Chapter 22 #2
"I'm not sure he knows what this person is going to do.
" She licked her lips. "I talked to him an hour ago, and I wasn't sure what he remembered telling me.
He said he was exhausted and drunk, so whatever he'd said was just part of some fever dream.
I told him what he'd said about having the plane ready, cancelling out of the summit at the last second, and he said that was ridiculous; he wasn't going anywhere.
Now, I'm totally confused. He asked me to forget whatever I thought I'd heard and reassured me that everything was fine, and that we would all be safe.
I don't know if that's because something changed since last night, or if he was just drunk and hallucinating, or if he's lying to me. "
There was a lot of self-interest in her story. The person she was most concerned with protecting was herself. And she probably should be worried. If anyone caught wind of what Dominic had let slip, her life would be over.
"What do I do, Max?" she asked, looking nowhere near the self-assured person he'd always thought her to be.
"Just act normally for now. If Dominic asks, reassure him you didn't really understand what he was saying, but he knows you're always there for him. Make him feel that you're still loyal to him. And do not mention that you spoke to me."
"What are you going to do?"
He thought about that. She'd dropped some breadcrumbs they could follow. "Find out who Dominic was talking to last night, for one," he said. "Did he mention anyone by name?"
She shook her head. "I just heard Qadir, but nothing else."
"What about a location? Qadir is in New York City, and he needs money and a place to stay.
If Dominic helped him with those issues, how could we figure that out?
Dominic would have had to use an intermediary.
Who would that be? His security team? Someone else he trusts?
" He watched her face. Caroline knew Dominic probably as well as anyone did.
"His chief of staff, Nina Willey. She's been with him for eight years.
She's practically a second mother to him, but not a nurturing one.
She's cold and ruthless, and a lot of people think Dominic has fired them based on her opinion. "
He'd met Nina a few times, and she'd always given him an assessing stare as if she wasn't too impressed or too certain that he should be working for Dominic.
In fact, she'd offered him little help even when he'd asked for more details on Dominic's trip.
Maybe that's because she'd always known he was just a pawn.
" That realization stung. But he didn't have time to get emotional about anything.
Because that plan had clearly changed. Once Caleb's operation had begun, and the money had started flowing from Hartford to Caleb, Qadir had seen an opportunity to create a different plan, one that would be funded by a couple of billionaires whose ambition or revenge plans had made them so easy to use.
"I should go. I'm supposed to meet Dominic at eleven thirty."
"In the office or at his house?"
"His house. He's working remotely today."
"You need to stay in touch with me," he said. "Report exactly what Dominic is saying and doing. You work for me now."
She bristled at that. "I don't work for you."
"If a bomb goes off in this city and kills people, and Dominic is part of it and you don't help us, I will make sure you go down with him."
"I came to you for help, not for threats."
"I am helping you. I just want you to know what's at stake."
"I already know. I'm not stupid, Max. Well, not about this anyway. I must admit that I never thought Dominic would make a deal with a terrorist that involved turning over a friend of his."
"Did you specifically ask him about that?"
"I hedged around about it. He laughed and said I must have been drunk, too, because that didn't make any sense at all." She got to her feet. "I'll text you later with an update, but you need to find this Qadir person fast."
As Caroline left, he took out his phone and called Kara. Her phone went to voicemail. She'd probably turned it off for the meeting. He glanced at his watch. It was ten forty-five. He got to his feet, debating his next options. And then his phone rang.
"Hello?" he asked, not recognizing the number.
"It's Tyler."
His stomach twisted into a knot. He knew immediately that Tyler wouldn't call him unless he had a very good reason. "What's up?"
"Is Kara with you?" Tyler asked.
"No. She went to a meeting almost an hour ago."
"She never showed up," Tyler said. "Dammit! I knew something was wrong. I just thought she was running late and still had her phone off from last night. When did you last see her?"
"She dropped me off about a block away from Bryant Park at nine-forty. She's in one of the team SUVs. You should be able to track it."
"On it now. Hang on."
His hand tightened as he could hear Tyler talking to someone in the background. There was no way Kara wouldn't show up for a meeting of the joint task force. So where was she?
Tyler came back on the phone. "Her car is at the corner of Ninth and Jackson."
He started running even before Tyler finished speaking. That was only three blocks away. "I'm going there now."
"Keep your phone on. Wes and I are pulling up security cameras from the area."
His heart was in his throat when he turned the corner and saw a black SUV on the side of the road with a smashed rear fender and an open door.
"Found the car," he yelled as he ran across the street, dodging traffic and horns.
When he got to the vehicle, it was empty, but Kara's bag was on the seat.
"She's not here." His gaze scanned the surrounding area.
"But someone smashed into her car." The truth hit him hard.
"Someone grabbed her." He suddenly felt sick.
"Qadir," he breathed. "It had to be him. He's taken Kara."
"We've got the accident on camera," Tyler said. "A van pulled up next to her. We have a partial plate, but a bus blocks the camera. And when it's gone, the door is open, and there's no sign of her. We're going to look for different cameras, different angles."
"We have to find her," he said, filled with a raging fear that was almost overwhelming. "Before it's too late."
Max's anger was still raging when he got to Dominic's townhouse, but he tried to tamp down his emotions as he nodded to the security team in the lobby and then the guards outside Dominic's front door.
