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

down the hallway. When the slide locked back, he dropped it, picked up and checked the dead man’s weapon, and turned toward the opening Peter stumbled through thirty seconds ago. As he walked by Bleeder, he fired three 9mm bullets into his chest.

Passing from the dim smoke-filled room to the bright sunshine nearly made Bridger’s concussed head feel like it wanted to explode off his shoulders. He managed to keep one eyelid open enough to make his way across the debris-covered brick patio. At the edge, he fell over a knee-high brick wall onto the grass and rolled a few feet down a slight incline.

Peter was there. He was flanked on one side by Demon, a 1911 in one hand, a large knife in the other. Snake was on the other side. He had a Devil Stick and a Sig Sauer P226. Beast’s Sig, Bridger noticed.

“You look like a bad night in Tijuana,” Snake said.

“I’ve had worse,” Bridger gasped. He turned to Peter, who was crouched low beside him. Tears were rolling down his red cheeks. “You okay?”

Peter nodded.

“You did good, Peter.”

Suddenly the soft whirl of two Devilbots flew over their heads. At about twenty feet above the ground, they held stationary at the corner of the house.

“Beatrice says we have visitors heading our way,” Snake said. “She says we should duck.”

As they lowered behind the wall, they glimpsed four men moving cautiously around each side of the corner of the house with weapons raised. Then they heard the two cracks. Followed a few seconds later by two more. The Devilbots whirled straight up like they were pulled on a string.

They looked over the wall and saw four men lying on the patio. Three looked dead. One was crawling in the last desperation of a dying person trying to hold onto life.

Demon looked at Bridger. “Rule Number One is suspended until further notice,” Bridger said, malice in his voice.

Demon smiled. He stood up and stepped over the wall. His 1911 aimed at the man, he walked over and stood over the dying Dragon Fire.

“No!” the man shouted, holding out his hand like it could block a bullet.

Demon stopped and lowered his pistol. “

Xie xie!” The thankful man dropped to the ground gasping for breath. “Xie xie.”

Demon raised his arm and fired twice into the top of the man’s head.

“That’s for Beast.” He turned and walked back to the wall.

“Would you have let him shoot me?” Peter was trying to wipe his face as he held his hand over his cuts. Blood leaked from between his fingers.

“You want to discuss that now?” Bridger looked at the pained face of the corporate spy. “To be honest, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.” He paused, then smiled. “Yes, I think I would have.”

“Milton says more cars are heading this way,” Snake said, as he lifted his Stick. They turned to try to see the road through the trees. Two black SUVs and a van were moving fast up the road toward the house.

“Should we go?” Snake asked, his eyes scanning the area around them.

Bridger’s attention was on the vehicles.

Eight large and well-armed security guards flew out of the van and took up protective positions from the SUV’s doors to the house. One opened a door, and a distinguished-looking man with gray hair and a bright tie stepped out. Danforth Chapel spoke a few words to another person in the car. The second man, an intense, professional-looking Chinese man, stepped out.

The man looked around, then he and Chapel turned and walked toward the front of the house and out of sight. In a few seconds, they could see the men walking through the debris of the destroyed room.

“Chapel. And that must be Chen.” Bridger said through gritted teeth.

49

Where is the case?

Lebedevka Village, Ukraine

When Chapel walked into the mess left behind at the safe house, it was more than what he expected, but he was not concerned.

He considered himself an optimist, but he was also a pragmatist. Random chance. Holes in preparation and planning. Blind luck. Bad luck. Bad faith. Those and more were sure to rear their ugly heads without warning. He knew regular intelligence officers dealt with the uncertainty as part of a life working in espionage.

But this was his world. Corporate intelligence. Risk management. His reputation was continually on the line on a global scale. Chapel was worried whenever he spoke to a client in distress of losing their business. Losing business was not acceptable. He would manipulate them until they agreed to remain with his firm and even expand his service offering.

He would not lose anything today.

It had to be done, he knew. Chapel actually felt some sympathy for Bridger and his Spy Devils. Chapel had to make sure Li Chu was at the safe house when Bridger arrived. There was a risk. It was a messy ad hoc plan to begin with—help Chen by using the Spy Devils and the case as bait to draw out the renegade Li Chu and his Dragon Fire team. Get Hillcrest to Chen so he could get it to China. The variable of Bridger’s survival was factored in—and the calculation didn’t hold out much hope for him.

Chapel was impressed with May’s motherly intuition. It was much more powerful than his calculations. She said they could rely on Bridger’s ingenuity to survive. His body was not in the room, as he expected. It seemed she was right.

Dead MSS officers were everywhere. A hunk of wood jutting from the eye of one man. Bullet holes in others. He was looking for Peter, but he must have escaped with Bridger. That damaged one of their potential spin scenarios.

Kirkwood Employee Killed While Selling American Secrets to China.

The files left in Peter’s office and downloaded to his computer should be enough to back that up. Kirkwood would pay Chapel Communications for support to push that narrative. It could still work if he was alive. A win-win.

“Where is the case?” Chen was kicking the rubble, spreading dust