He nodded but didn’t feel he deserved their gratitude. He hadn’t been trying to save Manus—or, to the extent he had, it was subordinate to his desire to protect Diaz. And even that was a function of the imperative of intelligence—of learning more, understanding more, knowing more.
Dash held out his hand and gave Kanezaki’s a firm shake. Kanezaki looked at Evie. “You sure you want to do this?” he said. “It’s a long trip, and—”
“We stick together,” Evie said. She put her hand on Dash’s shoulder. Manus did the same from the other side. Dash put his arms around both their backs.
Maya came around the back of the car. When he’d talked to her earlier, after Rain and Delilah had picked her up, she’d sounded shell-shocked. Even beaten. She looked tired now. But also . . . determined.
“You all right?” he said.
She looked at him. “Let’s get these motherfuckers.” Her dog barked, and she added, “Yeah, boy, that’s right.”
Kanezaki nodded. “We will. But you’ve already given us all the critical intel. On where they were holding Schrader, on how to get to Grimble. On Grimble’s interests, habits, everything. You don’t have to—”
“Tom. I’m going.”
Rain looked at him. “You don’t have to go, either. You have two kids, Tom.”
Kanezaki shook his head. “You’ve got to be kidding. I caused this.” He looked at Maya. “All of it.”
“No,” Delilah said. “Rispel caused it. And Devereaux. And Hobbs. And Schrader. They caused all of it. And dragged us in. Now let’s finish it. Okay?”
Rain looked at her, his expression unlike anything Kanezaki had seen in him before. Gratitude? Protectiveness? Love? All those, and more. He realized he had gotten to know Rain over time. But only in a relatively narrow range of circumstances. No wonder Delilah had joked about Rain’s being talkative with her. When it was just the two of them, he was probably a different person. He was happy for them. But not quite happy enough to wish they weren’t here.
“I got your shopping list,” Kanezaki said, looking from one of them to the next. “Most of what you asked for is already on the plane. There’s enough firepower and ammunition to lay siege to the Alamo. Commo’s also good to go. But let me ask . . . is anyone here into bicycling?”
“I am,” Maya said. “On weekends, I bike to work.”
Dash seemed to have missed what Kanezaki had said, and Evie was signing to him. After a moment, he turned to Kanezaki. “I have a trail bike.”
“Are you asking for the reason I think you’re asking?” Rain said.
“Probably,” Kanezaki said. “Grimble lives in a town called Woodside. I’ve attended a lot of conferences and other meetings in Silicon Valley, and they take their biking seriously. Daily waves of pelotons, not just on weekends, but on weekdays, too. For reconnaissance, it would be low-profile.”
Evie glanced at Dash, obviously not liking the idea of his being involved even at the periphery. Well, she was his mother. It would be up to her.
“Another thing about Woodside,” he went on. “It’s home to numerous horse farms and riding trails. You see people on horseback all the time. So . . . anyone here know how to ride?”
“Yes,” Evie said. “It’s been a while, but yes. But . . . we’re going to land at, what, five in the morning California time?”
Kanezaki nodded. “More or less.”
She looked at him doubtfully. “And you’re going to have a horse waiting for us?”
“I have people I can call,” he said. “Whether they can deliver, I don’t know. I’ll need your shoe size and some other measurements regardless. But look, somehow Rispel knew Maya has been helping me. Someone made a run at you and Dash, almost certainly as a way of getting leverage over Manus. And the Seattle team had to fight their way through an ambush at Schrader’s house. Rispel’s been anticipating our moves. So we need to assume that when we get near Grimble’s, there could be a welcoming party. If there is, I want to make sure we spot them before they spot us. And whatever they might be expecting, I doubt it’s someone out horseback riding.”