He rolled his eyes and began getting dressed. She watched him for a moment and her brows knit together. “Hey. I basically just said you could do whatever you wanted. Again. And you’re getting dressed?”
He sat on the chair and slipped his shoes on. “Like I said, you already wore me out.” He glanced up at her and a smile crossed his features. “I could leave you here, naked and cuffed. Maybe pay the hotel for a full week’s stay. Put the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Her voice dripped with venom.
He glanced at his watch then back to her. “Let me guess. You have somebody coming to either clean up the mess or there’s a hit squad coming to make sure you got the job done?”
She shook her head and lowered her eyes to the floor. “No. Nobody knew I was here.”
It was his turn to give her the duh look. “Sure. And we just happened to meet in the lobby of your building.” He finished dressing then turned to her. “They tracked my activity online, probably hacked the security cameras, sent you to intercept and…” he turned on her suddenly. “Did they tell you to fuck me to keep me close by?”
She gave him a shocked stare but his glare quickly caused her to wither. “Yes.”
He shook his head. “I’ll say this. They trained you well.” He walked by and patted her on the head. “Good girl.”
She jerked away from his touch and he reached for the door. He grabbed the ‘do not disturb’ sign then pulled the door open. He turned to look at her for just a moment and she waited for him to say something. He simply stepped through and she heard the door click behind him.
She lowered her head and muttered a quiet epithet as he hung the sign on the door.
Karachi, Pakistan
“THAT WAS ROGER.” Bobby waved the group toward him. “Apparently they tracked his actions on the computer and sent a double agent to try to kill him.”
“A double agent?” Jay asked.
“Some chick with the FBI, apparently really worked for the company. They planted her and…that part doesn’t matter. The point is, they know what he sent us and they sent someone after him.”
“Great.” Deric tossed the bag behind his desk and fell into his chair. “Tell me he’s okay.”
“Yeah, he got away, but now he’s pretty sure they’re after him and they won’t give up.”
Jay stepped out of the break room, coffee in hand. “So they know we have their intel.”
“I’m not so sure.” Bobby reached over and pulled Jay’s coffee cup from his hand. “The chick thought that he was selling the data.”
Jay stared as Bobby sipped from his favorite mug. He turned and walked back into the breakroom. He yelled from the other room, “If they think he’s selling it, then they might not realize that we have it.” He reappeared and held the coffee away from Bridger. “We might still have a small window.”
Gregg tapped away at his computer then nodded. “I’m not able to find anything.” His shoulders slumped and he quickly added, “Except they know that we took Bobby out of the country.” He spun his screen around and the grainy black and white security images flashed.
Jim sighed. “It won’t take them long to figure out we’re not in Montreal. How much time do you think we have?”
Deric shrugged. “Hours. Days. Who knows?”
Jay held a hand up. “First things first. Deric, get with Marcus and Ryan. Find out what the story is with al-Abadi. If he left, I want to know where.” He turned to Gregg, “You keep looking through whatever back doors you have and let us know the moment they update anything.” He spun his chair around and nodded to Jim and Steve. “You two go through our armory and make sure everything is copasetic. I want everything locked and loaded and ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
“What do I do?” Bobby asked.
“For now, keep your head down and let us use our assets to figure out our next move.”
“I hate to ask, but could Jeff maybe find out something?” Bridger didn’t like the idea of putting crosshairs on his ex partner, but he felt like time was slipping away.
Jay shook his head. “Luckily, he’s not connected with these assholes. Whoever is behind this is covering their tracks. My guess would be that it’s a small group on a need-to-know basis.” He took a hard pull from his coffee and stared off. “But Jeff has local connections. We might need them.”
Bridger sat down hard and clenched his jaw. “Why does this shit always have to happen to me?”
Jim paused in the doorway to the armory and gave Bobby a nod. “My grandmother always used to say that the good Lord only piles on us what He knows we can handle.”
Bobby glanced to the man and shook his head. “What if we don’t want to handle it?”
“Gram never said.” He shrugged and stepped into the steel reinforced room that held their weaponry.
Karachi, Pakistan
MUHAMMED AL-ABADI strode purposefully through the hallways of the posh residence. He approached a man behind a desk seated just beside a long corridor. “Is she in?”
The man looked up from his ledger and nodded. “I shall see if she has time to speak with you.” He reached for the phone and held it to his ear. “Muhammed is here.” He waited a moment then waved the man through. As al-Abadi passed the table the man holstered the weapon he had drawn and held under the table.
Walking down the long corridor, al-Abadi continually contemplated how a woman could have stepped into her husband’s shoes in the Islamic Republic. Even in the areas not controlled by the extremists, it was becoming less popular to allow women roles of power. The Sunnis were more tolerant, but the very idea that a
