Hayden was watching him. “He was with her, you know. When she died. It’s been hard on him too.”
Drake swallowed and said nothing. His throat closed and it was all he could do not to start blubbering. Some SAS man. The whisky burned a hot trail down to the pit of his stomach. After a moment he said, “How’s the leg?”
“Sore. I can walk and even run. Wouldn’t want to fight Boudreau for a few more weeks though.”
“So long as he’s in jail you won’t have to.”
A commotion caught his attention. Mai and Alicia were seated a few rows in front and across the aisle from each other. Relations between the two women had never been more than frosty, but something was getting the two of them riled up.
“You compromised us!” Alicia started to shout. “To save your own damn sister. How else could they have found the hotel?”
Drake slipped out of his seat and started down the aisle. The last thing needed on the flight was a fight between the two deadliest women he had ever known.
“Hudson died in that hotel,” Alicia snarled. “They shot him whilst… whilst—” She shook her head. “Was that your intel, Kitano? I dare you to tell the truth.”
Alicia stepped into the aisle. Mai rose to face her. The two women were almost nose-to-nose. Mai backed up to give herself room. An unskilled observer might think that was a sign of weakness on the Japanese girl’s part.
Drake knew it to be a deadly indicator.
He raced forward. “Stop!”
“My sister is worth ten Hudson’s.”
Alicia snarled. “Now I get me some Mai-time!”
Drake had known Mai would not back down. It would be easier to tell Alicia what she already knew — that Hudson had given himself away — but Mai Kitano’s pride would not allow her to yield. Alicia jabbed. Mai parried. Alicia shuffled sideways to give herself more space. Mai came at her.
Drake darted toward them.
Alicia fake-kicked, stepped in and drove an elbow toward Mai’s face. The Japanese warrior didn’t move, but turned her head ever so slightly, allowing the blow to whistle a millimeter past her.
Mai struck hard at Alicia’s ribs. There was a high whistle of escaping breath and Alicia staggered back against the bulkhead. Mai advanced.
Hayden was on her feet, shouting. Ben and Karin were up too, both curious about who would win the fight. Drake stormed in hard, shoving Mai against a nearby seat and slamming an arm across Alicia’s throat.
“Stop.” His voice was quiet as the grave but loaded with menace. “Your dead fucking boyfriend is not the issue here. And neither is your sister.” He threw a glare toward Mai. “Kovalenko is the enemy. Once that bastard is FUBAR, you can fight all you want, but until then, save it.”
Alicia twisted her arm away. “The bitch should die for what she did.”
Mai didn’t bat an eyelash. “You have done much worse, Alicia.”
Drake saw the fire rekindled in Alicia’s eyes. He blurted out the only thing he could think of. “Instead of arguing, maybe you could explain to me which one of you really killed Wells. And why.”
The fight went out of them.
Hayden was right behind him “Hudson was tracked through a hi-tech tracer, Myles. You know that. No one here is happy about the way Mai gave away the device.” Her voice was steel. “Let alone the way she obtained it. But even I understand why she did it. Some top government officials are currently going through the same thing. Kovalenko is already playing his end game and we’re barely at second base. And if the leaks aren’t plugged—”
Alicia snarled and returned to her seat. Drake found another stash of miniatures and headed back up the aisle toward his own. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, unwilling to make any kind of conversation with his best friend yet.
But on the way, Ben leaned toward him. “FUBAR?”
“Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Before they landed, Hayden received a call to tell them Ed Boudreau had been broken out of the CIA prison. The Blood King used an insider and, against his own inclinations, extracted Boudreau in a low-key, no-fuss operation.
“You people never learn,” Drake said to her and wasn’t surprised when she had nothing to say in return.
Honolulu airport flashed by in a blur, as did the swift car ride into the city. The last time they had been in Hawaii, they had attacked Davor Babic’s mansion and been placed on a hit list by his son, Blanka. At the time, that had appeared serious.
Then Dmitry Kovalenko came along.
Honolulu was a busy city, not unlike most American or European cities. But somehow, the mere thought of Waikiki Beach being not more than a twenty minute drive away tempered even Drake’s murky thoughts.
It was early evening and they were all weary. But Ben and Karin insisted they head straight for the CIA facility and get themselves set up on the local network. They were both anxious to start delving into the whereabouts of Captain Cook’s logs. Drake almost smiled at that one. Ben always loved a mystery.
Hayden speeded up the paperwork, and before long, they were secured into another tiny office, similar to the one they had left back in Miami. The only difference was from the window they could see the high-rise hotels of Waikiki, the famous Top of Waikiki revolving restaurant and, in the far distance, Oahu’s biggest feature, the long-extinct volcano known as Diamond Head.
“God, I want to live here,” Karin said with a sigh.
“I do,” Kinimaka murmured. “Though I’m sure most vacationers spend more time here than me.”
“Hey, you got to visit the Everglades not so long ago,” Hayden wisecracked as she logged both Ben’s and Karin’s computers onto the privileged system. “And got to meet one of the locals.”
Kinimaka looked blank for a moment, then grunted. “You mean the gator? That was a lot of fun, yeah.”
Hayden finished what she was doing and looked around. “How about a quick meal and an early night? We get to work at sunup.”
There were nods and mutterings of agreement. When Mai acquiesced, Alicia walked out. Drake watched her go before turning to his colleagues. “You should all know something I learned today. I have a feeling it could be one of the most important bits of information we will ever uncover.” He paused. “Dahl contacted me yesterday.”
“Torsten?” Ben blurted. “How is the mad Swede? The last time I saw him he was staring at the bones of Odin.”
Drake pretended there had been no interruption. “During their exploration of the Tomb of the Gods, they have found markings consistent with the whorls we found on the displacement devices.”
“Consistent?” Hayden echoed. “How consistent?”
“They’re exactly the same.”
Ben’s brain slammed into gear. “That means the same people who built the Tomb also built the devices. That’s crazy. The theory is the gods built their own tombs and literally lay down to die whilst creating extended life through a mass extinction event. Now you’re saying that they also built the time-travel devices?” Ben paused. “Actually that makes perfect sense—”
Karin shook her head at him. “Dummy. Of course it makes sense. It’s how they travelled through time, manipulated events and created people’s fates.”
Matt Drake turned away without a sound. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
The night air was balmy, tropically warm and laced with a hint of the Pacific. Drake walked the streets until he found an open bar. The clientele should be poles apart from other bars in other countries, shouldn’t it? he thought. This was paradise after all. Then why were the lifers still playing pool, looking like they owned the joint? Why was there a drunk at the end of the bar, head lolling? Why were the perpetual couple sat apart, lost in their own little worlds, out together but alone?