Crossfire

by Traci Hunter Abramson

“What?” Vanessa sat up straighter in her chair. She stared at him a moment and then her eyes narrowed. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  Seth let out a sigh. “I messed up.” He shook his head and took the seat beside her. “When I sent the message to my team, I thought I gave us enough time between when Morenta would leave and when I wanted them to come in and get us.” Seth’s eyes met hers, and he shook his head again. “I didn’t anticipate Morenta staying the extra day.”

  “Seth, you had no way of knowing he would delay his departure.” Vanessa reached over and squeezed his hand. “When are they coming?”

  “Oh-two-hundred,” Seth told her. “I had planned for us to go out onto the beach and then simply disappear when my squad showed up. The guards change over at about two, and I was sure we could slip out the front door as they were changing over. I didn’t expect that you would still be under house arrest though.”

  “So you’re worried about getting me out,” Vanessa concluded.

  Seth nodded. He stared out at the water for a moment before turning back to her. “I know this may sound weird, but would you mind if we prayed about this?”

  Vanessa gave him a surprised look.

  “My squad prays at the start of every day and before every mission,” Seth explained. He didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed as he added, “I think we could use the Lord’s help in figuring our way out through this mission.”

  Vanessa just stared, and then slowly a smile crossed her face. “I think that’s a really good idea.”

  Seth slid his chair closer and reached for her hand. Then he offered a prayer unlike anything she could have ever expected. It wasn’t his words so much as the emotion behind them. He asked the Lord for guidance and to watch over and protect them and those who would come into harm’s way in the coming hours.

  Warmth spread through her as she considered the many miracles that had already taken place for Seth to have found the gospel in his life and for him to be praying with her right now. Seeing him exercise his faith so sincerely touched her, enhancing the love she had felt for him when they had dated so many years ago as well as the years they had been apart.

  When Seth closed the prayer, she was quiet for a moment. She then lifted her eyes to meet his as flashes of inspiration flooded her mind. She managed a little smile and asked, “There aren’t any cameras in the elevators, right?”

  “That’s right.” Seth nodded, looking at her a bit puzzled. “In fact, that’s the biggest weakness in the security here. Unfortunately for us, the elevators are in the center of the building, and there are cameras at every landing.”

  “What time does the kitchen close down?”

  “Between ten and eleven. Why?”

  “If you don’t think we can slip out the front door, maybe we could get out through the kitchen on the second floor.” Vanessa considered. “After all, the lights will be off after the kitchen closes down, so the only monitors we should have trouble with are the ones in the lobby.”

  “The windows on the second floor have alarms on them,” Seth told her, but his features softened, and Vanessa could tell he’d gotten some inspiration of his own.

  “What?”

  “The weight room.”

  “What about it?”

  “It’s on the fourth floor, and those windows don’t have alarms. We might be able to leave that way,” Seth suggested. “The elevator opens right up into the weight room area, and I only noticed two surveillance cameras in there.”

  “Seth, I hate to burst your bubble, but I’m not exactly Spiderman—or Spiderwoman. You can climb down the side of the building, but I haven’t exactly learned that skill yet.”

  “You’re about to,” Seth told her.

  “You can’t be serious.” Vanessa eyed him suspiciously.

  “The one advantage of these renovations is that the east wing is right under the window in the gym,” Seth explained. “We’ll drop down onto the roof, cut over to the back side of the building, and climb down that way. Then we just have to cut over to the jungle and work our way back to the beach.”

  “Seth, you’re still talking about having me climb down two stories,” Vanessa reminded him.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll help you through it,” Seth said as though daring her to back away from the challenge. Then he nodded toward the living area. “But first we need to work on blinding some of the surveillance cameras.”

  “How are we going to do that?” Vanessa asked. “It’s not like we’ve got the equipment or access to tap into their system.”

