Chapter 513 Chapter 513
“Took you long enough.” Amari jumped to her feet and went over to him; she squatted down and took a deep breath. “Tripp.”
Tripp went over and picked up the bag and opened it. “Yeah?” There was a nice bundle of cash in it, and Amari would finally get her answer about how much she was worth.
“He’s a half-breed.” She whispered it.
“What?” He went over quickly and bent down to check the man’s pulse. He had no idea if the dose in the dart would stop a one-forms heart, never mind one with mixed genes. There was a pulse and it felt strong enough. “Shit.” Dropping the bag, he stood up and pulled out his phone, “Flip him over off his face.”
She rolled him over as he dialed Kenzo’s number. There was no time for covert text messages. “He’s got a gun under his jacket.”
“Yeah?” That was how his boss answered the call.
“Will a tranq harm a half-breed?” There was no time for polite greetings.
“We’ve never had a half-breed to try them on, but one-forms can only handle one shot.” There was a door closing and Tripp could hear boots moving fast on the floor, “the contact is a half-breed?”
Tripp nodded and watch Amari check his pockets, “yeah and he only does pickups for those that are intended for Tomas’ personal collection.”
“Holy hell. Hang on.” He heard muffled voices as Kenzo covered the mouthpiece.
“His ID lists some place in Chicago, with a suite address. He’s not a low-level gopher.” Amari looked up at him, “have we hit the jackpot?”
Tripp nodded, “seems like.”
“Tripp.” Kenzo was back.
“Yeah?”
“Get your location chipped, now.” Kenzo’s tone alone told him it was urgent.
“On it.” He went quickly over to the jeep and opened the door to get to his bag. “He was driving for an hour then loading her in a plane.”
“You’re on speaker.” Kenzo said quickly and Tripp could hear hushed voices in the back, “give me the chip number, Illias is going to get a location.”
Tripp pulled the case out that protected the trackers from getting wet. He opened it with one hand and pulled one out, “seven, zero, zero, nine, Charlie.” He read the number as he walked back to the body on the ground. When he reached him, Amari got up and headed over to the truck, and opened the door. “Putting it on him,” Tripp told whoever was listening as he activated it.
“What firepower do you have on you?”
Tripp tucked the chip into the man’s pocket and then glanced back at the van, “a couple of handguns.” He checked his pulse just to make sure he was still alive. “His address is Chicago.” He stood up and looked down at him, “he’s dressed like some high-paid bodyguard, but his vibes were off.” Amari was digging in a bag in the truck, it looked like it was new and had never been used. “Boss, they’re going to notice if he goes off the grid.”
“That’s my thought too.” Kenzo said in a distracted way, “got your location, get him loaded in whatever you’re driving.”
“Leave his truck?” Amari came over to him, he tapped the speaker and handed her the phone.
“Leave his truck. You need to be moving until we can get to you.”
Tripp held her look for a second and saw that she understood the urgency of it, “give me a direction to move in.”
“We’re figuring that out now, finding the closest chopper.” There were muffled voices again.
Amari pressed the phone into her chest, “I’ll drive, you can keep watch.”
Tripp nodded and bent down to pick him up. Adrenalin helped him heft the deadweight up into his arms. “Get the door.” He started for the Jeep, “then grab some ties.”
She hurried over and had the door open by the time he reached them.
“Tripp?”
He glanced at the phone, not recognizing the voice. “Yeah?”
“Do you have any of the mylar blankets with you?”
Tripp grunted as he got the upper body into the backseat. “Uh, unknown. I left most of my gear in my SUV.” He looked over his shoulder at Amari, “take a look in my gear.”
She gave him a blank look, “what am I looking for?”
“A foil blanket, Amari.”
She glared at the phone, “and why do we need this, Illias?” She went around the Jeep and opened the other door.
“He might look like a privileged errand boy, but he’s still a half-breed and I think Aiden Tomas would want to keep tabs on him.”
Tripp shoved his legs in the Jeep and leaned in the open door, “you think he has a tracker on him?”
“It’s a possibility. Take our chip off him and set it in your vehicle then cover as much of his body as possible. If you have more than one use them all.”
Amari handed him zip ties across the seat. He took them and tipped the unconscious man forward.
“That will block the signal?” Amari was opening and closing the pockets of his bag.
“Not completely.” Illias mumbled something, “if you’re close to a tower, it’s going to still ping off it, but it should scramble enough that the periodic hits will make it hard for them to zero in on your exact location, especially if you’re on the move.” Someone said something in the background, “it works like…”
Amari glared at the phone, “I don’t need the details, Illias, just get someone headed to us,” she pulled out two of the small packs that held the blankets, “this is the catch of the week.”
“I’m sending a route to your phone, Amari.”
Tripp secured his hands, then his feet for good measure. He’d never encountered a half-breed before, so he didn’t know how strong they were. The only thing he did know was they couldn’t shift fully, or that’s what he’d heard, he didn’t know it for certain. Using wire was out of the question, not knowing how fast he healed. “What about the plane he’s supposed to meet?” He looked up the mountain, “there can’t be too many places for one to land around here.”
“We’ll be sending someone else for that,” Kenzo answered.
Tripp took the one blanket and wrapped it around the man, right up to his chin, then shoved him forward again and tucked it behind him. With the second one, he started at the back. This was bad timing as far as the teams went, he knew they were lined up to breach other locations. “Once this one is taken off our hands...”
“Not happening,” Kenzo said. “We are not equipped to overtake a plane.”
Amari shoved his bag back into the back of the jeep and closed the door. She came around carrying the phone in her hand, “can the plane be tracked or something.”
Someone laughed, “of course, it can.” Illias sounded amused.
“We’ve got a chopper headed your way now.”
Tripp felt better. A chopper made it a lot harder to intercept. “Where are we on that other situation with security?”
“We’re working on it. The circle of trust is much smaller now.” Kenzo told him.
Tripp turned around and went over to the truck he’d been driving. “Is it a rental?” He looked back at Amari, she was right behind him, still holding the phone up, she nodded. “I’m not going to track the truck.”
“Get anything that was his out of it and get moving, Tripp,” Kenzo told him.
“We’ll be moving in less than five.”