Page 267 of Wild Mustang Security Firm

Thom was impressed. “Do we know these people? Can we trust them?”

“Probably. I need to call Ghazil. He has people there and I think that’s where the chopper came from. My guess is we can get the right jet without a lot of fanfare and park our chopper there safely.”

“I’ll arrange for a decoy jet and set up a false trail out of Monaco. You file the flight plan with the authorities using that jet and see if Ghazil can get us what we need.”

“We’ll need to find him first,” she said, kind of laughing. “I’ll call Zara.”

“No need. Ghazil is already with Noah and Zara.”

They fixed a quick cold supper from among the MREs stored in the kitchen, talking quietly through their plan until it felt solid. The only time Thom left her alone was just long enough for him to run a full security scan from the main system and to get everything ready for their hasty exit in the morning. Satisfied that their position was still secure, Thom returned to the bedroom where Avery was once more lying in bed, waiting for him.

The hesitance in her expression made him ask, “What is it?”

“What about Christian?”

He was pretty sure he already knew where this was headed. “What about him?”

“Do you believe him?”

Thom nodded, for all the good it did any of them. “I do. It’s the only thing that makes sense, and frankly, he risked a lot to get me out of there.”

“I agree. After I talked to Ghazil, who said the plane wouldn’t be an issue, by the way, he said that thanks to John, we’re now Sardinia’s most favorite clients. But both he and Zara expressed concern about Christian.”

“I don’t like the look in your eye,” he said, frowning. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we should go back to Fariq’s compound and get Christian, make the jump to Sardinia, and bug out to Wales and home. The jet Ghazil got us has the fuel capacity and it’s armed.” She leaned forward and took his hands in hers. “We can do this. I did a lot of damage to his compound…”

“I’m not sure you want to use that as an argument in your favor.”

“My point is he hasn’t had time to recover. Zara thinks it’s most likely that he’s boarded his yacht and is headed for the Mediterranean Sea.”

“Wouldn’t he have Christian with him?”

She shook her head. “Zara doesn’t think so and neither do I. Think about it. Either he trusts Christian and he wants him there to oversee reconstruction of the building and all of their systems or he won’t trust him at all. If he doesn’t trust him, then he’s going to want him far away, but where he can keep an eye on him.”

“There’s no way to know if he’s abandoned the compound…”

“But we can find out. We head for his compound. If we see his yacht in route, we’ll know we’re a go. If we see it at his compound, we’ll have to think about what we want to do. Why are you looking at me that way?”

“Did I not get through to you at all?”

“What do you mean?”

Exasperated, he shook his head. “You’re proposing that we take a single helicopter that is no longer fully armed, and we go in, just the two of us, guns blazing to get Christian. That strikes you as a good, sensible, risk-tolerant idea?”

“We’ll have the element of surprise. I guarantee,” she quipped, flashing a fake cheeky grin. “No one will expect us to do anything this stupid twice.”

“I did not spank you anywhere near long enough,” he marveled. He wasn’t entirely sure it was too late, either. When he swiveled around in bed to fully face her, she must have had the same thought because she edged back. Not quite far enough to be out of arm’s reach, but enough for him to notice. “Avery, do you know how many rounds of ammunition we have left? How many missiles?”

“About forty percent of the ammo and no missiles. But if it weren’t for Christian, I wouldn’t have known where you were.”

“I know, baby. And he’s Finn’s brother…”

“That too…”

“And lest you forget, your team, let me stressteamfor you yet again, agrees that we may have an opportunity to cripple Fariq permanently.”

She startled. “Wh-what do you mean? You guys agree with me?”

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