Page 87 of Zero Hour

“What about alternative access points?” Viper asked. “No way in hell those guys will walk through a front gate with an explosive device. They’ll find another way.”

Pat gave a grim nod. “Agreed. There are always blind spots—maintenance tunnels, loading docks, unsecured sections of the perimeter. We will be covering every weak point. Every available operator is being called in as we speak. Anyone trying to sneak in gets taken down.”

“Understood,” Viper said.

“Do we pull Phoenix and Cole off surveillance?” Blade asked, referring to the team monitoring the Falcon, his cousin, and the video gamers, Gemini.

“Yeah,” Pat confirmed. “Counterterrorism is stepping in. They’ll try to grab the Waheed brothers before they even get near the stadium. Al-Jabiri and Riad are priority targets. They move, we take them.”

The room was silent for a beat. The plan was as tight as they could make it, but Pat knew better than anyone, no op was seamless. They had to be ready for anything.

Back in thequiet of his office, Pat let his mind drift back to Jasmine. He’d been so busy, he hadn’t had a chance to check in with her like he’d promised.

Picking up his phone, he scrolled to her name and hit call. It went directly to voicemail. That was odd. She’d be keeping it on in case Al-Jabiri called her with ransom demands.

Maybe her battery had died. Worried, he called Ghost, who as expected, answered on the first ring. “It’s Pat,” he said without preamble. “Is Jasmine with you?”

“She’s sleeping, boss,” he said. “Said she needed to take a nap.”

Understandable.

“Her phone’s diverting to voicemail.”

“Oh? She said she was going to keep it next to her in case Falcon rang.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Go check on her, won’t you?” A bad feeling was gnawing at his gut. “I’ll hang on.”

“Copy that.”

He heard Ghost’s heavy footsteps going upstairs, and then a knock on the door.

“Jasmine?” the operator called.

No answer.

He heard Ghost call again. “Excuse me, ma’am. Is it okay if I come in?”

The door creaked open and then?—

“Fuck! She’s gone.”

Pat launched out of his chair. “What?”

“She’s gone boss. There’s nobody here.”

CHAPTER 33

“How the fuck did she get out?” Pat roared into the phone, his grip so tight his hand was aching.

“She went out the window,” came Ghost’s reply. “She said she was taking a nap, I didn’t think she’d run.”

He ground his jaw. “Neither did I.”

Fucking hell.

He’d sensed something was off this morning. Yesterday, Jasmine had insisted on staying. Today, she’d been itching to leave.

What changed?

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