32
No Respect
Through the white smoke, from his crouched position, Xander could see the three sets of boots spreading out. The men were coughing as they moved, frantically searching for him, and for Melanie. Xander tightened his grip on the knife as everything slowed down for him. A set of boots moved right toward his position, another set a couple of feet away moved closer to the middle of the room, and the last set of boots moved a couple more feet beyond those. He saw the entire thing happen in his mind before he made his own move. He would rise up, stab for the groin and the neck area of the first set of boots. A quick one-two. Then he would spin clockwise, cover the distance between the two men, wheeling the knife around out in front of him, aiming for the second man’s neck area, and in case he missed, he would immediately give three more quick stabs down the vertical line of the man’s body. One-two-three. Without any pause and maintaining the crouch from where he just made his last vertical stab, Xander would lunge forward, thrusting the knife toward the last man’s groin. Then he would immediately remove the knife and give three more lightning-quick stabs vertically up the man’s body, ending with the fatal stab wound in his throat.
Xander flashed back out of his mind’s eye when it was time to execute the deadly choreography he just witnessed in his head. The boots of the first man were in perfect position, so he began.
Stab to the man’s groin, stab to the man’s neck.
Quick spin and a stab to the next man’s neck, then one-two-three quick stabs down the man’s body,
A powerful thrust forward with the knife, sinking it somewhere near the third man’s groin—then one-two-three super-fast stabs up the man’s body, the last one sinking in the soft skin of the man’s neck.
Xander removed his knife from the man’s neck, and hot liquid splashed onto his face. He instinctively shoved the man away from him, and his body landed like a sack of flour on the floor of the smoke-filled dining room. Xander didn’t have time to relish in the three-kill move, because under the risen smoke, he saw a set of feet disappear through a window along the wall of the boat.
* * *
As Sam held her gun to the man’s head, waiting impatiently for him to tell her where she could find Khatib, she heard a thump behind her and what sounded like someone gasping wildly for air. She pressed harder with her foot down on the gunman’s injured hand as she swung the MP5 around her body and pointed it toward the sound. Under a light shining down on the walkway from the rail of the rooftop deck, she could see a half-naked woman in a fetal position, back turned to her. Sam’s immediate thought was that it was Natalie. She was so caught off guard that she momentarily forgot the man under her boot was not unconscious. That moment of lapse was enough time for the man to get his free arm wrapped around Sam’s legs, and just as the half-naked woman began to get to her feet, Sam’s legs were swept out from under her, and she fell to her stomach on the teakwood decking of the boat. By the time Sam looked back to kick the man in the face, the woman had turned toward her.
The woman with dark hair.
It wasn’t Natalie.
Melanie.
A hundred thoughts swirled, but Sam’s hatred of the woman who had betrayed her and Xander at the deepest level pulled her instinct through the maze of confusion, and she wrapped her finger around the trigger of her submachine gun. Melanie must have registered the danger immediately because she stopped dead in her tracks.
Sam shouted, “Where’s Xander?”
“Dead, most likely.”
Melanie having a Russian accent was still a shock to Sam’s senses. She moved to one knee, never taking the MP5’s aim from the middle of Melanie’s chest.
“Don’t forget the fact that I would absolutely revel in killing you, Melanie. Now tell me where Xander is, or I will shoot you. With a smile on my face.”
“I’m not afraid of you, Sam. You are washed-up agent riding on back of Xander.”
“Not quite sure what that even means really. D’you mean riding his coattails? You always did seem a bit dim.”
“Dim? You—”
“Oh shut it,” Sam interrupted. “Tell me where Natalie is right now or I will shoot you. Do you understand?”
Before Melanie could answer, the SAT phone began to ring in Sam’s pocket.
“Don’t move, Melanie.”
Sam glanced behind her; the man was still unconscious. She removed the phone from her pocket and answered.
“Marv?”
Marv was adamant. “Sam, don’t approach the boat! We believe it’s a trap!”
In an even tone as she kept the gun trained on Melanie, Sam said, “You don’t say?”
“Shit, I’m sorry, is everyone all right?” Marv asked.
