by Laura Scott
It took every ounce of willpower not to smile as the man in scrubs pushed him past the red line, leaving the soldiers behind.
The minute the doors closed behind him, the guy stopped the bed. “Get up, we need to take you by foot.”
Walk? After having surgery? Mustaf wanted to argue, but there wasn’t a moment to waste. He did as instructed, getting out of bed and standing on his own two bare feet.
The man in scrubs handed him clothing, including running shoes. “Get dressed, hurry. We need you far away from here before the hour is up.”
Every movement was agony, but not as much as being in jail for the rest of his life. Gritting his teeth, he pulled on the scrubs and the shoes.
He’d do whatever was necessary to obtain the freedom he deserved.
Chapter Twenty
September 10 – 7:41 p.m. – Washington, DC
Jordan paced the length of the small house Sun Yin had directed him to. Where was she? Sun, Elam, and Meira should have been here by now.
They’d ended up with two cars. He’d left with Diana and Bryn first, but Sun and the others had been just a few minutes behind them.
Not fifteen minutes. Had something happened? Had Elam overpowered Sun and taken off with Meira?
No, he felt certain Sun could handle Elam, and Meira wouldn’t try much being pregnant. Sun was a master at martial arts, she could disarm Elam as easily as she could squash a bug.
Yet he couldn’t get Diana’s doubts about Elam out of his mind. As much as he didn’t want to believe the man was involved in the terrorist plot to kill so many Americans, he couldn’t deny the fact that Diana was right.
Elam had mentioned the terrorist headquarters was known as Liberty. And that it was located in DC.
What else did he know?
When he heard the key in the front door, he shot over, taking position up against the wall just in case. But it was Sun’s dark head that entered first, followed by Meira, and lastly Elam.
Jordan rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if he was beginning to lose it. He’d forgotten to make Diana shut down her phone, and now this paranoia. Lack of sleep and constantly being on edge were getting to him.
The weight of finding those involved in the terrorist plot rested heavily on his shoulders.
“Something wrong?” Sun asked, her dark eyes not missing a thing.
“Elam? With me.” He jerked his thumb toward the kitchen. Diana and Bryn had taken one of the bedrooms, leaving the other for Elam and Meira.
Sun could have the sofa, since he wasn’t planning to sleep much anyway.
“You are angry with me?” Elam asked.
Jordan dropped into a kitchen chair with a sigh. “I need to know the location of Liberty, the main headquarters of the terrorist cell.”
Sun came in and sat across from him. “I was asking Elam about the location as we came in. We took a minor detour past the place. It appears deserted, but I’m certain there is more than one way in and out of the building.”
He scowled, not liking the fact that they were already a step ahead of him. “Why didn’t you say something to me?”
Sun’s gaze didn’t waver. “Jordan, you’ve been through a lot these past few hours. Your family is very important, but they are also a distraction. There is no harm in accepting help. When you offered me a position with Security Specialists, Incorporated, I was under the impression we would work as a team.”
He sighed. “Okay, fine. Everything you said is true. I’ve been distracted, and I do view you as an important part of the team.”
“Liberty is only ten minutes from here,” Elam said. “I will be happy to take you there again.” He hesitated, then added, “If they see me, they will kill me. If that should happen, I would ask you to make sure Meira and our baby are safe.”
Jordan was secretly relieved his trust wasn’t misplaced. “I promise, but they won’t get to you, Elam. We just need to know how to get inside.”
Elam slowly shook his head. “I cannot help you with that. I was brought in through the main doorway, and the situation was such that I was not able to look around.”
“What was the situation?” Jordan asked.
“I was summoned there to be punished by the Master. When they were finished, they took me out the same way, leaving me on the street. I have no knowledge of another way inside.”
He felt bad that Elam had suffered at the hands of these men yet felt even worse that Elam was unable to provide anything more to go on. Jordan shifted his gaze to Sun. “You have any thoughts?”
“No, but I haven’t had time to examine the place or the surrounding structures more closely.” She gestured to one of the two sat computers. Only one was fully charged and ready to go. “I was planning to search for other properties that are owned by the same corporation near or adjacent to Liberty. An added bonus would be to get blueprints of the buildings as well.”
“Blueprints would be very helpful.” Jordan glanced at his watch and grimaced. “But there’s not enough time for that. We need to find a way inside their main headquarters, tonight.”
“After dark would be best,” Sun agreed. She opened the fully charged computer as Jordan plugged in the backup. Sun glanced at him as she waited for the device to connect to the closest satellite. “Give me a couple of hours, I’ll do my best to get what we need.”
“Okay.” It wasn’t as if he had a better plan. Except to drive around to each tourist attraction to see if Elam could find one of his custom-made bombs.
And that would only work if they’d already been planted. If he were the one in charge, he’d have a dozen men each with a device to be planted shortly before the agreed upon detonation time.
At exactly eight forty-six a.m. tomorrow morning.
* * *
September 10 – 8:02 p.m. – Washington, DC
His second-in-command would not fail anyone ever again.
He rose to his feet and swiped the blood from the knife. He wanted to throw the blade across the room.
