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In one corner of the building was a room encased in cinder blocks. Juan pointed at it, and he and Linc stepped toward it in standard recon formation.
The door to the fortified room was heavy steel. Juan yanked the handle and pulled it open. When he looked inside, he realized why it was reinforced.
It was the depot holding the high explosives to be put in the Kuyogs. The Semtex was stacked on shelves all the way to the ceiling.
Juan shook his head. “Sloppy. This should be an entirely separate building far from any of the others.”
“I know,” Linc replied, pulling out a brick of C-4. “They’re just begging for an unfortunate industrial
accident.”
Just as Brekker had done on the Pearsall, Linc and Juan scattered blocks of C-4 among the ammo in the backs of the shelves where they wouldn’t be seen. Each of the timers was set to go off five minutes after they were supposed to be out of the cavern.
Linc set the timer on his last brick of C-4 and nodded to Juan, who went to the open door to make sure they were still alone.
That’s when the building’s lights came on.
63
On their way to the barracks, Raven and Eddie had seen only two men. They were guarding a truck near the front of the factory building that Juan and Linc had entered. Everyone else seemed to be asleep. Raven was watching Eddie’s back as he used an endoscope attached to his phone to look into the barracks windows. She understood that it was better than charging into the building, guns blazing, but the search was tedious. So far, they’d found a dozen rooms with bunk beds full of snoring communist insurgents, but none with Beth.
“We’ve got movement inside the factory,” Juan whispered over the comm link. “Going silent.”
Raven and Eddie quickly shared a concerned look, but there was nothing they could do to help, so they kept searching. Two rooms later, they hit the jackpot. This room was different because it had just a single bed. Beth was sound asleep on it, a tray of dirty dishes next to her on a nightstand.
Raven counted the rooms from the entrance and nodded to Eddie, who put away the scope.
They went to the front door and entered with their suppressed pistols in hand. No sounds except for a few snorts from the sleeping men.
They went down the hall as fast as they could while staying quiet. As they approached the correct room, Raven saw that there was an empty chair outside as if someone had been guarding it. Either the post had been abandoned or the guard would be back at any moment.
The door was locked with a key. Eddie knelt and took out a set of lockpicks from his pocket. In seconds, he turned the unsophisticated lock. Raven was duly impressed by the skills he’d acquired in the CIA.
He eased the door open, and Raven slipped quietly inside to find Beth about to swing the nightstand at her. Raven put up a hand to stop her and held a finger to her lips.
Beth dropped the nightstand on the bed and launched herself at Raven, grabbing her in a surprisingly strong bear hug.
“You got my message,” Beth whispered through a choked sob. “I thought Locsin killed you.”
“He tried,” Raven whispered back. “Didn’t work.”
Eddie had his eyes on the hallway. “Hate to break this up, but we need to go. Juan has already set the charges.”
Beth’s eyes widened. “He’s blowing up this place?”
“That’s the plan.”
“The paintings are here. We need to save them.”
Eddie shook his head. “Sorry. We’re cutting this close as it is. Let’s go.”
Beth crossed her arms and didn’t budge. “I’m not letting them be destroyed.”
Raven looked at Eddie. “Believe me, it’ll be faster if we do it her way.”
Eddie sighed and looked at his watch. “All right. I’ll give us five minutes.” He radioed Juan that they had Beth.
They stole back out of the building. Beth pointed across the compound to a trailer-sized building. The guards by the truck were no longer visible. They must have been the ones Juan was dealing with inside the factory.
