“You’re good, sweetheart. Get comfortable. We need to go over the plan.”
* * *
Nomar and Iget out of the Land Rover a few blocks from the market. The light blue burka is suffocating me. Long sleeves cover my hands, but I still twine my fingers together beneath the cape that flows from the top of my head almost down to my knees.
“Breathe,” Nomar says and squeezes just above my elbow. “In six hours—maybe less—we’ll be on the plane home. All of us.”
“You cannot promise that.” For the first time, I am grateful my eyes are covered. He cannot see my tears.
“I’m not leaving here without you.” He scans our surroundings every few steps. “Zephyr matched the wall behind Mateen to the house Raziq bought when he returned to Kabul. He’s on the top floor. From the shadows, wethinkwe even know what side of the building he’s on. Aazar gave us updated maps of the side streets, so we won’t get boxed in. We’ll have you out of there in twenty, thirty minutes. Tops.”
I wish I had his confidence. “But three men cannot fight more than a dozen.”
“We were three when we broke you, Mateen, and Joey out of Faruk’s compound. Men like him and Raziq think strength comes from numbers. But it doesn’t. We’re better trained, and we have something he’ll never have.”
“What is that?”
A smile plays at the corners of his lips, sad as it may be. “Love.”
* * *
A short burstof static comes through the tiny speaker in my ear. “In position on the roof,” Austin says. “Zephyr, is the feed working?”
“Got it. If facial recognition pings on Raziq or any of the assholes from Barcelona, we’ll know in seconds.”
“We’re in position,” Nomar says quietly. “Fuckhead better answer.”
He slips my phone from his pocket and punches in Raziq’s number. After two rings, the video call connects.
Mateen stands next to his uncle, chewing on his bottom lip and staring down at his feet. “Say hello to your mother,” Raziq says.
“Maman, come…home.” His little voice wobbles on each Dari word, and he peers up at Raziq with fear in his eyes.
“Very good, Mateen. Hamza will bring you a snack soon.” After a large man with short beard locks my son in his room, Raziq’s expression hardens. “My brother had a rather distinctive birthmark, Lisette. Where was it?”
“What?” I ask.
“I cannot see your face, woman. I need to know it is you under the burka. Answer me!”
“On h-his left hip. A crescent moon.” I shudder at the memory of all the nights I stared right at it while he forced himself on me.
Raziq nods. “Very good.” The phone vibrates, and the screen splits with a second video call. A woman in a black burka stands in front of a group of men, her head bowed. Philippe clings to her arm. “Stop right where you are and send Lisette to the stall thirty meters ahead of you selling spices and tea. When my men have secured her, the woman and the boy will be released.”
Nomar’s anger is a physical presence standing next to me. “I’m staying with her until I can verify Amelie and Philippe are unharmed.”
“If you take one more step, they will die,” Raziq says. He nods, and one of the men with Amelie lifts the hem of her cape. A belt with several black pouches wraps around her waist. Wires extend from each one.
A bomb?
“You fucking asshole. How do I know you won’t blow it anyway?” Nomar’s hand on my arm tightens, almost to the point of pain.
Chills break out over my skin at Raziq’s smile, despite the intense heat of the day. “You do not. I will send you the code to disarm the detonator once Lisette is here with me. I have people watching all the exits. If you or the man with the metal arm at the north end of the market try to leave at any time before then…well…you will have many deaths on your hands.”
Hot tears spill down my cheeks. Amelie must be so scared. I would die for Mateen. Iwilldie for Mateen. But I know he will live. His uncle will revere him, even if he is a murdering, abusive,putainwho turns my son into a killer. Amelie has no such reassurances. She is just a woman, after all. And women are of no value to him.
Nomar mutes the call and slips the phone into his chest pocket. “Lisette, look at me.” He frames my face with his hands, searching for my eyes through the light blue mesh. “This changes nothing. It might take us a little longer to get to you, but that’s all. Stay with Mateen as long as you can. Keep Raziq talking. Your earbud will cut out once you get too far from your phone, but as soon as we’re close to the house, you’ll hear me again. Okay?”
“My patience is wearing thin,” Raziq shouts.
