Lone Wolf by David Archer Page B

computer geek would be able to listen to everything that went on in the apartment, and had already rigged a tap on Pendergrast's cell phone.
    “Why aren't we all going?” Neil asked that evening, as they had dinner.
    “Well, you're not going because I don't want you away from your computer for any length of time,” Noah said. “You're my intelligence division, remember? If anything is going on, you'll spot it before anyone else, and I need you to be where you can get word to me quickly. Decker is going to stay here with you, just in case Mister Pendergrast decides to pull a double cross and has any idea of this location.”
    “So what's your plan in Russia?” Decker asked him. “You won't be able to carry weapons on a commercial flight, you know that, right?”
    “That's why I called the boss lady a while ago,” Noah said. “Turns out our outfit has people in every major city, even though some of them don't know what we really do. Our station chief in Moscow will be waiting with a vehicle when we get off the plane, and everything we need will be inside. Depending on what we run into, it may be a simple snatch job or could boil down to a small-scale invasion. Whatever we have to do, he'll make sure we got the equipment for it.”
    Neil tossed a napkin onto the table angrily. “Doggone it,” he said, “I get left out of all the fun! Why don't I ever get to play cops and robbers with you guys?”
    “Because you have the worst firing range scores of anybody the organization has ever seen,” Moose answered him. “You'd be more likely to shoot one of us than the enemy!”
    The tall, skinny kid rolled his eyes. “Now that's not fair, not all of us can be Wyatt Earp. Some of us have to have real brains, y'know?”
    “Hey, just relax, Neil,” Noah said. “Maybe one of these days on a mission, the rest of us will get killed off and you'll have to go complete it yourself.”
    Decker started laughing, but Neil, Moose and Sarah just stared at Noah. “Holy crap,” Neil said, “boss man, did you just make a joke?”
    Noah looked at each of them in turn. “Well, I tried,” he said. “Wasn't it funny?”
    Sarah shivered. “Out of anyone else, it might have been, but out of you? Noah, that was downright terrifying.”
    Decker stopped laughing and looked at them all. “Well, I thought it was funny.”
    Moose shook his head. “That's only because you're not used to working with the human computer,” he said. “If you'd been around him as long as we have, it would've scared you, too.”
    They finished eating, and retired to the living room to watch some television, but all of them went to their bedrooms before nine. Decker would get up with Noah, Moose and Sarah in the morning, to drive them to Heathrow, and they had to be through security and at the gate before eight AM.
    Sarah followed Noah into the room they were sharing, and stepped out of her clothes as he did the same. “I wish we knew more about what's going to happen when we get to Russia,” she said. “I hate to think this could be our last night together.”
    “Then don't think it,” Noah said. “Believe me, I have every intention of coming out of this alive, and bringing Moose and that girl with me. I plan to spend a lot more nights making music on that beautiful body of yours.”
    She smirked at him as she slid under the covers. “I thought you didn't know beauty when you saw it?”
    “Not really, but I know it when I touch it. Shut up and come here.”
    Noah's alarm went off at five AM, and he had to extricate himself from Sarah's arms and legs. Doing so woke her up, and she mumbled something about getting the first shower as she stumbled out of the bed. Noah watched her walk into the bathroom, then followed her and climbed into the shower with her.
    “Hey,” Sarah said, “I thought you were gonna let me go first?”
    “This'll be faster. We don't have a lot of time this morning, so every minute we can save is a good thing.”
    Twenty