Mantis (K19 Security Solutions Book 4)

by Heather Slade

  “It’s a long shot, but what about Ghafor?”

  “We’ve made contact. He sent word that he knows nothing about his whereabouts.”

  “He’s lying.”

  “We’re going in.”

  “Who is?”

  “Razor, Gunner, and me.”

  Alegria sat on the side of the bed, resting each of her feet flat on the floor. Yesterday, she’d been able to walk across the room twice. Tonight she’d have to go twice that far—once she convinced her parents to help her leave the hospital.

  “Papa, I need your help. Maman, too,” she said when he answered his phone.

  “We were just on our way to the hospital.”

  “I see. Can you come here afterward?”

  “I meant we were on our way to see you.”

  “Perfect,” she said and hung up.

  “I need to mobilize,” she told her dad when they were settled in her room. “It’s something I have to do, and while you may not understand why, I’m asking for your help anyway.”

  She looked over at her mother. “You said that you wanted to focus on our relationship. What I’m asking both of you is to support me in this, unconditionally.”

  “What is it you’re proposing?” her father asked.

  “First, I have to leave the hospital. This morning, Dr. Gertman told me it would be at least two or three more days before he’d be willing to release me. I need to leave tonight.”

  Her father nodded.

  “Next, I need to get to Afghanistan.”

  “Taller order,” her father answered, rubbing his chin. “I’ll need to make arrangements for the aircraft.”

  “I meant to fly commercial, Papa.”

  He scowled and shook his head.

  “I don’t have flight clearance.”

  When he waved his hand in dismissal, Alegria looked at her mother, who merely nodded.

  “What else?” he asked.

  “I haven’t figured that out yet.”

  “What is your intention?”

  “To get Mantis and Dutch out of Afghanistan.”

  “She is certainly your daughter, Pierre.”

  Her father murmured something and nodded. “It’ll take money.”

  She’d thought about that angle, but even if she used every penny she had and mortgaged her Manhattan apartment, it wouldn’t be enough. “It’ll take too much money.”

  “Give me twenty-four hours.”

  Alegria raised her eyebrows when her father walked out of the room. “What just happened?”

  “He’s taking care of it.”

  “Just like that?”

  “That’s what your father does.”

  “I’m talking a lot of money, Maman.”

  “He understood what you meant, and it isn’t a problem. Your father is very, very wealthy,” said her mother.

  Did most adult children know their parents’ net worth? “Why do you say he’s very wealthy? Aren’t you?”

  She smiled. “I suppose I am, Manon. However, I am also French.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Saying so would be…crass.”

  “Brace yourself, Maman, I’m going to be crass. When you say very, very…what are we talking?”

  “Your father is a billionaire, ma fille.” Her mother gave her an impatient look.

  “Sorry, am I being too American for you?”

  “Oui.”

  When her parents came back the next morning, her mother brought a change of clothes, and her father brought a plan of action.

  While Alegria changed into the clothes Matille had been wearing, her father explained that they would walk to the elevator together while her mother sneaked down the back stairwell.

  “Where are we going now?” Manon asked when her father pulled out of the parking structure.

  “Logan.”

  “Thank you, Papa.”

  “I have filed the flight plan. It’s a long trip, Manon. Given you are not cleared to fly, we’ll have to break it into two days.”

  She’d been lost in thought, praying that soon she, Mantis, and Dutch would be back in the States and this all would be just another successful mission. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  “I know that you’re anxious to get to Afghanistan, Manon, but I will not risk fatigue.”

  “I expected to fly commercial.”

  Her father laughed.

  “I’m serious. You have to stay with Maman.”

  When she looked between her two parents, their expressions were ones she was very familiar with. The conversation was over, and whatever either of them had said, was the way it was going to be.

  Two days later, walking two paces behind her dad and dressed in traditional Afghani attire, she listened as he negotiated a deal with Abdul Ghafor. In exchange for ten million dollars, wired to an offshore account, Ghafor was happy to give Monsieur Mondreau the exact whereabouts of Mantis Cassman along with the details of the arrangement that had been made for the hostage exchange.

  The deal her father had made was for the money to become available as soon as he received word that Mantis and Dutch were both on their way back to the United States. Any deviation would result in the money being immediately withdrawn.

  Now it was up to Alegria to give Doc a heads up about the plan she and her father had put in place.

  “Where in the hell are you?” Doc bellowed when he answered her call.

  “Islamabad.”

  “You wanna tell me what the fuck you think you’re doing?”

  “The hostage exchange is due to take place at zero six hundred tomorrow, and I’m requesting backup.”

  She heard what sounded like Doc dropping the phone, followed by muttering, probably to Razor and Gunner.

  “You know you’re fired, right?” he said, coming back on the line.

  “Yes, sir. Although I am a partner, sir.”

  “Fill me in, Mondreau, and make it quick.”

  “I could hear him all the way over here,” her father told her, smiling.

  “Doc Butler doesn’t intimidate me.”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “I just pretend he’s you.”

  He laughed and motioned to a chair near the window. “Come sit with me.”

