CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jeffrey shadowed Andi, with Wolf and Mason close behind. Feet silent on the shiny marble floor, weapons raised, they continually scanned their surroundings, prepared for any threat. They hurried in a crouch toward a wide foyer area with elevator doors. Centered in the wide space was a round, pedestal-style table with a massive floral bouquet perched atop it.
They carefully avoided the table, and at the end of the corridor, Andi risked a quick peek around the corner to the left, then raised a fist for them to stop. She held up two fingers and pointed them in the direction of the door.
Guards.
Mason nodded once, drew a dart gun from his thigh holster, and squatted down. He checked it was loaded, took aim, and fired. Thwip. Because the gun utilized pressurized gas, the sound was somewhat negligible. He quickly loaded another dart and took his second shot. Thwip .
There were some grunts, thumps against the wall, then the sound of bodies dropping to the floor .
Mason gave them the heads-up and stood.
Andi led them down the hall, stopped, and pointed at the fourth door. Wolf took out his trusty lockpick tool and went to work disengaging the lock. She watched for company while Mason and Jeffrey dragged the two guards out of the way and shoved them in the corner at the far end of the hallway.
Wolf shifted to take up position next to Andi on the left side of the door, and they put their backs to the wall. Jeffrey and Mason did the same on the right side. Jeffrey dipped his chin, reached down with his left hand to grab the knob, and froze at the sound of a man’s voice.
“It is not appropriate for me to see the female child without her abaya.” His footsteps suddenly stopped. “Therefore, I have asked Halima to meet me in the girl’s room. She will prepare her.”
“Whatever you decide, just have her ready at the appropriate time.” Nadim Al-Mansoori’s voice came through the speaker. “Once your sister has her ready, restart the video camera.”
Hopefully, that meant no one was watching Isla. And what the hell did that asshole mean by “prepare her”?
“Nadim … Your Majesty, are you sur—”
“Do as you are instructed, Adnan.” The king did not sound pleased.
Jeffrey swung the door open, and they all swept into the room. He twisted the knob and, without so much as a click, shut the door and secured it behind them.
He tapped his ear. “Casey, on my mark, douse the lights.” He counted down, “Three, two, one, mark.”
The team was immediately plunged into darkness.
They lowered their night-vision goggles into place, and the heat from their bodies glowed green.
A loud thump followed by a horrendous crash preceded the sound of glass shattering in the hallway.
“Dammit.” Sounded like Adnan Bashar ran into the table and knocked it over. “Where is my phone?”
“Cover the door,” Jeffrey whispered to Wolf and Mason, and he and Andi rushed over to the bed. “Jesus, she looks so small.”
Andi knelt on the bed and pressed a finger to the side of Isla’s neck. “Pulse is slow but strong.”
Jeffrey bent forward, slid one arm beneath his daughter’s knees and the other under her shoulders, then lifted her into his arms. She was slender and weighed next to nothing. Her head lolled back over his arm, and the scarf slid off and landed on the floor. Her long hair tumbled free and draped over his arm.
“What about Bashar?” Wolf asked.
“Neutralize him,” Jeffrey whispered.
Wolf nodded and cracked the door open just enough to hear the man’s footsteps resume .
Bashar cursed under his breath as he slid his hand along the wall and headed right toward them.
Wolf locked the door, signaled for his team to back away, then waited.
Isla began to stir, and Jeffrey tightened his hold.
A key rattled in the lock, the door swung open, and Bashar’s bright green heat signature stepped into the room.
He took three steps into the space, and Wolf moved up behind him. He wrapped one long arm around the front of Bashar’s neck and squeezed. A sort of guttural grunt came from his throat. He clutched at the arm around his neck and began thrashing his legs around.
Wolf simply lifted him a few inches off the ground, and in less than a minute, Bashar stopped struggling, his head drooped to the side, and his arms and legs hung limp. Wolf carried him over to the bed, tossed him onto the middle of it, and threw the comforter over him.
“He should be out long enough for us to get out of here.” He adjusted his vest.
Jeffrey looked at his watch—two minutes to spare.
He tapped his earpiece so that Viking, Calliope, and Casey could hear him. “We’ve got her and are on our way back down to the tunnel.”
“Affirmative,” Viking said.
“Excellent,” was Calliope’s response.
“Casey, you know what to do,” he said .
“I’m on it.” He would call Maya to let her know they’d retrieved Isla.
Before Jeffrey left to meet the team, she’d promised not to respond to Al-Mansoori’s message. She trusted Jeffrey and the team would get their daughter out before the deadline.
“Let’s go.” He held Isla close and followed Andi into the hallway.
