Death Echo

up the sting. Temuri is getting ready to run it into the U.S.”
    This just gets better and better, Harrow thought unhappily, heading toward a grade-A cluster.
    He rubbed his right eyelid and asked bluntly, “Is Emma Cross a willing or unwilling participant in all this?”
    â€œUnknown. Personally, I suspect she’s former Agency with an ax to grind. Think how bad we’ll look if it’s revealed that we helped a foreign national get hold of a hundred million in good-looking fake cash.”
    â€œI thought this was a political ploy, not one of our ops.”
    Duke gave him a disgusted look. “It’s all politics, boy. Thought you’d figured that out by now.”
    Harrow grimaced. “So do you want the bad money or Temuri or Emma Cross?”
    â€œAll three would be gravy.”
    â€œWhat’s the meat?”
    â€œGet that money any way you can,” Duke said. “Destroy it. Nomoney, no headlines. No headlines, everyone goes back to playing in their own national sandbox.”
    â€œWhere’s the cash?”
    â€œHidden aboard a yacht called Blackbird, which is somewhere in British Columbia. Campbell River is what we were told. Somebody up the line has a locator on the boat and is keeping a watch.”
    â€œHow soon can you get me there with a good, quiet team?” Harrow asked.
    â€œThe team is already in place. As soon as the storm along Vancouver’s east coast dies down, we’ll fly you on recon. Once you ID the boat, you get the team and find a way to take the boat. Then you find the money, destroy it, and everybody goes home. Questions?”
    â€œAre you worried about witnesses?”
    â€œGo in soft,” Harrow said. “No need to worry. And if you go in hard…”
    Shoot, shovel, shut up. Everybody’s favorite fallback solution when money and threats don’t work.
    Harrow’s right eyeball felt like it was being gouged out of its socket. “Does Canada know?” he asked.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAm I using my own name?”
    â€œShe’s going to recognize you anyway, right?” Duke asked.
    The headache shot through Harrow’s right eye socket and along the back of his skull. It didn’t take a bureaucratic genius to see that he’d been nominated the sacrificial goat in this game of tin gods.
    â€œThe team I got you is really good,” Duke said. “They won’t talk no matter what goes down.”
    Harrow just looked at him.
    â€œShit.” Duke sighed. “I’m sorry. I tried to take it myself. They said no and then switched my bodyguard. I’m locked down.” He looked at his watch. “In two minutes my new ‘bodyguards’ will drag my ass out of here. I’ll do everything I can to help you. I’m sorry, Tim. Really sorry.”
    So was Harrow.

50
    DAY FOUR
CAMPBELL RIVER
8:15 P.M .
    T he thirty-five-knot wind ripping through Campbell River’s Discovery Harbor made Blackbird flinch and her fenders rub against the dock. The water in even the most protected fairways sported small whitecaps. All through the marina, loose stays rang against masts, keeping an odd sort of time with the wail of rushing air. The docks were filled to capacity, a man-made forest of metal masts and small boats leaning away from the wind.
    Emma felt the seat give as Mac slid in next to her on the couch behind the dining table.
    â€œAnything new on the weather?” she asked, glancing up from her computer.
    â€œGeneral consensus is that the wind should die down around dawn.”
    â€œIf it doesn’t?”
    â€œWe go out against the floodtide,” he said. “That way the wind and the water will both be moving the same way.”
    â€œWhich means less wind chop?” she asked.
    â€œAnd more fuel expenditure. Fortunately, we can afford it.”
    Emma made a sound. “I’m still in shock over what it cost to fill this baby up. Both tanks.”
    â€œThey’re cross-connected, so that you end up drawing down both.” The leather banquette seat creaked as he moved closer. “The generator runs off the starboard tank.”
    She felt his body heat and automatically moved to give him more room. When he took that, and more, she smiled. And stayed put.
    â€œYou get through to Faroe?” Mac asked, glancing at her cell phone.
    â€œBy way of Grace, who had to pry a cooing Annalise from her daddy’s arms.”
    Mac grinned.