The Plagues of Pandora

CHAPTER FOUR

Claire Collins spoke in a tough, no-nonsense manner, brooking no interruptions and no speculation. Kinimaka put her on speakerphone and let the room listen to what she had to say.

“Mano, first a heads-up. Your sister is on her way to DC, with a belly full of fire and brimstone. She no longer needs protective custody now you and your gang of lightweights finally took down Kovalenko. Best team in the world? Not in my book.”

Hayden, their leader, took that one. “Not that we ever asked for the accolade, but do you know a better one?”

“My team just took down a Serb madman threatening half a dozen of the world’s leading capitals with unending terrorism. In one day. The white-knuckle ride of a lifetime. Can you top that?”

“You’re talking about the Disavowed.” Kinimaka nodded. “I heard they were good.”

“We’re good.” Collins corrected him. “And faced with Threat Level Red, we’re tremendous.”

“Are they there?” Kinimaka asked. “I wanted to thank them personally for saving Kono’s life.”

“One of them is,” a deep voice spoke up. “Aaron Trent. And it’s fine. Enjoyed the opportunity to rid the world of some trash.”

Trent spoke in a clipped manner, serious and to the point, as if time was always precious. Drake had heard the story of how his team had been set up to be disavowed by the president, and of how they had lost friends, wives and fellow brothers in arms in their struggle to right such a great wrong, and of how they had prevailed. Still, he couldn’t fully respect a man’s abilities until he’d seen him in action.

“It seems there’s a new threat,” he said aloud. “You guys ever heard of the Pythians?”

“Newest set of evildoers by all accounts,” Collins broke in quickly. “And who is that? Mano? Don’t tell me I’m on friggin’ speakerphone with your whole damn team.”

“Don’t worry,” Dahl said. “Alicia Myles is missing.”

“And this is Drake,” the Yorkshireman spoke up. “Matt Drake.”

Collins didn’t miss a beat. “Okay then. Well, we’re the FBI, Drake. We know all about the house on the hill killings. The global recruitment of mercenaries. The massive movements of funds. We’re also privy to what the NSA are monitoring — that there has been a huge surge in the amount of mercenary and terrorist chatter in the past week over all known channels and others we aren’t supposed to monitor. We know—”

“Something’s about to happen,” Hayden finished. “Yeah, the rumors are everywhere. Trouble is — we have nothing concrete.”

“The chatter will narrow down. Localize. Then we’ll know.”

Kinimaka had been trying to process the imminent arrival of his sister, Kono, and what it might mean for his health. Never easy to get along with, his sister now blamed him for their mother’s murder and her own new misfortunes. The fact that she left Hawaii years ago for the lure of a seedy world, and in doing so broke their mother’s heart, didn’t seem to matter anymore. Everything was now Mano’s fault.

He snapped back to the present. Kono would have to wait. “Well, Trent, thanks again. And the same to Silk and Radford. I know what you guys lost to Blanka Davic. We’ve been chasing that bandit down for years.”

Drake remembered taking Davic’s father down during the quest for the bones of Odin. It struck him then how small the world and the circles that they all ran in actually were; either that or they had all been a part of somebody’s master plan from the very beginning.

Come together at last.

“Trent, this is Drake. You probably know this bloody Pythian thing is escalating. Whatever you can learn, it would be appreciated.”

“We’re on it.”

Collins ended the call by reminding Kinimaka of why she’d called. “Watch out for that one when she lands, my friend. I know she’s your sister, but she’s trouble.”

Kinimaka nodded to himself. Try telling me something I don’t friggin’ know.