Page 41 of Dangerous Protocol

Isla began to wiggle and emitted a scared little whimpering sound.

“Sh-sh-sh. I’ve got you, honey.” And he never wanted to let her go.

His softly spoken words seemed to calm her, and she drifted back to sleep.

They made their way down the stairs to the main floor, where streams from multiple flashlights speared through the dark at varying angles, people bumped into each other as they tried to navigate the dark, and no one seemed to know what to do.

The chaos would’ve provided the perfect cover for them to dash across the hall until four individuals appeared through the darkness. Jeffrey recognized Nadim Al-Mansoori as one of them.

“Back, back,” he whispered and signaled for the team to hurry beneath the stairwell.

Mason, Wolf, and Jeffrey wedged themselves into the space, careful not to squish his daughter. Andi remained at the door, and time seemed to slow to a crawl until the voices passed by and she gave them the all-clear signal.

Assured the coast was clear, they swung the door open, hurried across to the final stairwell, and took it down to the basement. Mason locked the door behind them. There were no emergency lights in this part of the building, so, once again, they relied on their NVGs to make it safely back to the boiler room. They hurriedly restacked the crates against the door, and for added security, Mason and Wolf dragged a large storage tank in front of the crates.

“That should slow ’em down.” Wolf swiped his forearm across his brow.

“Assuming they even know about this room,” Mason said.

Andi ducked into the tunnel. Jeffrey secured his hold on his daughter and went in after her. Wolf and Mason took up position behind them.

“Let’s get the hell outta here.” She clicked on her flashlight, and they double-timed it through the tunnel untilthey saw moonlight streaming down the stairs ahead of them.

Andi hurried up the steps and moved to the door. She crouched down, scanned their surroundings, and signaled them forward. As soon as they all were clear of the doorway, she knelt down and tugged a detonator, some wires, and a small block of C4 from her vest. She squished the claylike explosive to soften it, molded it to the handrail at the top of the steps, then stabbed the metal tips of the detonation wires into the clay.

She turned to her team, gave a quick nod, and stood.

A simple press of her thumb on the remote detonator switch would trigger a controlled blast powerful enough to level the small structure—thereby blocking the stairwell—but not so powerful as to be heard this deep into the woods. Hopefully.

“I’ll stick with Andi,” Wolf said. “We’ll meet you back at the SUV.”

Jeffrey tapped his earpiece and spoke to his snipers. “We’re headed back to the vehicle.

“Excellent,” Viking said.

“How is she?” Calliope asked.

“Don’t know yet.” He checked his watch—four minutes until midnight. “See you back at the SUV.”

They ended their transmission, and he turned to Wolf and Andi.

“Be careful.” He trusted their skills and abilities, but there was always the potential for disaster when working with explosives.

“Always am,” Andi assured him as she took cover behind a large tree. “Now, go. Get your daughter away from here.”

He nodded, then he and Mason set off at a jog.

What mattered now was getting Isla far away from the embassy and getting her medically checked out. Once they were certain she was safe and that the drugs hadn’t caused any permanent damage, they would figure out a way to break the news to her that Jeffrey was her father.

Maya was trying very hard not to panic. Al-Mansoori expected a response from her in less than three minutes, and she still hadn’t heard from Jeffrey.

The phone rang in her hand. She fumbled it and it dropped onto the rug. She quickly snatched it up and tapped the screen. “Hello?”

“It’s Casey. They’ve got Isla, and she’s safe.” His tone was brisk, all business.

“Oh, thank God.” Relief swamped her system, and her knees gave out. She melted to the floor and landed on her butt.

“Are you okay?” Casey asked.

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