They spent the better part of the next thirty-six hours sorting out the London office, ending up with a ninety-seven percent retention rate and no more deaths. It was looking like a fairly cut and dry type of job. In fact, it was a little bit too easy.

“You getting a bad gut feeling about this shit, or is it just me?”

Looking at Dark across her big British breakfast, she had to admit he was onto something. “It doesn’t make sense that everyone just rolled over like this. They happily turned before they even saw the video of Don Carlo shooting their guy in the head. What kind of sense does that make?”

“None, that’s what I say.” Darkness and Dawg dropped into seats on either side of the worried pair.

“Maybe I’m a bit jaded for my age, but I would have thought someone would put up a fight.” Dawg’s confused face looked from one to the other of them. “All I’m saying is if I had been put in charge of an operation the size of the London office, I’d have considered myself next in line to be CEO. People are specially fitted to jobs like that and those are not the kind of men who give up without a fight.”

Dark’s head snapped up. “Fuck, the kid’s right. Donovan’s playing us.”

Taking out her cell, Margaret hesitated for a moment. Thinking better of it, she snatched a cell from a woman’s bag as she staggered by carrying a toddler and pushing a stroller.

Dark frowned, clearly not approving of her little snatch and grab.

Dialing Sarah, she spoke in a hushed tone, telling her what they suspected. Getting an earful in return, she deleted evidence of the call and took the battery out of the phone.

“Sarah reports they are having trouble sorting through the particulars of Dragonfly’s accounting system. They have not been able to access their accounts.”

Dark leaned back, deep in thought. “Fuck. I think we got this whole thing ass backward.”

Snapping to attention, Margaret asked, “Tell us what you’re thinking, baby.”

“I’m so sorry, Eagle Eye.”

“What?”

“I should have put it all together sooner. Remember when you said the London office was the most heavily staffed and handled most of the European operation?”

“Yes. That’s why we’re here.”

“Dragonfly is a pretty high-speed operation. It’s complex, modern, and high tech.”

“Yes. How is that important?”

“Townson was in the military, special ops or something along those lines, right?”

“He was a Navy SEAL for three years.”

“Some guys are doers and others are thinkers. Who’s more likely to be the criminal mastermind, Townsend or Donovan?”

“Townsend was the CEO.”

“He sure was, on paper anyway.” Dark fingered a piece of caramel candy wrapped in a shiny gold wrapper. Making a frustrated sound, he added, “If I were running an international security firm that dealt dirty deeds on the side, you better believe I’d build a layer of protection for myself.”

Margaret’s stomach sank. “In case things went bad, someone else would take the bullet or end up sitting in jail. It makes a certain kind of sense. But if that’s the case, why cooperate with us?”

“Because, Darlin', it gives him time to move his pieces around on the chess board.”

Snatching up the phone, she called Sarah.

“The owner of Dragonfly isn’t Townsend, it’s Donovan.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Dark figured it out. It’s the only explanation that accounts for all the variables. Occam's razor. The London office is bigger, responsible for European operations, which is where most of their income is generated. Townsend was prior military. Donovan’s more of a criminal mastermind. It all makes sense.”

Her sister understood her abbreviated way of communicating immediately. “Fuck! That would explain why we aren’t making headway securing access to his accounts. He’s gotta be planning something.”

Margaret answered, “We think that as well. I’m gonna buy a burner phone. We’re going dark until we have intel to report. Suggest you do the same.”

“Roger that. Stay safe, Marge.”

“You too, Sahara.”

“You just called your sister a desert.”

“It’s what we used to call each other when were kids.”

“It’s your personal verification that what you’re saying is true.”

Nodding, she glanced away.

Tossing another hard caramel into his mouth, he tossed the wrapper onto the table. “Don’t worry, Eagle Eye. You’re secret is safe with us.”

Dark’s facial expression shifted to a determined one. “We can’t go back there openly. We don’t go back to the hotel either. Everyone remove your batteries from your phones.”

“What’s this about?”

