"You will regret this, Colonel."
"Perhaps I will, sir. But in the meantime I have my orders."
Narcisco looked at the rifles pointed at him and turned to the officers behind him. "Fall back and deploy the troops across the road," he said.
He stalked away toward his vehicle.
"That went well," Anderson said. "Lieutenant, sir."
Kroger laughed. "We'll let the politicians figure it out. In the meantime, I want your ideas on how we go in there without getting the hostages killed."
"Yes, sir," Anderson said.
"Get those gates open and vehicles ready to go in. If the shit hits the fan I don't want anything slowing us down."
CHAPTER 22
The taking of the embassy dominated the news. In Virginia, Elizabeth and Stephanie watched Selena reading Abu Sayyaf 's demands. Part of her team, in harm's way. They watched the hostage die.
"We have to help Nick find a way in," Elizabeth said.
Steph had put the plans of the American Embassy up on her monitor. The two women studied the image.
"Abu Sayyaf will be watching the ground floor," Elizabeth said. "I don't see how they can get in that way."
"Twelve hostiles," Stephanie said. "It's not enough to cover everything."
"The main focus has to be on the lower level."
Stephanie pointed at the plans. "Nick could get in from the roof. There's an access door and stairs to the top floor."
"That might work, but how do they get up there? There's no fire escape."
"That would be too easy, wouldn't it?"
"They could climb an outside wall." Elizabeth peered at the architectural drawings on the monitor. "There doesn't seem to be much they could use for footholds."
"The windows have blast grills over them," Stephanie said. "They can't get through those."
"The more I look at it," Elizabeth said, "it seems like the roof is the only way in. How about trees? Is there a tree they could climb to put them on the roof?"
Stephanie entered a few commands. An angled, overhead shot of the embassy grounds appeared on her monitor. She zoomed in.
"If they could get over to the opposite side of the building, there's a tree tall enough to get them onto the roof."
Elizabeth spoke into the comm link.
"Nick, do you copy?"
"Copy."
"It looks like there's only one way in. There's a tree on the south side of the building. You can climb it and get onto the roof. There's access up there."
"Copy. Climb the tree to the roof."
"It's the only way in," Harker said again.
"Copy. Out."
"Doesn't talk much, does he?" Steph said.
Elizabeth laughed.
CHAPTER 23
Selena watched Omar talking to a man carrying a heavy rifle with a telescopic sight. The man nodded. She was whispering to Nick when Omar looked her way. She stopped mid-sentence. Next to her, Ambassador Cathwaite leaned close.
"Who are you talking to?" Her voice was soft. She peered at Selena. "Is that an earpiece? You have an earpiece, don't you?"
"Yes. The rest of my team is outside."
"Your team?"
"It's a long story, Margaret."
"You, shut up." It was one of the men assigned to watch them. "No talk."
Selena took the ambassador's hand and squeezed it. The terrorist was a heavy set man with a scraggly beard and bad teeth. He looked at her, his eyes stripping away her clothes. He licked his lips and rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth.
It wasn't the first time a man had looked at her with desire. But this man's look was filled with more than lust. Selena could feel his eyes, clinging and sticky like summer heat on a humid day. It made her skin crawl.
"Selena." Nick's voice in her ear. "We're going to try and get in through the roof."
She coughed.
"Be ready," Nick said.
If only I wasn't stuck here, she thought. If I could get up to the roof I could let them in.
The terrorist was still looking at her. His AK hung from a strap over his right shoulder. His fingers moved restlessly against the cold metal of the receiver as he licked his lips again.
Selena raised her hand in the air.
"I have to use the toilet," she said.
"No toilet."
"Please." She moved on the floor as if in discomfort. It was suggestive, a movement someone with sex on his mind would think inviting.
"I really need to go," she said, her voice husky. "Can't you take me?"
Next to her, the ambassador whispered, "What are you doing?"
Selena ignored her. "Please?" she said again. She smiled at the man as she said it and moved her hand to her chest, under her breasts.
A crooked smile appeared on his face. "Come," he said. He gestured with his AK. Selena stood up.
"Where are you going?" Omar strode over.
"This one needs the toilet. She looks like she's getting ready to piss all over the floor."
Omar laughed. "Take her." He gave his man a careful look. "Don't be too long," he said.
"Come," the man said to Selena. He grabbed her arm with his left hand and pulled her toward the hall where the restrooms were. She made no resistance. The other hostages watched them go.
They went past the body of a dead Marine. Flies were buzzing over his open mouth. His eyes stared at the ceiling. Selena felt cold anger wash through her.
The restrooms were at the other end of a long hall, next to a staircase leading to the upper floors. The terrorist kept a grip on her arm and kicked open the door to the restroom with his foot. He pulled her inside the room after him.
"What's your name?" she said. She made her voice husky, inviting.
"Gibril." He licked his lips. His rifle pointed at the floor.
She moved close to him, smiling. Then she stomped down on his foot. Gibril wore sandals, but Selena had shoes with hard, flat heels. She felt the bones of his foot crunch under her shoe. Gibril howled in pain. Reflex made him double over and reach for his foot. Selena brought both her hands down on the back of his neck and brought her knee up under his chin. She heard bone crack. The rifle clattered against the tile floor and Gibril fell in a lifeless heap. She leaned over and felt for a pulse just to be sure.
The embassy had been built in a day when expensive materials were used for important buildings. The walls of the bathroom were thick stone, the door made of solid mahogany. It was like being in a soundproof room. No one outside would have heard Gibril yell.
Selena picked up the rifle. She pulled the bolt partway back to make sure it was charged. She flipped the safety off and cracked open the door. The hall was empty. She slipped out of the bathroom and started up the stairs to the roof.
CHAPTER 24
Nick and the others moved to the corner of the building and used the shrubbery between the back wall of the embassy and the Chancery as cover. They crawled past the blown out windows of the ballroom. Nick got a glimpse of the hostages sitting against a wall. He looked for Selena but didn't see her.
They made it to the south wall without being seen. The tree they needed to climb rose above the roof line. It looked like a short leap from the branches to the flat roof.
"Nick, where are you?" It was Selena's voice over the link.
"Getting ready to climb a tree."
"I'm free. There isn't much time before they know I'm gone. I'm heading to the roof."
"Got it," Nick said. "Meet you there."
Lamont had already started up the trunk with Ronnie right behind. Nick looked at the tree. The last time he'd climbed a tree, he'd been twelve years old. It was a big oak tree in their backyard. It was his refuge, the place he went to when his father came home drunk. If he could get out of the house without being noticed, he'd climb the tree and wait until the shouting stopped and his father passed out.