جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 320

RYAN WATCHED THE VIDEO feed of Carson's slow drive toward the waterfront meeting.It was too quiet. Too perfect of a spot.He didn't like this.Something wasn't right.He hit the unmute button on his headset."You're looking good on camera. We've got men around the spot so you're covered. You aren't alone out there." He hit mute again and glanced at Owen. "How many do you have out there?""Do you see them? Are they there?" Carson's voice wavered with fear.He unmuted himself to reply. "Nothing yet, but that doesn't mean anything." Ryan quickly put himself back on mute as Carson's car reached the gravel lot at the end of the road."There's four guys on the roof watching," Owen said."Four? On the roof? That's it?" Ryan's blood went cold."We can't risk spooking them," Walker interjected."What do I do?" Carson asked, her voice pumped through the speakers for the whole room."Sit and wait. Everything is fine," Ryan said to her, then muted the line again.They all watched the

CARSON WAS GOING TO die.She'd made the wrong choice and now she'd pay the price.Ryan had no way to find her. She'd gone off on her own because she thought, once again, that she knew best. And she didn't. From the very beginning she'd dug her grave with no help from anyone and now she'd have to lie in it.Her nose throbbed and her knee ached to the point she couldn't totally feel her foot. Her arms were rubbery after that climb. She held her hands out as the man behind her shoved her forward, through the metal halls of her prison. She could smell salt on the air and the tang of metal.Survive the next minute that was her goal.The man spat words she didn't understand then let go of her.She took a step back and ran into the wall.Did she dare run?She had no idea where she was or which way would take her out of here. A single light lit the hall. It wasn't much to see with.He kept his gun on her to the point she could feel the phantom touch of the muzzle. He tossed something

KAWA WATCHED THE CLOCK tick toward the morning hours.He could hear the others talking softly. They didn't want him to know they were awake.What were they talking about? Were they taking a vote?Kawa knew he'd lost the team's confidence, and he couldn't blame them. At every turn something had gone wrong.Were they doomed from the beginning? Was this some cosmic sign their bid for independence was doomed to fail?All he wanted was a safe place for his people, what little family he had left. That wasn't too much to ask. It was what other countries had, so why not them?The satellite phone buzzed. He'd turned the ringer off because he knew he wouldn't sleep until this call happened.He got up and swung the door shut before answering."Hello?" he said."Kawa, this is not good news.""President Farage, I am sorry." He bowed his head even though the other man could not see him."I sent you there to fix a problem, not to create more." Farage's tone was no longer that of the firm,

JOE'S FLIGHT WAS SCHEDULED to leave tonight. He'd flown here to find Kawa and figure out what the hell was going on with rescuing Jules. If he'd have known what a delay would mean to bringing her home, he wouldn't have hesitated. This was the closest anyone had been to her in years.He stared out the front window of the coffee shop and wondered where had it all gone wrong?From the beginning he and his sister had been raised to put others first. He'd gone into politics while she needed to be closer to the action. She'd started out as a journalist then moved into documenting history as it happened. He still wasn't entirely sure why she'd gone to Syria in the first place, but that was where she'd disappeared.He'd called on every favor he was owed in those first few months trying to get her returned safely, but each time he was told their hands were tied. Syria was a land where they had no reach. They were at a stalemate with the Russians over that one plot of land and they couldn't e

CARSON'S HEAD ACHED, AND it felt like there was sandpaper inside her knee. But she was free. Which was more than she could say for her family.The fall from the window to the deck below hadn't killed her. She'd managed to land feet first, which in hindsight maybe wasn't such a great thing. Something was wrong with her knee, but she couldn't allow that to slow her down. There was a goose egg on the back of her head from where she'd connected with the railing, but her vision wasn't blurry. She could move, she could hide and maybe she could get off this boat.She pressed her back against the metal wall. The deck she'd fallen to was an open level below the uppermost deck where the cargo was stacked. Even down here she could see where pallets, crates and containers would be stored. Except the boat had been unloaded, which made hiding harder.A masculine sing-song voice drifted toward her in a language she didn't understand. Another man answered him. It wasn't the same language that Kawa'