Page 34 of Hayes
“Do you have any idea what my country has been through? Do you understand what my people have been subjected to?”
“No. I can’t honestly say I know it all. I know what I’ve read, what I’ve researched, but I don’t know it all. What I do know is that violence begets violence. Either the Voodoo Guardians will come for you, or the Iraqi government will. It won’t matter who. You won’t survive.”
“You know nothing of my abilities.”
“And you know nothing of mine. I don’t know about communications systems, or flight systems, or anything else. I’m a schoolteacher. Yes, I teach math, but I teach middle-school geometry.”
“You’re lying,” he said, staring at her.
“I’m not lying,” she said stoically. “I can talk about angles and parallelograms and hexagons. But that’s all.”
“You’d better hope that’s not true, or you’re going to wish you’d paid more attention in class.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Hayes and the others stood in the private room of the bodyguard who had survived. He was just waking from his second surgery and in and out of consciousness.
“My apologies,” he whispered, staring at Hayes.
“It’s not your fault. I’m so sorry this happened to you,” he said, staring at the man, obviously in pain. “Did you see the men?”
“Yes. It was Aamani. I know his face. The man who knocked on the door was dressed in a palace guard’s uniform. When my colleague opened the door, they began firing.”
“Was Victoria hurt?” asked Mo.
“No. No, sir,” he said, shaking his head. “I ordered her to lock herself in the bedroom closet, but I think they found her.”
“They found her,” frowned Luke. “We’re tracking her whereabouts now, and hopefully, we’ll have a lead on her location. Once we have that, we’re tracking him down and killing him.”
“I have notified the Iraqi government of what has transpired here,” said Omar.
“Was that wise?” asked Hayes. “No disrespect, sir, but what if they go after him and don’t care if they harm Victoria?”
“I have told them that the girl is important to me and my family. If harm should come to her, it would be seen as a grievous error and insult to my family. She will be alright. But they also know that I intend to send in my own team.”
“All of us?” asked Eric to be sure he was following.
“Yes. All of you, my friends. I will send extra men with you, provide weapons and transportation should you need it, although I doubt that you will.”
“Sheikh Omar, you’ve been generous and kind,” said Hayes. “I’m sorry we brought this to your doorstep.”
“My son,” he smiled, gripping Hayes’ shoulder, “your fiancée enchanted me the moment I met her. Such a rare jewel should be treasured.”
“That’s my intention, sir. I just have to get to her.”
“Everyone, listen up,” said Hiro, “AJ and I have followed her tracker for the last hour. It’s been intermittent, going in and out, which isn’t normal. The trackers should work even at two hundred feet below sea level. That means she could be at that depth or deeper.”
“Okay, so where could that be?” asked Cam.
“Your thoughts on the market were right. In biblical times, the sea level in that area was lower. Over time, sandstorms, climate change, constant construction, all of those things have built up what is considered sea level. I think they are walking through biblical tunnels.”
“Where do they go?” asked Luke.
“I believe I can help with that,”said Matthew.
“Grandpa?” asked Luke. The men all stared at him, wondering how in the world Matthew could possibly know where Aaman would take Victoria.
“Just listen to me. The ancient city of Ur was located on the Euphrates River in what is now southern Iraq. Its ruins can be found near Nasiriyah. There were legends that said Abraham and others built underground roadways to help themget to the rivers. Those roadways could still exist in the form of tunnels.”
