Full Throttle(21)
“I’ll be following the other set of signals.”
“Huh?” Okay, so not her finest retort ever. But, really, with the horror of her coworkers’ deaths, the guilt of being the lone survivor, and the fear of what was happening to Abby all rolled up in a big ol’ suffocating lump that was located center stage in her throat, she considered it a win that she was able to form words at all.
Steady zipped the backpack and threaded his tan, tattooed arms through the straps. It occurred to her that at some point—probably when she and Dan excused themselves to slip across the hall and retrieve their clothes, you know…because running around in their skivvies was so professional…not—he’d cleaned off the blood that’d coated his chest and hands and changed into a pair of camouflage cargo pants, some green lace-up jungle boots, and an army-green tank top. So he looked professional. No, come to think of it, that didn’t quite capture it. Menacing, maybe? Okay, that was closer. Threatening… The word whispered through her head, and she admitted that pretty much summed it up. Carlos “Steady” Soto looked completely, irrefutably, unmistakably threatening.
Goose bumps peppered her arms and caused the hairs on the back of her neck to lift, especially when he fixed his piercing black eyes on her again. “I supplied Abby with a set of faux diamond earrings embedded with high-powered transmitters.”
“You did? I never heard anything about—”
“That’s because I didn’t tell you,” he cut her off. “I didn’t tell any of you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why?” She let her gaze swing over to Dan. “Did you guys”—she was careful to pronounce the words correctly instead of the instinctive yous guys that was poised on the tip of her tongue—“suspect there was a leak even before you got here?”
“Not in so many words,” Steady admitted. “It’s just that we’ve been in this business long enough to know it’s always best to have a plan B. And most times a plan C and D, too.” After that explanation, which was really no explanation at all, he turned to clap a hand on Dan’s shoulder. “Okay. I’ll call once I figure out whether or not those secondary signals lead to Abby. You do the same if you get lucky here in town, eh?”
“Roger that.” Dan dipped his chin curtly. “And speaking of plans C and D, you geeked up?”
Steady tapped the watch on his wrist, nodding. “Sí. I put it in when I changed clothes. You?”
Dan pointed a finger toward his watch. “Same here.”
Huh? What in the flip is—
“Okay.” Steady turned toward the door. “All cylinders here, bro. Let’s go!”
“Wait a goddamned minute!” she demanded, standing. She was sick and tired of feeling like she was outside the loop on this thing. And, despite her best efforts, her hysteria was beginning to bubble to the surface. “Where are you going, exactly?”
“From the current trajectory of the signals coming from the earrings”—Steady walked toward the door. The way he moved, the way he and Dan both moved, epitomized the phrase economy of motion—“I’m headed up somewhere past the spot where Jesus lost his sandals.” He pronounced the word in Spanish, so it sounded like hey-soos. And then, before she could ask what the ever-loving hell that was supposed to mean, he turned to Dan. “Speaking of… Do me a solid and call back to HQ. Ask Boss”—the way he said the word, she could tell it began with a capital B—“to send detailed topo maps as well as all the highway, road, and trail maps he can find for the central and northern regions of Malaysia to my cell. I’m itching to follow those signals and don’t want to wait to—”
“Say no more.” Dan once again pulled his cell phone from his pocket, already dialing a number.
Steady jerked his chin in a quick up-and-down, the guy equivalent of thanks, bro, before twisting the doorknob. But before stepping from the room, he hesitated.
“Wazzup?” Dan asked as he lifted the phone to his ear.
Steady’s shoulder blades hitched together. “I feel like I’m forgetting something.” For a couple of ticks of the clock, he didn’t move, remained statue still. Then he shook his head, shrugged, and slipped into the hallway.
She turned to Dan, blinking. “Up past where Jesus lost his sandals? Does that guy ever give a straight-forward answer?”
Dan lifted one big shoulder. “That’s Steady for you.” Then his call went through, and she listened to him quickly relay Steady’s request back to their mysterious HQ. Clicking off, he turned back to her. “So, you ready to do this?” He motioned with a broad hand toward the door.