breath and smiled at Jamal Ghazi.
“Where are we going?” He raised his voice to be heard over the noise.
“I have another place outside Havana.” The arms dealer gestured with his hand. “I’ve instructed the pilot. He knows where to go.”
Sayed nodded and allowed himself to relax. His heart had finally slowed, and he got his breathing under control as he wiped the sweat off his face with a sleeve. But when his thoughts turned to the Christian woman he’d left behind, he gritted his teeth, and anger stirred his blood. She had brought him bad luck. And after today he vowed never to talk of her again. Ghazi had not heard the full story of what happened. And since he was the only one who had gotten away, no one would know he had failed.
Besides, he had a better prize unconscious on the floor behind his seat. Abducting a wealthy American like Jackson Kinkaid would earn him more respect, and imagining what his handler would say made him smile. Sayed settled into his seat and crossed arms over his chest. As he stared through the dim lights of the cockpit, he fixed his eyes on the horizon and watched the calm movements of the pilot and copilot.
He had no doubt now. Allah had provided exactly what he had deserved.
North of Baracoa, Cuba
Even though Kinkaid was missing in action, Alexa found comfort in the fact that none of her people had been killed. They had a couple of minor injuries, but nothing life-threatening.
Ghazi’s men who were left behind were taken prisoner and weapons were confiscated. After the helicopter departed, his men didn’t resist. Now most of them knelt on the grass in front of the estate with their hands bound by flex cuffs behind their backs. While Hank and his team made a final sweep of the rooms inside, Alexa had her people stand watch over the prisoners and tend to the wounded.
Being in a foreign country, Alexa wouldn’t stick around to see the men punished for harboring Sayed. And without Jamal Ghazi to lead them, his men wouldn’t cause trouble for them with the local law. Everyone would break even and walk away—all except the dead. Ghazi’s men would free themselves eventually and get help for their wounded comrades before they crawled under a rock or surfaced in another criminal operation. It was a fact of life she had to accept.
Alexa had other things on her mind.
“Track that beacon, home base. It’s our best chance at finding…our target,” she said over the SAT phone after she had briefed Garrett on the outcome of their assault on Jamal Ghazi’s estate.
She had wanted to say Kinkaid’s name instead of using the word “target,” but Alexa wasn’t sure how her boss would react. For Kinkaid’s sake, she had to keep Garrett on task without the personal distraction. Ironically, if they were successful in finding Sayed, it would be entirely due to Kinkaid and his reference to finding Waldo. Without tipping off Sayed, he’d found a way to remind her that he still had her tracking beacon. She’d stowed it with his iPod, something he kept with him and would never leave behind.
Now that tracking beacon was his only lifeline.
“Copy that, Martini One. Already on it,” Garrett said.
She ended the call as Hank reported back. He gave her the thumbs-up. It was time to leave. Alexa loaded her teams into the two SUVs, and Kate came with her. As they headed back toward Baracoa, Alexa held tight to the wounded nun. The woman made the sign of the cross and closed her eyes while her lips moved. Alexa figured she was putting in a good word for Kinkaid. Even though the woman was completely exhausted, she prayed for her friend.
When Kate noticed Alexa staring at her, she said, “God had tested my faith. I thought He had forsaken me when I needed him most. I failed, but Jackson didn’t.” A tear rolled down the nun’s cheek.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “What do you mean, Sister?”
Alexa had never been a religious person. She believed in death, and she’d seen true evil. A person didn’t do what she did for a living and not believe in real evil, but putting stock in God was another story. To believe a Supreme Being existed—and let atrocities happen under his watch—made the world more hopeless than she wanted it to be. She preferred to take action and wage war against bad guys. That made more sense to her than passively having faith that a higher power would take care of those she loved. Kinkaid would understand that.
“Jackson was the answer to my prayers. God had acted through him…to help me. I had lost my faith, but Jackson helped me find it again,” she sobbed. “I owe him more than just my life. He can’t die now. I have to tell him…”
“If I have anything to do with it, you’ll get that chance, Sister,” she promised. The odds weren’t good for Kinkaid, but Alexa saw no need to overdose the nun with reality. She’d had enough of that to last a lifetime.
“Tell me. What happened with the children? Sayed told me that some of them…didn’t make it. He said many of the hostages were killed the night Jackson came to rescue me.” Kate’s eyes welled with tears as she clutched Alexa’s arm. “I know how Jackson is…especially if children died. That had to be unbearable for him.”
Kate pressed a tight fist to her lips to hold back her sobs.
“No one died, Sister. Jackson rescued everyone…single-handed. And I think little Joselyne has a mad crush on him,” she reassured the nun. “That rat bast…I mean, Sayed, lied to you. He was only messing with your head.”
“Oh my, God. She’s alive. My dear sweet Joselyne and the others,” she cried. “Praise the Lord…sweet Jesus.” Not holding back, Kate let her emotions go—a strange mix of joy and a final release of all her fears. “My dear, sweet Jesus. Thank you.”
Alexa put her arm around the weeping nun. She understood regrets, and she knew what it felt like to run out of time. Regret made her angry. If she had known Kinkaid was wounded before the mission, she might have made different choices. He could have gotten medical help before the infection poisoned his body. And now he was in the hands of a madman, a terrorist bent on humiliating his enemy by killing him in a public way online.
But Alexa dialed back her frustration when she imagined what Kinkaid’s reaction would have been if she’d left him behind. He wasn’t the kind of guy who sat on the sidelines. The decision to risk his life had been his all the way.
For right or wrong, this was the real Jackson Kinkaid—a guy who knew loyalty and risked his life when it mattered most. She’d had misgivings about him at the start of the mission. But no matter what he did for a living now—for whatever reason—the real Kinkaid hadn’t changed. She knew that now.
Why had she ever doubted him?
Twenty minutes later
On the ride back to Baracoa, Kate had fallen asleep with her head on Alexa’s shoulder. Sitting in the shadows of the SUV and holding the nun, Alexa replayed the siege at Ghazi’s compound in her mind. For the most part, she knew they’d been lucky. Kate was safe, and no one from her teams had died.
Yet the hypnotic green eyes of Jackson Kinkaid haunted her, and guilt twisted her gut. If she had been more truthful with him from the start, maybe he wouldn’t have felt the need to play sacrificial lamb in order to free Kate. But placing the blame for what had happened was a distraction neither of them needed. As long as Kinkaid was alive, there was hope, and she’d fight to save him.
Alexa shifted gears to focus on something more productive. No matter how she reran the assault scenarios in her head, she kept coming back to one thing.
The priest hadn’t told them everything about the layout of the estate. He’d left out critical information that he should have known if he’d investigated the arms dealer like he said. The helipad would have been more visible during daylight hours. He should have seen that. And if he left out the helipad, what else had he lied about? Sayed had seemed ready for their raid. The terrorist had Kate out of her cell, and he appeared to be waiting for them with a planned exit. Had the so-called priest tipped him off? The more she thought about it, the more she filled with rage.
Right now, she had to wait for Garrett to trace the tracking beacon and locate Kinkaid. If she found him fast enough—while he was still alive—she had no doubt Sayed would be there, too.
Plotting revenge while holding a sleeping nun would have played on the conscience of most people, but Alexa
