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Court looked to Zoya and spoke softly. “You see why I like doing shit on my own?”
The men complained loudly; a couple of the Ground Branch guys with their AKs already slung on their chests took them off and leaned them against the wall, certain they weren’t going anywhere tonight unless it was back to the embassy or somewhere deeper into hiding.
Zoya said, “Cuba is definitely involved. They might not know exactly what Hinton is doing at the lab, but they aren’t just going to let the U.S. violate their airspace.”
Pace nodded. “We’re on standby until we hear from Langley on this. Everybody keep your heads on straight. This still could happen tonight.”
No one seemed to believe him, including Court. “We’ll miss the window for the breach at the loading dock.”
Travers nodded. “We’ll have to find another way in.”
Court and Zoya went outside, conferred for a few minutes, and then called Pace out with them.
Standing in the warm and sticky night, Court moved closer to Pace and spoke softly. “Zack says shift change is at one, and that’s the weakest point. We miss that, and we don’t have a quiet way inside.”
“Yeah, Travers is in with the boys right now trying to come up with something.”
Court looked to Zoya, then back to Pace. “What if I already did?”
“I’m listening.”
“Z and I go now. Get through the fence, find cover near the loading dock, and wait for one a.m. We get through the door, you call when you guys are outside, and we let you in.”
“And if we get waved off tonight? What’s your plan then?”
Court said, “My plan is to try to find Hightower there in La Finca, and get him out.”
Pace rubbed his face as he thought a moment. Finally he said. “I don’t control you, Violator. I don’t control Anthem. If you felt the urge to do something like this, what could I really do to stop you?”
Court turned away from Pace and towards Zoya. “We’ll take our car.”
•••
Zack Hightower returned to La Finca and headed back towards the elevator to go down to his room, but he saw Wren sitting alone at the bar on the first floor near the elevators and headed over to him.
“Been waiting for you,” the Englishman said, and then he motioned to the bartender. “Dos Bucaneros.” It was a local lager, and although Gareth Wren was now the last person on Earth that Zack wanted to have a drink with, he knew the next few minutes would be crucial.
“Any luck finding your old mates?”
“Yeah…I talked to Pace.”
“Then what the fuck is he on about?”
“He says he and his guys were at the harbor looking for a shipment from Hong Kong coming to Cuba. He says they weren’t targeting you, just the shipment. Some sanctioned equipment for the Cuban government.”
“And he just happened to be in town?” Wren wasn’t buying it, but Zack knew if he tried to sell it even more, then Wren would suspect him. Instead he said, “Yeah. Hard to believe. He also says an American assassin named Lancer showed up to kill Pace, he’s the one who killed the Cuban cops, and then he was captured.”
Wren took this all in. Zack felt the full scrutiny of the man now, and he knew he had to be careful. Wren said, “This shipment they were supposedly after…did they find it?”
Zack didn’t know what Wren knew, so he threw the Agency under the bus. “Pace said they didn’t…but I’m not sure, he could have been lying.” He shrugged. “He doesn’t exactly trust me, but he did seem surprised that I knew about what happened today, because he said it didn’t involve Hinton at all.”
This covered his ass. If Wren knew the CIA had found the container, then there was a chance he would believe Hightower was just being duped by Jim Pace.
“Anything else?”
Zack thought a moment about how to handle this question. “He said seventeen people around the world, mostly AI developers, have been killed, and that Anton Hinton is the only target they missed, other than some assassins in Central America who were trying to protect one of the victims.” He hoped this was all the same info Wren had, and he’d buy himself, and maybe Pace, a little credibility.
“Again, I told him Hinton is not involved in all this other than as a target, and he should get his ass out of the country before the Cubanos catch him.”
