Burn Every Bridge, page 26
"I think you're right. And I think Dominic talked to him last night, right after he spoke to you. That's when he really started drinking. He also told me he wasn't going to the summit, but no one could know that until the last minute. And he wanted me to pack my bags, get his plane ready, make sure we could leave at any moment."
"Dominic thinks Qadir is going to blow up the summit."
"I'm not sure he knows what this person is going to do." She licked her lips. "I talked to him an hour ago, and I wasn't sure what he remembered telling me. He said he was exhausted and drunk, so whatever he'd said was just part of some fever dream. I told him what he'd said about having the plane ready, cancelling out of the summit at the last second, and he said that was ridiculous; he wasn't going anywhere. Now, I'm totally confused. He asked me to forget whatever I thought I'd heard and reassured me that everything was fine, and that we would all be safe. I don't know if that's because something changed since last night, or if he was just drunk and hallucinating, or if he's lying to me."
There was a lot of self-interest in her story. The person she was most concerned with protecting was herself. And she probably should be worried. If anyone caught wind of what Dominic had let slip, her life would be over.
"What do I do, Max?" she asked, looking nowhere near the self-assured person he'd always thought her to be.
"Just act normally for now. If Dominic asks, reassure him you didn't really understand what he was saying, but he knows you're always there for him. Make him feel that you're still loyal to him. And do not mention that you spoke to me."
"What are you going to do?"
He thought about that. She'd dropped some breadcrumbs they could follow. "Find out who Dominic was talking to last night, for one," he said. "Did he mention anyone by name?"
She shook her head. "I just heard Qadir, but nothing else."
"What about a location? Qadir is in New York City, and he needs money and a place to stay. If Dominic helped him with those issues, how could we figure that out? Dominic would have had to use an intermediary. Who would that be? His security team? Someone else he trusts?" He watched her face. Caroline knew Dominic probably as well as anyone did. "His chief of staff, Nina Willey. She's been with him for eight years. She's practically a second mother to him, but not a nurturing one. She's cold and ruthless, and a lot of people think Dominic has fired them based on her opinion."
He'd met Nina a few times, and she'd always given him an assessing stare as if she wasn't too impressed or too certain that he should be working for Dominic. In fact, she'd offered him little help even when he'd asked for more details on Dominic's trip. Maybe that's because she'd always known he was just a pawn." That realization stung. But he didn't have time to get emotional about anything. Because that plan had clearly changed. Once Caleb's operation had begun, and the money had started flowing from Hartford to Caleb, Qadir had seen an opportunity to create a different plan, one that would be funded by a couple of billionaires whose ambition or revenge plans had made them so easy to use.
"I should go. I'm supposed to meet Dominic at eleven thirty."
"In the office or at his house?"
"His house. He's working remotely today."
"You need to stay in touch with me," he said. "Report exactly what Dominic is saying and doing. You work for me now."
She bristled at that. "I don't work for you."
"If a bomb goes off in this city and kills people, and Dominic is part of it and you don't help us, I will make sure you go down with him."
"I came to you for help, not for threats."
"I am helping you. I just want you to know what's at stake."
"I already know. I'm not stupid, Max. Well, not about this anyway. I must admit that I never thought Dominic would make a deal with a terrorist that involved turning over a friend of his."
"Did you specifically ask him about that?"
"I hedged around about it. He laughed and said I must have been drunk, too, because that didn't make any sense at all." She got to her feet. "I'll text you later with an update, but you need to find this Qadir person fast."
As Caroline left, he took out his phone and called Kara. Her phone went to voicemail. She'd probably turned it off for the meeting. He glanced at his watch. It was ten forty-five. He got to his feet, debating his next options. And then his phone rang.
"Hello?" he asked, not recognizing the number.
"It's Tyler."
His stomach twisted into a knot. He knew immediately that Tyler wouldn't call him unless he had a very good reason. "What's up?"
"Is Kara with you?" Tyler asked.
"No. She went to a meeting almost an hour ago."
"She never showed up," Tyler said. "Dammit! I knew something was wrong. I just thought she was running late and still had her phone off from last night. When did you last see her?"
"She dropped me off about a block away from Bryant Park at nine-forty. She's in one of the team SUVs. You should be able to track it."
"On it now. Hang on."
His hand tightened as he could hear Tyler talking to someone in the background. There was no way Kara wouldn't show up for a meeting of the joint task force. So where was she?
Tyler came back on the phone. "Her car is at the corner of Ninth and Jackson."
He started running even before Tyler finished speaking. That was only three blocks away. "I'm going there now."
"Keep your phone on. Wes and I are pulling up security cameras from the area."
His heart was in his throat when he turned the corner and saw a black SUV on the side of the road with a smashed rear fender and an open door.
"Found the car," he yelled as he ran across the street, dodging traffic and horns. When he got to the vehicle, it was empty, but Kara's bag was on the seat. "She's not here." His gaze scanned the surrounding area. "But someone smashed into her car." The truth hit him hard. "Someone grabbed her." He suddenly felt sick. "Qadir," he breathed. "It had to be him. He's taken Kara."