Margaret explained, “It’s called operational security. We close ourselves off like a sleeper cell and don’t talk to anyone until the job’s done.”

Dark nodded. “We’re each going to make whatever calls are necessary from this phone right now and once we take the battery out, we don’t contact friends, family, business contacts or anyone else until we’re in the clear. Got it?”

The other men nodded uneasily, sensing the danger level had just taken a quantum leap forward.

“I’m going to start by putting the club on lockdown. They’ll go for our families first if they haven’t already.”

“Sarah and Johnny will instinctively know that and lock things down on their end.”

They each took turns using the phone. Dark sent a text to every brother in every office across the globe, alerting them of the plan. Their only hope for survival was to disappear until they could come up a strategy to move against Dragonfly again for good.”

As Margaret pulled the battery out, Dark grumbled, “We should have put a bullet in their heads when we had the chance.”

“Tomorrow’s another day, handsome. What’s the rush?”

“What?”

“That’s the advantage snipers have over everyone else. We’re methodical, make sure everything is perfectly set up for the kill, and then we patiently wait for the exact moment, when our prey is in our crosshairs to pull the trigger. That’s basically all we’re doing here.”

Dark swore under his breath, before getting with the program again. “We’re gonna need cash.”

“Dragonfly keeps money caches in the wild. They’ll be watching those though. I could use my ATM card to withdraw money but they’d know in real time.”

“We’ll wait and use that as bait in a few days, to lure them out.”

“My thoughts exactly. Not to worry though. Elsie has a quarter of a million dollars stored in the bottom of her jet, along with some other unmentionables for me.”

“What made you think to bring that?”

“She’s been carrying it around for months. It was my personal stash for if I could somehow win my freedom from Dragonfly. I took it from one of the first jobs I ever did. No one even missed it.”

“Smart girl.”

“I ain’t looking forward to seeing that crazy bitch again.”

Swiveling her head to look at Darkness, she replied smoothly, “Don’t be a crybaby. If you dry up those tears, I’ll give you a grenade to play with later. How about that?”

“Sure thing, Mom.” The smirk on his face told her Darkness knew she was trying to deemphasize how preoccupied he was becoming with the bouncy pilot who was so fond of sassing him back.

Dark expectantly leaned over, cupped his hand around behind her neck and pulled her forward for a kiss.”

“What was that for?”

“Promising my boy a special treat when he was down in the dumps. Now, let’s get the hell outta here.”

Heading to the airfield, the found Elsie’s perfectly rounded ass sticking up. Upon closer inspection, Margaret discovered she had her entire arm stuck into a combustion chamber.

“Gee, that looks incredibly dangerous.”

“It would be, my friend, if the engine were running.”

“What are you doing?”

There is something rattling around in there. I thought I might be able to find whatever was causing it.” Carefully removing her arm, she turned around wiping the grime from her skin. “Since I didn’t, it looks like I’m going to spend the day taking the damn thing apart. I hope you’re not looking to go somewhere.”

“Nope. Our job went bad, so I need my backup bag.”

“Ha, I forgot that I even had that. It’s under my seat. I’ll grab it for you.”

She climbed and came back with a black knapsack, “Here it is, just like you left it. I never even looked in there. Oh, alright...I did look. But just be clear, I didn’t touch anything. Except for the money. I threw it all over my bed one time and rolled around it naked just for funsies, but I put it all back just like you had it.”

“Are you lying? I can never tell with you.”

“Umm...you want honesty. I don’t usually do that, but since it’s you, I’ll come clean. I had to look in there to make sure it wasn’t a bomb or drugs but I never touched it or rolled around in it naked or anything.” Grinning, she added, “I did think about it though. So, what are you going to buy with all that dough?”

“Nothing glamorous, I can assure you. We need food and a place to stay.”

“You can stay with me. My folks left me old farmhouse. It’s not far from here.”

Dark interjected, “That might be safer. They’ll eventually be looking for us at a hotel.”

