"I asked you a question."
"She's close by. She's waiting for you to save her. I told her you would try. She's feisty and brave, just like the other one. But you know what happened to her."
His finger tightened on the trigger at Qadir's taunting words, but he couldn't pull it, couldn't kill him—not yet.
Instead, he pulled Qadir to his feet and cuffed his hands behind his back. "Move."
Qadir didn't resist. That bothered Max on a lot of levels, because he wanted to believe he had the upper hand, that this was almost over, but he didn't think it was.
He spoke into the radio. "I have Qadir. He's taking me to Kara."
Tyler responded. "Rest of the building is clear."
"It's just you now," he told Qadir. "All your men are dead."
"Perhaps the ones who were still here when you arrived," Qadir said.
He bit down on his lip at that statement. He'd known all along Qadir had taken Kara to set him up, and as much as he wanted to shut him up, he needed to keep him alive until he could get Kara out of that vest and find out what the hell else was going on.
The silence was almost more terrifying than the gunfire, Kara thought. Had Qadir gotten away? Was everyone dead? Why was she still alone?
She glanced at the timer, hating to look, but knowing she had to. Twenty-one minutes and five seconds. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, saying a prayer, putting the images of everyone she loved into her head: her mom, her brother, her big, crazy family, the people she worked with…Max. His image stayed with her until she heard a crash.
Her eyes flew open as Max dragged Qadir through the now open door, his gun at his back. Tyler, Jason, and Alina, along with several SWAT officers, came in seconds behind them.
She was both happy and terrified to see them all.
Max shoved Qadir forward with the barrel of his gun. "Get her out of that," he ordered.
"I'm afraid that's not possible," Qadir replied with an evil calm.
"The hell it isn't. Disarm it. Now."
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Qadir's laugh was genuinely amused. "Look at the timer, Max. Nineteen minutes and counting. Kill me now, and she dies anyway. Along with everyone else."
A bomb technician came forward, squatting down next to her to inspect the device. His grim look told a terrible truth. "He's right. I can't disarm this without a code. And even without the timer, one wrong move, and it could detonate immediately."
A shocked hush filled the room. She wasn't as surprised as they were, because she'd had time to understand exactly what was happening. She could see the war playing out on Max's face—the desire to put a bullet in Qadir's head warring with the knowledge that her life depended on keeping the terrorist alive. It was exactly the position Qadir had wanted to put Max in, and she was simply the pawn. But she wasn't the only one.
"There's another bomb," she said quickly.
Max's jaw tightened as he met her gaze. "Where?"
"I'm guessing it's somewhere symbolic. Somewhere that would make the whole world watch."
"What the hell have you done?" Max gritted out, turning back to Qadir.
Qadir smirked. "The city is always so busy, the bridges packed with traffic, especially the Brooklyn Bridge. It's such a beautiful piece of American engineering, don't you think? Like the bridge your friend Dominic wants to build in my country, a bridge to show his American strength and power. But he doesn't have the power there, and you don't have the power here—I do."
She almost had to marvel at Qadir's confidence, but the sad fact was that he wasn't wrong.
"Son of a bitch," Tyler muttered, looking to Jason.
Jason turned to Alina. "Send everyone to the bridge. Start an evacuation."
"You'll never clear the bridge in time," Qadir said, making Alina pause by the door. "Only I can help you."
"What do you want?" Max demanded.
