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“I thought the map…” Gunn began, then held up his hands. “Oh, never mind.”

“Don’t you have a team over there?” Cross asked after reflection.

“Sure do. They’re heading over now, but we’re the infil team. And the extraction team. We’re point on this mission, with all the data, so, barring anything critical, we’re going in first.”

“They will have a Hood in Istanbul,” Cassidy said. “Of that you can be sure.”

Heidi looked up as the chopper appeared above the treetops. “Then let’s not waste any more time.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Kept together by fate, Bodie’s team and Heidi Moneymaker, their CIA handler, swept the clouds and the skies apart in their headlong helicopter dash to Istanbul. Nobody checked to see if their way had been cleared; nobody checked to see if their arrival was going to be valid. The life at stake and the map that might lead to taking down the Illuminati was the sole focus of everyone’s attention.

A call came in from the Istanbul ground team. “We’re outside the apartment,” a gravelly voice drawled. “I see a figure at the window right now. Guy looks fine; drinking coffee, bare chested. I’d say he’s relaxed.”

“Alone?”

“Impossible to say at this time. I’ll keep you informed.”

Cassidy watched as Heidi pocketed the cellphone. “Coffee and a bare chest at this time of day? I’d say he has a lady in there.” She glanced at Gunn. “Or a guy. No judgment.”

Gunn spluttered. “Why the hell did you look at me?”

“Like I said: no judgment. I mean it.”

Gunn looked ready to explode. Bodie wished Cassidy would stick to the mission. “Relax, people. Time is short.” He included Heidi in his gaze. “I’m assuming we have no time to prep?”

Jemma sat up. Excited. “Get me a blueprint of the building and I’ll work you out the perfect extraction plan. No hassle.”

Heidi inclined her head. “Don’t think me ungrateful, but we really don’t have the time. In, out. Sixty seconds max.”

Cassidy couldn’t help herself, but stared directly into Gunn’s eyes.

The geek looked like he wanted to throw something at her.

“Istanbul.” Cross was seated near the window. “Wow.”

Wide blue waters led to a great bridge and a sprawling city. The white buildings and orange roofs seemed to stand out, but then he saw the Hagia Sophia, the fifteen-hundred-year-old building considered to have changed the history of architecture, the incredible dome standing out like nothing Bodie had ever seen before. Staring hard, he knew he’d never be able to take it all in even if he had a week, but then the chopper was swooping down, heading fast toward a discreet helipad.

“Public area.” Heidi shrugged. “Only problem will be customs. You ready?”

They were. Their own passports were civilian and had initially brought them to Mexico and then the European continent. Heidi’s had been supplied by the CIA.

Thankfully, the customs check was exhaustive but professional. The team were soon beyond and trying to flag down a taxi. Cassidy solved it by rustling up two via her Uber account and they were soon following Heidi’s directions.

“Eight minutes,” she told them quietly.

Get ready.

Bodie knew Heidi would do the talking. His team would be support and reconnoiter, whilst the team already on the ground would be perimeter and weapons. The taxis pulled up and departed. Quickly, they made their way to the man they had spoken to an hour ago.

“Any change?” Heidi asked.

“Not a darn thing.” The CIA operative was dressed as a local, looked like a local, and sat smoking at an outdoor café, a half-drunk specialty tea before him. “Nobody in nor out. I guess we’re a go.”

Heidi waited until he’d checked with his colleague — currently lying prone with binoculars upon the roofs above — and received the same answer.

“Good,” she said. “Follow me.”

Bodie did as he was told, resisting the stares from Cassidy and Cross who clearly wondered when the CIA agent had started leading their team. They crossed a road, waiting for traffic, walked through a dust cloud, and entered the building. Inside, it was small and dingy. Bodie smelled spices, urine and bleach. The stairs were empty and Heidi led them up to the second floor.

Raised her hand and knocked at the wooden door. Eight seconds passed before it was pulled open and a bare-chested man confronted them.

“Kalimera?” he asked with half a smile.

Heidi stepped back non-threateningly. “Hi, do you speak English?”

“That depends,” the man said, smile widening. “Are you the cops?”

Cassidy laughed, stepping alongside Heidi. “Pretty much the opposite, dude. You sound English to me. Any chance we can—”

Then Bodie practically jumped out of his skin as the relaxed moment turned volatile. Heidi received a text message, which was the danger signal. She read it aloud.

“Hood in apartment right now.”

“Fuck!” she shouted. “He’s stealing the laptop.”

The man looked shocked and then scared. Heidi placed a hand on his chest and pushed him to the side, before rushing in first. Cassidy was at her heels and then Bodie, trying not to be impressed by Heidi’s fearlessness. The apartment was small, with a window, a balcony and one door that led to a bedroom. A desk sat in one corner, over which now hovered a man clothed as a civilian but was clearly anything but.

He looked up, face pitted and hard as an ancient redwood. Not even the ghost of an expression crossed those pitiless features but the promise of death and savagery was evident.

“Put that down.” Heidi motioned at the laptop he held in one hand.

Cassidy ranged to the right, Bodie to the left. Nobody expected this to go down without one hell of a fight. Nobody was disappointed. The Hood could not release the laptop, which hampered everything he did, but came at them with speed and fury. Nothing prevented him using it as a weapon, so he swung the flat plastic item straight at Heidi’s head as she closed the gap. She blocked. The Hood spun and used her own momentum to send her tumbling past. Cassidy waded in hard as Heidi’s blond curls connected with the far wall.

The Hood cracked the laptop into her, to no avail, then kicked, spun and kicked again. Cassidy took the blows for what they were — mere distraction as he eased his way toward the balcony. Bodie stepped forward then too, trying to block the way but the Hood reacted instantly and leapt.

“Ground team,” Heidi was muttering into her phone. “Move in.”

The Hood reached the window, jack-knifed through and landed cat-like on the balcony. Bodie was a few seconds behind. The Hood jammed the laptop into his waistband, jumped onto the narrow railing and then leapt upward, in full-flight. Bodie climbed out of the window, looked up, and saw the figure already six feet ahead, scaling the building.

“Sheeyit.”

But Bodie had skills of his own. A man didn’t become the world’s most infamous VIP thief by being inferior on his feet. Using the handrail, he caught hold of a pattern of stones that decorated the building’s frontage, using them to get a handhold and pull himself up. Cassidy was at his back, undaunted, and then Heidi who shaded her eyes to look up.

“I’ll meet you on the roof.”

She vanished. Bodie propelled his body up fast, bouncing nimbly from handhold to foothold. The rocks were rough and regular, ideal for the quick ascent. The Hood showed him how to do it though, now eight feet ahead and converging on the roofline.

“Taking risks like that,” Bodie said to himself. “My lad, you’ll come a cropper.”

He tended to speak the slang only to himself these days. Nobody else understood.