  “No, but I can disable one of the cameras in the weight room and make it look like a malfunction. That area is probably of low enough priority that no one will bother to check it out as long as the other one is working. Even if they do, hopefully they won’t have a replacement camera here on site,” Seth told her. “That should create enough of a blind spot for us to slip through the far window.”

  “What about the cameras up here?”

  “I think we’d better do some laundry.”

  “Laundry?”

  “Yeah.” Seth nodded. “Believe it or not, it works every time.”

  25

  It would have been too easy had Akil and Morenta chosen to eat dinner on the penthouse balcony. Instead they were at the table right inside the doors that led to the penthouse balcony. The closed doors.

  A short time earlier, Seth had made one final trip down to the kitchen to pick up some dinner for him and Vanessa even though food was the last thing on his mind. He had lingered long enough to find out where this final meeting was going to take place before returning to his room and escorting Vanessa out onto the balcony where they could eat and talk in private.

  While Seth was downstairs, Vanessa had taken care of her laundry, so to speak. The room was literally littered with the shirts and skirts that she had worn since her arrival, each piece hanging strategically to create blind spots for the men monitoring the surveillance cameras in the suite.

  Seth had tested those blind spots the minute he arrived back in their suite. He had blocked the elevator doors long enough to disable the chime that announced when the elevator arrived, figuring that if anyone saw the elevator doors, they would come question him before they were finished with their dinner.

  Now that nearly an hour had passed since Seth arrived back with their food and they hadn’t had any unexpected visitors, he was hopeful that their escape plan might actually work. At the moment, he and Vanessa were out on the balcony, knowing that the conversation they had been waiting to hear was about to begin in the suite above them. Seth pushed the last of his dinner around his plate and glanced up at the ceiling. “As soon as it gets a bit darker, I’m going to climb up and see what’s going on.”

  Vanessa’s eyebrows lifted. “Morenta is totally paranoid. He probably has bodyguards by the balcony doors.”

  “I’ll be careful,” Seth told her. “I at least want to get another good look at Morenta. It’s not like many people get that opportunity.”

  “I guess it would have been too simple for me to fall for a guy who wants to see regular celebrities. No, I fall for someone who wants to spy on a mass murderer.” Vanessa pushed back her plate and leaned on the table. “I’m going to be really ticked if you go get yourself killed so close to when we’re planning to get out of here.”

  Seth chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. “Duly noted.”

  Vanessa stood and stepped closer to him, suddenly serious. She rested her hands on his shoulders, and Seth couldn’t help but look up into her eyes. “I don’t want to lose you again.”

  Seth stared up at her as she leaned closer and touched her lips to his. For an instant he was lost. This was what he wanted, these sweet, simple moments with Vanessa. The shared dinners and conversation, her sweet kisses, and even the arguments. He wanted to simply be with her. Always. His heart squeezed in his chest as reality crept in that neither of them had the kind of career that would give them those opportunities.

  When
she pulled away, all he could do was stare at her.

  “I mean it,” she continued, her eyes serious. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I don’t want to lose you either,” Seth managed, “but I can’t afford any distractions right now either.”

  Vanessa nodded slowly and stepped back. Suddenly brusque, she glanced upward before looking back at him. “Do you really think that you’ll be able to see anything if you climb up to the penthouse?”

  “There’s only one way to find out.”

  * * *

  Vanessa had been right about Morenta’s paranoia. Seth had climbed high enough to peek over the side of the railing of the penthouse balcony, but all he could see were bodies. Large bodies.

  Rather than the private meal that Seth had anticipated Akil and Morenta having, there appeared to be at least half a dozen men sitting around the dinner table that had been set up near the balcony doors, and another dozen or so men were mulling about the room. Seth figured that the four stationed near the exits, the two by the elevator, and two more by the balcony doors were bodyguards for Morenta.