She would cover his front, and he trusted Wolf and Mason to have his back, leaving him to focus on Isla.
Careful to avoid the shattered glass, water, and flowers strewn everywhere, they made it to the stairwell, where the emergency lights had come on. They tilted up their NVGs, and since Jeffrey’s arms were full of little girl, Andi lifted his for him.
Isla began to wiggle and emitted a scared little whimpering sound.
“Sh-sh-sh. I’ve got you, honey.” And he never wanted to let her go.
His softly spoken words seemed to calm her, and she drifted back to sleep.
They made their way down the stairs to the main floor, where streams from multiple flashlights speared through the dark at varying angles, people bumped into each other as they tried to navigate the dark, and no one seemed to know what to do .
The chaos would’ve provided the perfect cover for them to dash across the hall until four individuals appeared through the darkness. Jeffrey recognized Nadim Al-Mansoori as one of them.
“Back, back,” he whispered and signaled for the team to hurry beneath the stairwell.
Mason, Wolf, and Jeffrey wedged themselves into the space, careful not to squish his daughter. Andi remained at the door, and time seemed to slow to a crawl until the voices passed by and she gave them the all-clear signal.
Assured the coast was clear, they swung the door open, hurried across to the final stairwell, and took it down to the basement. Mason locked the door behind them. There were no emergency lights in this part of the building, so, once again, they relied on their NVGs to make it safely back to the boiler room. They hurriedly restacked the crates against the door, and for added security, Mason and Wolf dragged a large storage tank in front of the crates.
“That should slow ’em down.” Wolf swiped his forearm across his brow.
“Assuming they even know about this room,” Mason said.
Andi ducked into the tunnel. Jeffrey secured his hold on his daughter and went in after her. Wolf and Mason took up position behind them.
“Let’s get the hell outta here.” She clicked on her flashlight, and they double-timed it through the tunnel until they saw moonlight streaming down the stairs ahead of them.
Andi hurried up the steps and moved to the door. She crouched down, scanned their surroundings, and signaled them forward. As soon as they all were clear of the doorway, she knelt down and tugged a detonator, some wires, and a small block of C4 from her vest. She squished the claylike explosive to soften it, molded it to the handrail at the top of the steps, then stabbed the metal tips of the detonation wires into the clay.
She turned to her team, gave a quick nod, and stood.
A simple press of her thumb on the remote detonator switch would trigger a controlled blast powerful enough to level the small structure—thereby blocking the stairwell—but not so powerful as to be heard this deep into the woods. Hopefully.
“I’ll stick with Andi,” Wolf said. “We’ll meet you back at the SUV.”
Jeffrey tapped his earpiece and spoke to his snipers. “We’re headed back to the vehicle.
“Excellent,” Viking said.
“How is she?” Calliope asked.
“Don’t know yet.” He checked his watch—four minutes until midnight. “See you back at the SUV.”
They ended their transmission, and he turned to Wolf and Andi .
“Be careful.” He trusted their skills and abilities, but there was always the potential for disaster when working with explosives.
“Always am,” Andi assured him as she took cover behind a large tree. “Now, go. Get your daughter away from here.”
He nodded, then he and Mason set off at a jog.
What mattered now was getting Isla far away from the embassy and getting her medically checked out. Once they were certain she was safe and that the drugs hadn’t caused any permanent damage, they would figure out a way to break the news to her that Jeffrey was her father.
Maya was trying very hard not to panic. Al-Mansoori expected a response from her in less than three minutes, and she still hadn’t heard from Jeffrey.
The phone rang in her hand. She fumbled it and it dropped onto the rug. She quickly snatched it up and tapped the screen. “Hello?”
“It’s Casey. They’ve got Isla, and she’s safe.” His tone was brisk, all business.
“Oh, thank God.” Relief swamped her system, and her knees gave out. She melted to the floor and landed on her butt .
“Are you okay?” Casey asked.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She peppered him with questions. “How is she? How did she look? Did she say anything? Is Jeffrey okay? Was anyone hurt?”
“All I know is—” He stopped short. “Hang on a sec. Andi’s in my ear.”
Maya listened closely to Casey’s side of the conversation.
“Hey, Andi.” Silence. “Okay, got it.” More silence. “Yes, I’ll tell her.”
Maya held her breath, wondering what kind of update Andi had given him.
“Sorry ’bout that, Maya.” His apology was completely unnecessary. “Andi said they’re all headed back to Jeffrey’s place.”
“Thanks very much, Casey.” Now that she knew her daughter, Jeffrey, and the rest of the team were safe, she could finally breathe.
Her relief was temporary, because Al-Mansoori was a powder keg of hatred, and she feared they’d just lit the fuse.