Page 43 of Rush

“Keep an eye on him,” said Ian. They all nodded, following the others out into the street. In the plaza, there were considerably less people milling about. It appeared it was only tourists and the occasional local person just passing through.

As the men split up and wandered the blocks around the Hagia Sophia, Noah spotted the two women who had been with Caroline’s group the morning they saw them at breakfast.

“Hello,” he said, standing near them. “I’m Rush, Caroline’s fiancé.”

“Yes! Oh, my gosh, is she okay?” asked one of the women.

“Yes, she’s wonderful. She’s back home now because someone threatened her. She’s safe. Is something wrong? Has someone threatened you?”

“No, not us,” said the girl. “I’m Toni, and this is Gail. We went with the others the other day to Varna. While we were there, the girls wanted to split off and go shopping, and the guys were going to do some sightseeing. But they never met us back at the hotel. We’ve been trying to call them, but they don’t answer.”

“Did you report this to the authorities?” asked Eric, standing behind him.

“We did. They said they probably came back here. So, we came back and asked our supervisor on the zoo project. He said they hadn’t reported in to him. Yesterday, we received a note at the hotel that said we should come here to meet a man that knew where they were.”

“You need to leave,” said Rush. “Now.”

“What? No! We have to find our friends,” said Gail.

“We’ll find your friends. You need to leave this plaza and this country as soon as you can. Trust me in this,” he said.

“What time were you meeting this man?” asked Eric.

“Eleven. We’re more than an hour early, but we wanted to be sure we knew where we were going.” Eric waved over Rafe and Baptiste.

“My friends are going to get you to your hotel and then to the airport,” said Eric. “Do whatever they say, and you’ll be fine. We’re going to find your friends.”

“This is crazy! We can’t leave, or we won’t get credit for this work,” said Toni.

“We’ll take care of that as well,” said Rush. “Please, for your own safety, go with these two men, and they’ll make sure you get home.”

“Okay,” they said, nodding.

“How were you supposed to know these men?” asked Rush.

“They told us to meet them on the bench in the corner over there by the carpet vendor. He said to sit on the bench, face the mosque, and a man named Erzi would take us to our friends.”

“Thank you,” said Rush. “We’ll take it from here.” As Rafe and Baptiste guided the two women to a taxi toward their hotel, the others were listening intently on comms.

“He’ll be looking for two women,” said Eric.

“I know, and there’s not one of us that looks like a woman,” frowned Rush. “Maybe we can ask someone to just have a seat on the bench and wait, hoping they’ll approach them.”

“Maybe,” nodded Eric. “Everyone spread out. Find two women in Western attire. Offer them five hundred dollars to just sit on the bench until a man approaches them. When the man does, tell them they should get up and walk away. Let’s move.”

For thirty minutes, they casually approached women, asking one simple favor. Would you please sit on the bench and wait. You would have thought they were asking them to have their baby. In some cases, the women would have been happier with that.

“Any luck?” asked Rush.

“Well, if it counts, I had three marriage proposals, five proposals for a nice roll in the hay, one offer of a blow job, and an offer to do something with handcuffs and glass balls. I didn’t ask,” said Red.

“Shit,” muttered Rush. “We’re running out of time.”

They scanned the plaza, now getting more crowded, and looked toward the bench. There was a woman seated, her legs crossed. Her long dark hair was down her back, a scarf covering the top of her head and tied around her neck. She didn’t appear to be terribly attractive, but she might do.

“Who got the woman?” asked Rush. “Anyone? Who knows who that is?”

“Stop yelling,” said Trak. “I hear you loud and clear.” They all turned and stared. Holy shit!

---