“You look just like her,” she says softly.
“Several people have told me that,” I say, smiling back at her. “I’m assuming you’re my aunt Azayiz.”
She walks slowly to me and reaches out to gently touch my face. “You can call me Aza, Yasmine.” Her tired eyes light up slightly as she says my name. “Although I should call you Millie. That’s your name now.”
“You can call me Yasmine if you like. It’s a pretty name. I understand it was my grandma’s name.”
“It was. She was a strong, beautiful woman. When Nejra found out she was pregnant, she so wanted it to be a girl, so she could name you after her mother,” she says, looking down. “Nejra’s life ended the day her parents died and began again the day you were born. She would have been such a good mother. She wanted to be your mother with everything inside her.”
“I’m sorry I never got a chance to know her. My father told me she was very special.”
She looks back up at me. “I’m glad he realized that. Her life changed forever when she met him. I wish she had not engaged with him, but she was drawn to him like a moth to the flames. At least she knew great passion. Do you know that passion with your husband?”
“I’m not married,” I say as she nods her head.
“It is what I thought. My son, Fareed, told me that you worked for the CIA. You met him a few months ago when you met your uncle Sayid. So this was all a trap to take me back into custody? It’s what Fareed said to expect.”
“I’m not going to take you anywhere you don’t want to go. I just want to know if my dad’s alive. Do you know?”
She breathes in deeply as she turns to walk toward a row of chairs. She sits down and looks up at me. “Do you know your husband—or I guess your partner agent—is the person who gave up my hiding location?”
“What?” I say as my mind starts spinning. “Alex?”
“Yes. The agency hid me successfully for nine years until he became the head of this region. He sold me out within a month of having the job. I’m still not sure why.”
I shake my head and look down. I can’t believe he would do that, but it’s starting to make sense now why he wants her back so badly. He’s promised her to someone, and if he’s not able to deliver, he’s probably going to be killed.
“I’m sorry he did that. I had no idea. Do you know who he told about you?”
“Fareed said one of the government ministers told them where my safe house was. I barely got out before they got there. I’ve been hiding with friends since then.”
“So Fareed has been playing both sides? For how long?”
“Since I moved back to Pakistan. Your uncle Sayid was like his big brother. Fareed was loyal to him, but he’s more loyal to his mother. He fed me information about the network for years. Sadly, he would never give me their location. This could have been over long ago if he had.”
“You’re putting yourself in danger by coming here today.”
She smiles. “I would do anything to see you. I’m sure your agency knows that. It was a good plan to get me out of hiding.”
“Thank you,” Alex says from the corner of the room. I whip my head around to see him walking toward us with his Glock pointed at Aza.
“Alex. Put the gun down,” I say slowly as I try to discreetly reach under my skirt for my gun. His eyes are focused on her. “Alex. Put it down. She’s not armed.”
“You think I’m going to trust you? Who’s your allegiance to, Millie? It’s definitely not to me,” Alex says.
His eyes dart briefly to me. They’re wild and unfocused. “Alex, I’m completely on your side. We have a job to do here. Let’s just take her back into protective custody. Our mission is successful.”
“I heard everything she said to you,” he says, his eyes still fixed on Aza. “She told you I turned her in. That’s true. Part of my job is to redevelop a relationship with the Pakistan government. All they want is her, and we’ll be in good standing with them again. That’s when my mission will be successful.”
“Alex. Put the gun down. I’m not going to ask again.” He looks over to me and sees my gun pointed at him.
“Are you going to shoot me, Millie? Really? You’ve never shot anything in your life except a paper target. It’s different when the target is breathing. You don’t have what it takes. I knew it the minute I met you. That’s why you’ve never gotten in the field. You shouldn’t be here now, but you did manage to get your aunt to come out of hiding, so I guess you did one thing right.”
Aza is curled up on the floor with her hands over her head. She looks up at him as he stands above her and says, “They wanted to kill you, but I don’t think they’ll mind too much if I do it.”
As his finger begins to slide to the trigger, I fire a shot—hitting him purposely in the leg. I want to give him another chance to put his gun down. The force spins him around to face me. He lifts his arms to fire at me. I fire another round—hitting him in his forehead. He falls to the ground, blood shooting out of his head. I walk slowly toward him with my gun still drawn. I kick his gun out of his hand and lean down to check his pulse. I already know he’s dead. I take a long, shaky breath as I lean over to close his eyes. I let my hand linger on his chest for a second before I force myself to look away.
Aza is covered in his blood—her eyes wide with shock. I kneel down to look in her face.
“Do you know if my dad is alive?” I say, touching her shoulder to try to get her to focus.
She’s shaking. I can tell she’s finding it hard to speak. She shakes her head slightly. “No,” she whispers.
“If he’s alive, do you know where he might be?”
“Yes,” she says more loudly. “I arranged for my cousin to take him to my grandparents’ house in the Kalasha Valley. I don’t know if they made it there. I don’t know if he’s alive. But, if he’s alive, he might be there or have been there at one time.”
