Deep Cover (The Extractor Series Book 4) by Mike Ryan (best novels to read to improve english txt) 📗

sitting in their car, their eyes on the last remaining house. There were no cars parked in front. Of course, that didn’t mean no one was inside. They could have ditched the car. Or one of them might have been out using it with the others still in there. Or they could have left entirely, leaving a clue behind. The only thing they didn’t hope for was that it was the wrong house completely. They had been watching it for close to thirty minutes, not a sign of life anywhere. A few of them were starting to get impatient.

“I say we move,” Steve said.

“I agree,” Nicole replied. “We’re not getting anywhere just sitting here.”

They both looked at Bridge to see what he thought. For once, he really didn’t have an opinion either way. He looked at the both of them and shrugged. He was OK with either choice.

“Let’s take it down,” Steve said. “Even if no one’s there, then we can move on. We can’t be wasting time here on an empty house.”

Bridge nodded, then checked his weapon. “Ready.”

“Everyone good?”

Once everyone said they were, they all got out of the car. The house was in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Not exactly the best location for someone who wanted to stay hidden. But like they always said, sometimes the best spot to hide was in the middle of a crowd. As they approached the house, they looked around to make sure they weren’t spotted. Steve and his partner took the front, while Bridge and Nicole made their way around to the back. Still no sign of anything.

“You good back there?” Steve asked.

“Ready when you are,” Bridge replied.

“Let’s move.”

Steve and his partner broke through the front door while Bridge and Nicole went through the back. With guns locked in front of their bodies, they swept through the house, going room by room. Within a few minutes, every room had been checked. There was nothing there. Not even an empty candy wrapper. They checked the refrigerator. If someone had been there, they took everything with them. They put their guns away and convened in the living room.

“The last house on the list,” Steve said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Bridge sighed. “It really does if you think about it.”

“How’s that?”

“If they’re using Kanelos for his access to places to stay, if they know we’re on to them, they might think we’ll find out Kanelos is the last guy on the team.”

“And they’d know we’d run a check on him and find all these houses.”

“So they know we’re gonna go around spinning our wheels checking these places out that they never had any intention on being in. It keeps us busy chasing ghosts while they go in a different direction, putting even more time between them and us.”

“Smart.”

“These guys ain’t dumb.”

“That also means we’re no closer than when we started.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s get back to base and try to figure this out from a new angle.”

Bridge nodded, though he wasn’t sure what else there was to learn. They needed a break. A big one. And he wasn’t sure it was coming. But they went back to the station anyway, hoping something would fall into their lap.

The crew was stirring. Dalton woke up and walked around the house, looking out the windows, making sure there was nothing suspicious going on. She didn’t want any surprise guests showing up.

“There’s no one there,” Kenny said. “We’ve got this.”

“It won’t take long before the CIA realizes what we’re doing.”

“By the time they do, we’ll be long gone. They’re probably still checking Kanelos’ houses right now.” He laughed. “Idiots.”

“And when they find nothing there, they’ll move on to something else.”

“Like I said, we’ll be gone by then. We only need one more day.”

Dalton’s head quickly spun around. There was a frantic look in her eyes. She had seen Magareth, who was in the same room as Abbott, guarding him. But she hadn’t seen the last member of the team.

“Where is he?”

“He went out for a bit,” Kenny said.

“What?!”

Kenny shrugged. “Said he was bored and wanted to get something to eat.”

“We have food here.”

“I dunno. Said something about some restaurant that he knows that’s close by. They have some local dish that he was craving or something.”

“That idiot! I specifically said for everyone to stay here and not go anywhere until we had to.”

“Said he’d only be gone an hour or two.”

“And you let him go?”

“Relax. Everything will be fine.”

“And what if someone recognizes him or the car he’s driving, and he leads them back here?”

“You worry too much.”

“And you’re not worrying enough. Or thinking, apparently.”

“Who cares about him? Who needs him, anyway? What’s he good for at this point? He’s served his purpose.”

“Everyone was promised an equal share for their service.”

Kenny leaned forward, putting his arms on the table in front of him. “But everyone’s not pulling an equal weight. Why should he get the same share as the rest of us? All he’s done is drive us around and give us a house to stay in. We don’t even need him from this point.”

Dalton folded her arms as she looked out the window. She couldn’t deny that Kanelos was a loose end. As much as she was angry at him, though, she still didn’t like the thought of eliminating him.

“C’mon,” Kenny said. “That money will stretch a lot farther for both of us if we don’t have to share some of it. We both know it.”

“There’s still plenty.”

“We’re talking a ten-million-dollar payday. Now, you’re taking half of that, which I’m good with it. It’s your deal, so you should get that. But five million split three ways isn’t as appealing as splitting it in two.”

“We may need him for some reason after we withdraw the money.”

Kenny nodded. He could understand that reasoning. Just in case the CIA or anyone else somehow caught up with them, an extra gun to have in the fight would be nice. But in the event that they didn’t need it, he wasn’t hearing