  Morenta might have been considered paranoid, but Seth considered him cautious. Not many people recognized a balcony as easy access, but the SEAL teams knew it was exactly that. One of the bodyguards shifted, and Seth ducked below the solid railing of the balcony to keep from being spotted. Keeping himself pressed into the shadows, he waited a minute before cautiously peeking over the edge once more.

  Seth had climbed up shortly after nine o’clock to spy on this late dinner, and now he was getting antsy that the hour had grown so late. His stiff muscles told him he had been there for hours, but he took a quick peek at his watch anyway and was frustrated to see that it was nearing midnight. He shifted his gaze once more to the penthouse suite.

  Because of the two broad-shouldered men standing in front of the French doors, he could only catch glimpses of the people at the table. He saw someone clearing plates away from the table as the men continued to talk. He then saw Morenta motion to one of his men. The man offered the oversized briefcase he held to Akil. A moment later two sets of keys dropped into Morenta’s open hand.

  The moment Morenta closed his fingers around the keys, his eyes flashed with an odd combination of satisfaction and anticipation. Underlying both was an unnerving threat of violence.

  Morenta gave Akil a hard stare and then a subtle nod. Then everyone pushed back from the table, and Morenta’s men headed for the elevator. For the first time since his silent arrival, Seth was able to see clearly into the penthouse. Akil had apparently handed the briefcase off to Halim because Halim was now standing in the background holding it as Morenta stepped forward and shook hands with Akil.

  Akil’s face paled slightly when Morenta leaned closer and appeared to whisper something to him. Then Akil gave him a curt nod.

  Seth didn’t know what had been said, but he guessed that Morenta had issued his standard threat, the same threat that caused so many people to avoid doing business with him. The old, if anything goes wrong, you and your family will pay for it.

  Aware that he wasn’t likely to gain any new information, Seth began the descent to his own balcony, where Vanessa was waiting impatiently.

  “Well?”

  “I couldn’t hear anything, but I did see an exchange. It looked like money for vehicles.”

  “What kind of vehicles?”

  “Judging by the size of the briefcase and the fact that I only saw Akil hand over two sets of keys, I’d say we’re talking about a couple of the helicopters over there.”

  “Morenta with Z-10s?” Vanessa’s eyes widened. “None of this makes any sense. Every time I think we’re starting to figure out what’s going on, we find a new piece of information that changes everything.”

  “I guess it’s possible that Morenta’s men are going to strike rather than Akil’s,” Seth suggested.

  “But all of my information indicates that it was Akil running those training camps for the past few weeks,” Vanessa reminded him. “Why would he go to all of that effort if his men weren’t going to be involved?”

  “You’re right. None of this is making any sense,” Seth said quietly. He glanced out at the airfield, where there still wasn’t any indication of Morenta preparing to leave. “But we can’t worry about that now. It’s time for us to get out of here.”

  “What time do we leave?”

  “Fifteen minutes,” Seth told her. “Right now, we’re going to go inside and let the security guys hear us say good night. Then at twelve-thirty, we’re going to meet at the elevator and go downstairs.”

  A surge of adrenaline rushed through her. “I sure hope this works.”

  “We’ll get out of here,” Seth assured her once more. He took her hand and reached for the door handle. “Come on. Showtime.”

  Vanessa stared up at him and nodded. “Okay.”

  They both walked into the living area just as the elevator doors slid open. Halim stepped out, a gun in hand. Seth didn’t have to look twice to know that the weapon was one of his own.

  “Akil is letting me have my spare?” Seth asked, somewhat surprised when Halim simply handed the weapon to him.

  “With good reason.” Halim nodded. He looked at Vanessa somewhat apologetically. “Morenta knows that Lina is here.”

  “What?” Seth’s surprise was genuine. “How?”

  “I don’t know.” Halim gave a shrug. “We think he paid someone off to find out who was staying here.” He looked around the room at the laundry drying everywhere. He motioned to one of the shirts hanging over the edge of a chair. “What is all of this?”

  “Laundry.”

  “Why didn’t you have the servants take care of it?”

