THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

I understand, and it’ll be pointed at that door. My pilot tells me it’s rated for 550 shots per minute, as I’m sure Mr. Grayson can confirm, although I haven’t had an opportunity to personally benchmark it against those specs.”
    Delano glanced at Eli, who nodded grimly.
    “Okay, land that bird and we’ll talk again.” Delano leaned forward and hit the off button on the conference phone.
    Ainsley’s stomach dropped sickeningly. “You hung up on him? Omigod, what have you done?”
    “I’ve simply reminded him that we also have something he wants, and that he doesn’t hold all the cards.”
    Ainsley was vaguely aware of Eli in the background, instructing the B-Team to move further down the stairwell and out of danger from the helo’s guns.
    “But he does hold the cards.” She thumped her hand on the table. “He’s got Lucy and Devon. You just heard what he did to Devon!”
    Before Delano could defend his action, Eli jumped in to do it for him. “Delano’s right,” he said, radio still gripped at the ready. “We have to try to hang on to whatever edge we can get, even if it’s psychological. And don’t forget, we have our little jack-in-the-box surprise up there.”
    He referred, of course, to the commando they’d earlier stashed in Delano’s helicopter. They’d also planted a guy in the interstitial space between the first and second floors, above the security room with its banks of monitors, which would be the logical place for Janecek to take up headquarters if he gained access to the building from below. Yet another man lay in hiding in the building they’d made use of as a clinic, in case Janecek chose that location for a rendezvous. But they’d felt all along that the roof was more Janecek’s style, and he’d obliged. Still, what if Janecek sensed their man’s presence?
    She felt her nails biting into her palms again, and unclenched her fists. “That’s presuming he goes undetected. You know the first thing he’s going to do is a deep scan of the roof for any kind of hidden presence. Can you be completely certain the stealth technology of the helicopter will shield him?”
    “We’ve been over this before, Ainsley,” replied Delano. “Remember the way Janecek walked right up to me wearing that fireman’s turn-out suit? If Kevlar shielded a powerful vampire so completely from my senses, then I have every confidence that the helicopter’s technology will easily shield a mere man. And he’s tucked completely out of sight, if Janecek is suspicious enough to order a visual.”
    Ainsley grimaced. He was out of sight, all right, lying in the coffin-like bed Delano had retired to during their daylight flight from St. Cloud. He’d be a sitting duck — no, make that a dead duck — if they were wrong about the shielding capacity of the helicopter’s highly reflective shell. “But what about—”
    Delano responded to her concern before she could voice it. “Janecek won’t catch a whiff of our guy’s thoughts. That’s why we gave him the headphones. That’s why he’s been instructed to focus exclusively on the continuous incantation being relayed to him. Until and unless we interrupt that flow with other orders, he won’t be having the kind of brain wave activity that Janecek can pick up on.”
    She gnawed her lower lip. “You should have let me do it. I’d feel better if I was up there. At least then I could—”
    “Feel like you were doing something?” Eli sighed. “I know how you feel.”
    Eli’s voice was harsh, as though he, too, wanted to be the one on the roof. Suddenly, she remembered the way he’d looked the first time she’d asked him about why he’d left the army to work for Delano. He’d said he’d found another war to fight. She’d never pursued the matter with him, but it was evidently very personal. He badly wanted to be the one to bring the monster down. What had Janecek — or someone like him — done to Eli?
    “But all due respect,” Eli continued, “the man up there is a former Navy SEAL. He’ll get the job done if the opportunity is there. Besides, you and Delano have to be down here, to negotiate with Janecek. He’d know something was up if you weren’t both here for his call.”
    The phone rang again.
    Delano let it ring twice before picking it up. “Bowen.”
    “Hang up on me again, and you’ll get one of these ladies back faster than you bargained for, but you won’t like the condition you find her in.”
    Ainsley’s