Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (2 page)

“
Nope, can't. He
swore me to secrecy.”

“
Oh, c'mon, Cam.
You can tell me.”

“
Sorry; can't.
Really. He wants it to be a surprise. But you'll love it,
guaranteed.”

“
Can't be any
worse than that tofu shit whatsisname brought last year.”

“
Oh, Herb the
herbalist? Yeah, that sucked. Never gonna date a vegan again,
that's for sure.”

“
Bravo, Cam.”

“
But Armando,
he's … he's – uh-oh. Oh, god, oh, oh, ohhhhh!”

“
Oh, Cam, did you
just” --

“
Oh, god, oh,
god. Oh. My. God!”

“
Come on, Cam;
time to focus.”

After a long pause, Cam
replied, “Okay, okay, I got it, Becks. All set.”

“
Okay; we just
crossed the one-mile mark.”

“
I'm okay,
really; all focused.”

“
Good.

“
Coming up on
1500 yards, Fiona.”

“
Roger that,
Becks.

“
You good, Cam?”

“
All set, Fiona,
really; compartmentalizing.

“
But are these
machines vibrating more than usual? Or is it just me?”

“
I'd bet it's
just you, Cam.”

- 2 -

November
12, 2012
2:27
p.m. local time

Isle
of Man, United Kingdom

“
Authentication
0018937.”

“
What's up,
Marta?”

“
We just picked
up an alert on one of our Colombian bugs.”

“
Which one?”

“
The one in El
Oso's bedroom in Medellin.”

“
What's that
bastard up to now?”

“
He's planning a
major assault on the Palace of Justice and the US embassy in Bogota a
week from tomorrow.”

“
Patch it
through. It's live, right?”

“
Yup. Here ya
go, Amber.”

Fifteen minutes later,
after traveling through a worldwide network of fifteen anonymous
servers, an emailed recording of that conversation in the original
Spanish, along with an English translation, was received in a
nondescript office in a nondescript industrial park near Langley,
Virginia, in the United States, as well as in another nondescript
office in an office building in Bogota, Colombia, and yet another in
Medellin.

Four hours after that,
contracts with the Asp, the Decimator and the Passive Vocalist were
finalized, each with a fee of 20 million euros, all with the same
target. Three deposits of ten million euros were sent and received
and ultimately consolidated into one account in the Cayman Islands.

The following morning,
El Oso's guards were horrified to see his pet liger, with no warning,
suddenly leap onto El Oso and claw at his body, blood and guts
spurting around his office, and then begin gnawing on his stomach,
face and arms as El Oso screamed and fell to the floor under the
onslaught.

It happened so quickly
that none of the guards was able to get from the monitoring consoles
to the office in time to save El Oso's life, but they did manage to
kill the liger with at least ten rounds from their sidearms.

The next day, three
additional transfers of ten million euros each were sent and received
and added to the Cayman Island account, bringing the total there to
sixty million euros.
The man with many
names received a report the following day, read it, then shredded and
burned it.

No attack on the
Palace of Justice or the US embassy occurred.

-
3
-

November
13, 2012
2:31
a.m. local time

On the Aegean Sea

“
Coming up on a
thousand yards, Fiona.”

“
Roger that,
Becks. Drone still shows your entry point is empty.”

“
Copy that.”

“
Camelia?”

“
Copy.”

“
Battery levels?
Becks?”

“
Ninety-three
percent.”

“
Cam?”

“
Ninety-two
percent. All good.”

“
Roger that.”

A brief moment later,
Becks whispered, “Passing five hundred,” and her fellow
rider added, “Five hundred; same.”

“
Five hundred,
roger that. Entry point still empty.”

“
Three hundred.”

“
Same.”

“
Roger that.
Still empty.”

“
One hundred,
going to half speed.”

“
Me, too.”

“
Half speed,
roger. Still clear.”

“
Idling …
and stopped in position.”

“
Same.”

“
Roger that. All
clear above you.”

Turning a lever on her
dashboard, Becks whispered, “Deploying hose.”

“
Me, too.”

“
Deploying, roger
that.”

A two-hundred-foot
length of two-inch hose spewed out of the rear of each jet ski as the
two riders pulled the bars on their harnesses down and locked them
into place in front of them.

