Thick plumes of black smoke against the night sky rose from the ruins of the destroyed compound. As James, Lina, Malik, and Sarah stood at a safe distance, the flaming wreckage lit up the parched earth, splaying flickering shadows over them. Their faces were streaked with exhaustion, their bodies smeared with dust, sweat and blood.
The explosion had been a big one too big for it to have been more than a self-destruct sequence. The Broker had seen to it, so that there would be no link for the to follow back to him; not a single piece of his operation left in the world for them to chase.
James froze, fists tight at his sides as he looked at the smoking wreckage. They had lost him. Again.
Lina stood next to him, reholstering her weapon. “We need to go. “This place is going to be crawling w