  Their room had a spectacular view of the sun setting on Rawal Lake. It was hard to believe that such a beautiful place could be the center of so much of turmoil.

  “We’re in a building constructed in the twenty-first century, yet all around us are people who still live in the dark ages,” her father said, coming to stand beside her. “I’m very proud of your bravery, Manon.”

  “You shouldn’t be. If this doesn’t go right, I’m going to get us all killed.”

  Her father narrowed his gaze at her. “Do not lose confidence now, daughter. Your plan is sound. Monsieur Butler should be able to execute it effectively.”

  She nodded and let out a deep breath. She’d convinced her parents to help her sneak out of a hospital, fly more than halfway around the world, and negotiate a deal worth a great deal of their own money with a known terrorist. Doc Butler should have been the least of her worries, but he wasn’t.

  Chapter 27

  Dutch

  Dutch opened his eyes, wishing he could rub the spot on his head where his captors had pistol-whipped him. It hurt like hell, but it wasn’t the only part of his body that did.

  He couldn’t quite piece together what had happened over the course of the last few days. The last thing he remembered clearly was arriving at Ramstein. What happened after that was murky.

  He vaguely remembered being in a hotel with a naked woman, Malin finding him wandering the streets, and then the same men he’d escaped from earlier in the day, burst into her apartment, taking him hostage for the second time.

  He wished he could remember more about her behavior in the short time he’d been with her. Had she acted pissed? Pissed enough to let the men looking for him know she’d taken him in and made him an easy target?

&
nbsp; He’d worry she was being held captive like he was, but he remembered someone saying the rest of the apartment was empty.

  He could hear voices speaking in what sounded like Pashto, and they were talking about him. The other name he recognized was Mantis. He understood enough of what they were saying to figure out that he was the bait to lure his friend here, and once Mantis arrived, they’d both be dead men.

  “Where is Cassman?” Zamed Safi demanded as he had for the last several hours, each time with a different threat as to how Dutch would die if he continued to refuse to answer him.

  “As I’ve told you, I have no idea.”

  “Are you prepared, then, to die?”

  “You won’t kill me. But there is something else you could do that would be a lot smarter.”

  The man looked perplexed. “What?” he finally spat.

  Dutch nodded his head at one of the other chairs. “Have a seat. Let’s negotiate. Maybe there’s a way we can both get what we want.”

  Before Dutch could continue, he heard shots ring out. The door flew open and four men clad in tactical gear stormed in.

  “Let’s get you the fuck outta here,” said the man whose voice he recognized as Razor’s. As he untied him, Dutch heard more shots fired, and looked over at Zamed’s lifeless body.

  “That’s my handiwork,” Razor shouted as he freed his legs. “I told Mantis, it was time to end this bloodline.”

  “I don’t think I can walk,” Dutch said when he tried to stand and found his legs had little feeling in them.

  “Yeah, I know,” he answered, motioning toward the other men.

  Someone else threw Dutch over his shoulder, probably Doc, and carried him out to one of the two waiting vehicles.

  “Fucking amateurs,” he heard Doc mutter as he carried him past the dead bodies of every single one of Zamed’s men, echoing what Dutch remembered thinking when they had him held captive back in Germany.

  He’d been able to escape on his own then, but this time, they’d made it harder for him. If it hadn’t been for Razor, Doc, and the rest of the K19 crew, he likely wouldn’t have made it out of the hovel they had him hidden in alive.

  “Thanks, guys,” Dutch said when Doc, Razor, Onyx, and Monk took off their head gear. “You brought in the big guns.”

  Doc nodded. “Gunner is with Striker, Diesel, and Ranger, trying to save your asshole best friend’s life as we speak.”

  “What did he do?”

  “Made a deal with the devil, otherwise known as Abdul Ghafor.”

  “What was the deal?” Dutch asked, already guessing the answer.

  “He’s in the midst of offering up his life in exchange for yours.”

  Dutch groaned. “Have they intercepted him yet?”

  Doc shook his head. “No word.”

  “Where are we?” Dutch asked, looking out of the windows but not seeing any identifiable landmarks. “I hate to admit this, but I don’t remember much about the last few days.”

  “Head injuries will do that, and we’re just outside Islamabad.”

  “Should’ve figured,” he muttered. Only someone has inexperienced as Zamed would take a prisoner to the city he was known to live in. Dutch leaned over to Doc. “I need to ask you about someone.”

  “Kilbourne?”

  “Yeah. Did she turn on me?”

  Doc shook his head again. “I can’t answer that. We haven’t been able to locate her.”

  “Shit,” Dutch muttered, almost wishing she had turned, at least then he’d know she wasn’t bound and gagged, fearing for her life like he had been only minutes earlier.

  “Doc…”

  “I know, Dutch. We’re working on it.”

  He rested his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes. “It’s been one hell of a month,” he muttered.

  “I’d say.”

  Dutch’s eyes flew open and his head popped up. “How’s Alegria? Did I dream getting a message from you saying she was in an accident?”

  “No, you didn’t dream it.” Doc scrubbed his face with his hand. “I want to wring her damn neck, but otherwise, she’s okay.”

