She sat there a moment, feeling no remorse, no hesitance. And why should she? This, like most things in her life, was merely business.
What she felt was relief.
Setting her briefcase on the table, she retrieved one of the three mobile phones she carried. A burner, like the others, obtained specifically in case she needed to make this call. Once she was finished, the phone would be destroyed.
She punched in a number, waited. Then a voice said, “Yes?”
“Authentication: theta omega seven theta two two tau alpha nine.”
“Recognized.”
“We’re a go,” she said. “Send her.”
“Understood.”
The line went dead.
Chapter Nine
They flew east on one of Stonewell’s private jets. Alex tried to sleep for the first few hours, but finally gave up and stared out the window into the darkness.
She had to admit that the plan, as laid out by McElroy with details filled in by Fazakas, was well thought out. That didn’t mean it would be easy or even successful. More like risky and beyond dangerous.
And yet, possible.
El-Hashim had better know something about my father. Because if she doesn’t, I’m going to make McElroy’s life a living—
“Thirsty?”
She twisted around, startled by the voice.
Cooper was standing in the aisle next to her seat, a small bottle in his hand. “I assume you still like orange juice.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Thanks.”
She took the bottle from him and unsealed the top, as he gestured toward the empty seat across the aisle from her. “You mind?”
She shook her head.
He plopped down, and set the small duffel bag he was carrying on his lap. From inside, he removed a blue booklet and handed it to her. “Your new identity.”
It was a passport. Canadian. Roughed up a bit to not look new.
She opened it and found the picture that had been taken after the briefing staring back at her. The name next to the picture was Powell, Maureen.
She flipped through the pages and saw that Maureen had made trips to Mexico and the UK.
“It’s completely valid,” he said. “If anyone runs it, they’ll find you.”
She stuffed it into her pocket.
Next out of the duffel came a white envelope, which he tossed to her.
“Cash. Enough to get you where you’re going. The local currency is the hryvnia. It’s good in both the Ukraine and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.”
“What about Romania?” The plan was to cross from there on land into Ukraine.
“There’s a few lei in there, too. But you won’t be there very long.”
She checked the envelope, and nodded.
“You’re clear on everything?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said.
“Any questions?”
Just a million, she thought, but said, “I think I’m good.”
“Deuce and I will be no more than a couple miles away from you at all times.”
“I know,” she said.
Cooper was trying to put her at ease, but it wasn’t exactly comforting. Once Alex was behind the prison’s walls, she’d be on her own until she got out again.
“Look, Alex,” Cooper said, as if sensing her concern. “If at any point you want to call things off, even if you’re already inside, then do it. Don’t worry about the target, just get yourself out.”
“Yeah, McElroy would love that.”
“I’ll worry about that asshole. You just worry about you.”
“Not very corporate of you.”
“I’m not a very corporate kind of guy.”
“And yet, here you are working for them. How long now?”
He hesitated. “Three years.”
“Three years. Wow.”
“I had to land somewhere after I got out.”
Just the hint of his time in the army was enough to quiet them.
It was nearly a full minute before he said, “I, um, I wish it had gone differently.”
“Don’t,” she said quickly.
“You don’t know how many times I’ve thought about it, what I could have done.”
“Let’s not talk about this.”
He turned to face her. “The thing is, as much as I wish it hadn’t happened the way it did, I did the only thing I could.”
She turned to the window and looked out at the night sky again, trying not to think about that day, trying not to think about anything at all.
“Alex, please.”
She didn’t move.
After several more minutes, she heard him get up and head toward the back of the plane.
She closed her eyes, the tension easing from her shoulders.
He was right. She had undoubtedly thought about it as much as he had, if not more, and she knew in her head there was nothing he could have done differently.
Her heart, though, was having a hard time buying it, because it was her heart that had taken the blow that day.
Stop thinking about it.
But she’d already started.
It had been a simple resupply convoy, their platoon a tactical movement team escorting the vehicles — in this case, a handful of fuel trucks.
Once they got them to Baghdad, they were scheduled for a day off. Everyone was looking forward to that. Just one day when they didn’t have to worry about IEDs or snipers.
Hot. Dry. Sand pitting their skin even as they sat inside their MRAP Cougars. The platoon was divided among eight of the armored fighting vehicles, which were then peppered throughout the convoy. Alex was in a vehicle near the rear, manning the roof-mounted gun turret.
She saw the flash of the explosion a split second before the sound ripped down the road past her vehicle.
“Halt! Halt! Halt!” a voice yelled over the radio unnecessarily.
While the fuel trucks had all slammed to a stop, the Cougars moved into positions where they could get a better look around. The MRAP Alex was in rocked as it drove off the road into an empty lot. From the turret, she could see that the Cougar at the head of the convoy was sitting at an angle, blackened by fire.
But the MRAP was a tough machine that had stood up more times than not to IEDs without killing its occupants, a far cry from the army’s early days in Iraq, so Alex was confident her friends inside were okay.
Most IEDs were set off remotely by an individual hiding somewhere nearby, but the platoon couldn’t discount the possibility of a full-on ambush, so Alex swung around, searching for movement.
The second explosion came from the middle of the convoy, sending the cab of a fuel truck fifteen feet into the air.
A third explosion toppled another truck on its side, spilling its cargo onto the road, where it immediately caught fire in a loud whoosh.
“Everyone, get moving! Now! Now! Now! Keep going.”
The orders were transmitted by Cooper, the convoy commander. It was obvious they had fallen into a massive trap, and who knew how many more explosive devices were waiting to be set off.
Engines roared and gears grinded as the convoy started moving again.
The next explosion sent shrapnel flying through the air, dinging up the back of one of the fuel trucks and cracking a window on one of the MRAPs, but not disabling it.
Alex’s Cougar hung back to cover the rear as the convoy shoved its way around the two trucks that had taken direct hits. The only vehicle that seemed to be having problems was the MRAP involved in the initial explosion. While Sanchez, the vehicle’s driver, reported that his men were okay, he couldn’t get the engine running.
As soon as the rest of the convoy had cleared Sanchez’s vehicle, Bryant, the man in charge of Alex’s Cougar, said over the radio, “Poe, keep a keen eye.”