The Spy Devils by Joe Goldberg (top rated books of all time .TXT) 📕

all over his black shoes and suit.

Chapel surveyed chunks of scorched metal and mutilated bodies scattered around the room.

“There.” He pointed at a dead man. “There.” He turned again and waved his hands in semi-circles around the room toward another dead MSS officer. “There. I think there. No engineer was good enough to Humpty Dumpty these men back together again.” He patted Chen on the back.

“But the case is not here. It is supposed to be here,” Chen proclaimed.

“It is here. Just in little pieces. Don’t worry. We will take care of you, but it will take a few days. Agreed?”

Chen nodded.

Bridger and Peter sat on the ground across the Dnieper River with their backs against one of the rental cars. Using a military first-aid kit, Snake was tending to his boss's wounds. He had already closed up and bandaged the corporate intel officer's injuries. Standing next to them, Imp held an iPad showing the Devilbot feed. Milton and Beatrice had positioned the drones on an angle to see into the room.

When they were paddled across the river in a small fishing boat, Bridger gave a brief account of the meeting, the deal he struck with Ira Bondar, and the events that led to them being ambushed.

“You royally fucked up,” Demon said in disbelief. “You.”

“I was distracted,” he confessed to them.

“You? Distracted? That—” Imp’s voice set up for one of his juvenile snarky comments. Bridger looked up and gave Imp the do not fuck with me at all look. Imp went back to his monitoring activity.

“Thanks for the rescue,” Bridger said.

“You are lucky we never listen to a word you say,” Demon said.

“I was counting on it. And you picked up the GPS location of the Hillcrest case?”

“The Imp did,” Snake replied.

“You are welcome,” Imp said.

“We had bots in the air searching when we picked up the signal,” Beatrice added, keeping track of her Devilbot controller.

Milton was doing the same but added with his Alabama drawl, “We had them there in about fifteen minutes.”

“The rest is Spy Devils history—including your fuck up,” Demon said to complete the story.

“I appreciate that.”

Bridger pulled his bandaged wrist away from Snake. He motioned Imp to give him the iPad showing the camera feed from the drone. Resting it in his lap, he saw a perfect view across the river into the house. Bridger hit a key on his phone and put it to his ear. On the screen, he saw Chapel reach into his pocket and take out his phone.

“Hello, Bridger.”

“Are you enjoying the view?”

“A little messy.” Chapel replied, walking to the opening in the wall. “It is good to know you are not dead. So, how are you?”

“I’m unhappy, to be perfectly honest, thanks for asking. I probably have a broken wrist, but I am confident my golf game won’t suffer.”

“You seem to have survived. I don’t think I can say the same for Hillcrest.”

“No, sorry, if that was your plan. Blowing it up seemed like the thing to do at the time. Especially after Li Chu and his goons ambushed us at the same safe house you sent us to—the safe house where we were supposed to meet you.”

Bridger saw Chapel scan his eyes across the river. He was uncharacteristically silent.

“Sorry if I ruined your plans,” Bridger said.

“There are always alternatives, as you have proven today.”

“Oh. Hey. Thanks for the recommendation to Ira Bondar. She has significant daddy issues.”

“Viktor has been a disappointment—for everyone. Mistrust is such a toxic feeling, especially within families.”

“How about mistrust with the MSS guy next to you?”

Chapel kept up his scanning.

“George lost trust with all of us. He made it even more toxic with his threats of exposing his Chinese activities. If he would have left it alone, none of this would have happened. He would have gotten his share for his efforts, and my friend Anton would not have been poisoned—by Viktor.”

“Did you know the case was empty?”

“What? No? Empty?” Bridger could sense and see Chapel was surprised at this new information. No deception. “No, I did not. Makes the effort to retrieve this case not worth it.”

“Wish I knew.” Bridger saw Chen looking around the room behind Chapel. “Beast is dead. Did you know that?”

Bridger heard silence and watched Chapel walk further onto the patio. Chen followed. He looked at the four dead Dragon Fire men.

“Beast? Dead? I am sorry to hear that. I truly am.”

Bridger paused and absorbed Chapel’s response. He saw the same tone and look of surprise as he had with the empty case—shock, mixed with sincerity.

“Did you have anything to do with it?”

On the screen, Bridger saw a slight shift of Chapel’s shoulders. He scratched the back of his neck as he walked in short, slow strides.

“No, not at all. Never. I have no idea what happened to him, whatsoever. Believe me, Bridger. I did not,” Chapel added with a quiet, remorseful sound.

Is he lying?

“I am about to raise holy hell and release the Devils on whoever was responsible.”

“Do you need me to do anything? Arrange transport of the—his remains?”

“No, I appreciate that. We have it taken care of,” Bridger said.

“I promise I will look into Beast.”

“You do that. You look into it. It won’t make a difference whether they know we are coming or not.”

Bridger read the tone of resignation as he witnessed a slow nod of Chapel’s head.

“My only mission is to find out who killed Beast—and kill them.”

Bridger disconnected the call.

“Let’s go.”

Chapel looked at his phone. Seeing the call was over, he dialed his pilot.

“I will be there within the hour.”

Chen walked over and stood in front of him.

“Yes? Minister Chen, how can I help you?” Chapel asked.

“Where is Li Chu?”

50

Research

Jacob Kirkwood Boardroom

“We’re busy. Very busy.” Jessup was irritated and checked his watch once. Then twice. “You have five minutes.”

Peter was wondering why he wasn’t fired on the spot for not having Hillcrest with him. He expected Benton to laugh all the way to escorting Peter out the door.

“Peter, your head.