Page 93 of Good Enough

“The date the email was sent doesn’t match the date on the actual email,” Midas affirmed.

“No, but the numbers are so close that even if someone looked at them both, they probably wouldn’t see it right away. Our brains autocorrect a lot of errors for us. Plus, if all of his information is backward, that means the numbers will be as well.”

“Box 417. The combination will be 22-31-21 to get inside.”

“Yes. But what the hell could he send me that was so important that he’s basically erased, and now I’m in danger?”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Waters redirected his attention to Midas on the computer screen. “Midas, can you use your voodoo to figure out where Ka-Bar was when he sent that email?”

“Does the Pope’s funny hat have a cross on it? Why do people keep asking me if I can do things that a child could do?”

“Cheeky,” warned Waters. “If nothing else, that could give us another point of origin to try and locate him.”

“I already did it while you were talking. He didn’t even try to hide the IP address. He was at a coffee bar in Cairo, just down the street from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. He actually used his credit card to pay for the internet time at the cafe. He wanted us to know where he was.”

Midas acknowledged, “There was the first breadcrumb, which is why we had such trouble finding one initially.”

Kai turned to Waters. “He knew he was in trouble, and we’d need to come find him,” she whispered. “Oh my God, Waters, it's been almost four months.” Her face dropped into her hands. “I’ve killed him.”

Waters slipped out of his chair and kneeled beside her. “Kubrick. Stop it right now. We don’t know what kind of trouble he was in. He could be in hiding. All we know is that he walked out of that embassy to this cafe, sent you this message, and then disappeared. There are far too many options of what could have happened after that to assume anything.”

His hands reached up to take hers away from her face. “Kubrick. Baby, look at me.” Tears were running down her cheeks, and the devastation in her eyes was breaking his heart. “Your brother is one of the best at what he does. Men like us, we’ve got exit contacts all over the globe we can reach out to, and for him, Cairo would be a perfect choice since you lived there at one time, plus he was stationed there. He would have had money stashed where he could get to it. Weapons. Burner phones. Supplies. Possibly even passports under fake I.D.s that could at least pass muster to get him through border checkpoints and even smaller airports if he couldn’t get to his initial contact. And even if he can’t access those things, he would have additional contacts like Jacques who could help him. If he struck out there, he would have contingencies. He didn’t get to be the best without those things. If we’re really lucky, he’s hiding out in a bolt-hole he’s got somewhere.”

“Logically, I know you’re right, but it’s still terrifying that somehow he got caught, or killed, or—”

“Kubrick! You cannot let panic take over. It won’t help him or us. All it’s going to do is raise your blood pressure. Breathe. We will find him. It might not be today, but I sincerely doubt he’s dead. Whatever he sent you is too important to them to do that. They won’t dare do that until they know they have it because he’s the only person one hundred percent sure where he hid it. If they kill him, it’s possible their only source of information disappears, and with it, the hope of recovering what they’re looking for. Trust me, okay?”

“I’ve always trusted you.”

“And that’s the greatest thing in the world to me,” he admitted with a smile. “Steel is going to collect whatever he sent you. He won’t let anyone get to it. We will protect it so that no one can. Then we’ll find Ka-Bar and bring him home.”

Kai threw her arms around Waters’ neck, clutching at him like a woman drowning. “I love you,” she sobbed.

34

APRIL 8TH

Waters

He flinched as if a bullet had struck him through body armor. He couldn’t help it.

Did she say what I think she said?

His hands were on her forearms, pulling her stranglehold from him. Out of the corner of her eye, he registered that her computer screen had gone completely dark. Midas heard her admission and was politely cutting everyone else from the moment.

I owe that man a lot of tequila.

Her arms went limp, her eyes on the floor. She was too embarrassed to face him.

Both of his hands reached up to Kubrick’s face. It felt like there was a slight tremor in them as they brushed stray hairs back behind her ears. The silence was deafening as they continued to caress her face, his fingers tracing the lines of her furrowed forehead, the cheekbones flushed red with her admission, the tense lines of her jaw as she ground her teeth in embarrassment, and the seam in the frown of her lips. The same hands framed her face between the palms, his thumbs brushing away the tears falling from her eyes. “Kubrick,” he exhaled. “Kubrick, look at me.”

She closed her eyes and turned her head.

His hands turned her face back to him, but she refused to open her eyes. “Kubrick, please,” he begged.

Her tears came harder, afraid to hear his protests to her confession. And her tears were his undoing. He’d only seen Kubrick this defeated once before, and it twisted his insides today as much as it had that day before they left for Roatán. No, worse this time, because these tears she was shedding were over him and something he’d said at one time and no longer meant.

No, the truth is I never meant them. I used them like a shield to keep my heart from breaking if something were to happen to her. And it no longer matters what God thinks. I can’t stop this, even if I tried. Even if I wanted to. Come what may.

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