“Yeah.”
“And this Jiwan is who she was intended to wed?”
“Right again.”
“That would be unpleasant for a woman such as Anjalee seems to be.”
“Why do you say that?”
He hums thoughtfully, doesn’t answer for a minute. “I have some translated police reports from an investigation into him. He is known to have rather violent predilections. He has been associated with rape, murder, extortion, kidnapping, blackmail, and torture. Nothing which can be directly proven, yet, but the association is strong, and the evidence appears to point to him doing much of the dirty work, as you put it, himself. Especially the violence towards women.”
“Not making me feel good, Xavier.”
He doesn’t answer again. “The software has completed its operation. I have a location for you—the suburbs outside the city. Perhaps a thirty-minute drive.”
“Address?”
He relays it, and I punch it into the navigation system of the Sin-issued G-Wagen—a top-of-the-line truck with a monster engine and armored doors and reinforced bulletproof glass.
“Now that I have an address, I can acquire control of a satellite, if you like.”
I hold on as Rev takes us at top speed toward the address. “Like, real-time feed?”
“Certainly. I’ve done it before…for entertainment purposes.”
“Dude, you are somethin’ else. Yeah, if you can get eyes on the location and tell us what you see, that’d help us with the infiltration and extraction.”
“A moment or two, if you please.”
Rev eyes me as we haul down a boulevard. “Where’d you meet this guy?” he asks. “He can hack into a satellite for entertainment purposes? That shit is locked downtight.”
“It is really not all that hard. It merely requires a few tricks and a lot of patience,” Xavier says. “And once you have done it, it is easy to do it again. I have not done any hacking in a long time, but it appears to be much like riding a bicycle—the skills return swiftly.” He laughs in triumph. “Here we are. Yes, the vehicle in question is parked on the street. It is not a very good neighborhood, I would guess. The homes are close, and small, and many of them are not in very good states of upkeep. No backyard to speak of, and what little there exists is separated by chain-link fence, or nothing at all. No movement outside the residence. I could reroute a thermal imaging satellite, but that would require more time than I believe you would allow, therefore I cannot inform you as to the number of occupants inside the home.”
“There’s only the one car?” I ask.
“That I can see, yes. There is a garage, however, and I have no way of knowing the number of occupants before the car arrived. I would hesitate to guess and provide you with erroneous intelligence.”
“Intel, buddy,” I say. “We call it intel.”
“Ah, yes. Intel.” A long pause. “Another vehicle is arriving. An SUV. I am not familiar with automotive makes and models. It is parking in the driveway. Men are exiting—two of them. Mr. Vardhamana is one of them, I am assuming, although I could be in error.”
“Step it up, brother,” I say to Rev. “Jiwan’s there, we gotta haul ass.”
“Would you care for additional backup?” Xavier asks.
“Um, in what form? And how?”
“My brother Zane and his wife Mara are recently arrived in Vegas. Zane is, as I believe I informed you, a former Navy SEAL. He has been retired for some years at this time, but he is still a rather physically impressive individual, and I do not believe he has relinquished all of his skills. He would happily assist you, I am certain. I have my helicopter here, so he could meet you there posthaste.”
“I can’t guarantee how this would go,” I say. “Could be messy. And me and Rev, we swore oaths to not take another life ever again, so we gotta do this while keeping that oath.”
“Interesting. I believe Zane would not be deterred by that parameter. A moment, please.” There’s a muffled noise, a pause. Then a deep, rough male voice hits the line. “You got Zane. Hear we have a situation with a kidnapped girlfriend.”
“Zane, my name is Kane Sutherland, Army Rangers. With me on speaker is Rev, Marine Recon. My girlfriend was kidnapped and your brother is helping me locate her. He sort of offered your services as backup. There are at least five known targets, and an unknown number in the building. We’ve both sworn oaths to not kill again, as part of a kind of rehabilitation program, so to speak. Point is, we gotta get my girl back, and we can’t take anyone out in the process. We wouldn’t mind backup, and none of our guys could get to the location in time to help. But it’s a very hot and very unknown situation and I can’t ask you to put yourself in that kind of risk for someone you ain’t even met.”
“Heard what you and your girl did for Low,” he says by way of answer.
“Low?”