At that moment, Xander walked around the back end of the boat. Without realizing it, Sam let out a sigh of relief. “I don’t really have time to talk right now. Would you please find out some real information? You’re in danger of making Xander look bad for calling you the smart one of the bunch.”
“I’m on it.”
Sam heard Marv’s words but didn’t reply. She ended the call and rose to her feet, both hands on her weapon now.
Xander spoke up from behind Melanie, startling her. “Nowhere to go, Melanie. Tell us where Natalie is, or die. No more games.”
Sam looked past Melanie and saw that Xander was holding a pistol. Melanie looked back over her shoulder at Sam, then back to Xander. Sam knew what Melanie was about to do, but there was nothing she could do to stop her. She knew that Xander would recognize the same thing.
Sam said, “Don’t do it, Melanie. You won’t get away.”
“Fuck you, bitch.”
That was when Melanie did what Sam and Xander were both expecting. She knew neither of them would shoot for fear they may shoot each other, so she took one heavy step and dove over the side of the boat. Sam ran to the rail and opened fire, shooting several rounds into the dark river water below. But she may as well have been shooting into a black hole. The lights of the boat didn’t extend to the water. She shouldered the MP5, pulled out the SAT phone, and began walking toward Xander when she noticed him going for the rail.
“Xander, don’t!”
Xander paused midclimb on the chrome rail. He then lowered himself back down.
“Did you hear what she called me?” Sam asked as she walked up to him. She secured the gun’s strap around her shoulder and handed the SAT phone to Xander. “This bitch is mine.”
Xander smirked. “That water is gonna be awfully cold, Sam.”
“Just find Natalie. I have a feeling Melanie might just lead me straight to Khatib if I can stay on her.”
“Fine, but keep the SAT phone. Get the agent’s phone number that drove us here from Marv. I’ll be carrying that. If she leads you to Khatib, you wait for me.”
“If I can take him out—”
“Sam,” Xander interrupted. “Promise me you’ll wait.”
Sam gave Xander a hug, then readied herself to jump from the rail. “Promise me when I call, you’ll be ready.”
Xander nodded, then turned and ran toward the back of the boat, and dove right over the rail to swim back to Jack and Viktor.
“He’s like a bloody fish,” Sam said aloud to herself. Then she dove toward the cold darkness below after Melanie—toward their best shot at finding Akram Khatib.
33
Getting Off the Boat Would Be the Bomb
“Adeline, come up here and steer the boat,” Kyle said. “Just make sure to keep it in the middle of the river, and try not to hit anyone.”
Kyle wanted to see for himself what Adeline had found inside the large metal case. Adeline didn’t say a word; she just moved toward the captain’s chair. Karol was frozen in place, in awe of the metal box’s contents.
When Adeline took the wheel, Kyle could see the fear fully encompassing her eyes. “K-Kyle, please tell me you know how to fix this?”
Kyle didn’t answer, because he didn’t know what she was talking abou
t. He walked over to the metal box and stood beside Karol. He took a deep breath and looked down.
“Holy shit” rolled slowly out of Kyle’s mouth. He hadn’t meant to say it. He hadn’t wanted to react at all so as not to further frighten the girls. But with what he saw, he just couldn’t help it.
“Holy shit?” Adeline began to panic. “What do you mean holy shit? You’re CIA, aren’t you, Kyle? Surely you’ve seen a bomb before! You know how to defuse it, right? Isn’t that what they teach you? Please tell me that’s what they teach you!”
Kyle didn’t react. Again, not what he wanted. But the blocks of what he assumed were large piles of explosives, all stacked and tied together with a maze of wiring, had stolen his ability to speak. He had never seen a bomb in person before. But he and Xander rarely missed a movie. And they had seen many a movie that did have bombs, and one dead giveaway, above all others, was the little digital readout with red numbers methodically counting down toward what was always a massive explosion. And this countdown had just gone below the ten-minute mark.
“A bomb,” Kyle said, almost unconsciously.
“Kyle! Hello?”
Kyle looked up at Adeline. He was certain that the fear he saw on her face paled in comparison to his own.
“Kyle!” Adeline shouted again. “You can fix this, right?”
