Page 89 of Zero Hour

He knew that, but he still didn’t like it.

"It was reckless. She should have talked to us first. We could’ve given her backup."

Blade shrugged. "The house is surrounded."

"Not by us." Pat’s voice was sharp. He didn’t trust CTD to make Jasmine their priority. Their mission was to take down Falcon and Buzzard, not to protect a hostage.

Anna’s radio crackled. Ghost’s voice came through. "CTD confirms Mrs. McCarthy arrived less than an hour ago. She got out of a cab and walked straight inside."

Pat swore under his breath.

Anna’s fingers flew over her keyboard. "She activated the bug. It’s online."

Blade exhaled. "Well, thank fuck for that."

Pat clenched his fists. "Patch the feed through to the boardroom." At least, thanks to Jasmine, they now had eyes and ears in the place.

“Patching through now.”

Even the six-feet-five Blade had to run to keep up. Pat swung open the door and stood in front of the screen, watching as Al-Jabiri faced off with Jasmine in the living room. She’d know they were watching. His heart swelled at what she’d done, even though he was pissed as hell.

“What do you want to do, Pat?” Blade asked. “We can ask CTD to extract her.”

He hesitated. “Not yet. Let’s monitor the situation and hope like hell he doesn’t harm her until we can safely get her out.”

Blade’s eyes darkened. "You know he’s gonna kill her. And the kid."

Pat didn’t blink. "I know." He raised a hand. "Listen."

Jasmine’s voice filled the room.

“Please, Amir. Have you no decency? He’s a child. Let him go. You’ve got me now. I told you I wouldn’t talk, and I haven’t. Do what you want to me but let Ryan go.”

Al-Jabiri’s voice was hard. “Stupid bitch. Do you really think I’m going to let him go so he can identify my men?”

A strangled sob. “Amir, please.”

There was a slapping sound as Al-Jabiri hit her.

Pat tensed. Motherfucker. His grip tightened on the edge of the table, barely restraining himself from launching something across the room.

Jasmine was sobbing now. “Patrick was right, you are a monster.”

He gave a bitter laugh.

“You shouldn’t listen to anything Patrick Burke says. If anyone’s a monster, it’s him. He and his men killed everyone in my compound, including the women,” he sneered. “Did he tell you that?”

Pat’s jaw locked.Here we fucking go.

“He told me you were running a terrorist training camp, teaching young men to kill innocent people.”

“Semantics,” he scoffed. “It depends which side you’re on. We were training to take out the enemy. Infidels that bomb our villages and destroy our way of life.”

“What about the people at the football stadium?” she asked. “What have they done?”

“Jesus,” hissed Blade. “She’s just told him we’re on to him.

Pat didn’t move. She’d either ruined everything or they were about to get a confession on tape.

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