“Come. Pitón is getting impatient.” Topo took the coffee beans from her and hurried her back to the warehouse.
4
Dylan worked with Jones to keep the merchandise moving, hungry, desperate people looking at them with hope in their eyes. He handed an older woman an extra bag of beans, wishing he could do more for her. “For you,abuelita.”
“God bless you!”
When they’d sold through the stock they’d planned to sell today, he and Jones headed upstairs, both careful that they weren’t followed. They didn’t say a word in English until they were behind the locked door of their apartment.
“Holy shit, brother.” Jones walked to the fridge, took out a bottle of water. “Can you believe that? She walked right up to us.”
“I got it on camera,” Segal said from across the room. “You spoke with her.”
Dylan recounted his brief exchange with Sister María. “She told me the hostages are in the basement and that there’s only one entrance—a flight of stairs to the right of the main doors. There’s a guard with them at all times. There are seventeen men in the warehouse, so we’ve missed two somehow.”
The two men gaped at him.
Jones looked impressed. “She told you that? Smart nun.”
Segal left the window, walked over to them, his gaze on Dylan. “You took a big risk by revealing us to her.”
“Listen, man, I know it’s not in the playbook, but I saw that bruise on her face and wanted her to know she’s not alone.”
In truth, Dylan had wanted to cross the street and put a bullet through Pitón’s skull, but that would have to wait.
Segal swore in Hebrew. “Our security is more important than her morale. What if she tells the other hostages and someone overhears? What if one of them lets it slip?”
“Brother, you need a nap.” Jones sank onto the sofa. “If she’s smart enough to give us actionable intel, she’s probably smart enough not to tell anyone we’re coming.”
“It’s like she knew exactly what we need to know.” This had to be the luckiest damned op of Dylan’s career. “Let’s get this information to Tower.”
Five minutes later, they were in a video conference with Tower and Shields again.
It wasn’t often Dylan saw Tower taken aback by news. “She told you all of that?”
“In one breath.” Dylan respected the hell out of her.
Okay, so he also had a bit of a crush on her.
She’s a nun, a virgin, a bride of Christ.
He’d always been an idiot when it came to women. That’s why he chose to stay single.
“Was she alone?” Tower asked.
“No, thesicariowith thick glasses was a few steps behind her, keeping an eye on her. She said he had orders to shoot if she ran or said too much.”
“Why would they send her to do the shopping?” Segal asked.
“Oh, come on.” Shields smiled. “That’s easy. Do these guys seem like they’d feel comfortable asking other men for menstrual products?”
Now that Shields mentioned it, ithadsurprised Dylan when Sister María asked for pads or tampons. He’d never thought of nuns as having periods. He’d grown up thinking of them as holy figures who had more in common with the Blessed Virgin than they did with other women. But, of course, they must have periods like every other human female.
“Point taken.” Tower read back what he had in his notes. “Is that everything?”
“Yes, sir. We ought to be able to move quickly now.”
Tower nodded. “I’ll bring Andris into the loop, and we’ll start building the op. I want more information about the inside of the warehouse. There must be another way into that basement, something the good Sister hasn’t seen. I’d like more information about those windows—how big they are, whether the bars are removable, and so on.”