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“What if your intelligence is wrong?”
Shoshana smiled. “I don’t need to sleep with this one. I felt it as soon as he appeared on the balcony. I know.” She became agitated, saying, “He kills without any remorse, and he’s going to kill again. Right now. We can stop it. The Jordanians won’t have this place under control before they’re gone.”
Je
Shoshana’s eyes were boring into her, and she thought, Jesus. She’s reading me right now.
Shoshana scrambled to the front of the van and began surveying the street, saying, “We’ve wasted five minutes beating each other up. Maybe he’s still here.”
Je
“He’s still there! He’s meeting with someone. He’s talking to another man.”
Je
Shoshana said, “Let’s find the bed-down. Just locate them. Then we can decide, but sitting here is letting them get away.”
Je
“Loaded up now. We’re about four minutes out.”
Je
Je
She felt Shoshana’s hand on her arm. She turned, and saw pain etched in Shoshana’s face. A physical thing, making her wonder what had happened in the past.
“Please. Don’t let him get away. Please.”
She realized that Shoshana was waiting on her decision. Because I voluntarily released her. She promised she wouldn’t fight. And she could. She could leave right now.
Teetering on the brink, Shoshana’s words pushed Je
Je
Like a time-lapse video, Je
Alarmed, wondering if she’d made a mistake, Je
The dark angel stepped out, her earlier promise met. She said, “That’ll all depend on him.”
38
We were closing in on the location of the van when I saw it start to move again. Or at least, I saw the ping on Je
“Koko, what’s your status?”
I got nothing.
“Koko, Koko, status? Acknowledge.”
I heard the dumbest damn thing imaginable. “Pike, the target has linked up with someone and has started to move. We couldn’t maintain eyes on from the van. We’re on foot, and tracking.”
What. The. Fuck.
Aaron was driving our van, with the team in the back. I knew I couldn’t go all ballistic in front of him, but I sure as shit wanted to. I went the team-leader measured-response route.
“Koko, stand down. I say again, stand down. Showboat says the Jords will be rolling in fifteen. We’ve done our work.”
“Pike, these guys are going to attack before that time. They’re going to evade the net. Let us find the bed-down. Get a physical grid location so the Jordanians don’t have to search the neighborhood.”
I forgot about the cool, calm team-leader route. “Damn it, listen to me! Stand the fuck down! Now! If Shoshana wants to wreck things, then get the fuck out of the blast radius. You read me?”
She didn’t respond. I looked at Aaron and said, “This is your damn fault! It’s just like Brazil all over again. Shoshana’s some kind of witch doctor. Je
Aaron turned into an alley, and I saw the van. Empty. He said, “Pike, trust me, I feel your pain. I’ve had to live with it since she was assigned to me. Shoshana’s a handful, but if she’s working the problem, there’s a reason.”
“Yeah. She wants to cut al-Britani’s head off. And she’s going to put Je
Aaron put the van in park and said, “You are wrong. Shoshana is special in more ways than one. She wouldn’t do this if she didn’t think it necessary.”
I slapped the dash and said, “Bullshit. She’d sell her mother if it meant a kill.”
“No. No, she wouldn’t. You don’t see it, but Je
* * *
Head covered in a hijab and sunglasses on her face, Je
She said, “Shoshana, I don’t look Arab.”
Shoshana took her hand and handed her a melon, as if they were shopping. She said, “I’m your guide. Westerners come here all the time. Your hijab shows respect. You think everyone is staring, but they’re not. You blend in just fine.”
They continued their little shopping tour, about fifty meters back from the target. As she watched him walking with his friend, she could see him talking at a frenetic pace. He was wired and on edge, waving his arms around and slapping the friend on the back. But not ru
They stopped at each stand for a moment, but didn’t do any real shopping, making Je
Why?
Al-Britani talked to a merchant, and suddenly Je
And she realized it wasn’t a suicide attack.
He thinks he’s going to get away. And the time he’s wasting will be his undoing.
She looked at her watch and saw they had less than seven minutes before the deadline Pike had given. The Jordanians would be here soon. And he’d be caught.
But there was no Jordanian security on the street. No activity at all.
Where are they?
Pike’s call from earlier had said they’d be here, locking down the block. In between his shouting, he’d led her to believe it would be some sort of Katrina hurricane response, the area flooded with police. But that wasn’t happening.
She wondered if he knew more than her. Wondered if ignoring him was the right course of action, for reasons greater than the tongue-lashing she knew she’d get. She could handle Pike. He was full of bluster, but he understood operational success, and had done the same thing she was doing on multiple occasions. She was convinced she was right, and she was sure Pike would agree—after the operation. The only thing she was unsure of was Shoshana.