I’m going to kill Raziq. Slowly. Painfully. For everything he’s done to her—and for making Mateen see his mother’s fear.
Austin jogs around a corner, Leo on his heels. “We doing this?”
“We’re doing this.” I meet Griff’s gaze. “Keep the kid safe. Leo? If anyone comes up the stairs, shoot them. Blow them up. I don’t give a fuck.”
“Chopper incoming,” Zephyr says over comms. “It’s eight minutes out.”
Eight minutes.
Austin and Darius take positions on either side of the door. They draw their Berettas and look over at me. “On three.”
I count it down, and Austin yanks on the handle.
Bright sunlight hits my face. Two fig trees in large pots sway in the gentle breeze. A metal railing surrounds an almost luxurious outdoor space, with a pair of shackles glinting in the sun.
A flash of brown to my left. I drop to my knee and fire, taking out one of Raziq’s men. His pistol bounces and tumbles through the slats of the railing. Austin’s rifle blast obliterates a second asshole’s face. One left.
“Lower your weapons or she dies!” Raziq shouts.
The three of us turn in unison. At the far corner of the roof, a set of steps leads up another ten feet to a large, empty space. We should have known it was a helipad. Every insane megalomaniac has one at their disposal.
Raziq presses himself to the corner of the railing, Lisette held in front of him. A dark bruise swells on her cheek. Another creeps up her neck. Raziq bands an arm around her waist. I can’t get a shot off. The man’s only an inch taller than she is. A few feet away, the last of his goons points an AK-47 at us.
“Not going to happen, asshole. Lisette goes free, or I’ll burn down the world—and you with it.”
Lisette mouths, “Mateen?”
I give her a tiny nod. Her shoulders slump. Tears shimmer on her cheeks.
“Shit!” Griff says over comms. “There’s a fucking elevator! We’re in trouble here. Sending the kid to you.”
Mateen slips through the door. Lisette screams, “No! Mateen, stay back!”
I catch the kid in one arm before he can run to his mother. On either side of me, Austin and Darius press closer, weapons still at the ready.
“Even better,” Raziq says, a gleeful edge to his voice. He wraps his hand around Lisette’s neck and squeezes. She struggles against his hold. Her cheeks turn red. “I will give you the woman. But my nephew comes with me.”
I take a step forward with Mateen held close. “I came here for LisetteandMateen.”
The dullwhomp, whomp, whompof rotors sounds from the east.
“You want to live? I’ll let you get into that helicopter. But Lisette goes free.”
“Mateen, come to me,” Raziq orders. “Or I will kill your mother.” I don’t have time to fire a shot. He shoves Lisette, bending her over the railing so her upper body dangles in the air.
She screams and struggles, her gaze locked on the ground so far below. Thin ropes bind her wrists. The only thing holding her in place? Raziq’s weight against her legs.
If he dies, she falls.
“Please, Nomar,” Lisette cries. “Take Mateen. He is all that matters.”
Raziq shakes her arm so hard, her head almost hits the railing. “If you do that, she dies,Nomar.”
The helicopter is almost here. Two minutes. Maybe three. Griff and Leo are still pinned down inside. Austin and Darius stand next to me. Their anger is a physical presence. As is mine. An energy that’s either going to save us, or kill us all.
Mateen’s arms wrap around my neck. “Help Maman,” he whispers in my ear. “Like you did before.”
God. How? I only have seconds. Raziq is at least thirty feet away. If I shoot him, she dies. If I hand over Mateen, we all die. Anything I say to Austin and Darius, he’ll hear.
