“But why all these painful attacks?” asked Knox.
Rogers rubbed his legs. “They installed an endoskeleton made of composites. Made me the strongest person on earth.”
“So what’s happening to it?” asked Knox.
“After thirty years it appears to be dissolving. Or maybe my body’s finally rejecting it, I don’t know.”
“Is there any way to reverse it?” asked Puller.
“Not so anyone’s told me.”
Puller and Knox exchanged a glance. Puller shook his head.
Knox said, “Okay, then we need to get to Davis and/or Myers. I have to believe that if they’re alive they’re at Ballard’s.”
Rogers said, “I got into the place before. I can do it again.”
“But this time we’ll be with you,” said Puller.
Chapter
67
YOU SCALED THAT wall with no rope?”
Puller, Knox, and Rogers were flat on their bellies on the beach looking up at the Ballard compound. They had on black ski masks pulled down over their faces.
Behind them the ocean surf beat on relentlessly, covering any noises they might have made.
Rogers
held up his hand and flexed his fingers. “This is all I need.”
Puller carried a loop of rope over one shoulder.
Their plan was fairly straightforward. Rogers would scale the wall and then use the rope to get Puller and Knox to the top of it.
They had watched the sentries making their rounds. The guards had changed it up from the last time Rogers had been here, but there were still gaps in the system.
“They’re going to be on higher alert,” said Knox. “They know you got away and that you’re with us.”
“And we’re not going to kill any of them unless we have to,” Puller said to Rogers.
The man shrugged. “If they try to kill me, I will kill them. You got a problem with that, stay on the beach.”
Puller stared at him for a long moment. “Actually, that’s the same rule I have.”
They had chosen the far left corner of the wall to make their ascent. Rogers had given his shoes and socks to Puller, who’d put them in his small knapsack.
Puller and Knox watched as Rogers, the rope looped around his shoulder, scaled the wall like he was walking down the street. He reached the top, scanned all around, and then lifted himself onto the top of the wall and lay flat.
Knox looked at Puller. “Okay, now I’ve seen everything.”
“You might see even more in just a few minutes.”
Rogers let the rope down, wound the other end around his waist, and gripped the edge of the capstone as he served as the anchor point for the other two.
Knox went first, and within ten seconds she was lying next to Rogers.
Puller joined them in about the same amount of time.
They peered into the courtyard, saw that their way was clear, and used the same process to descend into the courtyard. They raced to a far corner of one of the outbuildings and took stock of their situation.
They shrank farther back as an armed guard came into view and met up with another on rounds. The men briefly spoke before moving on separately.
Rogers pointed to an upstairs window on the main house. “That’s Davis’s room.”
“How do you know that?” asked Knox.
“I brought her here after she went on a bender at the Grunt. Ballard’s room is at the top. He’s got most of the floor. Or whoever it is up there. I don’t know where Myers might be.”
“And they know you killed the ‘fake’ Ballard?” whispered Puller.
Rogers nodded. “I told Jericho.”
Puller nodded and pulled from his knapsack two metal objects roughly the size of his hand. “Ready?”
They both nodded.
“Go.”
Knox and Rogers crept around the interior of the courtyard, closely following the track of the guards making their rounds. When they got near the front entrance they stopped.
Knox looked at her watch, counted down, and then gave a thumbs-up to Rogers.
“Washed up on the beach with his head bashed in.”
Rogers eyed Davis again. “How do you feel about that?”
“Probably the same as you do. Nothing.”
Knox looked at the old man, who was unfocused, his head tilting to one side. “I’m thinking plastic surgery on the face and other stuff to make him look like Ballard.”
Puller glanced in the rearview at Myers and then Davis. “Work with us and maybe you get a deal.”