“Wow, you’re really on the lam? That’s the American saying, isn’t it?”

“Yes. We’re hiding out from some extremely dangerous people.”

“Well, you pass cows to get to my place, so I’m thinking no one would think of looking for you there.”

“You’re saving our lives here.”

“Good, you can pay me with one of those cute things. You know what I’m talking about.”

Sighing, Margaret dug through her bag. Pulling out a small Pez dispenser, she dumped diamonds into her hand.

“Damn, how’d I miss those?”

“Pick one.”

Snatching one, she complained, “All girls love diamonds, but you have several collectible Pez dispensers in there. That’s what I really wanted.”

“Fuck, you can have all of those. I just used them to hide the diamonds in.”

“How’s about I take you to my place and you can empty those puppies out and fork them over?”

“That would be wonderful. Any idea where we could get a car?”

“Since you got cash, I can work that out. I’ve got a couple of motorcycles in my garage you can use in the meanwhile. My brother and I used...we used...well, we used to ride.”

Margaret got the feeling something terrible had happened to her brother. “You okay, Elsie?”

“Yeah, he died a couple of years back in Afghanistan.”

Squeezing her shoulder, Margaret consoled her friend, “I’m sure he died a hero.”

“That’s what the medal they gave me said. Anyway, give me a minute to clean up my tools and we’ll get going.”

“Who would think she’d like Pez dispensers?”

Darkness looked at her appreciatively, “She ain’t no regular girl, that one.”

“You could be nicer to her.”

“Oh, I plan to.” Meandering over to where she was picking up tools, he began to help her clear up.

“Do you think they know she brought us here?”

“I doubt it. I called her from a burner phone because I didn’t want to take a chance on leading anyone to my cash.”

“That was a smart move. With us being in the situation we are now, it might have just saved her life.”

“We have to be careful and make sure we don’t pick up a tail when we’re going to and  from her house.”

“When we decided to come to England, I told the brothers that if things went bad at any point for them to meet us at Big Ben. We need to get to them as soon as possible. I don’t like them being out there alone.”

“Me either, but they’re big boys. I have every confidence they can fend for themselves. In any event, it looks like Elsie is ready.”

It took about forty minutes to get to her house. After getting settled, Margaret dumped the contents of her bag out on the table. “This is it. All the resources we have to fight Dragonfly.”

Rifling through the contents, they separated everything. Dark gave them an accounting. “You got a good quarter of million in American dollars, about ten grand in British pounds sterling, a couple of grand in euros and some other miscellaneous currency I don’t recognize. There are some nice gemstones, too. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good handle on how to value them. You’ve got a couple of good knives and one handgun with an extra clip and no bullets. It’s a start.”

Elsie shoved off her kitchen counter. “Any idea what kind of vehicle you need?”

Dark responded to her question, “If we could get a van, that would be good. Something older that might go unnoticed, like a delivery van.”

Pulling out her phone, she made a call, “Hey, Jaxy, your brother still got that old delivery van?”

“I got some American friends that want to all pile in together to visit tourist attractions. I figure we could get rid of it if you want to take American money.”

“Yeah, I think they’d give you three grand for it, but you gotta haul ass over here before they decide to take a rental.”

Shutting off her phone, she turned to them, “It’s a beater but, it’ll get you around for a few weeks. You okay with that price?”

“Absolutely. We’re already going to be suspicious trading in our American money for British pounds, so I’m grateful she was willing to take cash.”

“If you want, I can probably justify trading up a couple of grand. Folks know what I do for a living and that I sometimes get tipped in odd currencies.”

Darkness spoke up, “We need guns and actual bullets to fight Dragonfly. Most of us are packing but...”

“What? You’re all carrying fucking guns?”

“Don’t freak out, Elsie. We’re careful and we are not going to be shooting your country up.”

“No one around these parts carries knives, much less guns. If anyone sees them, they will call it in.”

Darkness responded, “We’ve been doing this a long time, sweet cheeks. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Don’t call me that. And you had better damn well be careful.”