“I cannot possibly—”
“Son, they will kill you.”
“I know.”
“I cannot allow this.” Eddie handed him a handgun. “I am trusting you with my life now. You can fly, yes?”
The man nodded. “I have, yes.”
“Then you come with me.” Eddie motioned at Cera. “You protect her.”
They ran down to the boat and took it to Rincon. On the jeep ride from Rincon to the airstrip, Silas filled them in on what he knew about Qi Jia’s current operations, Lazzo’s journey, and everything else he’d overheard from Commander Boli. Eddie asked him about the numbers on the bottom of the sheet.
“Commander Boli wrote them down while on the radio with someone in Denver. He typed them into a computer before he left and then threw the paper away. I copied for you.”
What would he have typed into a computer? They aren’t a phone number. So what is— Then he knew. Coordinates. But for where? And for what purpose? There was only one possible answer. Wherever Boli is meeting Lazzo.
THIRTY-FIVE – Sneak Peak (Hayley)
I didn’t know how Flynn and I had made it across that open rock field. Considering all the action and gunfire in the valley, the snipers had to be watching for movement. Our crawling couldn’t have fooled them. Suddenly I felt like an idiot. Here I was acting almost like I wished they had fired at us—that they had hit us. What is wrong with you? Who cares why they didn’t? We’re still alive!
The bigger issue was Lazzo. I assumed he was dead—though it probably wasn’t safe to assume anything. Can he possibly still be alive? The soldiers had said the bounty on Lazzo depended on taking him alive. Maybe he is. But that last gunshot from the forest had sounded different. It had finality to it. Did Lazzo take his own life?
Again, it didn’t matter. We had to keep going. The troops were going to keep coming. Surely the Libyan commander had told them exactly where we were all heading—where the exchange was supposed to take place. We had to stay ahead of them.
Shortly before daylight, we arrived at the Penrose-Rosemont Reservoir at the base of Knights Peak. We had to be close to the exchange coordinates. As we skirted the south side of the reservoir, I noticed two boats patrolling the waters and knew there had to be more soldiers around. They had to know Lazzo had been taken—maybe even killed. But they were still looking for me. Using my binoculars, I found four groups of soldiers clustered around campfires along the eastern shore. I was finally starting to panic, and now it was Flynn’s turn to calm me down. I didn’t know where exactly we needed to go, but I did know the paratroopers would be closing in on us quickly in the daylight. We had a matter of hours before they were here—assuming they had waited until daylight to continue their search.
“Flynn, I don’t know where specifically this exchange is supposed to take place. Knight’s Peak isn’t exactly small and all Lazzo said was a lodge. I feel like we’re in the middle of a spider web with a thousand spiders crawling towards us. You and me…we’re no match for them.”
She appeared to be thinking over our dilemma. I knew she agreed with me, but in my panicked state one of us had to be the rational one—the strategist. “Say your brother is here or gets here and sees the same thing—all these soldiers coming together in one place—the spider web you referenced. He’s not going to walk right into the middle of it either. He’s going to try to find you without anyone else finding him.”
“Right. So where would Lazzo take me?”
“I don’t know if that’s the right question.”
“What do you mean?”
Flynn looked up towards Knight’s Peak. “First of all, this exchange spot probably wasn’t up to Lazzo. It would be somewhere they could see him coming though—where they could see anyone coming. So if Lazzo is working with someone—with the kidnappers, or whatever—wouldn’t he be meeting them first and then meeting Danny?”
“Okay, yeah… that would make sense.” I nodded.
“So it’s somewhere around here—somewhere elevated, if we’re right.”
“Somewhere up there.” I pointed up the mountain.
We didn’t have to look hard—or for long. Within the hour, jeeps were driving on the roads around the reservoir, all heading the same direction. A helicopter flew overhead and landed behind a large building on a plateau about a third of the way up Knights Peak. There. “Flynn, if that’s the Libyan commander—”
“We have to kill him.” She finished my sentence. The idea didn’t seem to bother her. Amazing what losing someone you love can do to your convictions.
We worked our way slowly up the side of the mountain. We were five hundred yards from the edge of the plateau now. I could see troops lining the ridge and could hear dogs barking. I knew more troops had to be sweeping in behind us. There was no doubt this building was where Lazzo was expected to bring me. I looked around for the best angle of approach. “I don’t know how we do this. There are too many guards.”
Flynn reached out and took my hand. “Then maybe we don’t.”
“But why are there so many troops? And why are they being so obvious?” It doesn’t make any sense. They have to know Danny is coming. Why would they want to scare him away?
“Hayley, maybe something happened.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know, but maybe they know Danny isn’t coming, and they’re waiting for you?”
“But then why would the commander be here?”
“We don’t know he is. That chopper could have had anyone in it. It could have been carrying a chicken and a pig.”
She was right. This could be a trap. This was where they’d told Danny to come, and he had to come or Reagan, Emily, and Abbey were dead. Danny didn’t have a choice. But I did. “Flynn, I can’t ask you to do this.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I could die here.”
“Then we both die here.”
I smiled sadly at her. Right now the two of us were alive and I could keep it that way by walking away from the hornet’s nest. But I couldn’t just let my brother walk into this. If I could kill the Libyan commander somehow, Danny wouldn’t have to turn himself in—or give Qi Jia the book. I could save everyone. I looked back up the hill and saw two soldiers working their way down the rocks in our general direction. I glanced back at Flynn and handed her my knife. “If anything happens to me, you tell them you’re Hayley. You tell them you’re Danny’s sister. Understand?”
She nodded. I took two arrows out of my quiver and stuck one into the ground at my feet. I loaded the other and took dead aim at the approaching soldiers—first at the one farthest from me. When I was certain they were out of sight from the men up on the ledge, I let the first arrow fly. It was a little off—a little low—from my intended target, but it still took him down instantly. He hit the ground with a thud, and his partner spun toward the sound. He saw the arrow sticking out of the other man’s chest and turned back toward me. I saw the terror on his face before the second arrow put him down—this time right through the head. Missed a little high that time. I should have practiced with this bow more. I heard Flynn mutter, “Wow,” but I was already on the move, another arrow pulled and loaded.