Free Bloodline: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins Page A

when we’re momentarily out of sight, I’ll head down a side street. You two rush to the front of the hotel. Let them see you going inside, cause some commotion. Hopefully they’ll believe I’ve already entered.”
    From the furrow between Seichan’s eyebrows, she had little confidence in his plan.
    He reached for her hand and gave her fingers a quick squeeze. It was a reflex move, more intimate than he intended. “I’ll be fine,” he mumbled.
    If nothing else, the brief and surprising contact left her speechless.
    “Let’s go,” Gray said before any further discussion could start.
    They headed together down the street, sauntering at a leisurely pace. Once Gray passed around the next corner, he hurried to the mouth of another alleyway ahead. If the map was correct, he should be able to circle back and join up with Captain Wayne.
    As he turned away, Seichan’s last glance remained unreadable.
    Kowalski was more blunt. “Watch your ass out there.”
    He planned on doing just that. Behind him, Seichan and Kowalski rushed headlong, aiming for the broad steps to Hotel Jubba at the end of the block.
    At least they knew how to take orders. He prayed Tucker Wayne would do the same. But with each step, Gray hurried faster, knowing that was not likely. Tucker was as much a creature of instinct as his furry partner. The man would react before thinking.
    Especially if his dog was in danger.
    Kane huddles in the shadows under a protruding slab of broken concrete. Beyond his hiding place, the night around him is a complex weave of scent trails, echoing sounds, and movement. He stares unblinking at it all, allowing the landscape to build before him, as much a map of the present as the past .
    The whispery crunch of a stone under boot …
    The leathery tap of a rifle strap on cloth …
    The heavy pant of excitement of a predator closing in on prey …
    His original prey remains clustered with his pack, deaf to the danger approaching. Kane tracks the newcomers as they cut through old scent trails, even his own, creating a new one, stinking of man. It fully circles the others now .
    Then draws tighter as they move in on their prey .
    Kane stays in his hiding place, unmoving, placing his trust in shadows .
    And one other .
9:22 P.M .
    Tucker crouched outside the fence, hidden behind a Dumpster, his attention fixed to the feed from Kane’s camera. Still following his original instructions, the dog remained focused on Amur’s group, who continued to discuss where to spend the money in hand, where to eat a late dinner, and how to get more payments out of Commander Pierce.
    All the while, a deadly noose tightened around them all.
    Even Kane.
    Tucker dared not risk calling his partner back to him. The movement would draw the commandos’ attention.
    As if the dog had heard his silent worry, the view on the screen shifted as Kane glanced backward, over his shoulder. The angle turned enough to reveal a commando in black body armor closing toward Kane’s position. The shepherd remained at his post, as Tucker had ordered.
    Kane thinks he’s hidden well enough , Tucker realized.
    But the dog was wrong.
    Night-vision goggles hid the approaching commando’s eyes. Kane’s shadowy shelter offered no protection from such technology. In a moment, the shepherd would easily be spotted, along with the foreign vest—then all hell would break loose.
    Tucker glanced up and down the street. Commander Pierce was nowhere in sight, and he had to do something.
    Now.
    Twisting around, he dove for the fence, to the gap along the bottom where Kane had crawled through. It was too small for him, but coils of razor wire blocked the way over the top. With no other choice, he placed his phone on the ground and dug with both hands into the hard-packed sand.
    All the while, he stared at the phone beside him, watching the commando draw closer to Kane. He dug faster, scooping out sand, deepening the hole, bloodying his fingers.
    Finally, unable to wait any longer,