But Xander escaped.
Khatib knew Xander could never find Natalie. He had fallen for every bit of bait that had been laid in front of him. But he couldn’t believe Xander had escaped the trap on the boat. Xander was the only thing that could possibly stand in the way of this working, so he needed to ensure that the wild goose chase continued to keep him and his team guessing. That is when his phone began to ring.
Khatib answered, “Melania.”
“Akram, Xander’s Sam is following me.”
Perfect.
Khatib said, “She will relay where you go back to Xander somehow. We have them right where we want them.”
“You should have let me kill him at warehouse earlier. It was mistakes like this that cost Vitalii Dragov and his partner, Martin King, their lives. I know you wanted to get his humiliation on camera, but it is games like these and this stupid thirst for revenge that will ruin this for you.”
Khatib slammed his fist against the table. “You were supposed to capture him on that boat! I will be the one to kill him. He murdered my brother!”
The both of them were silent for a moment. Khatib’s breathing was heavy. The anger he felt toward Xander had clouded his judgment. Melania was right. But Xander simply dying wasn’t enough. The world seeing that America’s best soldier could be defeated by a terrorist’s own hands was far more important to Khatib. Showing the world that the days of their enemies hiding in bunkers and striking from afar were over was what would truly bring them fear.
Melania spoke up. “Where would you like me to lead them?”
Khatib stood from his desk and walked over to the window. “Lead them back to the warehouse.”
Melania sounded surprised. “The warehouse where we had the Uber car bring Xander from the airport earlier?”
“Yes. I still have men there. Trap Xander and Sam there until I am finished with Natalie and President Williams’s daughter.”
“Xander will not just be trapped there. Not while he knows that Natalie’s time alive on that wall will be coming to an end. I will have to kill him to keep him there.” Melania did her best to explain.
Khatib let out a sigh. Everything inside of him wanted vengeance for his brother first. But he would not be like his brother and let other things get in the way of the larger plan. If Xander had to die by another’s hand, at least he would still be dead. Vengeance would still be achieved.
Khatib finally let go of his own desires and did what was best for the cause. “Then you will kill him. You were right about what you said earlier. I cannot let revenge get in the way of my strike against America. It is far more important than Xander King. Just make sure it is painful death.”
Melania answered without hesitation.
“It will be my pleasure.”
Khatib ended the call. It was time for him to go and pay Natalie a visit. And almost time to deliver his speech to America and the entire watching world while she died a violent death behind him. Bringing in Adeline Williams at the end would be the showstopper. Imagine the ransom America would pay to see her returned safely to their leader. A ransom far more valuable than money. They would be forced to break one of their most steadfast rules and finally negotiate with a terrorist. The American people’s faith in their government would forever be diminished.
35
Kyle’s Main Squeeze
“Sarah!” Kyle answered his phone.
“Kyle! Are you all right?”
Kyle was terribly out of breath, and his heart was racing. The two boats that had been speeding toward him had pulled up to the stern. He imagined they would be coming aboard at any moment. After finding only an iPad and a bowie knife in the locker inside the cabin, he and Karol made a break for the bow of the ship. As reality set in that he had no way to fight the men who would certainly be carrying guns, he considered jumping off the boat, and he and Karol would just swim after Adeline and take their chances. But he knew that would only get all three of them captured, or killed. He pulled Karol to the deck of the boat, and the iPad in her hand flashed a message notification on the screen.
Kyle finally answered Sarah. “No, I’m not all right! I’m on a boat, with a bomb, and some mercenary thugs after me!”
Sarah seemed baffled. What was he still doing on the boat? “Then jump, Kyle!” she screamed. “For God’s sake, they’ll kill you and the President’s daughter!”
“Adeline is gone. We made her jump and swim for it. Karol says maybe the men will think she’s Adeline. You think that will work? You think that will keep them from searching for Adeline?”
“I don’t know, but the two of you will be dead. Do you have any weapons? Is there any way you can take them out?”
Kyle heard Sarah, but he had no idea how to answer. He raised up from behind some sort of bolted container that he and Karol were hiding behind at the bow; he heard the voices of men shouting at the back of the boat. The men were boarding. Kyle and Karol had two choices: jump and try to swim to safety, ruining the iPad in the process and maybe Adeline’s chances of escaping, or hold out as long as he could while the file loaded on the screen—a file that Kyle thought could be the very thing that might save Natalie—then take his and Karol’s chances on trying to fight off the men who were after them.
Kyle whispered into the phone, “Sarah, listen, I found a file on the boat. I think it might be—” Kyle stopped talking when the file finally loaded on the iPad. It was a kill message. It was sent to a device to wipe it completely clean of all of its contents. Now he had no helpful information to pass along. He had nothing. Nothing but a knife. The voices were closer now, maybe even inside the cabin just around the corner from where Kyle was crouched. He could hear Sarah screaming his name through the phone.
“Kyle, Xander just called! I am going to merge the calls! Can you hang on? Maybe he’ll know what to do!”
