They raced past the barn and tennis courts and the headlights slashed through the thick grove of pines that separated the cottages from the broad lawns of the estate. Anneliës braked hard, the antilock brakes shuddered, and they came to a halt on the wet pavement of the small courtyard. Very deliberately, she took his hand and removed it from her arm. “Here we are,” she said with deadly calm.
Biddle looked out at the dark cottage, its shape suddenly squat and sinister. Wind whipped the trees. The courtyard felt foreboding, no longer a place under his domain. Not even a splinter of light escaped the cottage windows, but he felt the lurking presence of evil. It seemed so black and overwhelming that it might have been a dream, a hallucination induced by guilt and anxiety, or by the weather that seemed sent by God, Himself, as a warning.
Anneliës turned off the engine and climbed out into the gale. Biddle continued to sit, realizing that God had brought things to this impasse and stunned by how vulnerable he felt suddenly. After a moment he stepped out of the car. His mind was a jumble, but he registered the coldness of Anneliës’s expression.
“Raise your hands,” a heavily accented voice said from somewhere in the darkness.
Biddle stiffened. He knew the voice—the short terrorist, the one named Mohammed—but he did as the man ordered.
Anneliës stood a few feet away but did not raise her hands. “He is unarmed,” she said in a businesslike tone.
Mohammed stepped out of the trees, wearing a pair black night vision goggles and holding a small machine gun. He spoke softly into a small microphone at his collar, and a second later Biddle heard the cottage door open.
He turned to see the dark-skinned Arab, the one who appeared more African than Arab, studying him with his delicate, almost feminine eyes. The man’s face was scabbed and bandaged as if he’d been in a fight. He swung the door all the way open and waved Biddle inside. Biddle’s fear dissipated slightly as he moved toward the cottage, his mind seizing on the idea that he would be dealing with Abu Sayeed, a man far more civilized than his lackeys.
The moment he went through the door he noted the staleness in the air. It was the odor of dirty clothes, old food, and something else, an acrid stink that seemed a combination of anxiety and expectation. As soon as he smelled it, he found it contagious, and his fear rose back up in his gut. He cast his eyes around the room until they found Abu Sayeed, sitting peacefully in a chair beside the fireplace.
“Mr. Biddle,” the Saudi said with a casual wave of his long fingers. “How nice of you to grace us with your company.”
“Yes,” Biddle said, his throat so dry that his voice squeaked.
Abu Sayeed uttered an easy laugh. “I must admit you surprised me.” He gave Anneliës an unreadable glance. “I had started to think you would not come.”
Mohammed said something to Abu Sayeed in what sounded like Arabic, a question. When Abu Sayeed nodded, the man went back outside, closing the door behind him.
Now trapped in this tight space, Biddle felt his confidence ebbing. “I demand that you let my wife go immediately,” he said, but heard the hollowness in his words.
Abu Sayeed shrugged. “Regrettably, we will not be able to do that.”
Biddle shot another glance at Anneliës. “I thought we were partners.”
Abu Sayeed uttered a gentle laugh. “Please, Mr. Biddle.”
Biddle closed his eyes and took a breath to steady himself. “What do you intend to do with us?”
Abu Sayeed put his fingertips together and appeared to study their shape. He glanced at Anneliës. “It all comes down to endgames, does it not?”
“What are you talking about?”
Abu Sayeed frowned, seeming saddened by Biddle’s lack of understanding. He continued to stare at his fingertips. “You thought the silly Arabs would blow themselves up, while you would go on to your great victory.”
A wave of vertigo washed through Biddle, as though a bottomless chasm had opened at his feet. Of course Abu Sayeed should have followed the plan! He believed with all his heart that God had ordained it… but could he be mistaken?
He looked around the room, at the muted TV turned to an old movie, the plate of half-eaten dates beside the sink, a bowl of hummus on the table, the overflowing garbage can with an empty bag of Ruffles potato chips sitting on top. Suddenly, with a sense of abandonment so complete that it nearly buckled his knees, he realized he was alone. How had he miscalculated? Why was God forsaking him?
When he looked back at Abu Sayeed, his feigned pleasantry had dropped away and his dark eyes brimmed with malevolence. “You have been too condescending to see past your nose, Mr. Biddle. For such an intelligent man, your stupidity shocks me.”
He glanced toward the bedroom and snapped his fingers. The dark-skinned terrorist opened the door to show Biddle the sight of his wife bound and gagged on the bed. Faith’s head snapped up, eyes white with terror. Taped into a chair beside the bed sat Fred Wofford, his head hanging and his white shirt stained with blood. Biddle started to say something, but the man closed the door again then stood beside it with his arms folded across his chest.
Biddle’s heart thundered in his chest. His stomach roiled. He turned to Abu Sayeed ready to plead, barter, give him anything he wanted. “Please,” he said.
Abu Sayeed was smiling, as if the whole thing was a wonderful joke. “When I saw this wife of yours up close I feared our insurance policy would be of little value.”
“Let her go,” Biddle moaned.
“She is a filthy creature, foul mouthed and reeking of alcohol and tobacco. She does not honor you. I would not cross the street to save such a wife.”
“She lost God,” Biddle said. “She’s been wandering ever since.”
Abu Sayeed picked a piece of dirt from a fingernail. “A shame.” He glanced back toward the dark-skinned terrorist. “Kill her,” he said.
Biddle couldn’t seem to get enough oxygen in his lungs. Dear Father, he prayed silently, protect me in this hour of my need. His eyes darted to the front door.
Anneliës leaned against the wall beside it, her face a mask. If he could just get her between Abu Sayeed and himself, she would find a way to help him. He was sure of it.
He broke for the door, thinking he could jerk it open and run outside, through the hedge and toward the lights on his lawn. He had read somewhere that lights would blind night vision equipment.
The second he moved Anneliës came away from the wall, but instead of helping, she stepped directly in his path.
He tried to dodge around her, but her foot lashed out, catching him in the side of the leg. Pain wracked him as his knee buckled. He hit the floor hard and lay stunned with Anneliës’s feet just inches away. After a second she turned and went back to the wall. Biddle raised his head, but her expression was like stone.
Abu Sayeed laughed gently. “Mr. Biddle, did you never guess that she was in my employ? You never suspected?”
Biddle could feel his anger and hurt painted on his face. That instant if he had a gun, he would forsake his great mission and kill Abu Sayeed. He would kill all of them. Only, he had nothing. He had come utterly unprepared. How could he have been so arrogant? Father, he started to pray yet again, protect me in this hour of my—He didn’t finish. Outside the cottage a roar erupted, sounding like a big gust of wind, only louder. Anneliës jerked the door open, and Biddle saw the reflection of towering flames dancing wildly in the courtyard. Praise the Lord, his heart rejoiced. He delivereth me!
FIFTY-NINE
OYSTER BAY, NY, JULY 2
BRENT TENSED AS THE WIND whipped his hair and a fresh peal of thunder ripped the sky. The rain would resume any second. He was in position, but the backlit face on his watch showed he was several minutes early. He lay flat in a shallow depression beneath some thick azaleas, his clothing soaked by the wet ground, his nose filled with the scent of fresh mulch. He was pretty sure the bushes would screen him, even from someone wearing night vision goggles.