Right on cue, the small flatbed truck crested the top of the loading ramp, carefully easing into the cargo hold. It had barely come to a stop before armed men slipped out of the gaps between several cargo containers, surrounding Bogdan’s vehicle.
Lennox dropped down to his belly atop the cargo container. There were four men that Lennox could see. Assuming there were more still hiding among the containers, it’d mean that Lennox and his Team would be outnumbered.
“The whole ship and dock area are clearing out,” Kyla said. “At least we won’t have to worry about innocent people getting in the way.”
Lennox imagined that Rybak probably had enough resources to get parts of the dock clear, and maybe with Fredrickson’s help, he could get the ship’s crew to leave, but thisseemed more like something Keller would do. Not that Keller was concerned about having innocent people around. It would simply mean fewer people to get rid of.
“You can step out of the vehicle now, Bogdan,” Keller said, stepping out of the shadows. “Carefully. With your hands in clear view.”
The driver’s side door opened slowly, and Bogdan stepped out. He walked toward Keller, hands raised to show he wasn’t carrying a weapon, his head moving left and right as he looked for Talia and Maria.
“Where are my daughter and her au pair?” Bogdan demanded.
Keller didn’t say a word as he closed the distance between him and Bogdan, then searched him for weapons.
“They’re both here,” Keller finally said after he finished and stepped back. “But they won’t be coming out until I confirm that you’ve brought what I want.”
At a gesture from their boss, several of the men slipped their assault rifles over their shoulders and jumped up on the back of the truck, quickly breaking into the wood crate with crowbars. A few moments later, they’d removed the top and front piece revealing a boxy-looking metal and plastic unit about the size of a set of bunk beds. LED touch screens and access panels covered most of the side facing Lennox.
A studious looking guy in glasses climbed into the back of the truck to get a closer look at the computer still packed in its foam within the remains of the box. The guy dug into the crate, checking out model and serial numbers and opening up various panels, humming in apparent happiness at what he found.
Off to the side, Bogdan waited impatiently. They’d been right about Keller wanting to look over the thing before allowing the exchange to go down. At one point, they’d considered not bringing the real genome sequencing computer, not wanting itto fall into Keller’s hands—especially when they didn’t know what he wanted to do with it. But if they’d done that and Keller’s computer expert had figured out it was a fake, Bogdan, Talia, and Maria would be dead.
Thankfully, the computer guy must have liked what he saw because he turned and gave Keller a nod before scrambling awkwardly down off the back of the truck and quickly disappearing into the shadowy stack of cargo containers.
“Okay, that doesn’t bode well,” Colt murmured over the radio from wherever he was hidden within the cargo hold. “That guy ran like he knows that the shit is about to hit the fan.”
Lennox silently agreed. He didn’t see anyone else moving into position but that didn’t mean much. There were so many dark corners in here, there could be dozens of bad guys in here and they wouldn’t know it.
“Darwin?” Lennox whispered into his radio. “Please tell me you and the others have made it onto the ship and are near the forward cargo hold. Things are about to get interesting in here.”
Nothing but silence met his query. Not even the double click through his earbud that indicated the guys were still underwater. To say that was bad was a drastic understatement. They needed Darwin and his Team to have any chance of getting out of this rescue alive. At least if it went the way Lennox expected.
Lennox could only think of one reason why Darwin and the other two SEALs weren’t answering the radio…and the possibility was devastating. He’d only known Darwin, Simon, and Kirk for a little while, but he already considered them good friends. If something had happened to them, it was going to hurt.
And while it seemed cold-blooded to even worry about something like the rescue mission at the same time he was thinking that his three Teammates might be dead, Lennox knewthat losing them also meant he and Colt were about to step into a fight with one hand tied behind their backs. There was a good chance none of them were making it off this ship alive.
“You have your computer,” Rybak said. “Now bring out my daughter and her au pair.”
Lennox tensed, pulling the MP5 tighter to his shoulder, flipping the safety off and letting his index finger move carefully to the trigger as he readied himself to start shooting the second anything looked like it was going bad.
Keller motioned with a hand toward one side of the cargo hold. Two men immediately stepped out of the shadows, holding Talia and Maria each by an arm.
“Daddy!” Maria shouted, trying to run to Bogdan only for the man to yank her back.
Talia struggled against the man holding her, reaching for the little girl, but she didn’t get any further than Maria had, yelping when she was jerked backward.
Lennox ground his jaw as he lined up the sights of his weapon with the man’s forehead, ready to kill the a-hole for hurting Talia. He didn’t realize his finger had started to tighten on the trigger until he heard the creak of metal on metal. Cursing silently, he got a grip on his raging anger and lightened the pressure he was putting on the trigger. But he stayed tense, ready to shoot if he had to.
Not knowing if Keller would let Talia and Maria walk away after the exchange, Lennox had been forced to leave this part of the plan rather vague. If Keller let Bogdan take Talia and Maria off the ship, Lennox and the other guys would wait until they were well away from the docks before making their move against Keller.
However, if Keller reneged on the deal—as everyone expected—Lennox and the others would have no choice but to put themselves into the middle of the situation, getting Talia,Maria, and Bogdan out any way they could. It would have been a crap situation even with Darwin, Simon, and Kirk available for backup. Without them, it was bordering on suicidal. But there was little else they could do.
“Release them,” Keller said with a benevolent gesture at the two men.
Maria darted forward like only a child could, throwing herself into her father’s arms and squeezing him tight. Talia moved a bit more cautiously, her eyes darting everywhere as if she thought Keller was going to change his mind about letting them go.
Lennox finally let himself start to relax when Bogdan placed a gentle hand on Talia’s shoulder, carefully turning her and Maria toward the gangway that would lead them out of the ship. A few more seconds and they’d be out of the line of fire.
