Page 163 of Destroyer
“Hey, babe,” Teddy said, breaking their long silence.
Sydney was so focused on her laptop, she didn’t respond.
“Sydney, I’ve got info.”
“Oh, wow.” She slid her gaze to him. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“The cabin was sold to someone five years ago.”
She grinned. “And I just found out who bought it. Robby’s uncle sold it a year after his dad died. Those people sold it five years ago. Wanna know to whom?”
“Your cousin.”
“Bullseye.” She pushed out of her chair and stretched, causing her shirt to ride up. He glanced at her muscular abs.
“You’re our big winner today,” she continued. “Here are your prizes.”
Leaning back in the chair, he crossed his knee over his thigh, and clasped his hands behind his head.
“You’ve won another bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. You can choose to smother it in whipped cream, or you can use the cream later, on me.” With a playful grin, she waggled her eyebrows. “You’ve won an all-expenses-paid trip to the cabin, armed with your favorite weapons, so we can check out the location. And we should bring all our closest friends.”
He chuffed out a laugh. “Sounds like fun.”
She sat on his lap, and the chair almost toppled over backward. After he got control of it, she said, “And you won me… if you want me.”
“I did win you,” he replied, “and I always want you.”
She kissed him, then pushed out of the chair. “We’ll come up with a plan to check out the cabin when we get back.”
“Where are we going?”
“It’s four o’clock,” she said. “We gotta head out. And I’ma need more than a pistol.”
“We’ve got weapons,” Teddy said.
“Show me the Haqazzii terrorists again,” she said.
He projected their photos on the back wall. She grew silent, studying each of the pictures. “This will be a challenge, so I’ll need my spotters to triple confirm I’m taking out a terrorist. The last thing I want to do is get it wrong. That would be a mistake Iwouldn’tbe able to get over.
“You and me both, babe,” he replied. “You and me both.”
SYDNEY
Sydney had weaponed up.One bag held an assault rifle. Over her other shoulder, the second bag housed a different rifle. Since they were doing a dry run, no live rounds in either.
Tank also shouldered two long bags.
After securing them into the SUV, Tank turned off the traffic cameras in Alexandria, then deactivated as many security cameras as he could, including the building they’d be using as their shooter’s tower.
At five in the afternoon, they headed toward Alexandria. Their destination? An eleven-story office building located across the street and down the block from Santini Ristorante.
Once there, Tank parked out back. The night guard wasn’texpected to arrive until seven that evening. Even so, they entered the building from the back, took the service elevator, then made their way to the rooftop.
They were at a clear disadvantage. The roads were open to traffic and the streets were busy, both with cars and with pedestrians walking the sidewalks. Since they couldn’t wear ski masks, they settled for baseball caps.
On the rooftop, they each got busy extracting their items.
From that point, Sydney’s training kicked in. As she approached the edge, she laid down. Her long sleeves and gloved hands helped keep her arms from getting scraped on the rough roof, but it was more about hernotleaving any DNA.
