Countdown - Iris Johansen [133]
MacDuff shook his head. “I barely heard it and I was close to you. Maybe it’s this snow muffling the sound.” He glanced at Trevor. “What do you think?”
“I heard it. But very dimly.” He looked at her. “So tell us what happened while we’re on our way back to the car.”
“Back to—” She went still, her gaze on the tree line. “I’m not going back.” She turned quickly to Trevor. “Mario arranged with Reilly to take me through the trees toward the house. Reilly was going to deactivate the booby traps as the video cameras sensed our passage. We could still do it.” She held up her hand as Trevor started to protest. “The video cameras won’t be able to tell the difference between you and Mario in this snowstorm. You’re about the same height and weight. If you keep your head covered and down and the gun visible, I’ll be going first so I’ll be the first one they see.”
“And what do you do once you reach the house?” MacDuff asked.
“Play it by ear. We were supposed to be met at the door by Kim Chan and another of Reilly’s protégés, Norton. If we can get past them, I doubt if there are any booby traps inside the house. Maybe we’ll get to see the great man himself right away.” She started toward the tree line. “Let’s go.”
“No way,” Trevor said roughly. “Get the hell back to the car and out of here.”
She shook her head. “It’s a good plan considering the circumstances. We can nail Reilly and get the information we need to stop Grozak’s attack.”
“It’s a lousy plan,” Trevor said.
She turned to MacDuff. “Will you go with me? You’re not as good a physical match, but it could work. Jock is probably positioning himself somewhere near there. You’ll be able to contact him. That’s all you care about, isn’t it?”
He smiled. “That’s all I care about. Lead on.”
“No!” Trevor drew a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll go with you.” He pulled the hood of his anorak up. “Go. We should know by the first hundred yards whether they can tell the difference between me and Mario.”
MacDuff shrugged. “It seems I’m out of a job. I’ll guess I’ll just have to go after Jock on my own.”
“How?”
“I’m pretty good with booby traps. I had a lot of experience with land mines in Afghanistan. It will take me a long time to block the cameras and deactivate the land mines, but I’ll get there eventually.”
“If you don’t get blown up,” Jane said.
He nodded. “But then just think of the distraction I’d give you.” He moved toward the tree line, angling to the left. “I’ll wait five minutes after you start through the woods. With any luck they’ll be concentrating all their attention on you as soon as the video camera picks up on you.”
“I could go with him,” Trevor said as he watched MacDuff walk away from them. “You should go back to the car and let us do it, dammit.”
She shook her head. “They’re expecting Mario and me. If they don’t see us, they’ll come looking.” She started toward the tree line. “I’d rather go looking for them instead of trying to hide in those woods in a snowstorm.”
20
Another camera.
MacDuff studied the angle at which the camera was pointed and moved to the left to avoid the shot.
Careful.
Slow.
Stay close to the trunk of the trees. Most of the time booby traps were set up on the most likely traveled paths.
Most of the time.
Christ, he was sweating blood in these frigid temperatures. Booby traps had always been one of his pet hates. He’d lost too many men to land mines. You couldn’t see them. You couldn’t fight them. You just had to try to avoid them and hope. Or pray.
He couldn’t have gone more that twenty yards since he’d left Jane and Trevor, and this excruciatingly slow pace was not making him a happy man.
Better a patient man than a dead one.
Another video camera up ahead. Christ, they were hard to see through the driving snow and camouflage Reilly had set up.
He studied the angle; it was aimed at the path to his left.
But that didn’t mean there