Page 31 of Out of Control

Spencer shrugged the shoulder that had gotten kicked and winced. Drago had checked it out thoroughly, and miraculously it hadn’t popped out of the socket. Nor was the rotator cuff torn. It was mostly superficial muscle and tendon damage from the kicks. But Spencer was going to have the mother of all bruises out of it and be sore as hell for a few days.

Spencer sighed.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Just remember, they have friends. If you don’t make an example of those two, they’ll all come after you.”

“Next time I’ll bring my whole SEAL team with me.”

“You’d better. You’re gonna need the backup.” Frustrated, Drago reached for the blister pack of morphine. “Here. Take these lovely little pills. And go back to sleep.”

Spencer nodded off in a few minutes, and Drago rolled out of the bed. Taking his cell phone, he retreated into the bathroom and closed the door.

He made a quick call. “Charles, it’s me, Drago. Any luck tracking down how the military learned about that meeting?”

“Still working on it.” The analyst added cautiously, “How’s Lieutenant Newman working out?”

“He’s still here, and yes, I know he’s supposed to be renditioning me. What’s up with that, anyway? My instructions to you were only to pass that picture of me at the Mandolib to him.”

“The decision to launch a rendition operation happened above my pay grade. I’m sorry, Dray. Nothing I could do about it.”

“At least it got Spencer out here where I need him. He already told me you’re his handler for the rendition, by the way.”

“Are you gonna cooperate with him and come in?”

“That’s a conversation for another time, my friend.”

Charles started to say something, but Drago cut him off. “Listen. I don’t have long for this call. A couple of locals jumped Spencer last night and damn near killed him.”

“Where are you two?”

“Yet another conversation. Can you find out which arms dealers in the Middle East his team has tangled with in the past couple of years?”

“Of course. That’s not even a challenge to a hacker of my skill.”

Drago snorted. “Then I won’t be impressed when you give me the answer.”

“Cool your jets, Dray. It’ll take me a minute to find out.”

“I don’t hear typing.”

“I’m on it. Relax, will you?”

Drago listened impatiently to the telltale clicking noises.

“How’ve you been?” Charles asked conversationally. Must be waiting for a search to run.

“Not bad, except for this whole rendition bullshit. Any news about Kurbaj and his guys?”

“It appears a few people survived your little missile strike. Telemetry showed several people moving away from the crater.”

“That was probably Spencer and me.”

“Nah. I watched you two stumble out of there. There were other survivors.”

“I’m impressed. It was quite a crater.”

“Your missile wasn’t a bunker buster, and I figure there was some sort of cellar or tunnel complex under the compound.”

“It wasn’t my fucking missile, thank you very much.”