"You're not going to shoot me," Dominic said, but there was a trace of uncertainty in his voice. "Caroline, get the guard, for God's sake."
"Don't go,” he told Caroline. "You have one choice to get it right, and that choice is now."
"I'm sorry, Dominic," Caroline said.
"Tell me where Kara is," he ordered again.
"I don't know where she is. I don't know where Qadir is," Dominic said, pleading for him to understand. "None of this was supposed to happen, Max. This wasn't my plan. It was Hartford's. He's the one who started this."
"But Qadir came to you to finish it because he already had you in his pocket. You'd already sold your soul to him, and for what? To build a fucking bridge?" He shook his head in disgust, no longer seeing a strong, powerful, intelligent man in front of him but a weak, narcissistic coward.
"The people of Tajikistan need that bridge, that highway. I made a deal with him to protect important infrastructure and the people who would build it. I was never going to turn you over, Max, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I was going to use him until I didn't need him anymore." Dominic paused. "It's not like you weren't using me. You needed my money. You took that job so you could get back into Tajikistan, so you could keep hunting Qadir. So, don't act like I betrayed you."
"You're right. I took your job and your money, but I wasn't going to take your life." He shook his head. "I don't care about that anymore. Where is Qadir?"
"I told you I don't know. Do you think I'd be alive if I knew?"
Dominic made a good point. "What's Qadir's plan? Is he bombing the summit?"
"He won't be able to. I just told the organizers to cancel."
"Your new best friend won't like that."
"He's not my friend, and I'm not going to let hundreds of people die."
"Well, I don't think Qadir is going to leave empty-handed, so what's his backup plan?"
"How many times do I have to tell you I don't know?" Dominic asked wearily.
"You know something. There's no way he got into this country without some help."
Dominic stared back at him. "He demanded an extra cash payment three days ago. It was deposited in an offshore account."
There was something Dominic wasn't telling him. "And…"
"He contacted me when I was at the lodge yesterday. He told me he needed another payment, a cash drop in Manhattan. I sent one of my guys to take care of it."
"You knew he was here."
"I suspected, but I wasn't positive."
He didn't believe him for a second. Dominic had funded Qadir's trip to the US. "You have no idea what he's capable of. You think he's going to play by any rules you set up?"
"I've become aware of that," Dominic admitted. "And I would like nothing better than for you to catch him."
"Oh, I don't think you want me to catch him; you want me to kill him, so he can't turn you in."
"I told you, Max. I just thought I was buying protection in Tajikistan."
His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Seeing Tyler's name, he immediately answered. "Tyler, have you found her?"
"We tracked the van to an industrial area in Long Island City, near the waterfront. But there are a dozen warehouses in that area, and the van could have disappeared into any of them. I'm on my way there now, but if you can narrow anything down…"
Max looked at Dominic. "Long Island City? Does that mean anything to you? Do you own any warehouses in that area?"
"No, but Hartford had two buildings in that area."
That made perfect sense. Qadir had turned the tables on Hartford. They'd have access to his properties, his security codes.
