Page 236 of Whisper
Outside the warehouse, a dark older model SUV was parked in the shadows by the warehouse’s side freight doors. Two silhouettes within were carved in the light of the SUV’s headlights.
One standing, a holstered gun on his hip, gesturing as he spoke. Ryan. He gritted his teeth, tried to breathe through the surge of rage.
One kneeling, his hands behind his back, like he was cuffed. Dawood?
Another figure lay on the ground, still, unmoving. His throat clenched. Dan? Was he too late?
Muffled voices carried on a soft conversation, punctuated by harsh laughter that grated down Kris’s spine.
Time to end this. Time to confront Ryan. He eyeballed the inside of the warehouse over the edge of the broken window. Ryan had his back to the SUV, to the freight doors. That was his breach point, keeping to the shadows as he slipped in.
Kris moved, and then waited at the edge of the doors, listening to Dawood’s voice.
“The death toll will be astronomical. This will ignite a fury that cannot be contained, that cannot be controlled. You will unleash hatred and wrath on the world, and all for what? Alie?”
“It’s not a lie. It’s a revelation. It’s showing the world exactly what you truly are. Your Quran, your hadith. Your jihadi brothers, your ISIS fighters, theybegfor this, for the apocalypse, for the end of the world. They beg to meet their God.”
Kris’s blood turned to ice, freezing solid in his veins. A thousand spiders tap danced down his spine, the pitter patter of pure terror.
Thatwasn’tRyan’s voice.
“I’m just giving your kind exactly what they want. A holy war, and the apocalypse. The end times. It just won’t turn out the way they want.”
“You have become what you hate,” Dawood said. “You have become exactly what you hate.”
Kris felt every beat of his heart, heard the rush of blood in his veins. His thoughts tumbled, swirled, coalesced.
Truth stared him in the face, at last.
Hedidn’tcall Ryan. Everything he said, it was alie.
I gave up Dawood,rightinto his hands.
He covered his tracks, threw suspicion off him, from themomentI brought Dawood’s confession to him.
Straight tohim, the mole.
“And you don’t understand. We will always win.Iwill always win.” Laughter, suddenly so familiar to Kris, a laugh he’d heard hundreds of times over the years, a laugh he’d come to rely on, a sound he’d set the compass of his heart to when all his moorings had come undone. “I already have won. Especially where it really matters.”
“You’re going to break his heart.”
“I’m going to hold him close and kiss away his tears when he mourns the memory of who you were. When he rages against what you became, and what atrocities you are about to commit. He’s going to give his heart to me.”
Fury crackled through Kris. How long had he been played? How long had this been going on? How blind had he been? His vision swam, narrowing until all he saw was the dark silhouette before him, the shape of a man, a shadow outlined in headlights. The back of a head, the very center.
Where he’d put his bullet.
He pushed forward, striding out of the shadows as he raised his weapon. “Dan.Freeze, you son of a bitch!Hands up!”
Dan gasped. He could hear it, in the stillness of the warehouse, Dan’s quick little inhale. He kept his back to Kris and raised his hands, slowly.
Beyond Dan, Dawood kneeled on the ground, hands behind his back. A trail of tears glittered off his cheeks. “Habibi—” he started.
“Shut up!” Dan growled. “Suspects don’t get to speak!”
Kris advanced, digging the barrel of his gun into the back of Dan’s head. “Take your own advice, Dan. I will pull thisfuckingtrigger if you move one single muscle.”
“Kris—”
