She looked up at him for a few seconds, and he watched her eyes and calculated the wattage of that smile. It was obvious she was deciding on how much to tell him.

“We have plans for you and everyone else left here at the Pavilion,” she said. “Your team isn’t part of the other operation we have running. No, Mr. Guidry, your unit will be shipping out overseas. Can’t say where exactly, but I can say that I hope you like heat and humidity. Though your Hot Mama is, after all, air-conditioned.”

“Oh, okay,” he said. “That’s cool. But I made some friends in the other squads. Wouldn’t mind seeing some of those cats again.”

“Oh, sorry. They won’t be coming back here,” she said, making a little sad face. “That’s why their gear’s already been forwarded. But … who knows, maybe we’ll all have a big class reunion. Have to run now. Bye!”

And she punctuated that with a big wink.

Then she got into the back of the Escalade, and Top watched the vehicle drive off.

He didn’t linger and instead went back to his daily run.

The path took him through all the small buildings used as suites for the Fixers. There were no guards back there, and Top slowed down, pretending to be out of breath. He walked slowly through the now deserted alleys between the buildings. Every now and then, he leaned on a windowsill, ostensibly for balance as he stretched his quads, but really to catch quick glimpses through the windows. What he saw made him grunt in surprise.

Because he was wearing a T-shirt and shorts for the run, he did not have his button cam. So he walked back to the suite he shared with Bunny and gave his partner a small gesture to indicate they should both go outside. It was a lovely day, and they strolled in the general direction of the pool.

When Top was sure they were out of range of likely surveillance, he told Bunny what he’d seen. Bunny frowned.

“Their stuff’s still here?” asked the big young man.

“Yeah. In every window I looked. Seems like they just walked away from it. Clothes, gear, personal stuff.”

“And HK said they weren’t coming back?”

“So she said.”

“Why would she lie about something like that?”

“Maybe ’cause she doesn’t want the rest of us ‘Fixers’ to know that we’re all single-use products.”

Bunny stared at him.

“Well … shit…”

CHAPTER 148

ABOARD THE SOPHIA YIN

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA

When I got to Lauderdale, I didn’t like the way the cut on Ghost’s shoulder was looking. I’d cleaned it off, but he seemed to be in a fair amount of pain. And he was getting grouchy and even snippy about it.