Page 22 of The Lazarus Protocol

“Usually, they hire among people whose reputations precede them. Yours does not. In fact, no one I asked could even verify your existence.” Johannsen smirked a little. “They had to know who they were working with, and if that couldn’t be done through references, then it had to be a small job that told them what kind of team you are.”

“Shame you couldn’t be the one to vouch for us.” Ash sipped his coffee, an amused smile on his face.

“Now they know we’re the kind of team who completes the job despite a helicopter and a team showing up to steal these.” Adam tapped the storage drives.

Johannsen’s brows rose, and behind him a toddler started to cry. The mom shifted to bounce him on her knee, trying to interest him in a pastry.

“What’s on there that’s important enough someone else showed up to kill us and retrieve it?” Adam folded his arms across his chest. “That’s the only thing I wanna know right now.”

“Even being requested to carry no weapons, you still got the job done.” Johannsen sipped his water. “Impressive.”

Adam hadn’t agreed to carrying no weapons, but he wasn’t going to point that out right now. Just no live rounds. “We left the helicopter where it wrecked, and the other bodies are still at the facility. The team’s leader ran off when it became clear she wouldn’t get what she wanted.”

“Any idea who she was?”

“I can have my assistant send you an image we captured of her.”

“Obliged.” Johannsen inclined his head.

“So what was the point of all that? You really needed us to go in and retrieve your tech?”

“The assignment was a necessary part of our business. The trouble you ran into was not. I’ll have a team of my researchers identify the woman and her associates, and forensic experts will comb through the wreckage.”

“Appreciate it.”

Johannsen didn’t seem inclined to explain. Or he didn’t have the words to do so thoroughly without breaking the NDA he’d signed, or whatever. “The program you retrieved is one that learns. When your team downloaded it, the program saw what you were doing. Its access to the facility security system allowed it to learn from your actions. Your words. The decisions you made, and how you reacted to additional problems that arose.”

“Like a chopper full of mercenaries?”

“None of us anticipated that.” Johannsen almost seemed distressed. “I can assure you Earthnet did not contract another team. But I’m sure the program will be all the more robust with the data it was able to gather.”

“Good to know you didn’t send them.”

“With that, our initial business is concluded.” Johannsen touched his watch. “I’ve initiated payment, and I have another job for you.”

A server came over. She set a plate down in front of the Earthnet rep. Smelled like a meat and cheese sandwich.

“I’ll have one of those as well,” Adam told the server. He’d probably mangled the Spanish, but she was likely accustomed to tourists in this part of town.

Ash lifted his hand. “Me, too.”

“With pleasure.” She bowed slightly and retreated.

“So what’s the job?” Ash looked in his coffee mug but didn’t pick it up.

Adam clocked two guys doing a slow drive-by and watched them for a second. The woman with the toddler got up quickly and left in the other direction. “Now we’ve proven ourselves, I’m assuming there’s more for us to do.”

Johannsen wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Starwise Holdings is a subsidiary of Earthnet, though you’re unlikely to ascertain that from a simple forensic accounting. I’m still trying to grasp all the ways Earthnet is tangled with other companies they own, or ones they’ve acquired through less-than-reputable means.”

Adam’s stomach rumbled.

“Bottom line is, they need you for another job.”

Adam glanced at Ash, who lifted his brows.

“Starwise recently conducted a test of a new drone system they’ve been working on. There were some problems with the program, and one of the drones drifted off course. Considerably. We’ve managed to track it so far, but it’s shortly going to go down in territory known to be dangerous. What we need is a team who can go into a hostile area and retrieve it before our competitors do.”

“How long do we have until it crashes?”