Page 97 of Edge of Honor

“I’m good on the drones.”

“And the beacon?”

“Also good on the beacon,” the ex–CIA director replied. He could tell Nicholas was nervous about his role. “You’re going to be fine. Just be careful.”

Nicholas flashed him an uncomfortable smile. “Okay, let’s do it.”

Smiling back, McGee stepped out of the van onto the darkened grounds of River Farm, a popular tourist attraction and home to the American Horticultural Association. It was also the immediate next-door neighbor to the Willis estate.

With a limited system of outdoor security cameras, which had been easy for Nicholas to loop the feeds on, it made for the perfect staging ground.

As he came around to the side of the van, McGee saw that Nicholas had already opened the large sliding door.

“Anything I can do to help?” he asked as he watched the man put on a small, child’s-sized backpack.

Nicholas was proud and didn’t like taking help from anyone. It had been drilled into him from an early age that if he were to survive in this world, he had to be able to fully fend for himself.

With that said, he knew how brittle his bones were. Falling from the van to the pavement could result in multiple fractures, possibly even an open fracture, not to mention a punctured lung or worse.

“If you could just give me a spot,” he replied.

McGee was happy to do it and positioned himself accordingly.

Nicholas gave Argos the command to wait in the van and then ordered Draco to climb out.

Once the dog was standing on the asphalt, he had the animal sidle up to the vehicle so that Nicholas could mount him like a jockey. It was one of the most unusual things McGee had ever seen.

Arms out, ready to catch him if the dog suddenly moved or the harness failed, the ex–CIA director asked, “Everything good? You okay?”

“I’m good,” Nicholas replied. “Thank you. Let’s get the drones out. I want number one in the air the minute I hit the tree line.”

McGee removed both drones from the van, along with their payloads, and setting them on the pavement said, “There you go. We’re good. You need to get moving. Scot’s waiting on us.”

Nodding, Nicholas flipped down his custom night-vision goggles. “No matter what happens,” he told McGee, “if Nina ever asks, you and I were in my office talking about a Carlton Group board position.”

The ex–CIA director laughed. “Until this week, I didn’t realize howmuch I miss this stuff. Don’t tempt me with a seat on the board. I just might take it.”

Nicholas knew when to let good enough alone and, giving Draco his cue, gripped the harness and spurred the beast into action.

Racing away from the van, the dog headed for the trees.

Nicholas tried to relax into the rhythm, to allow his body to be fluid and meld with the movements of the animal beneath him, but it had been a long time.

He knew that gripping the harness too tightly and stiffening up could be just as destructive as falling off, but he couldn’t help himself. Falling off was certain death. Anything short of that, no matter how destructive to his body, was unquestionably preferable.

“Approaching the tree line,” he announced over the earbone microphone attached to his radio.

“Roger that,” McGee replied, powering up the first drone and pushing the launch button. “Drone one away.”

Nicholas and Draco pushed into the trees. The woods between River Farm and the Willis estate were not terribly dense, nor were they particularly wide. But what they did have were lots of ground sensors and more than a few cameras. This was where Nicholas’s contribution would be absolutely critical to the mission.

Because of the rampant deer population, motion sensors were set at a level that allowed deer and other four-legged creatures to pass undetected. What’s more, the advanced AI cameras being used at the Willis estate were trained to identify human beings and to ignore everything else.

Passing through the woods, Nicholas continued to guide Draco and encouraged him onward. There was no knowing what Hale’s people were seeing in their command center, nor if the security system had been tripped at all.

Nicholas decided that it was time to test their luck.

Directing Draco toward the Willis estate, he pushed into a zone he knew was tightly covered by cameras.