The protocol was simple. Make entry and move to the first marker. Wait for exactly five minutes, then move to a second marker and wait for the same amount of time. These two vantage points allowed him to ensure she was not followed. After two minutes, she would move to a lone bench on the east side of the farthest gravesite and wait. He would make his approach when he felt comfortable. Then he would kill her or he wouldn’t.
Anderson strained her eyes and ears for a sign of his presence. Her eyes never stopped scanning. She felt him before she heard him, sensed crosshairs or some infrared laser centered on her head.
“If your cover’s not blown by now, it will be soon,” he said in his lightly accented English.
“How do you know?” she whispered, thankful that he’d chosen to let her live. She could hear his security detail taking near-silent breaths.
“It is not your concern, Ms. Anderson. The mission has changed. Your new targets are in the folder, along with your exfiltration plan. Take care of this local business and I will get you to Paris on Saturday.”
She sucked in a deep breath as she contemplated his directions.
He stood abruptly and faced her. “You’ll have your chance to kill the president when I say so. But for now, we take care of loose ends. Don’t be a loose end, Ms. Anderson.”
She watched him casually walk away, feeling the invisible laser withdrawn from her head. She realized that she was still holding her breath.
Ming Yu made people do that.
CHAPTER 89
Egorov Compound
Palm Beach, Florida
Oliver drove the 4Runner over the Royal Park drawbridge and onto Palm Beach Island. The place was beautiful to the point of intimidation. If I thought Nantucket reeked of money, this place was positively stinking.
Multimillion-dollar yachts as far as I could see in every direction. Manicured hedges, exotic plants decorating the streets. Even the well-groomed palm trees that lined the roads projected an attitude of perfection.
The directions Si gave us were easy enough:Drive east ’til you hit the Atlantic, then turn right. About a quarter mile later, watch for a mansion with a turret; it’ll have crossed lances above its front door.
Finding the place wasn’t difficult at all. The real challenge was that there was nowhere to park, hence no place to stage the assault. We were screwed before we even started.
“What the fuck,” Oliver whispered as the 4Runner rolledpast the Russians’ place. “Nowhere to dump this thing, of course.”
Clearly Oliver was feeling a little put-upon, but I had a solution.
“Hey, man, check it out up there on the right.” I could see some construction ahead—a perfect place to park without upsetting the natural order of Palm Beach.
I fantasized a reason for the construction:If the hedge-fund manager’s wife hadn’t nagged him to tear down their 13,000-square-foot “starter mansion,” we would have been looking for a place to park all night. Thankfully he capitulated, and their mid-century classic is now a large pile of rubble. Good for his wife, probably good for him, but definitely lucky for us.
Oliver was right—the Bentley would have been out of place in this mud. We were about 400 meters past the Russians, so we grabbed our gear and started jogging toward the target. Thankfully no traffic and no dog walkers.
I said, “It’s gonna work, man. Let’s push past the driveway and grab those guys on the fly.”
Wolf drove the Florida Moving and Storage truck about a hundred meters north of the compound and coasted to our position. I stepped up on the sideboard to update him.
“Look at these two monkeys we found swinging from the trees a little while ago.” Wolf smiled as he pointed to the rear seat of the truck, where Jimmy T. and Rudy sat shaking their heads.
“Fuck, Nat—I’m sorry,” said Jimmy. “After you called the first time, we went down to the marina to give the boat one more look. Bad reception. Missed your calls. Si filled us in, sowe ran over here and got picked up by these assholes about half a mile from here. We’re ready.”
“No sweat, man. You two stay with the truck ’til we breach. Once we’re inside, you guys figure out how to open the front gate, then bring this thing around back. With any luck we’ll have someone to toss in, and we can bail.
“Team Eagle is on station off the coast for a medevac if we need one. Same plan as before: Once we meet the objective, we get the hell out of Dodge and head west to the sugarcane fields. At that point we’ll ditch the truck and call in the helo. Cool?”
Everyone nodded.
“Okay, Wolfgang, you’re with me. Boys, we need one alive. Let’s get it done.”
Since Jimmy and Rudy had been on recon, neither had body armor. I knew both would have gone on the assault without their plates, but there was no reason to risk it.
