Page 92

Samantha holds her ground. “If that were true, you wouldn’t need people like me.”

A flickering of a cold smile appears on his face before he lunges at her. Samantha yelps, and the camera blurs again.

With no way of being able to see what is happening, I leap to my feet, pull my gun out, and make for the door. “This ends now. I never should have let this happen.”

Caleb grabs my arm, pushing me back. “You do that, you’ll all be dead before you reach the front door.”

I try to shake him off. “You shouldn’t have let her go.”

“Why? Because it doesn’t suit your agenda and your plan?”

“Because she’s going to get my sister killed.”

“You have totrust.God has been preparing her for this moment.”

“You’re serious? After all this, it comes down to a con artist?”

Caleb releases me, but his gaze holds me fast. “No. It all comes down to God’sprovidence.”

I shake my head. “Not for this. Not with Brooke’s life at stake.”

Adena steps in, putting herself between me and Caleb. “You’ve lost perspective. Samantha isn’t going to do or say anything to risk her life—or Brooke’s.”

As if backing her up, Jake chimes in, his phone in his hand. “Delilah’s going through the information Samantha gave you. It looks like she really does have something she can give them. Something she can bargain with.”

In frustration, I start to pace, my gun still in my hand. “Buthow?”

“Pipe down,” Caleb says.

My eyes snap to him, and I hastily apologize and slide my weapon back into my holster before settling down on the chair again. In the seconds I tore my eyes off the screen, Samantha has moved. The angle is different, lower, and we get a good view of two heavily armed men in the room with her.

Adena speaks softly. “Caleb, are those XM7s?”

Caleb growls. “Yeah. American made. They were only rolled out last year. Think I just vomited in my mouth.”

I groan. “Someone is supplying them with weapons our troops probably haven’t even tried out yet?”

Jake says, “Delilah said she’s looked at some of the info on the memory card. She thinks there’s stuff about a weapons manufacturer. She needs more time to look at another encrypted file.” His statement only adds to the gloom descending on the room.

Caleb glances at him before returning to the screen. “Has to be connected. Too big of a coincidence. They hire her then go to extreme lengths to locate her again.”

A thought penetrates past everything else that’s going on. Past the worry and doubt, past the scattered thoughts and fear, and crash lands heavily. She said as much, but I didn’t want to believe her.

“You think Samantha gained access to top-level security information?” I say.

All eyes slide to me, and from the grim expressions, I know I have my answer.

On screen, Samantha clears her throat. “I want out of the country. Get me to Cuba, and I’ll give you everything you need to gain entry to the US embassy there.”

Nobody moves. The only sound in the room comes from the Arab who assaulted Samantha.

My eyes move to the screen, and I hold my breath as the translation appears.

“Put her with the other one. See if she’s carrying it. If she isn’t, find out where it is.”

One of the men with the automatic rifles nods and wrenches Samantha to her feet, causing her to curse at them both. An order is given, and we get a good view of the carpet then a boot aimed at her middle as Samantha’s viewpoint changes.

I close my eyes, praying feverishly, trying to calm the rage and frustration that’s boiled up from knowing she’s being assaulted and I’m sitting here watching it play out.