“No.”
Adeline made sure the boat was still moving straight, then turned to him.
“No? You can’t fix this?”
“No, I can’t fix this, and no, I am not CIA.”
It was as if his mouth was on autopilot. Not only was he not in control of his mind, his words, and almost his bladder, he was actually saying the worst possible things he could at the moment. He took a deep breath and finally began to move past the shock and fear that had taken hold of his brain.
“Wait, you’re not even CIA? We’re screwed, Karol. We’re dead.”
Adeline’s last words finally snapped Kyle back to reality.
“I can get us out of this,” Kyle told her as he reached for the burner phone in his pocket that Sam had given him from Xander’s go bag.
Karol spoke up for the first time since the discovery of the bomb. “You can? You can get us out of this?”
Kyle opened the phone and went to the contacts where Sarah’s number was stored. As it began to ring, he walked over to Adeline and relieved her of her station at the wheel. He began to power down the boat’s engine. He figured the only thing they could do was jump from the boat and swim for it. He didn’t want to pull the boat toward land, because if the blast was as big as the bomb looked, more innocent people may be killed. He also didn’t know if that would even make a difference. The bomb was massive. He had no idea what that meant as far a blast radius, but it looked like it was going to reach much farther than just the side of the riverbank.
“Kyle?” Sarah finally answered.
“Sarah!” Kyle shouted. He had never been happier to hear a woman’s voice.
“You’re okay! How is Adeline?”
“Sarah, I don’t have time to explain, but the boat we jumped on has a bomb on it. A bomb! What do we do?”
“You must have jumped on the boat full of Khatib’s men. Shit! A bomb?”
Sarah hesitated for only a moment.
“Kyle, get off the boat! Now!” she shouted.
It was obvious, and Kyle knew it. He also knew the answer to his next dumb question, but he asked anyway. “You don’t know how to stop it? It might be a big one. Big enough to level a couple of city blocks, or worse!”
“Kyle, you can’t stop the bomb. Get off the boat! I’ll call Marv and tell him that the position where your burner phone is, is a bomb. We’ll do everything we can from there! Call me as soon as you are safe. That phone was in Xander’s bag, so it will be waterproof. Go now, Kyle!”
The urgency in Sarah’s voice lit the fire in Kyle. He pocketed the phone and shut down the boat’s engine.
Adeline shouted, “What are you doing? We can’t stop in the middle of the river!”
Kyle walked over to her and ushered Adeline and Karol out of the cabin and moved them toward the back of the boat. “We have to get off here. We can’t risk the bomb exploding close to shore.”
The two of them didn’t argue. Kyle glanced once more at the bomb and the red number ticked down to an even 8:00, then 7:59. They could swim to shore in eight minutes. The Seine River wasn’t all that wide. But only if they hurried. The three of them arrived at the back of the boat, but instead of looking down over the end of the boat to the water they were about to dive into, all three of their sets of eyes were fixed on the two sets of lights that were speeding toward them out in the water.
Adeline turned toward Kyle with a look of hope in her eyes. “They’re here to save us, right, Kyle?”
Kyle wanted to believe it was true, but deep in the pit of his stomach, he knew that the two boats speeding toward them weren’t there to help. The only people who could know where they were that quickly were the people who had planted the bomb in the first place.
“Adeline, you and Karol have to run.”
“What?”
Kyle could see the terror in her eyes now. “You have to go and jump off the front of this boat, swim to shore, and run.”
Adeline panicked. “No, Kyle! We have to stay together! You have to keep us safe!”
The two boats were almost to them.
“I will. But I have to stay here to do it. Go now, Adeline. Go as fast as you can! I’ll create a distraction from here. Just go!” he shouted, then shoved the two of them toward the front of the boat.
Karol stopped and turned toward Kyle. “Do you think these men know what Adeline looks like?”
Kyle was baffled. “What? It doesn’t matter! Go!”
“Wait!” Karol shouted, holding her ground. “If Adeline gets captured, they can use her to really hurt the US, right?”
Kyle shoved the two of them again toward the front of the boat. “Exactly, now go!”
