jo stared in disbelief. “Fuck me it’s a—”
“Grenade!” Sam screamed, gripping Ben’s coat to drag him away.
But there was no time. The thrower had timed the grenade to explode on impact. Not even the reactions of a Special Forces unit were faster than an exploding bomb.
Fire and fragments of metal discharged in a wide radius, shredding and burning everything in the vicinity. Ben saw the flicker of fire blasting toward him, felt agony as tiny shards sliced his flesh, and then, mercifully, a split second later knew no more.
He was dead, and the two lifeless bodies of Matt Drake’s army pals lay beside him.
CHAPTER SIX
Hayden Jaye faced Mano Kinimaka across the conference table that sat in the center of the third of three large rooms which formed the hub of the new HQ on Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the Pennsylvania Mall. The big Hawaiian was showing her his newest collectible — a Hard Rock pin badge, newly acquired from the store that stood opposite the imposing, featureless FBI building on E Street. Business and pleasure had never been so closely situated for the Hawaiian before.
“That’s… great.”
“Say it like you mean it,” Kinimaka urged. “Go on. And you might get lucky later.”
Hayden flipped her hair. “I’ll get lucky whenever I want to, thanks.”
Kinimaka grinned and was about to retort when another voice spoke up from the doorway. “I’d believe her,” Smyth, the newest member of their team, along with Romero, growled. “She’s hotter than a rack of those Hooter’s chicken wings, but still a little shy of the Mai Kitano level.”
Hayden sent the ex-Delta commando an emotionless glare. “You’re lucky we’re off duty, soldier.”
Smyth pulled a face. “I know that. I’m not stupid. Romero’s the stupid one, you’ll see.”
“Did you actually need anything?” Hayden asked.
“Yeah. I just wondered how it is that when I come to Washington to join the team, friggin’ Maggie flies off to Tokyo on her own.”
“Personal business.” Hayden thought about the meagre amount Mai and Drake had told her — that her old clan had made contact, still believing they had a right to her services, and how Mai had travelled east to disillusion them of that view. It all seemed kosher and above board to Hayden, apart from her desire to travel alone. Drake would surely never let her face such danger by herself.
Unless Mai had given him no alternative. Which meant her mission was far more than she had revealed. And imperative too, it seemed. Only four days had passed since the ‘Babylon thing’ had ended.
“Has she gotten tired of all the texts?” Kinimaka added slyly. “Did she block you yet?”
“What?” Smyth’s natural irritability got the better of his brain. Quickly, he dug out his cell phone and checked the screen. “No she ain’t. And she told you about those texts?”
Hayden and Kinimaka nodded as one.
“Shit. Hope she didn’t tell Drake. It’s the auto-correct feature on my smartphone that’s the problem, you know? ‘I’m ordering in a small pizza’ becomes ‘I’m ordering in a small penis’. ‘I love this song’ becomes ‘I love this boner’. They really need to get that shit sorted.”
Romero appeared behind his team mate. “You ready for the showers, bud?”
“Ready.”
The two soldiers made to walk out of the room. Gates had plans to install a fully equipped gym on a higher floor, just one of the ways he was trying to offer his team all the luxuries of home. Both Smyth and Romero were pushing for it at every opportunity.
Hayden saw an opening for a little revenge. “You two enjoy the showers, do ya?”
Smyth turned quickly, grimacing. “I know how it sounded. Don’t be a smart ass. Romero here, he’s just an innocent.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Stop it. You ain’t funny. And I thought the boss of a secret agency would be more professional.”
Hayden gave him a ‘touché’ gesture. “As should be the newest grunt.”
“Fine.” Smyth growled, beaten. “Whatever you say.”
The two men started to leave the room together, but then Smyth grunted and lagged behind a little for appearance’s sake.
When they were alone, Hayden came around the table to Kinimaka’s side. “I do love you, Mano. You’re the only person who’s ever made me feel completely safe.”
“Likewise.” Kinimaka took her in his big arms. “We’re there for each other. Always will be.”
“Always.”
Hayden stared through the darkness pressing against the window panes, across the street at the bright lights of offices and first floor shops. “I wonder what tomorrow will bring.”
“Doesn’t matter. We can beat anything.”
Hayden pulled away. Her instinct had been to say, “Nothing lasts forever,” but she saw no reason to tempt fate. Mano was good for her. His family were lovely, apart from his wayward sister — Kono. Hayden had made a surprise visit to Mano’s parents only a few days ago and had been shocked to find how openly and completely they had welcomed her into their family. When the time had come to leave, she had been more than a little disappointed.
And shocked at the differences between his happy family life and what she remembered of her own pretty much ruled by her workaholic legendary father.
She led him back into the main ops room. To her and Kinimaka, the room was familiar — it closely resembled an old CIA layout with ultra-modern upgrades. But the upgrades were now largely hidden within the items of technology rather than upsetting the interior arrangement. Karin sat behind the largest desk, three computer consoles positioned around her within easy reach. Her fingers tapped at the keyboard, her eyes flicking between the computer screen and the big TV display that took up half a wall and was the main focus of the room.