"We've got the accident on camera," Tyler said. "A van pulled up next to her. We have a partial plate, but a bus blocks the camera. And when it's gone, the door is open, and there's no sign of her. We're going to look for different cameras, different angles."
"We have to find her," he said, filled with a raging fear that was almost overwhelming. "Before it's too late."
Max's anger was still raging when he got to Dominic's townhouse, but he tried to tamp down his emotions as he nodded to the security team in the lobby and then the guards outside Dominic's front door.
"Mr. Ashford's expecting you?" Brett Connors asked, his tone more courtesy than suspicion.
"He is," Max replied as the guard opened the door and let him in.
He could hear voices from the study. It sounded like Dominic and Caroline. He didn't bother to knock. He pushed open the heavy wooden door and stepped inside.
Dominic was standing behind his desk, dressed in dark slacks and a white dress shirt, but he looked like he'd aged ten years overnight.
Caroline stood across from Dominic. They both looked at him in startled surprise.
"Max, what are you doing here—"
Before Dominic could finish that sentence, he'd crossed the room in three long strides, grabbed Dominic's arms, and slammed him against the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf next to the desk. Books tumbled to the floor as Dominic's head hit the wooden shelving.
"What the—"
Dominic yelled in disbelief, stopping abruptly as Max put his gun against Dominic's throat in one smooth motion.
Caroline gasped. "Max, no."
"Where is she?" he said, his gaze boring into Dominic's. "Where is Kara?"
"How the hell would I know where your FBI agent friend is?" Dominic asked, instilling some bravado in his voice, but his eyes were filled with fear.
"Because Qadir is holding her. And he's your friend, right? Your new partner? The one you're selling me out to?"
"Max, stop," Caroline implored. "Let's talk about this calmly."
"You told him?" Dominic asked, his gaze shooting to Caroline, betrayal in his voice.
"I'm scared for you, Dominic," Caroline said. "I did it to save you."
"No, you didn't," he said coldly.
"Shut up," he told Dominic. "This isn't about her. This is about Kara. She's missing. Qadir has her. You tell me where she is and I'll let you live."
"You're not going to shoot me," Dominic said, but there was a trace of uncertainty in his voice. "Caroline, get the guard, for God's sake."
"Don't go,” he told Caroline. "You have one choice to get it right, and that choice is now."
"I'm sorry, Dominic," Caroline said.
"Tell me where Kara is," he ordered again.
"I don't know where she is. I don't know where Qadir is," Dominic said, pleading for him to understand. "None of this was supposed to happen, Max. This wasn't my plan. It was Hartford's. He's the one who started this."
"But Qadir came to you to finish it because he already had you in his pocket. You'd already sold your soul to him, and for what? To build a fucking bridge?" He shook his head in disgust, no longer seeing a strong, powerful, intelligent man in front of him but a weak, narcissistic coward.
"The people of Tajikistan need that bridge, that highway. I made a deal with him to protect important infrastructure and the people who would build it. I was never going to turn you over, Max, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I was going to use him until I didn't need him anymore." Dominic paused. "It's not like you weren't using me. You needed my money. You took that job so you could get back into Tajikistan, so you could keep hunting Qadir. So, don't act like I betrayed you."
"You're right. I took your job and your money, but I wasn't going to take your life." He shook his head. "I don't care about that anymore. Where is Qadir?"
"I told you I don't know. Do you think I'd be alive if I knew?"
Dominic made a good point. "What's Qadir's plan? Is he bombing the summit?"
"He won't be able to. I just told the organizers to cancel."
"Your new best friend won't like that."
"He's not my friend, and I'm not going to let hundreds of people die."
"Well, I don't think Qadir is going to leave empty-handed, so what's his backup plan?"
"How many times do I have to tell you I don't know?" Dominic asked wearily.
"You know something. There's no way he got into this country without some help."
Dominic stared back at him. "He demanded an extra cash payment three days ago. It was deposited in an offshore account."
There was something Dominic wasn't telling him. "And…"
"He contacted me when I was at the lodge yesterday. He told me he needed another payment, a cash drop in Manhattan. I sent one of my guys to take care of it."
"You knew he was here."
"I suspected, but I wasn't positive."
He didn't believe him for a second. Dominic had funded Qadir's trip to the US. "You have no idea what he's capable of. You think he's going to play by any rules you set up?"
"I've become aware of that," Dominic admitted. "And I would like nothing better than for you to catch him."
"Oh, I don't think you want me to catch him; you want me to kill him, so he can't turn you in."
"I told you, Max. I just thought I was buying protection in Tajikistan."
His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Seeing Tyler's name, he immediately answered. "Tyler, have you found her?"
"We tracked the van to an industrial area in Long Island City, near the waterfront. But there are a dozen warehouses in that area, and the van could have disappeared into any of them. I'm on my way there now, but if you can narrow anything down…"
Max looked at Dominic. "Long Island City? Does that mean anything to you? Do you own any warehouses in that area?"
