Chapter 21 #3
“Fine.” She gulped a breath, more sweat making her clothes stick to her. “What are the triggers—wait! I remember now—I heard him talking in Paris about triggers.” She looked to him. “Is that triggers like on guns?”
“I think it’s worse,” Dillon said as they walked along the paved area with the sea on their left and park on the right.
“How so?” Perspiration dotted her brow and upper lip.
“Remember the video we saw of my dad in the warehouse and we wondered what he took?”
The ominous note in his words worried Cove. She eyed him, dread stirring nausea through her belly. “Yes…?”
“I knew whatever Dad was looking for had to be important. He didn’t care about the cameras and was very focused. Determined.”
Her legs were so weak from all the running, a tremor ran through them, but she tensed them and forced herself to keep going.
“Let’s cross.” Dillon indicated to the other side of the street. “We’re too open and there’s too many innocents here. I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of us. Once we get into the congestion of buildings, we can find a place to hole up and get our bearings.”
“Sssounds amazing.”
He frowned at her, his beautiful gaze staring at her.
Cove swallowed, hating the stickiness of wearing the abaya that was plastered against her body. “I’m fine—just hot and sweaty. And tired. Now”—she wagged a hand—“what did your dad find in the warehouse?”
“Nuclear triggers.”
She widened her eyes, mind spinning. “That’s what Rasulov meant by triggers? Are you joking?”
“Wish I were.”
They climbed the tiered terraces of the park, moving past people enjoying a late night and not caring about the darkness or hour, and then headed to the street.
“I think that’s why my dad went missing,” he said.
“It all really tracks now. For the longest time, even though I knew there was a reason, I couldn’t figure out what my dad found so important that he’d give up his life and family…
me. I knew him, knew it had to be big. I just couldn’t have fathomed this.
Now knowing about Rasulov being Qanli Qilinc of Yanan Gün?s, the Iranian nuclear proliferation project, it only makes sense that’s what sent my dad back into covert ops.
That’s what convinced him to sacrifice his life and family.
I get it. Iran having nuclear capability is not a good thing for our world.
We staved it off once… I can’t believe we’re staring this down again, and so soon. ”
Dizziness washed over Cove as she approached the road.
She must be dehydrated. When had she last had water?
Or something to eat? They had been going, going, going for days.
It was exhausting! “I hear people say that, but I do not really understand politics or nuclear armament,” she said once they got to the other side and made it onto a side street.
“Personally, I wish nobody had ever created the things.”
“You’re not alone in that.”
Cove did not want to seem na?ve or dumb, but she really wanted to understand this thing that had so viciously embroiled her life and family. “So, why is it so bad for Iran to have them? If the US can have it, if other countries can, why not them?”
Dillon nodded, not bothered by her question, and more importantly, did not seem to think her ignorant or dumb.
He was more sexy with each moment she knew him.
“First and biggest reason is that the stated goal of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to wipe Israel off the map. They probably wouldn’t nuke Jerusalem, but Tel Aviv would end up one big glass disc,” he explained as lights swam and spun around them.
“Second is it would destabilize the entire Middle East. Iranians hate the Saudis, so the Kingdom would be next in line to attain their own nukes.”
Cove really wasn’t sure she understood what he was saying…and why did he sound so far away? She stopped and glanced back at him, wondering why he was several paces behind. “Why—” Her hand thudded against his chest. Confusion rolled through her, mind blurring.
No—vision! Her vision was blurry.
Alarm erupted through Dillon’s face. “Cove!” Then he blurred out.
A strange echo sounded in her head. And she realized…it matched the movement of Dillon’s mouth, his words garbled. The edges of her vision grayed.
Hands clamped onto her arms. Jerked her upright. “Hey, you with me?”
The hard shake snapped her back to the present. She groaned and looked at him, overwhelmed by a very sick, numb sensation crawling over her body. “I…I…do not…feel right.”
“Cove! Cove, stay with me!” His strong, capable hands framed her shoulders. “Cove!”
The world tilted and Dillon’s face loomed over her as the sky moved behind him. What…? She felt a thud against her head.
“Cove!” Dillon cursed.
Everything felt thick and sludgy as she had a peripheral awareness of Dillon hovering over her, alarm carved into his handsome face.
Crack! Thud!
A blur of white careened in front of them.
Alarm shot through her—danger!—and adrenaline stabbed through her weakened, dehydrated body, telling her a van had pulled up behind him. Trouble. Danger.
Dillon shouted, and even as the world ghosted into oblivion, she saw armed men rush out, stuff a black hood over his head, and haul him away.
Nooooo!