Page 52 of Enemy of My Enemy

Adam licked his lips. Yes, there would be fear there.

Coleman frowned. “And why would you know about this breakout? It just was reported to their government. You might have read the email before they did.”

Faisal smiled. “I prefer to keep the mystery strong. They will know that I know, and that’s that.”

Coleman’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t argue. He turned to Adam. “You’re going with him?”

Of course it would be him. He was the most fluent in Arabic and he had the better grasp on the culture. Pun not intended. “Yeah,” Adam said with a sigh. “You all will have to chill here while I do the dirty work.” He tried to turn it into a joke, with a lame little smile at the end.

A few of his guys laughed. Faisal’s palace had three pools, a basketball court, a gym better than the one on their base, and a media room that was practically a theater. They’d be fine.

At the rear of the office, Doc’s eyes lingered on Adam. He felt Doc’s stare on the back of his neck, but he refused to answer the questions buried in his gaze.

* * *

The flightto Port Sudan took only two hours, but being locked in Faisal’s executive jet, alone with him, was torturous. Faisal made himself busy, reading through something on his tablet, and he ignored Adam, save for his endless politeness.

Adam tried to focus on typing up everything that had happened for Reichenbach, from landing in Egypt to flying in Faisal’s jet to Port Sudan. He hadn’t heard from him in a day, but with the news blaring about America’s leaked intel cables and the deaths of three clandestine operatives, Adam let that go. Reichenbach was most likely busy with the president, trying to keep a lid on that situation.

Though, the timing of the release was intriguing. The same day he and his men had been fingered in Darfur, set up by Madigan to hopefully be killed and exposed to the world as American spies and assassins. It had to be connected.

Faisal had brought his own vehicle and driver to Port Sudan, and Adam waited with him on the tarmac as the bulletproof Land Rover was unloaded. He plucked at his suit and tried to forget the heated, questioning stares Doc had sent his way when he and Faisal had left. Why did Faisal have a designer suit in Adam’s size in his closet?

He actually had five. They’d been gifts, once.

Adam had thought Faisal would have gotten rid of all his things by now, but when he hesitantly followed him into his closet, there his clothes were, still hanging on his side, like he’d never left.

He’d dressed quickly and grunted when his team tried to talk to him on the way out the door. There and back, and then he could ditch the suit and the memories and work on their next plan of attack.

When the Land Rover was ready, they piled inside and set off, heading for the prison in the desolate reaches of the northern desert. They didn’t call ahead, and when their vehicle pulled up, the Sudanese military securing the site scrambled, producing a general and the head of Sudanese intelligence before Adam had rebuttoned his suit jacket.

Faisal stood tall and demanded access to the prison. He talked quietly but managed to convey so much disappointment, as if the full weight of the Saudi royal family were glaring down at Sudan. Once, he’d confessed to Adam that his confidence had wavered after being sent back to Riyadh. He thought he’d been set up to fail.

Seeing him in action again made Adam’s heart clench, and he fought back the swelling pride and sorrow that threatened to consume him. Faisal had helped save the world six months ago. He’d been the very first to uncover the connection between the Caliphate and General Madigan. The world owed him everything.

He was a better man than Adam was. Better than Adam ever could be.

In minutes, Faisal and Adam were led around the prison’s ruins by the general himself while another soldier went to find the prison manifest. Just who had been in there when Madigan had hit it?

Adam backed Faisal up with fierce glares from behind his shades and beneath his keffiyeh, acting like the intimidating bruiser he was supposed to play. Faisal played his part excellently, distracting the general enough that Adam had free rein to investigate the ruins and take pictures. He found the bloody M on one of the half-collapsed, barely standing walls, and a dead and burned prison guard slumped beneath had a slit neck. He took two pictures and then pushed the destroyed wall the rest of the way down, obliterating Madigan’s sign.

After that, they left quickly, speeding back to Port Sudan and their jet before someone from Khartoum could ask questions. Adam didn’t relax until they were in the air, soaring over the Red Sea, and on the way home.

On the way back to Faisal’s home. Not his. Not anymore.

Adam lay back on the plane’s couch and tried to block everything out. He closed his eyes, feigning sleep when he felt Faisal’s eyes on him.

When Faisal laid a blanket across him halfway through the flight, he nearly lost it all. Instead, he clutched the fleece as if he could hold on to Faisal and counted the minutes until they landed.

* * *

Chapter 19

Moscow

The Kremlin

“It’s time.”