Karol turned to Adeline. “Addie, go now! Jump off the boat and swim as fast as you can. If they have me and Kyle on this boat, and they think that I am you, they won’t keep looking for you.”
Adeline’s jaw dropped. “No way, Karol! You can’t do that. I could never—”
“She’s right!” Kyle interjected. “I know it’s awful, Adeline, but she’s right. I promise I won’t let them hurt her, now go!”
Kyle knew he probably couldn’t fulfill that promise, but he would die trying if that’s what it took.
Karol shouted at her friend. “Addie, the boats are here. Go!”
Adeline grabbed Karol and wrapped her in a hug. Karol shucked her friend’s arms away and pushed her to the bow of the boat. “Go, Addie. Now!”
Adeline turned, dove, and disappeared over the bow of the boat. Kyle immediately grabbed Karol and ducked back inside the cabin, frantically searching for anything he could use to distract the men on the oncoming boats. Or even better, kill them. He saw a harpoon fixed to the wall, but that wouldn’t help. There were a few fishing rods, life preservers, and a net. No help. Then he noticed a locker in the corner of the cabin. He rushed over to it, and as he sent up a silent prayer that there would be something, anything, that he could use, he heard the boats’ engines begin to slow. As he placed his hand on the metal handle of the locker, he knew that what he found inside might very well be the difference between life and death—for him and for Adeline’s brave friend Karol.
34
Wild Goose Chase
“We have found the boat. I will call you as soon as we have them. There should only be about eight minutes on the timer—”
“Then you had better hurry! Stop the bomb, capture them, and bring them to me where I am holding the American actress. It will make the show far greater with President’s daughter as part of the cast. Do not fuck this up!” Khatib ended the call and slammed the cell phone down on the desk.
Whoever had managed to retrieve the President’s d
aughter and move the boat with the bomb away from the crowded nightclub had quite possibly ruined his big plans. Khatib sat in his chair, stewing. He figured the CIA must have had one of their best operatives in Paris. But he had no idea how they found out about Wanderlust. Khatib himself hadn’t known it would be the bomb site until they found out that was where the President’s daughter would be going. Having the bomb ready to be moved from the van to the boat had been a stroke of genius on his part, but he didn’t care about that now.
Khatib opened the laptop on his desk, and the live video feed of Natalie Rockwell strapped to the wall immediately made him feel better.
“There you are,” he said aloud to himself. “So what if I don’t blow up nightclub? The President’s daughter will soon be in my possession, and you . . .” He touched the screen where Natalie’s face was, as if he were wiping her tears. “You are going to be all the publicity I will need.”
Khatib moved his fingers to the keyboard, and after a few strokes the stats of who was watching the live feed on the website pulled up in front of him. He couldn’t help but smile. Even he had underestimated just how much America loved their Hollywood star. The count for active users was now up to over two hundred million worldwide. Two hundred million people were going to watch live as the spinning spikes drove through the head of their star. And America could do nothing to stop it. He knew the trickle effect of that fear would shape the rest of the world’s view of just how vulnerable the United States really was.
He keyed back to the live feed where the spikes were getting really close to their mark. But there was so much going on that he couldn’t full enjoy it. He glanced back at his phone. Only an hour more and the spikes would reach their target. He had to make sure that it wasn’t interrupted. And that was almost a foregone conclusion now as it would be nearly impossible—even if Xander knew Natalie’s exact location—to reach her in time. Melania had just called to be picked up, so he knew that Xander had fallen for the trap. But somehow he managed to survive. Khatib wasn’t the kind of man to sit back and wait. He had been careful when he had transported Natalie to where she was being held. And even though he interrupted the cameras around the dinner boat Natalie was actually on, he knew the CIA was scouring for clues. He knew they would be picking every little detail of the feed apart and searching every public camera in the city. That is why he went to such pains to recreate the boat’s interior dining room where Natalie was. It matched perfectly the one where he had stationed Melania. That is why they sent Xander there. He knew the CIA agents, when they combed the CCTV cameras, would compare the live feed to old pictures of the dining room in the boat where Melania had posed as Natalie. And it had worked.
Xander King BoxSet Page 64
