Death Echo

whole goat-roping?” Mac asked as he pulled out his cell phone.
    The gods were with him. There was a satellite overhead.
    â€œSpeak,” she said.
    â€œEverybody wants us to succeed. The FBI could have blown us out of the water, but only gave us a smack on the butt. Ditto for Demidov,” Mac added. “The same doubled for Harrow and his handlers.”
    â€œNo mystery there,” she said. “This is the kind of game where everybody has cheats in place except you and me.”
    â€œThat’s what I was afraid of. All we have is a hole card everyone knows about.”
    â€œBlackbird.”
    Mac pushed the button that would give Faroe a scrambled call.
    Emma drove while Mac gave St. Kilda a summary of what had happened. By the time he was finishing up, she was coming off the power, picking a way through the rocks that guarded the entrance to the bay where Blackbird waited, concealed.
    â€œWe did a really good job,” she said. “I don’t see the boat.”
    Mac’s dark eyes raked the shoreline. Then raked again. “We are so fucked.”
    Blackbird was gone.

63
    DAY FIVE
NORTH OF DISCOVERY PASSAGE
5:32 P.M.
    E mma stared in furious disbelief toward the rocky niche where they had hidden Blackbird . Nothing was there now but a tangle of freshly cut evergreen boughs, random pieces of forest, and a pile of gillnet washing idly against the rocky shore.
    â€œIs Faroe still on the line?” she demanded.
    â€œCan’t you hear him swearing?”
    â€œOver you? Not likely. Tell him to send a seaplane, money, and some good binoculars to the coordinates where we met Harrow.”
    â€œIt’s a long shot,” Mac said.
    â€œDo we have a better one?”
    â€œThe Agency lost a damn fine officer when they lost you.”
    Emma was too angry to appreciate the compliment. With Blackbird gone, she and Mac had to start over.
    And the clock simply didn’t have that much time left on it.
    Mac was speaking quickly into the phone, watching her through narrowed, black eyes. He was no happier than she was.
    â€œWhile you’re at it,” he told Faroe, “get Harrow off our butt now . If we’re being watched, we don’t want to give away the whole game. We’ve lost too much ground as it is.”
    A pause, then Faroe said, “Grace is on it.”
    â€œShe has maybe three minutes before our raggedy-ass cover is completely blown.”
    And it was Mac’s experience that when cover was blown, body parts quickly followed.
    â€œCall me when you know something useful,” Faroe said.
    â€œLike how many ways we’ve been screwed?” Mac asked.
    The connection was already dead.
    Now the Zodiac was less than a half-mile away, its whine of power increasing with each second.
    Emma didn’t look up from the dent in the shoreline where Blackbird had been concealed. But not well enough. She hissed a word through her clenched teeth.
    â€œNot your fault,” Mac said. “Obviously I missed a locator bug.”
    â€œIt’s a big boat.” She started working over the little nav computer as she spoke. “Without a sweeper, it would be impossible to secure. Faroe knew it. That’s why he didn’t crap all over you. St. Kilda took a calculated risk. We lost.”
    â€œYou think Faroe sees it that way?”
    â€œYes. He’s not running around now, trying to cover his ass. It was his call to leave the bug sweeper behind. It was the right call, as our little strip-search proved. If there’s a slap coming down, he’ll take it.”
    â€œThat would be…refreshing.”
    She laughed without humor. “It surprised me, too, the first time it happened. But if he thinks you’ve been careless, God help you, because the Devil is rubbing his hands in glee.”
    The sound of the Zodiac’s massive outboards swelled like an approaching aircraft.
    â€œI should just wave them over to us and throw in the game,” she said, her voice rich with disgust.
    â€œBut you won’t.”
    â€œNo. Not while there’s still a chance, however pinche .”
    Mac recognized the Southern border slang and nodded. “I feel the same way.”
    Two hundred yards away, the Zodiac suddenly altered course. The craft heeled over and sped off in another direction.
    â€œJust another whale-watching boat gone chasing a new orca spotting,” Mac said.
    â€œHarrow doesn’t call off easily. Wonder