Chapter 25
Undisclosed Location
Dawn streaked through the sliver of spaces left by wood boards that had shrunk and warped from water wear.
Nearby, Dad slept, wheezing each breath.
Only as the darkness surrendered to the soft awakening of dawn did Dillon understand the terrible condition that had his dad at death’s door.
Lips and fingertips tinged blue indicated his body’s struggle for oxygen.
Deep, dark circles around his eyes added to the gaunt frame.
Emaciation was a clear sign of the starvation he had endured.
His beard and longish hair were splotchy because of malnutrition.
If he did not get Dad out of here immediately, there would be another funeral for Max Jacobs, this time, with the body. Mom would have to bury the man she loved a second time.
The approach of voices drew his gaze to the wooden door. Shadows fell over it.
Soon the shink registered and he looked to his dad, who still had not roused.
The wood lifted back and three men stood aboveground: a dark-haired man he did not know, Yusif Rasulov, and Massimo Galtieri.
Dillon straightened to his full height, head just below the door. “My dad needs medical attention immediately.”
“You do not give us orders,” Rasulov snarled. “You should be thankful you are still alive.”
“I’m alive,” Dillon growled back, “because I know the location of something you’re looking for.”
“Dillon,” Dad rasped. “No!”
Rasulov stared at him hard. “You learned the location?” His gaze shifted to Dad. “From him?”
“No,” Dillon bit out, glowering at Massimo. “Your daughter mistakenly thinks you’re a good man.”
The broad-shouldered man who stood in a stylish suit tried to bury his reaction but couldn’t. “What do you know of my daughter?”
“That’s she’s a better human being than her father. That she believed in you so much that she risked her life to prove your innocence.”
Regret flashed through the same hazel-gold eyes that Cove had inherited.
“Enough!” the third man snapped. “If you want your father to live, tell us where the triggers are.”
“Not happening,” Dillon ground out, laser focused on Galtieri. “But I’ll take you to them on two conditions.”
It was ludicrous—they’d never follow through even if they agreed, but he had to try.
“You are in no position to give orders,” Rasulov barked, aiming a Glock at him. “We shoot you and take your father.”
“You’ve had him years and couldn’t get him to give up the location.
That’s not changing now that he’s near death and knows I alone hold that secret.
” Okay, maybe not alone, but they did not need to know that.
No way he’d tell Galtieri his own daughter knew.
Anger coiled through Dillon that he’d have to tell Cove her father was not only guilty but a monster.
A preternatural calm possessed him as he stared beyond the muzzle of that Glock to the evil eyes behind it.
“You have no triggers, therefore the nuclear proliferation that you’ve already announced—prematurely, it seems—to the world is ineffective.
Don’t think for a second the US won’t come in and obliterate it once the timed email I sent is delivered to key government assets. ”
Yeah, so that hadn’t happened either, but he needed more leverage.
“Is he lying?” Rasulov asked Galtieri, who studied Dillon intensely.
No doubt mentioning Cove had already unseated the billionaire’s confidence.
“So, tell me, Mr. Galtieri,” Dillon plowed on, wanting to feed more doubt, test the Italian’s loyalty to his family, “did you know they tried to kill Cove in Greece? Or that the man next to you shot her in Yemen? A bullet struck her and she nearly died in my arms. Is that the type of man you are, that you’d sacrifice your own daughter? ”
Though Galtieri said nothing, did not move, his eyes widened and his lips parted.
Good to know.
Rasulov fired a shot at Dad’s head. “Tell us or he dies now!”
Dillon lifted his hands in surrender. “Tanzania.”