Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
The drive back to Manhattan felt endless.
Max sat in the passenger seat, his left shoulder a constant throb of pain.
He hadn't taken the medication Hayden had left for him because he needed his head to be clear.
But he had to admit that the pain was dulling his senses a little, too.
But he'd get through it because he had to. Qadir was in New York.
The realization went around and around in his head. He couldn't quite believe it. Getting into this country would have been an incredible challenge, but somehow, he'd done it. Qadir was here. And he had a plan.
What that plan could be gave him a headache to match the pain in his shoulder. And as he shifted position, another thought entered his mind.
"Dominic," he muttered.
"What?" Kara asked.
He turned his head to meet her questioning gaze. "I'd like to know who he was meeting with yesterday."
Her eyebrow raised. "Are you suggesting it was Qadir?"
"Not him specifically. But maybe someone in the circle, someone Qadir has bought, someone with influence here and also in the region where Dominic wants to build."
"That could be many different people," she said.
As the car ran over a pothole, his seat bounced, sending a jolt of pain through his body.
"Sorry," Kara said quickly. "How are you doing? Are you sure you don't want to take something?"
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You're very pale, and I can see the pain in your eyes."
"Well, I don't have time to not be okay," he said with a shrug. "Don't worry. I'll get through this. I've been shot worse before."
"Yeah, I've seen a few of those scars," she murmured.
"They make me sexier, right?" he asked, trying to joke his way through the tension coming not only from his pain but also from their earlier conversation.
Kara hadn't said much since they'd left the house, her hands steady on the wheel, but her jaw was tight.
The easy intimacy they'd shared just two days ago felt like it belonged to different people.
Now there were walls between them again, built from secrets and moral differences that might be impossible to bridge.
"It's not funny," she said a moment later. "You could have been killed yesterday."
"So could you. We both live lives of danger, Kara. That doesn't make us stop doing our jobs."
"I know, but this felt…different." She let that thought linger, then gave him a quick look and said, "You pushed me out of the way. You saved me from being shot."
"And you saved me afterwards. We're even."
"I guess."
"Let's focus on the case. I want to go back to my place. I need some clothes."
She nodded. "Good idea. But I'm not sure your place is safe, or mine, for that matter. I didn't expect us to be targeted on our own. We've had some close calls, but that was because we were with someone else. But Dominic was long gone by the time we got to the lake. There was no one there but us."
"We're getting too close," he said. "That's a good thing. It means they're not feeling totally in control. And worried people try to move faster, which sometimes leads to mistakes."
"Do you think Qadir made a mistake when he walked in front of a security camera?" she asked.
He heard the doubt in her voice and understood where it was coming from.
"I don't know," he admitted. "He could have wanted to make himself a distraction, but that would be incredibly risky and very dangerous.
It's not just me who wants to get to him; his escape and defection are an embarrassment to the entire agency.
And there are other agencies that have also been affected by his many crimes.
Putting a target on himself makes little sense to me. "
"I'm still leaning toward the idea that he wanted you to see him. Your history with him is intense."
She didn't even know the half of it. "That's true. But understanding why he's here isn't as important as finding him."
"I need to get my team involved," she said. "Probably 26 Fed, too. And you need to talk to the agency. Maybe also Dominic. Make him tell you who he was with at the lodge."
"Getting additional people involved doesn't always make things easier. There are more layers of bureaucracy, more chances that someone is a mole, that information will be leaked."
"That's a chance we have to take. Qadir is one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, and he's in New York City."
"Well, my former agency is already involved. That photo came from someone still working for the CIA."
"Then the FBI needs to catch up fast," she said decisively. "I'll drop you off at your apartment. Then I'll catch a cab and go to the office. It's Sunday, but I'm sure I can get some people in based on this information."
"Why don't I go with you to the office?" he suggested. "After I change clothes, of course. I'd like to talk to Tyler. He was in Syria when my friends were killed. He was hunting Qadir, too. We need to compare notes."