When the hoses had
fully deployed, riding on the surface of the sea, Becks whispered,
“Ready; safeties off.”

Cam also whispered,
“Ready; same.”

“
Roger that. All
still clear up top.”

“
Here we go.”

“
Yup.”

“
Roger that.
Good luck, gals.”

Becky and Camelia
gently squeezed the triggers on the bars in front of them and flew up
the cliff face, riding on powerful jets of sea water forced out of
nozzles mounted on their harnesses, one on each side. The hoses
extended below them as they rose, adding the weight of the water to
the burden the water flow had to support, but with more squeezing of
the triggers, the jets got stronger to compensate.

In less than a minute,
the girls reached the top of the cliff and landed on a five-foot-wide
ledge next to the monastery's windowless south wall. They released
the triggers, took off their harnesses and hung them over the safety
rail at the edge of the ledge. Then each of them released two
silenced machine pistols from the harnesses and faced opposite ends
of the ledge, standing back to back, sweeping their weapons to cover
the ledge from end to end. All was quiet.

-
4
-

One FINAL word to the
wise (I know, a fourth one):

Here comes the first
REAL spoiler

November
12, 2012
2:33
p.m. local time

Aboard
Defiance

On
t
he
Red Sea, southbound

"Ahhh,"
Evelyn sighed, sipping from her cranberry mimosa, "this is
glorious, Paul."

"It's okay to call
me Jake when it's just us, Pam."

"Okay, Jake. This
is glorious."

"Not bad for
November. You have enough sunscreen on?"

"All set."
She sat up, lifted her sunglasses and glanced over at Jake, lying on
the chaise lounge next to hers on the foredeck.

"You know, Jake,
that was kind of cruel."

"What? What was?"

"Letting readers
believe that that guy on the PVC lounge wrote the book, not you."

"Oh, that. 
Not cruel, just good strategy.  Anonymity, you know?"

"But you put a
target on his back, left him holding the bag, having to take all the
flak that's gonna come down, all the stuff I warned you about, and
probably lots more."

"He can handle
it."

"You think so?"

"Yup." Jake
rolled onto his side, took a sip from his wineglass, and then
chuckled.

“
What?"

"Maybe I should
have put it on Ron."

"Oh, Jake, that
WOULD have been cruel," she said, giggling.

"Or maybe Norm and
Janet."

Jake's walkie-talkie
buzzed; Jake reached over and clicked it on.

"Yes, Captain,
what is it?"

"Sir, we may have
a problem.  Radar has picked up a small craft approaching fast,
off our port bow."

"Range?"

"14,000 yards,
closing at 35 knots.  ETI, twelve minutes.  We should have
visual in two.  I've put up a drone and alerted the crew."

"I'll be right
up."  He clicked the walkie off.  "Pam, JJ, it
may be nothing, but stay alert, okay?"

"Holler if you
need us," Pam and JJ chorused from their lounges.

-
5
-

November
13, 2012
2:33
a.m. local time

80 feet above the
Aegean Sea

Becky whispered into
her mike, “We're up top, Fiona.”

“
I see you. All
still – uh-oh; got someone coming toward you along the east
wall; should be rounding the corner in five.”

Cam whispered, “I
got him,” as she ran quietly toward the corner, then stood with
her back to the wall, alert to the sound of footsteps approaching.

When the figure turned
the corner, she noticed the monk's robe he was wearing just as she
struck him across the face with her pistol. The man fell with a
groan, struggling to regain his footing and reaching under his robe,
but Cam hit him again on the back of his head and he lay still.

“
One down,
Becks.”

“
Copy that, Cam.”

“
Roger that. All
clear again.”

As Cam turned to rejoin
her partner, the man reached out and slashed at her ankle with a
large knife he'd extracted from under his robe, but Cam's boot
deflected the blow.

Cam swung around and
put a bullet from her silenced pistol right into the man's widow's
peak. This time he lay completely still, blood pooling on the ledge
under his head.

“
One down for
good now.”

“
Bravo, Cam.”

“
Roger that.
Looking clear along your wall and the west one.”

Cam picked up the knife
and stuck it in her belt, dragged the body around the corner, then
pulled out a pack of C4 with a remote detonator and slid it under the
corpse's robes, between its knees. She also stuck a small metal box
to the wall.