“You don’t want to know.”
The way Lake said it set off alarm bells in Callum’s mind. This team, if they helped, would come in covert and leave the same way.
“Ghosts.” CIA or MI6 spies—it was the only option Callum could think of. “How the hell do you know these people?”
“I have a chequered past.”
“And a truckload of secrets.”
“Some things are best kept secret, for everyone’s sake.”
“Tell me again why I went into business with you, you cagey bugger?”
The Englishman chuckled. “You’d be bored to death by now without me.”
“Aye, right.” There was a knock at the door, and Callum walked over to open it. It was Joe. Callum signalled him to come in and shut the door behind him. “How soon can this team get here?” he asked Lake.
Joe’s eyes were laser sharp as he tuned in to the conversation.
“Six, seven hours.”
“How many?”
“Four, but trust me, with the team you already have, it’s enough.”
“They got experience doing hostage extractions?”
“They have experience doing everything,” Lake said. “It’s your decision. Do I make the call?”
Callum stared at Joe as he thought it through. The chances of getting to the treasure—if there even was a bloody treasure—before Alice lost her life, were slim to none. They had no option but to go in and get her. Seven guns against a small army—and four of those guns were unknown entities to Callum. If he didn’t trust Lake with his life, he wouldn’t even consider it.
“Make the call,” he said, and watched Joe tense. “Have them on standby. Whatever we do, we need to do it fast. I need intel on the new location, and I don’t mean Google Earth. Can you pull some strings?”
“Consider it done.” Lake’s confidence flowed down the line.
“After this is done,” Callum said, “you and I are going to have a wee talk about your mysterious contacts.”
“That’s fine, but bear in mind, if I tell you anything, I have to kill you.”
“Arsehole.” Callum ended the call and looked at Joe.
“That what I think it was?” the American said.
“Lake’s found a covert team that can give us a few hours of their time, on the condition we ask no questions and forget them when they’re gone.”
“CIA?” Joe let out a low whistle.
“Hell, knowing Lake, it could even be Mossad. Who knows what contacts that cagey bastard has up his sleeve.”
“So you’re planning an extraction.” Joe was no fool. It was one of the reasons Callum was pleased to have him on his team.
“You see another option?”
Joe shook his head grimly. Most likely, he had images of Alice losing her finger playing in his head too.
“Julia has another plan.”
“It any good?”