"No, but Hartford had two buildings in that area."
That made perfect sense. Qadir had turned the tables on Hartford. They'd have access to his properties, his security codes.
"Check property records for David Hartford in Long Island City," he told Tyler. "I'm on my way." He ended the call. "I'm going to need your car." He'd taken a cab from the park to Dominic's building.
"My car?" Dominic echoed.
"Take mine," Caroline said, throwing him the keys. "It's the Audi out front. I hope you find Kara."
"I'll find her," he vowed, then turned back to Dominic. "If you find out where Qadir is and what he's planning to do, you sure as hell better send me a text. Because if he blows up this city, if he hurts Kara, Qadir is going to be the least of your worries."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kara blinked her eyes open, a metallic taste in her mouth, a sharp pain in her head. The room in front of her spun for a moment and then finally settled as her brain tried to define where she was and what had happened to her. She was sitting in a straight chair, and her hands were tied behind her back. There was a vest around her chest, a heavy black vest with blocks of what appeared to be C-4 plastic explosives wired to a digital timer that currently read 35:23…35:22…
Oh, God! The memories came flooding back starting with the rear-end collision. She'd pulled over to the side so she wouldn't block traffic. She'd gotten out of her car. Then a van had pulled up next to her. The side door had opened. A man had grabbed her and pulled her inside. It had happened so quickly. He'd had black hair and black eyes. Caleb! It had to have been him.
She'd tried to fight, but he'd jabbed a needle into her arm, and the world had faded away.
Now reality was back, and panic ran through her as she realized that someone had put a suicide vest on her, a bomb that was going to explode in…thirty-four minutes, fifteen seconds.
Her heart almost jumped out of her chest. She told herself to stay calm. It was possible that any wild movement could also set off the bomb.
She looked around, thinking she was in some sort of warehouse. There were pallets of boxes along one wall, and a table along another. The table was covered with wires and metals and other bomb-making materials. The light was dim and the only windows were at least twelve feet off the ground. She had to find a way out of this, but how? She was a human bomb. She couldn't fight anyone. She'd blow herself up.
A door suddenly opened, and three men came into the room. The man who'd grabbed her in the van was first, a similar-looking man right behind him, but not as tall, not as dark. But it was the third man that made her breath catch in her chest. She recognized him from the photos in Max's apartment and the one she'd seen on Max's phone when he'd learned that Ali Qadir was in New York City.
Caleb, and, who she could only guess was his brother, Malik, moved to the side as Qadir strode forward, clearly the boss. For a world-renowned terrorist, he wasn't that big or that scary looking. He was average height, with dark hair going gray at the temples, and tanned, weathered skin that suggested he spent a lot of time outside in harsh environments. He was dressed like an American businessman in dark slacks, a gray sweater, and a winter coat. But the intelligence and cruelty in his gaze did not match his sophisticated look.
"Ah, you're awake," he said with a slight accent. "Special Agent Kara Reid. You've become quite annoying to our plans."
"To blow up the city?" she challenged, lifting her chin as she gave him a defiant look. "The FBI is going to stop you."
"I don't think so," he said with an evil smile. "But I like your fire. It's…amusing how so many of you think you can beat me, and yet you never do."
"The day isn't over yet."
"No, and it will be a glorious day. You'll be a martyr, Agent Reid. You'll die for something, or at least that's what they'll say about you. Your name will be in the paper. The people in New York who aren't grieving the loss of their loved ones will read about you and say how brave you must have been. Or perhaps they'll believe I turned you, that you got into the suicide vest willingly, that you had turned your back on America, that you knew this country to be the biggest war criminal of all."
His voice and words had an educated cadence. "Where did you grow up?" she asked.
"You mean after my family was completely shattered by an American bomb at a family wedding? My sister was getting married that day. My parents were standing right next to her when the bomb dropped. I was unfortunately not with them."
"Sounds like you were fortunately not unfortunate."
"I would have preferred to die with them than live without them. But that wasn't my choice. I was left alive so that one day I could get justice. And some of that justice will come today."
"Killing innocent people isn't justice, and no one would ever believe I became a terrorist. I had the same experience as you. My father was killed on 9/11."
Unexpected surprise ran through his gaze, and she enjoyed being able to rattle him with information he didn't have. She needed to keep him talking, give someone a chance to find her. When she didn't show up at the task force meeting, surely her team would notice. And Max would try to find her at some point. They'd be able to trace the car she was driving. She just had to hang on for as long as she could. But a quick glance down at her vest showed the danger of that plan. The time was ticking away: Thirty minutes, twelve seconds.
Was that really all she had left of her life?
"Is this the plan?" she asked. "I die in this warehouse alone. What's the drama in that?"
"You're just the warm-up. The main act will be glorious and visible for miles. It will be much bigger than 9/11. No one will ever forget it. At least, those who are alive and still able to remember."
Her stomach flipped over. He could be talking about so many different sites. But it didn't sound like he was speaking about the conference, more like something iconic…the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, one of the bridges, maybe…
