“Really, honey, why don’t you let me drive?”
Decker found his phone. “I got it.” He pulled his Bluetooth earpiece out from under a wet napkin, stuck it in his ear, and dialed while keeping one eye on the road.
“What’s the latest?” he said, when his brother picked up.
“I don’t know, man. We haven’t gotten the test results back yet.”
“What tests?”
“They’re running this line or something from his arm to his heart.”
“Is he getting better?”
“He’s not getting worse. At least his heart is beating OK now.”
“Thank God.”
“There was something wrong with the rhythm before.”
Decker thought his brother sounded seriously stressed.
“Listen, tell Mom I might not be able to catch a flight till tomorrow morning. I’m working on it now, but things here are a bit of a cluster. I’m in the serious boonies, and even when I get out of here, it’ll be a day of travel. I’ll figure it out, but it might take a little longer than I’d hoped.”
“I’ll tell her.”
“OK, I’ll check in later. I gotta go now.”
He’d bought himself a little time, Decker thought, relieved to no end that his father wasn’t getting worse. He’d deal with Mark today. Come tomorrow, he’d have to make a decision, but there was no use worrying about that now. His only concern right now was what to do with Jessica.
He glanced at her as he tossed his phone back into the armrest compartment. The problem was, she’d moved out of the climber’s hostel a week before and had been crashing with him ever since. He’d feel like a jerk saying “see ya” and just dropping her off on the street. Besides, he liked having her around.
“So, Jess,” he said. “You remember I said I worked as, like, a high-paid security guard?”
“You’re a SEAL, honey. I know.”
“Was a SEAL. But it’s because I was a SEAL that I have the job that I have. Anyway, point being, I have special skills. It’s cool because I get to take off and climb with you and stuff, but sometimes, man, duty calls.”
“And you’re telling me this is one of those times.”
“Yeah, this is one of those times. That’s what the favor is about. It’s a job, but it’s a job for a friend. Kind of an emergency deal.”
“What about your dad?”
“I’ve got to pick up a package and guard it for a while. It shouldn’t be long, maybe just a few hours, maybe a little bit longer. After that, I’ll fly straight home. My brother’s there anyway. There’s nothing I’d really be able to do at home other than try to be nice to people, whereas here… Ah, shit, I don’t know…”
“What kind of package?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“I don’t know, but I figure there’s a reason they needed someone like me.”
“They don’t bring in the big guns for nothing, huh?” Jessica gave him a playful punch on his tree trunk of an arm.
Decker loved her Australian accent, and the way she said big guns. She was like a young Nicole Kidman.
“Anyway, if you want, if you’re worried, I can drop you off somewhere before I pick this thing up.”
“I’m not worried. I figure you can handle it.”
“All right. We’ll stick together then.”
“Done.”
“You’re a hell of a good sport, Jess.”
“Just let me know if I’m getting in the way of you being able to do your job. If I’m a burden, I’ll leave. Where is this package, anyway?”
Decker was about to answer when his phone rang. This time, it was Holtz.
“I’m hooking you up, buddy,” said Holtz. “Found you a spot on a C-17 that’s flying crap from Afghanistan back to Fort Bragg. Leaving tonight, twenty-two hundred hours. Refuel stop at Ramstein. Get your ass over to the air base by eight, have the gate crew give Colonel Greene a holler — I think you know him?”
“Yeah, he handled transport for the job we did for DoD this summer, but—”
“Good. Just check in with him and he’ll handle getting you where you need to be.”
“Only thing is, it turns out I can’t blow tonight. I have something I have to do. I completely blanked about it when I talked to you earlier.”
A long pause, then, “What do you suddenly have to do that’s more important than flying home to be with your dad?”
“Well, nothing that’s more important than that, I’m just talking about a brief delay. It has to do with Jessica.”
“Who’s Jessica?”
“The Australian girl. You met her last week.”
“You two still together? I thought she was just a—”
“Hey.”
“I’m just saying.”
“I promised her I’d drive her up to Almaty. I completely blanked.”
“Have her take the damn bus.”
“She’s not going to downtown Almaty. It’s one of the towns outside. She needs a ride for this wedding. I’ll catch a flight to the States from Almaty tomorrow morning.”
“You’re going to pay a couple extra grand just to drive a chick you hardly know to a wedding?”
“We actually know each other pretty well by now.” Decker gave Jessica a look and winked. “She’s a great gal.”
Holtz didn’t respond right away. When he did, he sounded suspicious. “Have you been talking to Sava?”
“Actually, no.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Deck.”
“I’m not bullshitting you.”
The line went silent. Finally, Holtz said, “All right. I’ll tell Colonel Greene you’re bailing.”
“I’m sorry to have put you out.”
“Yeah, whatever. Call me if Sava calls you.”
“Roger that.”
It took Decker an hour to get to Bishkek. After a ten-minute high-speed surveillance-detection run down half the side alleys in the city, he parked his Explorer a few blocks away from Mark and Daria’s condo.
“Wait here, OK?” he said to Jessica. “This shouldn’t take long.”
He popped open the back hatch of the Explorer, lifted up the mat covering the cargo area, and pulled out a metal box that had been fitted into a custom-made slot. Inside was a tactical chest rig, a Sig Sauer P226 9mm pistol, five spare twenty-round magazines for the Sig, an assortment of holsters, a set of compact night-vision goggles, a body armor vest with spare plates, a SOG SEAL Team knife, a Sig Sauer Mosquito pistol with a threaded barrel, a suppressor that could be screwed onto the barrel of the Mosquito, a short version of an M4 rifle, a box of ammo for the M4, three yards of detonation cord along with a few blasting caps, a thousand dollars in cash, a Leatherman tool, an LED headlamp, a compass, a tin of Skoal Straight dip, and a first aid kit.
Deck considered what to bring. He was just there to pick up a package; better to travel light, he thought.
He strapped on a shoulder holster, glanced around for cops — except for the M4, all the guns were unlicensed — slotted the Sig Sauer P226 into it, put on a nylon jacket that had been on the floor of the cargo area, zipped it up so that his gun was hidden, and slipped two spare, fully loaded P226 magazines into each pocket of the jacket. Recalling that Mark and Daria’s condominium had appeared dark when he’d driven past it, he grabbed his night-vision goggles and slid them into an inside pocket.
After packing the rest of his gear back up, he climbed out of the car, walked down a few alleys, and then ducked in and out of the hospital on the opposite side of the street. Finally, when he’d convinced himself that no one was following him on foot, he walked across the street to Mark and Daria’s condo.