Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
The buildings were there. Even though they were overhead, he knew the site well enough to pick out the surgery and the clinic. The drone flew over, showing the dusty road that led to the small cluster of buildings. Three cabins that would more likely be called huts by most people lay on the outskirts of the site. There was an outer building where the kitchen was located. Steph and her workers all ate together, each taking turns cooking.
He’d done his part while he was there, though he wasn’t the world’s greatest cook. He’d taken turns with breakfast, frying up eggs and making a reasonably decent oatmeal. She’d laughed the first time he’d done it. It had been a watery mess, but she’d still eaten it.
The buildings were all there. Where the hell were the people?
The clinic always had someone walking about. Whether it was patients straggling in to see the doc or kids coming for food and water, staying to play football in the lot behind the kitchens, there was always someone milling about.
Not this time. This time the place was eerily deserted. A chill crept up his spine. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
“What time of day did they fly over?” He switched to the second of the three short videos.
“Noon, three p.m., and just before dusk. That’s what Damon said. They could go over it at night, but Damon didn’t think they needed to. He says he’ll send the intel to Adam, if you like. He might be able to see something we’re not.”
He didn’t want Adam. He wanted his own people. “Make Walt do it. He’s going to be resting for a week or so. He can certainly isolate some imagery for me. I’m looking for anything out of the ordinary. We should have footage from the Theo Taggart rescue op. Have him compare the two and give me anything different. If there’s a new tree, I want to know where it came from.”
“Landscaping. Got it.” Tucker sighed. “I think that’s it. Should I park in the garage?”
And let them know that he was coming up? O’Donnell had told him he was giving Brody fair warning, but Brody played a bit dirtier than that.
Actually, now that he thought about it, he wanted to know why O’Donnell had decided he needed an arsekicking. Unless Steph had talked about their brief night together. O’Donnell couldn’t possibly think he had something to do with whatever had sent Steph and her new boy toy running for Dallas.
A sick feeling hit his stomach. Was Steph talking bad about him? Was she angry he wouldn’t return her calls? So angry she would want to get a bit of her own back? It occurred to him that she could make his job difficult if she wanted to. He’d never thought she would. She was too kind, too sweet, but sometimes women changed when a man had his back turned.
“Park in the visitor slot. If we try to get into the covered garage, we’ll need a code from the front desk.” He would figure this out because he wasn’t losing his job over a consented upon one-night stand.
“Are we sneaking in?” Tucker asked. “Because I didn’t bring my stealth clothes.”
Such a pain in Brody’s arse. “You just watch my back, mate.”
Tucker parked and Brody got out of the car. It took a moment to realize the bloke wasn’t following him. He turned and started to bark at him for not keeping up, but he stopped. Tucker was standing in the middle of the lot, his face turned toward the brilliant sun.
A smile played his face as though he’d never felt that kind of warmth before, never stood in the light and had it warm his skin.
It was rainy and cold most of the time in London. Even when the sun came out it didn’t feel like the same sun that would shine down on him in Australia. No. That sun would beat a man down, but it could also warm him, lift him up, and give him energy he couldn’t find anywhere else.
Tucker had spent his whole life in the cold. At least all the life he could remember. As far as Tucker was concerned, he’d been born a grown man in a sterile lab where he’d been tortured into submission, and even when he’d been rescued, he spent all his time hidden away in a building in the middle of a city he wasn’t allowed to explore.
Brody could give him a moment.
Tucker’s head came back down and his skin flushed in a way that wasn’t from the sun. “Sorry. It felt nice.”
Nice. Yeah, he needed to be nicer to the bloke. “No worries. It’s a lovely day. When we’re not working, maybe we can see a bit of the city. I’ve been told there’s a park up the road that has something called food trucks.”