  “Boredom set in,” Vanessa said dryly. Then she waved a hand and got back to the more important subject. “How would Morenta know about me?”

  “We gave him the eighth floor suite, the one right below yours. He must have figured that whoever was staying on the ninth floor was important to Akil,” Halim told her. He then turned and addressed Seth. “Akil has decided to send Lina to her father’s villa in France until his business dealings with Morenta are complete.”

  “When?” Vanessa asked before Seth had the chance to.

  “I’m not sure yet. We are still working out the details.”

  “Give me a plane, and I will fly her out of here tonight,” Seth suggested strongly. He went over the timeline in his head. If he could get in the air by one-thirty, he could get a message out in time to have his team abort the rescue mission. “We need to get her out of sight where Morenta can’t get to her.”

  “You can fly?” Halim asked suspiciously.

  “I was a pilot for Fahid among other things,” Seth informed him. “At times like these, it pays to have people you can trust who can take care of the aircraft.”

  “We still don’t know when Morenta is leaving,” Halim told them. “Akil will certainly want to wait until he and his men are gone before we move Lina.”

  “If we wait, how can we be sure he won’t decide to take Lina with him for insurance?” Seth pushed. He knew that if Akil was willing to let Seth have both of his weapons, he would likely increase his security both in the building and on the grounds.

  “Akil has increased the number of guards at the airfield. He also is making sure that Morenta has some of our men available to escort him to the plane when he is ready to leave.”

  “You know how risky this is,” Seth stated, his eyes serious.

  Halim looked at Vanessa for a long moment before turning his eyes back to Seth. “I trust that you can keep her safe.”

  “I’ll do everything I can,” Seth said sincerely. He then added, “I will plan on seeing you in the morning so we can make arrangements to move Lina.”

  Halim nodded. He then turned and stepped back into the elevator.

  As soon as he was gone, Seth turned to Vanessa. He leaned down and kissed her softly. “Try and get some sleep, okay?” He then lea
ned closer and whispered, “Fifteen minutes.”

  Vanessa nodded. “Good night.”

  26

  Vanessa changed into dark clothes and the previously white tennis shoes that Seth had darkened with shoe polish. Then she waited for the minutes to pass by. She trusted Seth, but she didn’t know how he was going to manage to get her past all of the security. Sure he had slipped out and sent a message out to his squad, but he hadn’t been dealing with any extra baggage at the time—namely her.

  Her heart was racing when the time finally came to leave her room. She had deliberately left her door ajar, just wide enough so that she could slip out without moving it. Following the path that Seth had outlined for her earlier, she padded through the dark room.

  She reached the blind spot by the elevator and stood anxiously waiting. In the darkness, she couldn’t see Seth moving toward her, but she trusted that he was there. She listened for any sound, for any sign that he was coming, but there was none.

  When the doors of the elevator began to open, she froze. How could she explain why she was standing here in the dark? What if it was Morenta or one of his men? She started to back away, but then she saw him. Seth was standing in the living room on the other side of the elevator holding a single finger up to his mouth.

  He motioned for her to duck down, and she responded immediately. Then, the elevator doors slid open, and a man stepped into the room carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. Vanessa didn’t see Seth move, but suddenly the weapon was on the ground and a muffled groan sounded. A split second later Seth’s elbow came up with enough force to render the man unconscious. He then quietly lowered him to the floor.

  Seth kicked the assault rifle toward Vanessa and proceeded to search the man. He paused long enough to remove the man’s cell phone from his pocket and then pull a pistol out of a shoulder holster. He glanced back at Vanessa for a moment and then turned back to the man and unbuckled his holster. Still holding the cell phone, Seth handed Vanessa the handgun and the holster. She tried not to think about the way her hands were shaking when she took it. She watched Seth grab the assault weapon and slip the strap over his shoulder. With Vanessa still staring at him wide-eyed, he ushered her into the elevator.