This wasn’t supposed to be happening in this way. They were supposed to be working together and focused on one goal, that being proving once again who was superior.
Certainly not the Americans.
“Amar, I need you to take care of him.” He kicked the dead man with the toe of his shoe. “And bring me a replacement.”
“Of course.” Amar bowed and quickly dragged the dead man from the room.
Tariq glanced around the interior of the warehouse that served as their headquarters. If he could, he’d move the timeline up. But that was impossible.
As it was, the death count wouldn’t be near what they’d seen with 9/11. The most famous attack his father had been connected with.
Then again, planning any level of attack these days was ten times more difficult. The government had tightened the borders to the point that getting in and out without being caught was a monumental task.
No, he wouldn’t let himself be distracted by the incompetence surrounding him. The attack would go on as planned.
He would personally see to it.
* * *
September 10 – 8:17 p.m. – Washington, DC
Mustaf sagged against the door of the car, not caring where he was being taken. He closed his eyes and struggled to control the waves of pain crashing over him.
He’d never felt so awful in his entire life. It was as if he was being slowly tortured beyond what the human mind could tolerate.
A flash of anger hit hard. Surely his escape hadn’t had to happen this way, with him reeling from pain from surgery to repair the gunshot wound in his abdomen.
“Are you okay?” the driver asked. It was a different man than the one who’d taken him to the MRI scanner. He fleetingly wondered how the hospital worker had gotten away.
The soldiers wouldn’t take kindly to losing him as their prisoner.
The idea of the soldiers being upset made him smile.
“Where are we going?” he forced himself to ask to take c
ommand of the situation. He was Ahmed Kadir Mustaf and would be treated with the respect he deserved.
“Your brother sends his regards,” the driver said. “I’m taking you to a secret location where no one will find you.”
“Good.” His eyes drifted closed. Then shot open again. “Is my brother here, in the US?”
“No, but his allies are. Rest now, we will arrive shortly. I can give you something for the pain when you are settled.”
Mustaf gladly accepted the opportunity to rest. His previous irritation at how things had progressed melted away.
Daboor had freed him as promised.
This was, indeed, a good day.
* * *
September 10 – 8:24 p.m. – Washington, DC
“I can’t find a single blueprint.” Sun gave the computer an annoyed shove. “I’m sorry, but we’ll have to stake the place out to get the intel we need.”
Nothing about these last two days had been easy, why had he thought it would change now? He nodded slowly. “When should Elam and I head out?”
“You?” Sun arched a brow. “Why not me?”
Elam had left to spend time with Meira, so it was only the two of them in the kitchen. He looked at Sun. “Because I need you to stay here to guard Diana and Bryn. They are the most important thing right now. I can’t function without knowing they’re safe.”
Sun leaned forward. “All the more reason I should be the one to go with Elam. Your place is here with your family.”
“No.” This was his problem, not Sun’s.
“As a woman, I’m bound to be underestimated by these men,” she pointed out with a canny smile. “And you know how much I like using that ridiculous macho attitude to my advantage.”
The image of petite Sun taking out several big bad terrorists made him smile. If he hadn’t seen her in action for himself, he wouldn’t believe she was capable of using her hands and feet as lethal weapons. “Yes, I know. But I speak Arabic better than you.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I understand enough to get by.”
“But it’s not your area of expertise.” Jordan knew his grasp of Arabic and many of the dialects was the reason Yates had asked him to infiltrate the terrorist group in the first place.
“I can speak Arabic too.” He turned to see Diana standing in the doorway, her expression troubled. “I should be there if Tariq is involved.”
“Absolutely not.” Jordan’s knee-jerk reaction came out harsher than he’d intended. “He would kill you without blinking.”
“And you think he’ll behave differently toward you?” Diana asked. She ventured farther into the room. “I just found you again, Jordan. I don’t want to lose you a second time.”
Her admission caused his heart to swell with gratitude, but he quickly pushed the emotion aside. He would not put Diana and Bryn in danger. Not under any circumstance.
“Diana, I don’t want to lose you and Bryn either. But this is my job. I was hired to infiltrate the terrorist cell. I promise to be careful.” When she looked as if she might argue, he added, “It will be easier for me to concentrate on the task at hand knowing you and Bryn are safe here with Sun. Please don’t fight me on this.”
She stared at him for a long moment before nodding in agreement. He rose to his feet and shortened the distance between them to draw her into his arms.
Diana clung to him, and he sensed Sun slipping from the room, leaving them alone.
He buried his face in her hair. “When this is over, we’ll go away together, just the three of us. Someplace sunny and warm.”
“I’d like that,” Diana whispered. “And I know Bryn will too.”
He didn’t want to let her go, not now, not ever, but that wasn’t possible. He forced himself to drop his arms and take a step back.
There was a lot of work looming ahead of him.
And less than twelve hours to get it done.
* * *
September 10 – 9:06 p.m. – Washington, DC
He tensed when his phone rang. He’d been waiting for news on Mustaf for what seemed like forever and wasn’t in the mood for more bad news. “Yes?”