"Mr. Ashford's expecting you?" Brett Connors asked, his tone more courtesy than suspicion.
"He is," Max replied as the guard opened the door and let him in.
He could hear voices from the study. It sounded like Dominic and Caroline. He didn't bother to knock. He pushed open the heavy wooden door and stepped inside.
Dominic was standing behind his desk, dressed in dark slacks and a white dress shirt, but he looked like he'd aged ten years overnight.
Caroline stood across from Dominic. They both looked at him in startled surprise.
"Max, what are you doing here—"
Before Dominic could finish that sentence, he'd crossed the room in three long strides, grabbed Dominic's arms, and slammed him against the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf next to the desk. Books tumbled to the floor as Dominic's head hit the wooden shelving.
"What the—"
Dominic yelled in disbelief, stopping abruptly as Max put his gun against Dominic's throat in one smooth motion.
Caroline gasped. "Max, no."
"Where is she?" he said, his gaze boring into Dominic's. "Where is Kara?"
"How the hell would I know where your FBI agent friend is?" Dominic asked, instilling some bravado in his voice, but his eyes were filled with fear.
"Because Qadir is holding her. And he's your friend, right? Your new partner? The one you're selling me out to?"
"Max, stop," Caroline implored. "Let's talk about this calmly."
"You told him?" Dominic asked, his gaze shooting to Caroline, betrayal in his voice.
"I'm scared for you, Dominic," Caroline said. "I did it to save you."
"No, you didn't," he said coldly.
"Shut up," he told Dominic. "This isn't about her. This is about Kara. She's missing. Qadir has her. You tell me where she is and I'll let you live."
"You're not going to shoot me," Dominic said, but there was a trace of uncertainty in his voice. "Caroline, get the guard, for God's sake."
"Don't go,” he told Caroline. "You have one choice to get it right, and that choice is now."
"I'm sorry, Dominic," Caroline said.
"Tell me where Kara is," he ordered again.
"I don't know where she is. I don't know where Qadir is," Dominic said, pleading for him to understand. "None of this was supposed to happen, Max. This wasn't my plan. It was Hartford's. He's the one who started this."
"But Qadir came to you to finish it because he already had you in his pocket. You'd already sold your soul to him, and for what? To build a fucking bridge?" He shook his head in disgust, no longer seeing a strong, powerful, intelligent man in front of him but a weak, narcissistic coward.
"The people of Tajikistan need that bridge, that highway.
I made a deal with him to protect important infrastructure and the people who would build it.
I was never going to turn you over, Max, but I wasn't going to tell him that.
I was going to use him until I didn't need him anymore.
" Dominic paused. "It's not like you weren't using me.
You needed my money. You took that job so you could get back into Tajikistan, so you could keep hunting Qadir. So, don't act like I betrayed you."
"You're right. I took your job and your money, but I wasn't going to take your life." He shook his head. "I don't care about that anymore. Where is Qadir?"
"I told you I don't know. Do you think I'd be alive if I knew?"
Dominic made a good point. "What's Qadir's plan? Is he bombing the summit?"
"He won't be able to. I just told the organizers to cancel."
"Your new best friend won't like that."
"He's not my friend, and I'm not going to let hundreds of people die."
"Well, I don't think Qadir is going to leave empty-handed, so what's his backup plan?"
"How many times do I have to tell you I don't know?" Dominic asked wearily.
"You know something. There's no way he got into this country without some help."
Dominic stared back at him. "He demanded an extra cash payment three days ago. It was deposited in an offshore account."
There was something Dominic wasn't telling him. "And…"
"He contacted me when I was at the lodge yesterday. He told me he needed another payment, a cash drop in Manhattan. I sent one of my guys to take care of it."
"You knew he was here."
"I suspected, but I wasn't positive."
He didn't believe him for a second. Dominic had funded Qadir's trip to the US. "You have no idea what he's capable of. You think he's going to play by any rules you set up?"
"I've become aware of that," Dominic admitted. "And I would like nothing better than for you to catch him."
"Oh, I don't think you want me to catch him; you want me to kill him, so he can't turn you in."
"I told you, Max. I just thought I was buying protection in Tajikistan."
His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Seeing Tyler's name, he immediately answered. "Tyler, have you found her?"
"We tracked the van to an industrial area in Long Island City, near the waterfront. But there are a dozen warehouses in that area, and the van could have disappeared into any of them. I'm on my way there now, but if you can narrow anything down…"
Max looked at Dominic. "Long Island City? Does that mean anything to you? Do you own any warehouses in that area?"
"No, but Hartford had two buildings in that area."
That made perfect sense. Qadir had turned the tables on Hartford. They'd have access to his properties, his security codes.
"Check property records for David Hartford in Long Island City," he told Tyler. "I'm on my way." He ended the call. "I'm going to need your car." He'd taken a cab from the park to Dominic's building.
"My car?" Dominic echoed.
"Take mine," Caroline said, throwing him the keys. "It's the Audi out front. I hope you find Kara."
"I'll find her," he vowed, then turned back to Dominic. "If you find out where Qadir is and what he's planning to do, you sure as hell better send me a text. Because if he blows up this city, if he hurts Kara, Qadir is going to be the least of your worries."