Bodyguard Lockdown by Donna Young Page B

that, right, Colonel?”
    “Yes. And so does the general,” Jim reminded him. “We expect she’ll be joining us within the next twelve hours.”
    “Joining us?” Pitman sneered. “This isn’t a goddamn tea party.”
    “It isn’t your operation, either.” Jim’s eyes narrowed. “Are we clear?”
    “Fine.” Lewis backed down, more outof fear than accord, Jim suspected.
    “How much farther?”
    “It’s just over the next hill,” Jim replied. “The general is waiting for you at camp to discuss the final plans.”
    They crested the dune and Lewis let out a long whistle. His eyes moved to an airbus parked at the base of a five-hundred-foot-high rock formation. The plane itself was forty feet high and well over one hundred feetin length, its white body covered in camo clustered netting from tail to nose.
    “Well, hello, sexy.” Lewis jumped from the jeep the moment Jim parked.
    “Dr. Pitman.” General Trygg approached from a nearby tent, caught the smile on the scientist’s face. “I can see you’re pleased with our efforts.”
    “General,” Lewis answered, then slowly shook his head. “I can’t believe you did it. Thatyou pulled it off.”
    “It’s been refit to your specifications.” General Trygg stopped, his eyes flickering over the plane. “At great cost to my operation.”
    “The payoff will quadruple your investment,” Pitman assured him. “A moving laboratory will be hard to detect once we disperse the CIRCADIAN.”
    Trygg glanced at Jim. “Everything go well, Colonel?”
    “Yes, sir. The helicopter wason time.”
    “Colonel Rayo informed me that Sandra Haddad is not here. I must point out that without her—”
    “You worry about the nanites, Lewis,” the general interrupted. “I will take care of Doctor Haddad.”
    “I don’t think you understand the importance—”
    “Listen to me. I will take care of Doctor Haddad.”
    Jim understood the general well. The emotionless features, the tonelessresponse, the hard set of his shoulders, told him Trygg was just shy of losing his temper.
    “Let me show you the airbus, Doctor Pitman.” Jim’s eyes caught Trygg’s. “Go ahead of me. I’ll catch up with your bags in a minute.”
    Trygg gave a sharp nod. “Good idea, Jim.”
    “All right,” Lewis conceded. “I will do my part, and rely on you to do yours.”
    “Thank you, Lewis,” Trygg respondeddryly, then watched the doctor head for the plane.
    Over the years, Jim had worked with many men and dealt with many personalities. Most, he coped with. But intuition and experience had taught him to quickly identify weaknesses in character. And Lewis Pitman’s backbone would break like a toothpick.
    “I don’t trust him,” Jim commented in a low tone. “He’ll cut and run at the first signof trouble.”
    The general clapped him on the shoulder. “He’s already cut and run. Right after I was imprisoned. Remember? A coward doesn’t change. He just moves on.”
    “Why ask Lewis Pitman back on this project?”
    “Don’t worry,” Trygg reassured him. “I don’t trust the man, but I trust the fact that a coward stays a coward.”
    Jim nodded. “Know your enemies. Keep them close.”
    Trygg watched Pitman climb into the airplane. “He’ll make an excellent experimental rat.”
    “Understood.” Jim had no sympathy for the man. Over the course of the years, he had eradicated many of the same.
    “Now—” Trygg’s lips moved into a genuine smile “—I smelled coffee earlier coming from the mess tent. Why don’t I buy you a cup and you can give me a situation report?”
    “I have toskip the coffee, sir. We’re missing two more men,” Jim answered, and walked with the general to the tent across their base. “The messengers I sent to get word out on our rewards for Doctor Haddad and McKnight.”
    “Where is the good doctor?”
    “East of us. Somewhere past Omasto.”
    Trygg frowned. “That doesn’t bode well. Tourlay lies farther north. I know those cylinders are