* * *
Sarah came back to the call. “Xander, are you there?”
Xander finished toweling off outside the SUV where Viktor and Jack were waiting with their CIA driver at the river’s edge. Sarah had only told him that Kyle was in trouble before she switched over to his end of the call. She quickly stated that Adeline was trying to swim to safety while her friend Karol and Kyle stayed behind on the boat to be a distraction. Xander was so proud of Kyle. It took a lot of guts to hang around and wait for armed men to board your boat. All to give a woman he didn’t even know a chance to escape.
“I’m here, Kyle, you there?”
“Xander!” Kyle half whispered and half shouted.
“Kyle, take a deep breath. Try to calm down and just listen to me. I’m proud of you. But listen, you can’t fight the men boarding that boat.”
“What? I have a knife, maybe I can—”
“Kyle, listen! If they think you are with Adeline, and those men will have no reason to think otherwise, they won’t kill you. They will do what I need them to do. They will take you.”
“Take us? But where?” There was fear in Kyle’s voice at the thought of being captured again. Xander knew he still hadn’t gotten over what happened last time he and Sam were captured in Syria.
“If they relay to Khatib that they have the President’s daughter, I believe they’ll take you right to Khatib . . .” Xander checked the timer on his watch, which read less than an hour before the four hours Khatib had given Natalie to live was up. “And I believe that will also be right where they are holding Natalie.”
“But Xander, I can’t. And even if I could, how will you know where they take me? And what about the bomb?”
“If they are boarding the boat, they will stop the bomb. And we will know where you are by the phone you’re using. Marv will track exactly where you’ll be, and I’ll be following alongside you on the road, right behind you.”
Sarah jumped in. “All of that sounds perfect, Xander, but they will take the phone from him and destroy it. They might be Khatib’s lackeys, but they will know to do that much.”
“Not if you hide it,
Kyle,” Xander said.
Xander knew Kyle wasn’t going to like hearing where he had to hide it. But this was the one chance Xander had to save everyone. It was their only lead. And with less than an hour, it was the only lead they were going to get.
Kyle said in a hushed shout, “Hide it? If you mean my ass, it will never fit up there. This is an iPhone, Xander!”
“Kyle, it doesn’t have to go up your ass. Just pinch it between those big ass-cheeks of yours. When they frisk you, they’ll pass right over it. I promise.”
Xander couldn’t guarantee that is how it would happen, but he wanted to give his friend reason for hope.
“Shit, they’re coming,” Kyle said. “You better be right, X. And you better come get us!”
“Oh, I’m coming, Kyle. And I’ll be bringing Khatib’s entire house down on top of him when I do.”
* * *
Kyle ended the call, then immediately “rear-ended” the phone. Karol raised an eyebrow, but Kyle was not deterred. He stood from behind the box and squeezed the phone with the cheeks his mother had so graciously bequeathed him.
“Did you hear the conversation?” Kyle asked Karol as he took her hand and helped her up. She looked scared when she nodded.
“Do you have a wallet on you?”
Karol handed him her clutch, and he immediately threw it over the side of the boat. He knew if they found her ID, they would both be dead in seconds. Karol seemed to understand what he was doing, and she seemed resigned to the fact that there was nothing they could do to escape.
Kyle tried to console her as best he could under the circumstances. “I know this sucks. But that guy I was just talking to? He’s the real deal. He will save us. I just need you to be brave and put on your best Adeline.”
Kyle knew it didn’t matter what Karol acted like. But he just hoped that none of these men were ever shown a picture of Adeline. If they were, this entire thing would backfire and they would kill them both on the spot.
“Just follow my lead,” Kyle said to Karol. He put himself between her and the men who would be coming out of the cabin of the boat any minute. Karol just gave another nod. Sure enough, just then, two men came around the corner and immediately raised their guns, training them on Kyle’s chest.
Kyle threw up his hands. “Do whatever you want to me, but let her go! If you do, I’ll make sure the President knows you saved her life!”
One of the men walked forward. “This is President’s daughter?”
Kyle nodded. “If you hurt her, you know our government won’t stop until they kill all of you. So do the smart thing and—”
The man swung the butt of his assault rifle and busted Kyle in the mouth. “Stop talking.” The man then turned to the other gunman. “Call him. Tell him we have stopped the bomb, and that we are coming with daughter of the President of the United States. He will be very pleased.”
Kyle’s mouth was on fire, and blood poured out onto the deck of the boat. But it seemed as though they had bought it. The man pulled Kyle back up to his feet and told him to spread his legs.
This was it.
The man began to frisk him. He started beneath Kyle’s arms, then down his sides to his waist, then on down the outsides of his legs. Kyle continued to squeeze, but he didn’t know if it would be enough. The man worked his hands back up the insides of Kyle’s legs, then around his ass, patting at his back pockets.
“He is clear. Let’s get them onto boat.”