“I have Mustaf at the safe house.”
The relief was staggering. Finally, things were going his way. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“He’s in rough shape from the surgery.”
Yeah, too bad. He couldn’t care less what shape Mustaf was in as long as the guy was alive and kicking. He couldn’t deliver a dead guy, now could he? “His brother will be sending arrangements soon. Tell him he’ll need to remain strong in order to get out of the United States without being caught.”
There was a moment’s hesitation. “Yes, of course he will be ready to go when you give the signal.”
“I’ll be in touch.” He disconnected from the call and then quickly dialed his contact. “I need to speak to Daboor.”
“You can speak to me.”
His mouth thinned, he hated the arrogance of these people. “Fine. Tell him his brother is out of custody and is being held in a safe house. But things need to move fast if you want him to get safely out of DC.”
“Good. You need to make arrangements for private transportation.”
“I’ll make it happen.” Getting Mustaf out of DC wouldn’t be a piece of cake. Any moment now, the news of his escape would send all sorts of alarms going off and every freaking governmental agency would be on the lookout for him.
Now, all he needed was for the next phase of his plan to go just as smoothly.
Once the money hit his offshore account, his time in DC was finished. He’d be out of here as soon as possible.
Leaving a disaster in his wake.
* * *
September 10 – 9:16 p.m. – Washington, DC
Jordan inwardly groaned when his phone rang. Yates never called with good news. “What happened?”
“Mustaf escaped from Washington Hospital.”
He’d half expected something like this. He straightened in his seat. “How?”
“Someone entered an order for an MRI procedure in his medical record. He was transported down to the radiology department, accompanied by the guards from Andrews Air Force Base. The airmen couldn’t go into the MRI suite with him because of the metal on their uniforms, and of course their weapons weren’t allowed anywhere close to the magnet either. After thirty minutes, they grew suspicious and demanded to be let inside, but it was too late. Mustaf was gone.”
“We need to start following the bribery trail,” Jordan said with a sense of urgency. “Someone was paid to enter that order, and someone else was paid to get him to the MRI suite.”
“Already being done, but we’ve hit a dead end. The airmen gave a good description of the guy who transported Mustaf out of the hospital room, but the ID he was wearing was stolen. They’re combing through video now to see if they can figure out what vehicle he might be in.” Yates sounded frustrated, and Jordan could understand why.
Losing a terrorist who killed dozens of Americans never looked good as the leading news story.
“You have any ideas?” Yates asked.
“There are only so many ways out of the city.” Jordan thought fast. If he was trying to move a terrorist who recently had surgery, what would he do?
“I’ve put all the airports in the DC area on alert for the next twelve hours,” Yates said.
Plane? Jordan didn’t think that was likely. “I think you should set up roadblocks for vehicles leaving the interstate, including ambulance services. What better way to get Mustaf out of the city to some remote airport? I feel certain they won’t try to fly out of DC, expand your alert to all airports within a two-hundred-mile radius on alert.”
“Ambulance?” Yates repeated thoughtfully. “You really think so?”
“They can go fast with red lights and sirens, without anyone stopping them. And once he leaves DC, there will be toll cameras to consider. Putting the photo of the guy who took Mustaf out of his room may help pin him down.”
“Brilliant, Rashid. We’ll get right on it.” Yates hung up without saying another word.
“Mustaf escaped.” Diana’s expression was full of concern.
“Sounds that way.” He glanced over to make sure Bryn wasn’t within earshot. “Which makes the whole kidnapping scheme unessential.”
“Unless the goal wasn’t for you to free Mustaf but to get you in a place where you could be held hostage too.”
“Yeah.” But the pieces of the puzzle still didn’t fit properly.
“I think we have to accept that the group behind Bryn’s kidnapping is led by Tariq,” Diana said thoughtfully. “But maybe using you to free Mustaf was only part of the plan. Maybe the other part of the plan was to keep you from infiltrating the terrorist cell.”
That part made sense. “Because they learned of my mission to infiltrate the cell from someone within the joint terrorist task force.”
“Yes.” Diana regarded him steadily. “I know you and Elam are going to Liberty soon, but maybe me and Sun can try to find the leak.”
It went against the grain to bring Diana into his world. Sun, sure, she was tough, but Diana? He didn’t want her anywhere near these ruthless people.
But she was smart and knew Arabic.
“Okay.” He sat back at the kitchen table and wrote out the three names Yates had provided. “These are the top suspects, but in all honesty, the mole could be someone whom Yates trusts implicitly.”
Diana crossed the room and peered over his shoulder. “Benjamin Cunningham, Geoff North, and Rick Slater.”
“These two”—he drew an arrow connecting Cunningham and Slater—“are both FBI. Geoff North is from the NSA.”
She blew out a breath. “Finding information on these guys isn’t going to be easy. Not when they’ve been thoroughly cleared by the FBI to receive classified information.”
“No, it won’t be easy.” He figured Sun and Diana would spin their wheels while he and Elam scoped out the terrorist cell headquarters. He added a phone number. “This is the personal cell number for Clarence Yates, Director of the FBI.”