Page 57 of Dangerous Protocol

Mouth agape, eyes wide, Adnan looked down at the knife still clutched in his old friend’s hand. His disbelieving gaze lifted to Nadim’s face, his eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the ground.

People started screaming and running all over the place. Some lifted their phones to capture video of what would likely be a very newsworthy event.

Al-Mansoori looked down in horror at Bashar, then at his hand—red with his friend’s blood. He slowly uncurled his grip on the dagger, and it slid from his slick palm.

As if in slow motion, it fell end-over-end until the tip of the blade hit the ground and a small piece snapped off. The dagger bounced once before coming down hard onto the concrete. A bright green emerald and a brilliant blue sapphire were jarred loose and ended up stuck in the blood pooling next to Bashar’s body.

In a flash of intense fury, Jeffrey dove into Nadim and tackled him to the ground. Al-Mansoori made no effort to resist as Jeffrey flipped him over and secured his wrists behind his back. He simply stared across the concrete at Bashar’s lifeless eyes.

“Viking and Calliope, head to the rendezvous point.” Jeffrey straddled his back.

“Yes, sir,” Viking said.

“You got it.” Calliope added, “I’ll update Andi.”

“Get up.” Wolf charged over and clenched his long fingers around one of Al-Mansoori’s elbows and jerked him up from the ground.

Mason got a tight grip on his other arm, and they led him to where they had parked an SUV nearby earlier.

As they walked away, Al-Mansoori looked back at his friend only once, then started shouting about having diplomatic immunity.

Maya and Jeffrey knelt down next to Bashar. She checked his pulse and shook her head.

“He saved my life.” She stared at the dagger next to his body.

“Actually, I think he was saving his friend’s life.” Jeffrey didn’t care why he did what he did. He was just thankful Maya wasn’t hurt or worse.

Jeffrey turned and wrapped her in his arms. He squeezed her tight for a moment, then held her at arm’s length.

“Are you all right? Did he cut you?” He looked her over, held her arms out to check her torso.

“I’m fine,” she said, but he continued looking for injuries. “Jeffrey.” She set a hand on either side of his face and looked directly at him. “I’m fine.”

“Thank God.” He pulled her back into a hug.

“We’re beginning to draw a crowd.” She looked over his shoulder at all of the people gawking at what was happening at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.

Several Capitol Police were running over, ready to set up a perimeter and keep the crowds back. A few minutes later, two EMTs were allowed through, and they jogged over with a gurney.

“We’ll take it from here,” the older one said.

They checked Bashar’s vitals and began CPR, but it was too late. They lowered the gurney to set him on it, covered him completely with a blanket, and wheeled him away.

One of the police officers asked Jeffrey and Maya for their identification.

He pulled out his NSA credentials and handed them over. Maya didn’t have any on her. Even if she had, it would’ve been for Mary Jenkins, her alias.

“Here ya go, sir.” The young officer returned his identification to him. “Chief gave us a heads-up about this, so we’ll take it from here.”

He thanked them and laced his fingers with Maya’s. “Let’s go home.”

Things hadn’t gone as planned, and Al-Mansoori now had even more reasons to come after her. But right now, all she wanted to do was get the hell away from here, see their little girl, and take a hot shower. Preferably with Jeffrey.

EPILOGUE

“Dad, do you havemy homework?” Isla called down over the balcony.

“Why would I have your homework?” Jeffrey chuckled and shook his head as he continued to pack her lunch for school. “Check your backpack.”

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