  Dutch waited for him to go on, but he didn’t. “Doc?”

  “She’s in Islamabad too.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Some crazy fucking idea that she was going to get both you and Mantis all on her own. Once she filled me in on her ‘plan,’ we came up with one of our own.”

  “What was her plan?”

  “Meeting with Ghafor herself; using our team as backup.”

  “Jesus.”

  When Doc’s phone vibrated, he pulled it out of his pocket. “They’ve got him,” he said, tossing it on the seat.

  “Good to go back to base?” Razor asked.

  Doc nodded his head. “Affirmative.”

  Chapter 28

  Mantis and Alegria

  After spending two days at a hotel, waiting in limbo for word that the exchange was on, Mantis was summoned downstairs by one of Ghafor’s men. Just as he was ushered into the SUV that would transport him to the rendezvous location, the vehicle was surrounded. He was pulled away by men dressed in unfamiliar tactical gear, a bag was thrown over his head, and he was put into a different vehicle.

  When the door slammed and the vehicle sped away, someone pulled the bag from over his head.

  “We got him,” Gunner said into a radio mic.

  “Fuck!” Mantis shouted. “Do you realize what you’ve just done?”

  “Sure do,” Gunner answered, not looking at him.

  “Dutch is—”

  “Just fine, asshole. Like he would’ve been anyway if you hadn’t decided to go rogue and mount your own op.”

  “Where is he?”

  “On his way back to Bagram.”

  “Are you sure? Who went in after him?”

  “Doc.”

  “On his own?”

  “Razor was with him. Monk and Onyx too.” Gunner turned his head so Mantis could see his scowl. “Instead of questioning me about whether or not K19 has the best goddamn extraction teams on the planet, you might consider showing some gratitude for the fact that we kept your ass alive.”

  “Thanks, guys,” Mantis said to Ranger, who was driving, Diesel seated it the front passenger seat, and Striker who was seated in the third row behind him. Then he turned back to Gunner. “I’m sorry, and thank you.”

  “That’s better.”

  “What about Safi?”

  “On his way to hell, along with the rest of the men who had Dutch.”

  “Any word on Kilbourne?”

  “You know about that, huh?”

  “Was she in on it?”

  “Won’t be able to answer that until we find her.”

  “Which means she may be in trouble too.”

  “Affirmative. Anyone else you want to ask about?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “What about Alegria? Any idea what she’s been up to the last few days?”

  Mantis didn’t like where Gunner was going with this. “Do you have something to tell me?”

  “Seems you weren’t the only K19 team member goin’ rogue. She and her daddy negotiated a ten-million-dollar payout if Ghafor delivered both you and Dutch.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Can’t say I am.”

  “Where’d the money come from? The agency?”

  “Hell no. She pulled this stunt all on her own.”

  Ten million dollars? Where did she get that kind of money? How had she been able to contact Ghafor to offer the deal in the first place?

  “I’m not following. So what happened, Ghafor gave you my twenty?”

  “Are you serious? No, Ghafor didn’t give us your twenty. Jesus.” Gunner glared at him. “I’ll ask again, who the fuck do you think you’re dealin’ with here? We found you all on our own before little Miss Ten Mil and her daddy could make things worse.”

  “And Dutch?”

  “You think Ghafor knew wher
e he was being held? Negative on that one too.”

  Mantis rubbed the back of his neck. “So where’s Ghafor?”

  “God knows, but we’re on our way to get Alegria and her daddy now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They’re in Islamabad. I told Doc I don’t understand why we had to escort them home; seems like they got here all on their own.”

  Alegria and her father were in Islamabad? Mantis would ask Gunner if he was sure, but he didn’t want to sound like he didn’t trust the man or their team’s abilities for the third time.

  And what about the money? If K19 had intercepted him and picked up Dutch, did that mean Ghafor walked away with Alegria’s ten million? Something was telling him it wasn’t going to go down quite that easily.

  —:—

  Alegria watched her father check his phone. There was still no word from Ghafor about where and when the exchange, Mantis for Dutch, was taking place.

  The way she’d left things with Doc, he’d agreed to have two teams on standby, one for each man, and the minute she alerted him, they’d move in, while she and her father went back to Bagram Air Base.

  It was her father’s connection to the Armée de l’Air Française that allowed them to land there, not Alegria’s Air Force or CIA background. He hadn’t been willing to share how or why the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure was able to give him such quick and easy access to a man who ultimately, many believed, would come to be as universally hated as Osama bin Laden had been—perhaps even worse.

  When Mantis recounted what had happened on his final Afghani mission, he’d told her that he’d made a deal with Abdul Ghafor in order to gain access to the Taliban and Bagish Safi. He didn’t outline the specifics of that deal, but Alegria’s guess was that there had been a great deal of money involved, just like there was now. That, along with Bagish Safi’s head on a platter.

  She paced, biting her nails like an anxious child rather than an operative who had been down the road of waiting for word countless times.

  When they heard someone coming down the hall, both she and her father grabbed their weapons, but not quickly enough.