Black held out the credentials Blunt had secured for the team while interacting with the CIA.
“Come on in,” the man said. “We’ve been expecting you.”
After a brief respite, Stone’s tirade continued the moment the agent strode back into the living room.
“Just calm down, Frank,” the agent said. “We have someone here who wants to speak to you.”
“I don’t want to talk to another shrink, damn it,” Stone said. “I want to go home.”
Stone grabbed a lamp off one of the end tables and ripped the shade off. He hurled the porcelain piece against the wall, shattering the bulb and the lamp.
Black held his hands out in a calming gesture. “It’s all right, Frank. I’m not a shrink. I just want to talk.”
“I’m done talking. I want to go home.”
“Hold on a second,” Black said. “I’ve got something for you.”
Black hustled out to his car and dug a six-pack out of a cooler in the back of his trunk. When he returned, he was met with a scowl from the agent at the door.
“He’s suffering from PTSD,” the agent said in a hushed tone. “No alcohol allowed.”
“Come on, man,” Black said. “The man needs to loosen up a little bit. Let the guy have a beer. I’ll leave one for you too.”
The agent sighed. “Fine, but not in the house. I’m not being held responsible for this.”
Black nodded before calling inside. “Meet me on the porch, Frank.”
He settled into a rocking chair and removed two bottles. Digging out a bottle opener from his pocket, he cracked the tops off. The screen door creaked before bouncing shut as Stone wandered onto the porch.
“Well, it’s not freedom, but a beer is pretty high up on my list of requests that I haven’t been getting from these goons.”
Black laughed and held out one of the drinks. “Have one and sit a spell.”
Wrapping his hand around the beer, Stone eyed Black cautiously. “Why are you here? And what do you want?”
“I want the same thing as you—freedom. And if we don’t put a stop to those thugs running around the Middle East foisting their radical ideals on a third of the world’s population, we may soon be in the battle for our lives. Everybody loses then, chiefly our way of life.”
Stone laughed before taking a swig of his drink. “I’ve been around those people quite a bit lately, and I wouldn’t exactly say we’re at DEFCON 5 yet. There isn’t enough of them, and they aren’t sophisticated enough to create any momentum. They can cause chaos and get everyone running scared, but they can’t sustain a movement.”
“Not yet anyway, which is exactly what we’re trying to prevent.”
Stone shrugged. “There are bigger fish to fry.”
“Yet you gave up your life to infiltrate these people.”
“Just because I don’t see them as a threat to take over the world doesn’t mean I don’t think they need to be stopped. They’re still out there killing innocent people—and to what end?”
Black scanned the woods surrounding the house. The sun streamed through the trees, while birds flitted back and forth from limb to limb and in the nearby brush. Cutting his eyes over at Stone, Black wondered how far he could push the former Al Fatihin prisoner.
“What was Evana Bahar like?” Black asked. “Did you ever have any dealings with her?”
“Yeah, she interrogated me several times. Once she hooked me up to some electrical system and shocked me every time I didn’t give her the answer she was looking for.”
“So how did you get her to stop?”
“I got better at lying.”
Black drained his beer and then placed it on the table next to his chair. “Tell me again how you learned about Evana Bahar’s trip to Istanbul.”
Stone pursed his lips and looked out in the distance. “How many times do I have to tell everyone this? It’s not that complicated to understand. I was locked in a room that had a vent in it, and the mine had an extensive ventilation system as you might imagine. I could hear everything they were saying during their meetings.”
“And you didn’t hear any other useful information other than her proposed trip to Istanbul?”
Stone nodded. “That’s right. They didn’t meet at this hideout very often.”
“According to our satellite surveillance, she was holed up there for more than three straight months.”
“Oh, she never stayed there that long. She was always coming and going.”
Black furrowed his brow. “How could you know that since you were detained during that time?”
“I just knew, okay? I had infiltrated Al Fatihin long enough that I figured out how they operated under her command. She would never remain in one spot for very long.”
“Then how can you refute what our intelligence officers found?”
Stone shrugged. “There’s more than one way to sneak out of a facility.”
“I don’t know if I believe you,” Black said. “All your wounds were superficial, unlike anything we’ve observed on previous Al Fatihin prisoners. And your intel seemed like some spoon-fed information just to distract us from what Evana Bahar is really up to.”
Stone narrowed his eyes. “What are you trying to say?”
“I think you’re carrying out an assignment for Evana.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Stone said. “If you knew anything about me, you’d know I would never betray my country.”
Black dug into his back pocket and produced a folded up piece of paper. “Then explain this to me.”
Stone snatched the document from Black. “What is this?”
“An offshore bank account in your name that received deposits while you were allegedly a captive.”
“Where’d you get this?” Stone demanded. “This doesn’t belong to me. Someone is feeding you lies.”
Black stood, looming over Stone. “I beg to differ. The only one dealing in lies is you.”
Stone leaped to his feet and shoved Black, who stumbled back against the balcony. He set his feet and sprang into a defensive position. Escalating the confrontation, Stone delivered a flurry of punches, most of which Black fended off.
The noise from the fracas attracted the attention of the two CIA agents inside. They
