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How many more years would it be before I was like Gene? Falling asleep in an easy chair in the middle of the afternoon?
I remembered seeing a workout room on the second level and thought briefly about trying to get some exercise. I decided against it, knowing that if I didn’t let my back heal, it would only add to the number of days I felt antsy enough to want to pull my hair out.
I checked the time again. It had only been twenty minutes since Siren and the others left. This didn’t bode well for the future. Would I feel this way every time she was on a mission and I wasn’t?
I walked down the main stairs and noticed Gene was no longer sitting in the chair. Ma
ybe he was in the bathroom. That was another thing. Didn’t men have to take a piss more often the older we got?
I decided to make some lunch and was about to round the corner to the kitchen when I felt the muzzle of a gun press against my back.
In front of me sat Gene O’Brien, bound and gagged, with a gun pressed into his temple.
“Smoke,” said Daniel Byrne. “How nice it is to see you again. Unfortunate circumstances, as they say.”
“What the fuck, Byrne?” I motioned toward Gene, whose face was bright red; sweat ran down his forehead.
Whoever held the gun behind me, jammed the barrel harder into my back. The pain of it pressing against my burn was so intense, I almost passed out.
“What do you want?”
“I’d let ol’ Gene here tell you, but since I’ve gagged him, he can’t. He knows why I’m here, though. Don’t ya, Gene?” The old man shook his head.
32
Siren
By the time we reached the location where Decker believed Byrne was with the safe, he was gone.
“We just missed him,” he muttered into the headset to inform Casper and Hughes, who’d followed in Hughes’ SUV. He pulled out his phone and punched the screen. “Goddamn motherfucker,” he spat. “He’s on his way to your place. Move out.”
I threw my car in reverse and sped away from the back of the barracks.
Whatever Byrne thought was in the safe, must not have been. Since he’d been tracking me, he either thought I had it or Gene did.
“You were able to track him.”
“Hughes took care of it.”
If anything would prove his loyalty wasn’t with Byrne, that should’ve been it.
“How many have you got that you can trust for backup?” Decker asked Hughes through the headset.
“I’ve got four heading over now.”
“That you trust?”
“Affirmative. I don’t need to tell you there is a group inside IMI who believes Byrne is dirty.”
My eyes opened wide. Why had I never heard this? Was it because those same people believed I’d be loyal to the man? Given he’d recruited me, I supposed that was a logical assumption. I’d also officially been “on loan” to MI6 for the last few months, even though the mission I’d been on was for the Invincibles. But regardless, I’d been out of touch with IMI.
“Pull over,” said Deck. “I’ll go in with Hughes and Casper. If Byrne is there, Smoke hasn’t managed to neutralize him, or he would’ve been in contact. I want Byrne to think you’re arriving on your own.”
“Roger that.” I pulled off into a parking lot.
“Hughes?” said Deck.
“Copy,” I heard Casper respond at the same time Hughes pulled in behind me.
