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Chapter Seventeen

I wipedmy forehead for the tenth time in less than an hour as I scanned the cliffs near the compound where Ameera was held. The informant we had inside the stronghold had confirmed Ameera’s presence about an hour earlier, and he knew that there was a plan to move her. This made it even more urgent to get her out.

My decoy had been spotted on the road to Karachi and would arrive in time for the scheduled meeting.

I climbed down from the roof of the military surveillance truck I was using to command the mission and entered the cab. This technically wasn’t a truck, it was what I would call the result of a wild threesome between a hummer, a van, and a tank. It was armored in a way to keep the cab safe from gunfire with a painted exterior that camouflaged into the dusty, desert-like, mountainous landscape of the area. The interior had two compartments, one for the driver and a separate space that housed ammo, surveillance monitors, and two small chairs.

I slid into a seat that gave me a view of the screens monitoring each of our team members and the windows outside the vehicle.

“Commander, here you go.”

I took my canteen from Kade, the operations lead. Kade was a thirty-something former marine who preferred the life of Solon agent to a life behind the desk of his family’s Fortune 500 company. His sandy-blond hair was cut military short, and his physique was that of a man who spent hours in the gym, all ripped muscles and bulk.

I liked to think of him as the Hulk without the green coloring.

Lifting the bottle to my lips, I gulped down a large quantity of water, hoping the cool liquid would settle my stomach. I’d felt this uneasiness from the moment we’d gotten into the desert trucks, and it had gotten more intense over the last half hour.

“Do you get the feeling this isn’t going to go according to plan?”

“Yes, ma’am. Something seems off. I’ve informed the lookout to keep a vigilant eye for anything unusual. I have two posted outside the truck and there are four positioned at various points within a half-mile perimeter.”

I was glad I wasn’t the only one restless. But that only added to my worry. If this went wrong, I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain it to Ashur or even Tyler. I almost cringed thinking about how pissed Tyler was going to be once he learned I’d deliberately kept him in the dark about my plans.

Yep, I sucked at letting go of the reins.

“Contact the on-ground team lead. See what’s going on.”

He nodded, pulling out a satellite phone.

As he talked, I noticed on the screen vehicles a few miles away coming in our direction from one of the roads leading out of the cliffs.

Oh fuck. No one was supposed to be on this road. All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

“Kade. We’ve got unidentified vehicles approaching.”

He pulled the phone from his ear. “We’ve got another problem.”

“What?”

“The team just penetrated the compound and Ameera isn’t there.”

“What?” My gaze went to the fleet coming down the dirt road along the cliffs. “Fuck, that has to be her in the Hummer. I need a closer look.”

I shifted to a computer connected to a positioning satellite and began keying codes that would give me detailed images of the area.

As the visuals came through, it was clear the group coming toward us was protecting a Hummer in the center of their convoy of large supply trucks.

There was no doubt Ameera was being moved.

Immediately, I sent warnings to the team and Kartik. He’d have copters in the air within minutes. He may no longer be an active part of the organization, but it wouldn’t stop him from joining in when a mission was in his backyard.

Once I received the green light that we would have support within a few minutes, I released the breath I hadn’t known I was holding.

“Commander, we have to get you out of here.”

“What? Hell no. Ameera’s in there. If the team doesn’t get here, we have to stop them.”

“There are only six of us here. There’s no way to handle the situation.”