Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
She stops and stands, slicking her wet hair back with both hands. “They weren’t his daughter,” she says, squinting against the sun as she looks at me. “But either way, even if things don’t go according to plan, Julian, Lucas, and Peter will improvise something. This is what they do, and they’re good at it.”
Though Nora doesn’t know what will happen any more than I do, some of the tightness in my chest eases at the reminder about Peter’s capabilities.
My husband is good at this.
Terrifyingly good.
We swim for another hour, chatting about more pleasant things, like Nora’s upcoming art exhibition in Berlin—apparently, she’s a serious painter—and when Lizzie wakes up, demanding food, we go back into the house.
With any luck, it’ll all be over by tomorrow.
91
Henderson
“We’re going to land right here,” I say, raising my voice to be heard over the roar of the engines as I point to a patch of trees on the satellite photo. “Then we’re going to make our way over there.” I jab my finger at the white building in the middle.
“Got it.” Danser pushes back his dirty-blond hair, his face in profile uncannily reminiscent of Sokolov’s. “Do you have photos of the targets?”
“Here.” I hand over the photo of Esguerra’s wife. “We want to capture either this woman or her baby—or preferably both. They’re our ticket out of the compound.”
Barrett peers at the photo over Danser’s shoulder. “She looks kind of little. Should be easy enough.”
“This one would work also, but I don’t know if she’ll be at the main house.” I pull out a picture of Sara Sokolov and give it to Danser and his teammates. “And this one”—I show a full-length photo of Kent’s wife—“would make a nice bonus, except she might also be anywhere on the compound.”
“Oh, fuck. Look at that blond hair and those legs.” Kilton snatches the picture from me. “I’d do her for sure.”
“I’d do all of them, minus the baby,” Russ says, stroking his beard lewdly. “Maybe all three at once.”
It takes all my acting skills to conceal my instinctive sneer. I can’t afford to antagonize these four assholes, or anyone else on their team. So what if they’re dumb enough to think with their dicks? They did a good job planting the explosive at the FBI building, and they’re experienced with HALO jumps.
I need them for this.
It’s my only chance to save Amber.
Massaging the painful knots in my neck, I look over at the other six men on our military transport plane. “Are you clear on your part in this?”
“They are,” Danser says before any of them can answer. “Alpha Team will engage the guards at the northern border at 00:58, and Beta Team will be waiting for you with the helicopter at the extraction point on the southern border.”
“What if Esguerra doesn’t leave the house to check on the disturbance at the northern border?” Barrett asks. “Do we kill the fucker?”
“No, just wound him,” I say. “We want him alive, so he can force Sokolov to make the trade for my family. Otherwise, if the arms dealer’s dead, no one will care if we have his wife and kid. Of course, if we get lucky and stumble upon Sokolov’s wife, that’ll be even better.”
“So just to be clear,” Kilton says. “We want Esguerra’s wife and/or baby as hostages to get out of the compound alive, and also to trade them for your family. But if we happen to come across Sokolov’s wife or the hot blonde, we grab them too.”
“Right,” I say. “With Sokolov’s wife as the priority out of those two. If we have her, it won’t matter if Esguerra gets killed. Sokolov will make the trade anyway.”
“What about Kent?” Russ asks. “What do we do if he’s there?”
“If we don’t have his wife, then kill him,” I say. “But if you get her as a hostage, then don’t.”
The more leverage I have over my enemies, the better. When I first started planning this mission, the goal was to use the hostages we’d acquire to lure Sokolov and the others into a trap and kill them, but the capture of my family has raised the stakes.
The priority now is saving Amber.
“You don’t think Kent might be in Bogotá with Sokolov?” Danser asks, handing the photos back to me.
“I don’t know if Sokolov is in Bogotá himself,” I say, stuffing them into my jacket. “Just because he told me to be at the plaza tomorrow doesn’t mean he’ll be there. Either way, be prepared for anything. Given how impenetrable the compound borders are, logic dictates that the house itself won’t be especially well guarded—but of course, there are no guarantees.”
“Well, shit.” Russ grins. “This ought to be fun. Are you sure you want to do this with us, old man?”
Ignoring the idiot’s jab, I grab my oxygen bottle and start suiting up for the jump. Until that video hit my inbox, I wasn’t going to join them on this insanely dangerous mission, but now there’s no choice.