Page 103 of Kyle

“Word?”

“Zebra.”

“Number?”

“Six.”

“Name?”

“Viper.”

After Zane answered all the questions correctly, the operator announced. “Please hold.”

A moment later, President Tom Anderson came on the line.

“Zane?”

“We have a problem. Landry tracked my team to Connecticut. One man is down. Two captured and fled the scene with Landry. I need direction.”

“Bring him in alive,” Tom grunted.

“Tom—”

“I know what you’re feeling. But we need him alive. There are people higher up in the food chain and we need him.”

“Respect, Tom, but you do not know how I’m feeling.”

“Zane, I do. And if you weren’t so far gone, you’d remember I do. I need you to trust me. Bring him to me alive.”

“I can’t promise you—”

“Trust me, goddamn it!” Tom roared. “Trust me to have your back the way you have had mine.”

Zane’s long and colorful string of curse words, most of which I’d never heard strung together in that manner, bounced off the walls of the office.

“Call me when you pick him up and I’ll give you a drop-off location,” Tom continued after Zane finished his tirade.

“Copy that,” Zane sneered.

“What’s their twenty?” Jaxon asked for the team’s location.

I clicked a few buttons on my keyboard and Declan, Kyle, and Thad’s location was displayed on one of the wall-mounted screens.

“Just north of Bakersfield, Vermont,” I answered. “Roughly two hours from Lewis. But Dec’s driving, so make that one hour.”

Zane’s phone rang and he fumbled it a moment before he settled it in his hand and answered.

“Lewis,” he clipped.

“It’s me,” Anaya’s calm voice came over the line. “Sorry, I had to let the phone charge and we had no service.”

“Where are you?”

I had to give it to my boss; he sounded almost normal but the vein pounding on the side of his neck gave him away.

“We’re making good time. We’re in New York and just passed Route 13. I’m looking at alternate routes since there are tolls.”

“Don’t worry about that. Fastest route. We’ll be there before you.”