“Can you take me there?”
She nods as I help her up. Her eyes go over my shoulder to look at something. I turn around to see Mr. Bukhari looking at Alex’s body. He turns to me, his eyes wide as he looks at the gun in my hand.
“He’s on my side,” Aza says quietly from behind me.
I reach into my pocket and turn off the recorder on my cell phone. I type a text message to Mason, but don’t hit send. I hand the phone to Mr. Bukhari.
“A very large, angry man with a beard is going to come through your doors within the hour. Give him this phone. Don’t call the authorities until he gets here. Do you understand?”
He nods and reaches out to take Aza’s hand. “Good luck, my friend,” he says in Pashto. She nods and smiles.
“Let’s go, Millie,” she says. “We have a long drive ahead of us.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Mason
Islamabad, Pakistan
2020
Millie hasn’t contacted me since she went into the spa. I asked her to text me at least once an hour. It’s been almost ninety minutes. She’s either blissed out from her massage or something’s wrong.
“Stay here,” I say to Butch. “I’m going to check on her.”
As I descend the spiral staircase to the spa welcome area, the man at the desk eyes me suspiciously. It’s the same guy from the gardens last night. I put my hand on my pistol still concealed in the back of my waistband.
“Good afternoon, sir,” he says as I reach the bottom of the stairs. “I’m sorry, but our spa is closed for the day. Perhaps you will come back tomorrow.”
“I’m here to check on my wife. She came for a massage around ten and hasn’t left yet,” I say, looking toward the door behind him.
“That’s quite impossible, sir. The spa has been closed all day.”
I pull my gun out. “Open the door.”
“There is no one inside, sir,” he says, his vo
ice beginning to shake.
I walk around the desk, grab him, and shove him toward the door. “Open the door now or I shoot off the lock.”
As he pulls out his keys, I call Butch. “There’s something wrong. Call JJ. Get them over here immediately with all the supplies. Get Ty and Bryce down to the valet to see if they saw Millie leave. Have Base track her phone and then get down here.”
The spa is empty and quiet as we enter. I quickly pat the man down. He’s not armed. I keep him in front of me and make him start opening treatment room doors. We’re three doors in when Butch comes charging through. I throw the man to him and clear the rest of the rooms quickly. When I get to the end of the rooms, I see an exit door.
“What’s through here?” I say, looking back at the man.
He doesn’t say anything. Butch puts his gun to the man’s head. “What’s in there?” Butch demands.
“A dead body,” the man says quietly.
I kick open the door with my gun drawn. I immediately see a man’s body to my right. It’s Alex. He’s lying face-up—shot in the forehead. And as I get closer I see a leg wound.
“Looks like the head shot is a .38 round from at least twenty feet away,” Butch says from behind me. “Definitely Millie’s gun. Either her or someone disarmed her. It’s dead-center in his forehead. Can she make that shot?”
“Yeah,” I say, taking a deep breath to try to clear all of the thoughts running through my head. “She can.”
My phone rings. It’s Culver.
“Give me a sit rep now,” he says before I can say anything.
“Agent Laskin is dead—back room of the hotel spa. Agent Marsh isn’t here. Where’s her cellphone?”
“It’s showing in the hotel.”
“Butch,” I say, looking at him. He’s already slammed the man against the wall.
“Where’s her cellphone?” he yells, his pistol pressed firmly against the man’s head.
The man starts to reach into his pocket. Butch grabs his arm and pins it back to the wall. He reaches in the man’s pocket and pulls out a cellphone. He tosses it to me.
“We found her cellphone,” I say to Culver. “She’s not with it.”
I type in her passcode. The screen opens to an unsent text message to me.
I’m going to find my dad with Azayiz. She thinks he was in the Kalasha Valley at some point. Meet us there. Sorry I went without you. She can’t be taken back into U.S. custody. Watch my last video. I’ll call you as soon as I can. I love you.
“There’s a message from her. It says she’s going to find her dad,” I say to Culver. “Call Chase and see if he’s gotten any closer to where that might be.”
“JJ should be almost at the hotel. Get geared up and get to the airport,” Culver says. “I’ll have a helo meet you there.”
“Roger that.”
I grab the man from Butch. “If she’s dead, I’m coming back for you,” I say as I throw him to the ground.
As we head to the lobby, I watch the video. Her phone must have still been in her pocket because the picture is black, but the audio is clear. It’s a play-by-play of how Alex died. I fucking knew he was the one who gave up Azayiz’s position. I only hear two shots on the recording. Both sound like a .38, so Alex likely didn’t get any shots off before Millie took him down. I know she shot him in the leg to give him another chance to surrender. That pisses me off so badly. She knows better than that. If she’s alive, I’m definitely going to lecture her about taking a kill shot first.
As Butch and I get to the lobby, we see our team fully loaded standing outside waiting for us. The hotel manager rushes over to me.
