Andrew Britton - The American

“That’s not entirely accurate,” North said. “Elgin can give you the ship’s point of origin, as well as the person or company that consigned the container in the first place. I would say he has a lot to tell us.”

“Well, let’s find out. What do you call this place?”

“It’s called The Waterfront. I guess the owner doesn’t have a lot of imagination.” He turned to Ryan with a look of incredulity on his face. “You’re not thinking of going in now, are you?”

“Why not?”

“Well, the SAC at the Norfolk office is expecting you, first of all, and the deputy administrator came down from Washington to help supervise this little powwow. If you don’t show up, that’s going to be a problem. Second, I think we ought to decide how to deal with Elgin. I mean, he’s not going to just hand over this information. He probably made a lot of money dealing with Shakib, so he won’t be very forthcoming.”

Kealey frowned. “Listen, I’ve heard about Elgin, and I can’t say that I’m very impressed. I’m under orders to move quickly on this, orders that came down from the president. I’m pretty sure that supercedes the authority of the deputy administrator for DEA. The only problem I see is that you can’t be involved in this if you’re part of an ongoing investigation.”

“Actually, that’s not going to be an issue.” A huge grin spread across North’s face. “My boss got a personal call from the national security advisor. All domestic operations take a backseat to your little mission. She even threw out your name. I guess you must carry a fair amount of pull.”

Ryan didn’t answer. He opened the metal case to reveal the components of his personal firearm, a Beretta 92FS. It was broken down into four pieces: the receiver, slide assembly, bolt group, and recoil spring. His hands moved in a blur as the weapon came together, the magazine checked and inserted, and a round chambered. The safety was on as he placed the pistol at his side and slid the metal case under the seat.

“That looks like military issue,” North said. “Got some years on it, too.”

“It’s served me well,” was the response. Ryan wasn’t giving anything away.

Adam North smiled at that as he took the next exit leading down to the docks. He glanced back at Naomi. “Are you coming in?”

“Well, I wouldn’t be very helpful sitting here, would I?”

“I’m just saying…” The DEA agent flushed slightly as he turned to look at her again. “This is not exactly a friendly place, and what you’re wearing isn’t going to make this any easier.”

Naomi followed his gaze to the white skirt riding high on her thighs. She tugged it down self-consciously as Ryan choked back laughter.

“Then we’d better stop so I can change,” she said, struggling to keep the anger out of her voice.

North pulled the Suburban into a gas station. Naomi jumped out and opened her suitcase at the rear of the vehicle, pulling out several items before storming off toward the ladies’ room.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ryan said as they both laughed. “She doesn’t like me either.”

“Pretty cute, though,” North said. Kealey was surprised; Kharmai didn’t seem like the bigger man’s type. “British?”

Ryan shot him a look. “That obvious, huh?”

“Well, you know.” North looked embarrassed. “I don’t deal with that a lot. Uh, why isn’t she working with… What do you call them? You know, the guys on her side of the water…?”

“MI-6, you mean? I don’t know. It’s their loss, I suppose.” It was a good question, one that he hadn’t thought to ask her, but Ryan wanted to get back on track. “Anyway, tell me about this place. What kind of layout are we looking at here?”

North quickly turned back to business as he hunted for a piece of paper and a pencil. He drew a diagram on the center console as he spoke. “Okay, it’s pretty straightforward. There’s only one front entrance, but the interior is surprisingly large. As soon as you go in you have a seating area on the right, four pool tables on the left. Past that is the bar, facing the door. I know for a fact that the owner keeps a sawed-off shotgun under the counter, double-barreled.” Ryan didn’t like that piece of information, and the DEA agent registered his concern. “I know, I know. I’ll watch that. There’s no need for you to announce yourself. I’ll go in loud and let them know who I am. Since they’ve seen me before, they’ll be less likely to come up firing.”

“What are you carrying?”

North pulled a long case out from behind his seat and opened it halfway.

“Jesus, what the hell is that thing?”

“It’s an M4 Super 90. Benelli only makes them available to law enforcement. Pretty imposing, huh? The telescopic stock helps to compensate for the size, and it fires on semiautomatic. The drawback is that it only holds five rounds, but I’m loading slugs. If I have to pull the trigger, nobody’s going to lift a finger afterward. I tried to get my boss to spring for a custom version chambered for seven, but the number crunchers over at Justice didn’t like the cost.”

“I think what you have will do the job. Naomi needs something. Do you have a backup piece?”

North looked concerned. “Yeah, but that’s it. Without it, you can only count on me for five rounds.”

“Believe me,” Ryan replied, “if you need more than that, we’re already in trouble.”

Naomi emerged from the restroom, the anger gone from her face. Kealey was relieved; she was going to need her mind clear in a few minutes. She had changed into a tight T-shirt and a pair of low-slung jeans. The new outfit was more practical, but did nothing less to show off her admirable figure. As she got back into the truck, North went on with his explanation.

“So that’s the only front entrance. You see what I’m talking about, Kharmai? Okay, good. Now, the bathroom is over here adjacent to the bar, so you can keep an eye on both at the same time. The door to the stockroom is shielded from view, but you should have time to react if anyone comes out. There are no windows in the bathroom, so you don’t have to worry about our guy getting out that way.

“Here’s what I’m thinking: I’ll go in first unarmed to make sure that Elgin is there. If he is, and he should be, then I’ll come out to collect my weapon. Naomi, I already explained to Ryan that I’m going in loud. You don’t need to say anything. You head to the front and keep an eye on this blind spot.” He pointed to the diagram and she nodded her head in understanding. The DEA agent turned to Ryan. “You want to get him out of there quick. Like I said, this is not a friendly place. I’ve spent a lot of time in there recently, and even I can’t always tell who’s carrying. You should make it clear that we are only there for Elgin. Otherwise you’ll get some asshole with a warrant out in Idaho pulling down on you from behind.” He searched their faces. “Are you sure you want to go ahead with this?”

“Definitely. The longer we wait, the greater the chance that he catches on and we lose him. It’s now or never,” was Kealey’s decisive response. Naomi looked a little less eager.

North grinned. “My kind of man. Let’s go.”

He put the heavy truck into gear and they drove on down to the docks. North dug out his backup piece and handed it to Ryan, who in turn checked the chamber and passed it to Naomi, butt first.

“This is a Glock 29. You have nine rounds plus one in the chamber, okay? It doesn’t have an external safety. All you have to do is squeeze the trigger.” Turning to North: “That’s your backup?” He made a show of looking around the interior of the truck. “This thing is like a mobile armory. Where do you keep the grenade launchers?”