Kyle let out a sigh of relief but made sure not to relax too much. He still had a long way to go before he and the phone made it where they were going. But at least they were alive. For now. And at least Adeline had a fair shot at getting away. And maybe, just maybe, Xander was right, and wherever they were being taken, Natalie would be there too.
36
Staying on Track
“You still there, Sarah?” Xander asked.
“Still here. You okay? I’m assuming you didn’t find Natalie?”
“It was a trap. Melanie was there instead. Sam is following her now. Are you all right?”
Sarah sighed. “No, I’m worried about Kyle. He hasn’t had the proper training for this, Xander.”
“I know. But I’ve seen him in worse situations, and he can handle himself. Can you patch Marv in real quick? I know he is already tracking Kyle, but I need that sent to this phone. And I need him to be following the SAT phone that Sam has. I have a feeling Melanie is going to lead her as far away from Natalie as she can get. And there is sure to be an ambush waiting.”
“Of course, hold for Marvin.”
Xander took the phone away from his ear for a moment and gave his head a slow roll to try and loosen up his neck. He was freezing. His clothes—the only clothes he had—were soaked through from the swim. And he had every one of his friends to worry about. If Khatib’s men took Kyle somewhere other than where Natalie was, Natalie was dead. That thought forced Xander to begin pacing around the outside of the SUV as he waited.
“You okay, son?” Jack asked.
Xander stopped and covered the receiver of the cell phone. “You know, Jack, I have been through a lot of battles in my day. Been in some hairy situations. This scares me as much as any of them. I don’t like being separated like this. Kyle on his own, Sam walking into God knows what . . .”
“I hear ya. But I’ve been around the block a few times, so you just tell me where you need me to be and I’ll help make sure your friends have some backup.”
Xander would have hugged Jack in that moment, wet clothes and all, but Marv came on the line. Xander gave Jack a nod of thanks, and Jack returned it with a knowing tip of his cowboy hat.
Marv jumped right in. “Xander, I’ve got tracking on Kyle and Sam. Kyle is on his way west, and I’ll have a car to you in two minutes so you can get moving. Sam is headed in the opposite direction, more into the city. I’ll send her coordinates to Sarah and Zhanna. Maybe they can help Sam if she gets into a spot.”
Xander said, “Oh, she’ll be in a spot. Melanie has had it out for her as long as they’ve known each other. Sarah, are you sure you don’t mind?”
Sarah answered, “Of course not, Xander. We have two sets of agents on the way to pick up Adeline. They know around the area she jumped into the water, so they will be combing both sides of the river for her. Nothing more I can do. I’d love to help Sam kick a little more ass.”
“You’re the best, Sarah. I mean it,” Xander said. He couldn’t have been more sincere when he said it. Then he walked over in front of Jack. “Marv, cancel the car. Jack and Viktor are coming with me.” Xander nodded to Jack. Jack gave him a wink.
Viktor was a little less subtle. “Jack! We are going to help boss get pretty lady back! Yes!”
Xander smiled. It continued to amaze him how these people who were mostly strangers continued to show up for him when he needed them most. Xander would not soon forget it.
Marv said, “Whatever you say, X. Be careful out there. I’ll be watching and send any help I can from here.”
“Marv, I love you,” Xander said.
Marv chuckled, “You always were the sappy one. But I’ll be damned if I wanted to be Akram Khatib right now. Do us all a favor and erase that son of a bitch!”
“Will do. And Sarah, be careful, okay?”
“You too, Xander. See you soon.”
Xander ended the call. “Jack, you got that sniper rifle ready?”
“X-man, these bullets might as well already have names on ‘em.”
Xander’s phone chirped. Marv had already sent the tracker following Kyle’s phone down the river.
Xander looked back up at Jack and Viktor.
“Boys, let’s go end this thing once and for all.”
37
A Score to Settle
Sam was absolutely sopping wet and quite literally freezing, but she considered herself incredibly lucky to still be on Melanie’s trail. She figured Melanie must have had a phone stashed in her knickers somewhere. That is the only way
she would have been able to have a car pick her up. Though Sam imagined that there would be many Frenchmen willing to pick up a girl in her underpants. Even luckier was the cab Sam was able to find, and luckier still that the driver was so willing to follow another car for her. And the fact that he didn’t see the MP5 she tried to hide behind her back was no small thing either.
Sam wasn’t naive. She figured Melanie knew she was following her, and her instincts led her to assume that she wasn’t heading anywhere near Khatib or Natalie. But Sam didn’t really care. She knew Xander would be hot on that trail. For the first time in a long time, Sam had a score to settle for herself. Killing Sanharib Khatib in Syria could certainly be considered revenge after what he’d done to her, but this was different to Sam. Some scumbag terrorist doing what a terrorist does didn’t hit that close to home. But Melanie infiltrating Xander’s inner circle, and then betraying him, was deeply personal. It wasn’t easy to fool veterans of the game like Sam and Xander. Melanie had managed to do it very well. It made Sam wonder what exactly her background might be.
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