“We did not agree to this! Please have them put their weapons away. They’re scaring our guests,” he says, tugging at my arm.
I grab him by his collar. “You have a dead body in your spa. Worry about that.”
He gasps as I push him roughly away.
“They have her cellphone tracked?” JJ says as we walk out to them. “No one here saw her leave.”
“You mean this cellphone?” I say as I grab a vest and rifle.
He pulls out his cellphone and shows me a map. “I put a GPS tracker on her leg holster before I packed it back in Virginia Beach because I knew she’d pull some high-maintenance shit like this. I’m guessing she’s wearing it?”
I nod. “Yeah. Where is she?”
“Not the strongest signal. Last ping I got was just this side of Peshawar. Looks like she might be headed north. That mean anything to you?”
“Yeah. That’s the way to the Kalasha Valley.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chase
Kalasha Valley, Pakistan
2020
“Are you sure they said it was that house?” I ask Raine as we peer at the house from behind a wall.
“I think. I don’t speak Kalasha. The one guy who spoke a little bit of Urdu said the American lived in this house. But I also gave him a big wad of cash, so there’s a really good chance he was lying.”
As I consider our options, one of my grandma’s sayings pops into my mind: “If you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.” In my current predicament, I figure I can replace the word “wise” with “dead.”
“Stay here, Raine,” I say as I start around the wall. “If anything happens to me, leave me here. Get to a satellite-friendly area and call Culver.”
When I get within fifty feet of the house, I see the butt of a rifle poke out through a window. All I can think about is how mad Mariel is going to be if I die. I stop, pull down the scarf from my face, and put my hands slowly in the air.
“My name is Chase Taylor. I’m looking for a man named Mack Marsh.”
There’s a long pause before I hear a familiar voice. “I know what your name is, dumbass. What I can’t figure out is how you found me.”
When I hear his voice—for the first time in nine years—a weird mixture of anger and relief rockets through my body. I put my arms down and watch in shock as the door opens and my best friend walks out. He still looks pretty much the same.
“I don’t know whether to kiss you or kill you,” I say as I put my pistol back in my waistband.
“Your choice,” Mack says, walking down the stairs. “But I’m definitely going to fight you on either one.”
I grab him into a hug. We stand there for a good minute, not saying anything. This is by far the longest hug we’ve ever shared.
“Please tell me Millie’s okay,” he finally says. I let him go and push him back roughly.
“What the fuck, Mack? How could you do this to her?” I say as my anger starts to rise. “How could you do this to me?”
Mack looks down. “You don’t know the whole story.”
“I actually think I do know it now, but frankly, it doesn’t come close to helping me understand. Do you have any idea what you did to her?”
“I saved her life.” Mack looks back up at me with his infamous glare.
I glare back at him. “You took away her life when you died—or disappeared or whatever the fuck you did. And you left me to pick up the pieces. What the fuck?”
Mack’s eyes shift quickly behind me. I turn to see Raine walking toward us—her hands in the air.
“Is she with you?” Mack asks.
“Yeah. Put your hands down, Raine.”
“What happened to Mariel?” Mack asks.
“She’s not my wife, asshole. She’s a CIA agent. By the way, so is your daughter. Do you even know that about her?”
Mack takes a step back. “What? Millie works for the CIA?”
“Yeah. So much for not wanting her in this life. You drove her right to it. Have you not even been keeping up with what she’s doing?”
“Do you see where I’m living? There’s no internet service up here. I haven’t had any news of her
or anything else since I left. Honestly, I haven’t really wanted to. It would have been too painful.”
I shake my head. “I thought I knew you better than anyone on earth, but I don’t get you at all right now.”
“Do you want to come in and let me explain?” he says, gesturing toward the house.
“There’s nothing you can say to me that’s going to help me understand but, yeah, we’ll come in.”
I step aside and motion Raine ahead of me. I take a quick look around before I follow them into the very small, two-room house.
“So what? You’ve been living in this shack for the past nine years?”
“Yeah.”
“How, Mack?” I say as I looks around at the sparse accommodations.
“You know it doesn’t take much to make me comfortable.” Mack pulls out a chair from the table for Raine to sit down. Raine smiles at him.
“My name is Raine. Millie is a close friend of mine. She’s told me all about you.”
Mack looks at her without blinking. “She talks about me?”
“Nonstop,” Raine says, declining the chair and moving back toward the door. “Although everything Chase said is true—Millie still loves you so much. You’re the only reason she did any of this over the past year. I’m going to give you two a chance to catch up. I’ll be outside.”
Mack looks back at me. “What did Millie do over the past year?”
“It’s too long of a story and we don’t have time right now. We have a SEAL team incoming. You need to get ready to move,” I say.
“What? What’s happening? How did you even know I was alive?”
“Millie found you. She’s in Islamabad right now looking for her aunt Azayiz, who I believe helped you escape.”
The Only Reason: A Novel (Trident Trilogy: Book Two) Page 16
