Her sniper, Manny Rodriguez, had found a sweet spot on a ridge and would provide cover for their retreat if they needed it. The rest of her team moved from the shadows behind the residence and headed for a locked metal gate built into the stone wall. To breach the obstacle, Adam Booker shaped C2 plastic explosives on the lock and inserted a detonator. It would do the job and cut through the metal without the noise of C4.
“Executing breach,” he warned the team before he triggered the blast.
When the gate blew open, Alexa’s team charged through. They dodged the security lights and stuck to the shadows as they made their way to the back of the residence.
Booker crept behind a guard who appeared at a side entrance and dispatched the armed man with his knife. The guy never made a sound. Her scout gave a hand signal, and the team closed ranks. In stacked formation, they entered the residence and shuffled through a hall with their weapons raised. Although the priest’s schematic seemed accurate, the real test lay ahead.
Without a sound, they moved toward a stairway that led belowground. According to Father Ignatius, Sister Kate could be held in a cell one level down.
They’d met little resistance so far. The real war was happening out front. Alexa heard the staccato sound of gunfire from automatic weapons. And RPG rounds sent a wave of tremors through the walls. The explosive repercussions bellowed down every hall. Dust and debris drifted through the air, made more apparent when the electricity flickered out and her team turned on the lights mounted on their assault rifles. The beams captured drifts of smoke and dust particles as the team moved down the stairs and through an empty hallway below. Eerie swirls of smoke played tricks on their eyes and made every shadow look threatening.
The lower level wasn’t much, only one dead-end corridor with four cells and a long hallway that led toward another set of stairs. Each cell had a locked door with a barred window that would allow them a look inside. Booker stood watch while Kinkaid led the search for Kate and was joined by Jessie. Using extreme caution, they glanced into the rooms and flashed a light. They shook their heads when they came up empty. After the last room, Alexa knew Father Ignatius had either guessed wrong about where Kate was being held, or Sayed had moved her.
And her worst nightmare could happen, where she’d be forced to make a choice.
When her team turned down the longer hallway, two shadows emerged from the far stairs. The guards raised their weapons, but never had time to shoot. Booker and Jessie were the first to fire. They had no choice.
In the dark, confined space, the muzzle flash from Alexa’s M4 Carbine nearly blinded her. And the intense sound of gunfire reverberated off the walls and dulled her hearing. Bullets pummeled the men who tried to stop them. Their bodies jerked where they stood until they dropped to the floor.
Alexa and her team backed down the corridor and headed out, the way they’d come. They didn’t want to be trapped on the lower level.
“No hostage below. We’re heading for the first floor,” Alexa communicated to Hank and the others. “We unzipped our fly. They know we’re here. Honeymoon’s over.”
Alexa and her team swept the first floor, taking out pockets of Ghazi’s men as they confronted them room to room, using frag grenades. In tight quarters, frags left no place to hide, and the concentrated blast shredded the enemy. Although Hank still waged war out front, the resistance they met inside had been scattered. And Hank’s diversion masked most of the sounds her team made. It wasn’t until they entered a large ballroom on the north wall of the compound that they finally found their target.
And the terrorist looked as if he had expected them.
Across the room near a large doorway with stairs, Abdul Kabir Sayed stood next to a well-dressed man in a suit. It had to be Jamal Ghazi. And three of his armed guards dressed in camo BDUs glared at them, clutching weapons and ready for a firefight. Sayed had the nun by the throat with one hand, prepared to slice her with a knife he had in the other. Even though the men around him brandished automatic weapons, Sayed had chosen a knife. A vicious slash across the throat carried an element of drama that the bastard couldn’t resist.
Her team fanned out and kept their weapons raised. When they closed the gap between them and the terrorist, Sayed was first to speak.
“That’s close enough.” He ordered them to stop. One by one, he glared at each of them. It didn’t take long for him to settle on Kinkaid.
“In my world, Islam has become a religion of fear. With fear comes respect. What I do, I do with honor,” he justified his despicable acts with faint amusement. “…for my people.”
“You make war on innocent women and children,” Kinkaid began. “What you do, you are a man without honor.”
Sayed gritted his teeth and clinched his knife. The nun trembled, her eyes on Kinkaid.
“Are you okay, Kate?” Kinkaid asked the question, but it was obvious she’d been severely beaten. The battered nun didn’t need to reply. And she wasn’t a stranger to Sayed’s knife. Her skin was cut. A few gashes needed stitches. And her clothes were slashed, exposing her body. If Kate survived this ordeal, she’d need medical attention pronto.
“Please…I don’t want anyone else to die, Jackson. Promise me,” the nun begged.
“I won’t lie to you, Kate. No can do.” Calm and cool, Kinkaid fixed his eyes on Sayed and aimed his assault rifle at the man’s head. “Some people are a total waste of gray matter,” he said under his breath.
“You must be Jackson Kinkaid. At last we meet.” Sayed tried for casual and in control, but he came off nervous. He shifted his gaze from Kinkaid to the others in the room, and a bead of sweat trickled down his cheek.
“This isn’t how I imagined it,” Kinkaid said, not flinching a muscle.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, in my scenario, you weren’t breathing.”
Sayed tightened his jaw, and his lips twitched.
“This woman…she lied about how she knows you. Yet you killed my men to rescue her. How do you think that makes me feel?”
“A man like you? You don’t give a shit about your men, Sayed.”
“So…you know who I am.” The egotistical terrorist smiled. He had ignored Kinkaid’s insult and only heard his own name.
“Yeah, we know who you are,” Alexa intervened. “And you’re not leaving here…unless you let her go.”
“I refuse to deal with a woman.” Sayed shot Alexa a dismissive glance and glared at Kinkaid. “What kind of man are you, letting a mere woman speak for you?”
“That ‘mere woman’ can kick your ass. And I, for one, would love to see her do it. What kind of man uses a woman as a shield? You’re a fuckin’ coward.”
For the first time, Kinkaid faltered. He lowered his weapon a hair and blinked. He looked pale, and Alexa noticed sweat across his brow. He looked as if he would pass out, and she hoped Sayed hadn’t seen the same thing.
“You dare to insult me…when I have your friend?” Sayed gripped Kate by the throat. When he pressed his knife to her face, the nun gasped. Her eyes bulged wide as she stared at the blade. The sharp tip inched toward her eye socket.
“While we argue, I will carve out her eye.” Sayed smirked. “Then we will see who wins. Or maybe I cut out her tongue. What will you do then?”
Tension filled the room. And Kinkaid hadn’t come back with a smart-ass remark. Wheels were turning in his head, and Alexa wasn’t sure she’d like what would come of it. He already didn’t trust Garrett, and, by extension, that meant her, too.
“You cut her…and you die. And I’ll personally wrap your dead carcass in pig’s skin for the big send-off.” Alexa capped off her threat with a religious slap in the face.
The standoff was electric. Anyone in the room had the spark to ignite a firestorm. Sayed and Ghazi were ready to blow. Kate’s lips trembled and moved in silent prayer, and Kinkaid was about to pass out. Sweat trickled
