Page 18 of Hayes (Voodoo Guardians #37)

“Wyatt!” cried Victoria, running toward the big man for a hug.

“Hey, Sprite. Fancy seeing you somewhere other than Belle Fleur,” he grinned.

“I know, right?” she laughed. “It’s a long story.”

“Don’t worry, these two jerks filled me in on the way here. Look, you’re a genius, Victoria, and I trust you, but do you really believe that they’d come for me?” he asked.

“I think you’re accessible and an easy target. You also know more than just about anyone, other than Doug, Ryan, and Paige, about our planes, choppers, and comms equipment.”

“I don’t even rank with you, Sprite,” he smiled.

“You wanna stop smiling at my woman?” said Hayes, looking groggy and weak.

“Holy shit. What happened to you?” grinned Wyatt.

“Long story, but it’s why you’re here, I’m sure. Lieutenant Bonds fucking killed my team and was after me. He planned to put a bow around my neck and hand me over to Aamani.”

“No shit,” muttered Wyatt. “Okay, now this is getting interesting.”

Hayes kissed Victoria, looking at the equipment on the table.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m going to trace Bonds comms equipment. They were older versions of the G.R.I.P. 575Ci. I can track it and see if he still has it or find where he dumped it.”

“My beautiful genius,” smirked Hayes. “I should have thought of that.”

Victoria just laughed, tapping the keys a hundred miles an hour, and then waiting for the data to roll through. Locations in latitude and longitude appeared in rows, showing the history of the equipment.

“He’s been a busy boy,” whispered Victoria. “Looks like he did a lot of nighttime walks while you guys were doing your work. See here. 0113, 0314, 0266. All in the middle of the night, he walked approximately one mile from where your teammates’ equipment was.”

“Wait, you can see where the entire team is?” asked Luke.

“Of course. We connect the equipment of a team for that very reason. No man gets lost. If someone is reported missing, we can see who it might be and where they are, or at least where the equipment is.

“For Bonds, his team was always located about a mile from where he was wandering every night. He’d be gone, it looks like, twenty to twenty-five minutes and then return.”

“He took watch at those hours,” said Hayes. “That bastard left us vulnerable so that he could meet with Aamani.”

“It looks that way. Okay, I see his equipment at your last location, then it moved down the mountain, then here in the village at the bottom of the hill. That’s where it’s still located.”

“Do we send men in?” asked Wyatt.

“No. It could be a trap. We use drones to see if we can spot him or Aamani. I’ll get AJ and Hiro to launch the drones that are closest,” said Victoria.

“No need, ma’am,” said the bodyguard. “We have drones in the area now.”

“Do we want to know why?” asked Cam. He sobered as his boss, the sheikh, walked in.

“You do not want to know why. Just know that we are interested in what Aamani is doing as well.” He looked at the bodyguard and nodded. “Launch the drones.”

The bodyguard nodded, looking down at the laptop in front of Victoria.

He raised his brows, asking for silent permission.

She nodded, standing. Watching his every move, she saw that he did exactly as he was supposed to.

He logged into their own drone site and launched four drones. All purchased from G.R.I.P.

“Your equipment is very good,” he said, standing. “When this is over, I should like to ask some questions about how we could improve it for our own uses.”

“Of course,” nodded Victoria.

Victoria, Hayes, and the others all watched the screen as the drones flew with incredible speed toward the village. Hovering high enough to not be heard or seen, they scanned the village area.

“I’m not seeing anything yet,” said Victoria. The drones moved slowly over the space, and then she saw something. “Wait! There. That man is the one we saw with Bonds.”

“That’s Aamani,” said Luke. “What the fuck is he doing?”

“I believe he’s killing villagers.”

“Why? Why would he do that?” asked Victoria, staring at the brutal images showing on the screen.

“He thinks they helped me get away,” frowned Hayes. “He’s killing those innocent villagers because he thinks they helped me. There’s nothing we can do.”

“We have to try and help them,” said Victoria.

“Honey, we can’t,” said Mo. “It would expose us and Hayes. I think we need to find another way to get to Bonds and Aamani.”

“You could use me as bait,” said Wyatt. They all turned to stare at him. “I mean if you think I was his second choice to Hayes. You could use me.”

“Actually,” said Hayes. “We could offer him a two-for-one special.”