"Now, you want to be friends with Tyler? You spent the past week telling me not to trust him."
"I'm not saying I'm going to trust him. But we need to find out what he knows and what side he's on."
Fifteen minutes later, Kara parked by Max's building, and they carefully walked down the block, both on high alert.
Since she'd found Max's address with little trouble, she was concerned that someone else had as well.
He hadn't been living a covert life recently.
"I think you should pack a bag," she said as they entered the building.
"You're a target now. You can't stay here. "
"I agree," he said as he led the way up the stairs and unlocked his door.
She pulled her weapon, exchanging a silent look with him before he pushed the door open. She entered first, prepared to shoot, but there was no one inside the small apartment. She checked the bedroom as Max closed the door.
"It's clear," she said.
"I'm going to change and throw some clothes in a bag."
She nodded, putting her weapon away. While he was changing, she wandered around the living room, her gaze narrowing as she moved over to his desk.
It wasn't the two computers and multiple monitors that surprised her; it was the map on the wall, marked with red pins and tags showing Qadir's known locations over the past two years.
There were also photos under the map with men in robes and head wraps, sometimes in fatigues, sometimes in business clothes.
Most were of Qadir, revealing how often he changed his look from dark hair to blonde hair to bald with a beard.
There were a few other men in the photographs, too; some younger, some older.
Glancing down at the desktop, she saw intelligence reports, clippings of articles about bombings and terrorist attacks all over the world. He had an entire notebook filled with pattern analyses and predictions.
It was the work of a smart and thorough agent. It was also the work of someone obsessed. Someone who'd let a single mission consume his entire life.
When he emerged from the bedroom in a clean shirt and jacket, an overnight bag slung over his good shoulder, she turned to face him. His gaze moved from her to the desk, and then he shrugged. "I've been tracking him for a long time."
"I can see that."
"We should go."
"One second." She drew a breath and let it out, not really sure what she wanted to say. She'd never lost a partner in the field, but she had lost friends, people who were trying to do good, people who shouldn't have died. "I understand why you need to catch Qadir."
"Great. Then we don't have a problem." He paused. "Or do we?"
She took a moment to find the right words.
"I just want you to think about how all this started: a bomb in a café, a federal prosecutor tied to the Meridien Tower fire, a building inspector with the same connection.
Small, targeted explosives not designed to kill a high number of people, small-time players like Jonas Cray hired to spill coffee, a Building Department admin paid to get someone into an electrical closet, a strip club owner and a gym manager tied to poker games, money laundering, maybe drugs… "
His jaw tightened. "I don't need a recap."
"I disagree. There is nothing about the two prior explosions that suggests the work of Qadir. You said that yourself."
"Caleb Azrani's brother, Malik Azrani, works for Qadir. That suggests a connection."
"But the brothers were estranged. They grew up in different parts of the world. I just don't want us to get lost in this obsession." She waved her hand toward the wall. "And not see what else might be occurring. Maybe Qadir is now involved, but I don't think it started with him."
"You're going back to the victim's families, to Hartford and Faulkner."
"Yes. We have today and tomorrow to figure out what's happening before that summit takes place, and while I want to run as fast as you do toward the idea of capturing Qadir, I want to make sure we're not running in the wrong direction for this case.
I think I should go to my office, and you should go to your CIA friends, and then we should compare notes. "
"The last thing we should do is split up.
I have your back, Kara, and I know you have mine.
We don't know about anyone else. I don't need a meeting with my contact right now.
In fact, it's probably better that we communicate using a protocol that we've already set up.
Let's go to your office, and we'll discuss everything and everyone, not just Qadir. "
She wondered if he could really put his energy and thought anywhere else, but she'd made her point, so she'd just have to see. Taking out her phone, she texted her team saying that one of the world's most wanted terrorists was now in New York City, and they needed to meet.