Ghostwalker 08 - Street Game

yourself away from the windows.”
    He was reluctant to let her go. He’d wanted her working with him, but now everything had changed. He knew her energy was unusual, that it worked differently, but until Paul had given him an explanation, he hadn’t really understood why working around violence was so difficult for her. Now he knew, not only was it difficult, it was dangerous.

    193

    “I’ll be fine, Mack,” she assured.
    His hand slid down her arm to her wrist, his thumb sliding back and forth in a little caress. “Trust Javier. He’s cocky, Jaimie, but he’s good. Really good. He’ll keep you alive for me.” He leaned over and pressed his forehead to hers. “Just keep your head down and the ball cap on. Wear glasses and your hair up.”
    “Nothing will happen to me, Mack,” she affirmed. “I have the easy job. Javier has to boost the cell phone. He’ll be in the line of fire.”
    “Javier is safe from the devil,” Mack said, although there was an edgy note in his voice.
    Jaimie smiled at him. He was like that, worrying about everyone before, during, and after a mission. “Sergeant Major is going to be fine. I was wrong about him, Mack.”
    “Let’s just hope you were.”
    “No, this makes more sense. He would never have allowed anyone to compromise secret missions, but for the sake of his son, he’d definitely go a long way to protect the boy. Even then, he had to have known whoever this is running him is not against the United States, or he would have put a bullet in his own head. You know he would have. He counted on you—on all of us—to figure it out.”
    “I was slow,” Mack said. “He’ll have a few things to say to me about that.”
    Jaimie slid her laptop into the case. “Hopefully we’ll get to hear.” With a cheeky grin she opened the door of the van and exited, heading toward the coffee shop.

    Mack moved into place, checking that each of his men was in the optimum location to follow Sergeant Major’s progress when he arrived and spot anyone tailing him.
    Union Square was teeming with life, just as it was every evening. He had deliberately chosen the square because of the natural topography. The square was a giant sloping bowl shape. From the surrounding sidewalks and buildings anyone in the park could be seen. The concert stage and open-aired café provided easy places for his people to move in and out through the crowd to watch for anyone shadowing Sergeant Major.
    The sky had already turned a purplish shade of blue, and shadows clung to the high, towering buildings, spilling gloomy silhouettes onto the streets and square below. The colored lights flashed stripes along the buildings and played over the grounds. The temperature dropped as it often did in San Francisco in early evening.
    The wind picked up a bit, but not enough to discourage the people wandering through the Art in Motion exhibit. People portrayed famous paintings all around the square.

    194

    Sergeant Major on the move, boss, Gideon reported from his vantage point on the rooftops.
    Watch for Javier. See if you can spot a tail. Mack felt his stomach settle. It had started. A chess match, and he was certain he had all the advantages. He believed in his team. They were good at what they did and this one was personal.
    West end, Ethan reported. Two men. They exited a black Town Car just after Sergeant Major entered the square. They split up. One’s in a trench coat and dark glasses. The other is in jeans and a casual tee with a skull and crossbones. Tennis shoes. Dark hair, spiked. Didn’t make sense for them to be together.
    I’ve spotted them, Gideon said. Skull-boy dropped in behind Sergeant Major. The other is out of my sight. He headed toward the art exhibit.
    Where’s Javier? Mack asked.
    I have him in sight, Top, Gideon reported. He’s in the middle of a group of kids talking and laughing. Sergeant Major is approaching the group, about a hundred yards out.
    Watch him close. We don’t want anyone in the crowd making a move on him.
    We’ve got a lot of civilians here, Mack said.
    Javier’s closing in on the target, Gideon said. How the hell does he get those kids to accept him so fast? He’s moving through the crowd with a group of teens. I can barely tell him apart from the kids.
    He learns the latest tricks on a skateboard, Kane answered. And he’s damn good at them. He loves that shit.
    Here we go, Gideon said. Look alert. Second bogey coming toward Sergeant Major. He’s in a long trench