La Bruja watched and, the blood draining from her face, started to struggle. It was a futile effort: her hands were secured and Rhames was there, pushing her against the wall with his left forearm as he secured her arms a little more forcefully with his right. Peterson approached, pressed the needle into the vein at the back of her wrist, and depressed the plunger. Ellie watched as the fight and tension drained out of her. Her head lolled down so that her chin was resting against her chest, her shoulders relaxed and her knees buckled and gave way. Rhames caught her, placing his left arm behind her back and then scooping her up.

“Thank the Lord for that,” McCoy said. “She was beginning to get on my nerves.”

“We ready?” Ellie said.

The SEAL nodded. “Let’s do it.”

85

Björn rolled around the corner, drove a little way up the road and then pulled over. He had used his phone to shoot video of the property’s frontage as he drove past it five minutes ago, and now he scrubbed back through the footage so that he could examine it more carefully. The building on the left still showed no signs of habitation, but that was not the case with regards to its twin on the right. The windows on the top two floors were lit, and, as he slowly scanned through the film, he saw shadows moving through the exposed rooms beyond. He paused the video, laid his thumb and forefinger on the display and dragged them apart to zoom in as far as he could. The image degraded a little as he enlarged it, but it was still clear enough for him to be able to make out that there was a woman looking out.

He zoomed out and reviewed the footage again. The property did not look as if it was particularly well defended. That tallied with the intelligence that Weaver had been able to provide: four or five of the SEALs were remaining in close proximity, together with the agents from the FBI and DEA.

He thumbed his radio to open the channel they were using for the operation.

“One, channel. Comms check.”

“Six, receiving.”

“Eight, receiving.”

“Two, receiving.”

Ten and Eleven were in the back of the vehicle with him. They checked in, too, to confirm that their radios were good.

“Synchronise watches. I have twenty-one-zero-five.”

The others confirmed that they had the same time.

“Six—is the drone ready?”

“It’s on station. Feed is excellent.”

Björn looked up into the night sky. The drone was invisible.

“Can you see anything?”

“Negative,” she replied. “It’s clear.”

“Stand by. One, out.”

* * *