“No, sir, just that your priorities have changed.” I liked that he wasn’t afraid to challenge me. “Judging by just how calm you appear, you’d probably kill Kabir with your bare hands the second you see him.” His brow went up, telling me he’d learned to read me like a book.
“Details?” I questioned, smirking.
“Kabir knows your reach and plans to take Mikaela out of the country. He also knows we’ll keep tabs on all the normal routes, so he enlisted his sister’s help.” That share had alarm bells going off in my head. “We don’t have enough time now for me to tell you everything. When I finally caught up to her, she added all the finer details to what Luke gave us.”
The back door opening had him looking over my shoulder as one of his men climbed in. “Our spotter, sir.” Wilkes introduced the other man. I nodded a greeting before Wilkes asked, “Count?”
“About thirty on the outside. Twelve on the roof, the rest scattered. Heavily armed, including body armor. Infrared red picked up another twenty bodies on the inside.”
“Jesus, the man is not taking chances, is he?” I shook my head, rage giving me a headache.
Wilkes nodded. “Do we have eyes on the boats yet?” he asked his man, leaving me curious about what the fuck was going on.
“Eyes in the sky report only one docked so far. Three on route and the fifth running behind schedule. Guess Kabir’s really afraid of you, sir.” The man looked at me, his grin hidden beneath a bushy beard.
“He should be.” Wilkes snorted. “Center mass and head shots only.”
The man nodded and jumped out the back.
“Shoot to kill?” I asked, concerned that some of Kabir’s men, like Luke, were forced to work for him.
Wilkes noticed my frown. “Sir, those men out there belong to an African militant group. They don’t work for Kabir. He hired them to kill anyone in his way. And you’re his main target.”
His words gave me pause. “Are you saying he’s planning to take Mikaela into Africa?” At his nod, I followed him out of the van, my body rigid with anger. “What are the boats for?”
He stopped walking to look at me. “Kabir arranged for five boats to depart at the same time to five different destinations, which one holds Mikaela, would be anyone’s guess. The crime rate in some African countries might rival the rest of the continents combined. If we let him slip through our grasp now, you’ll never see him or Mikaela again.”
His words did very little to calm me, given we had five men against Kabir’s so-called army. We rounded the vehicle to the front, and I reared back in surprise. At a quick count, twelve muscular men, all dressed in complete black and sporting rifles, looked at Wilkes.
“My team, sir. A mixture of ex-marines, seals, and the force. Some you’ve probably seen around the castle grounds.” Wilkes spoke with pride. “Boys, this is Mr. Sinclair, your primary.” I nodded a greeting, and Wilkes continued addressing them. “The men you encounter tonight drink blood for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so don’t second-guess any decisions. We have the element of surprise. Use it. Kabir’s heart belongs to Mr. Sinclair’s bullet. Everyone else is fair game. Ramone, Jack, you’re with me. The rest of you have fun adding notches to those belts.”
Despite his dry sense of humor, I had to admire the man’s efficiency. Keeping me in the dark was one thing. Pulling all this together while I was under the impression we’d corner Kabir in his home was ingenious. It was clear Wilkes already knew Kabir had these men on his grounds and why he waited after Luke left.
“Move out,” Wilkes rolled his fingers in the air, then to me. “This way, sir.” Attaching a silencer to the front of his rifle, he followed Ramone and Jack around a couple of containers lining the dock. Keeping pace with them, every inch of my skin came alive at the thought of avenging Mikaela’s tormentor.
The next few minutes happened in a blur of running between more containers, warehouses, and silently falling bodies as Wilkes and his team took down Kabir’s men with a speed and efficiency I didn’t doubt. By the time we slipped through the door and Wilkes signaled our destination, I was sure all, if not most, of the men scattered outside were either dead or suffering fatal wounds. That just left what we needed to encounter inside the building.
As we reached the last building, loud voices came through the half-opened steel door.
“What the fuck, Zarina? We’re already three hours behind schedule,” I recognized Kabir’s impatient yell. “Those boats were supposed to be in the water already, on our fucking way out.”
Wilkes gestured for me to slip through the door behind Ramone. Inside, the large space was an empty shell except for a few scattered chairs and boxes. Given the scant lighting and a boat in the process of repair, it gave us a concealed viewpoint. Kabir stood with his back to us while Zarina sat in a chair, her expression one of pure boredom. I scanned the room, looking for Mikaela and Luke. I couldn’t see either of them. That worried me.
“You came to me, remember,” Zarina derided, drawing my attention. “I did the best I could at short notice. You should’ve planned better, brother.”
“Planned better,” Kabir grunted. “I had no fucking clue Luke was going to flip on me. Bastard’s daughter is fucking dead, and just for the sake of it, I’m going to crucify his fucking wife, mother, father—”
“Why haven’t you done so already?” Zarina asked.
“Because I need to get the fuck out of here first, then worry about the little shits.” Kabir paced the room, his body language blatant frustration. “Thank fuck, that drug worked like a charm on Sixty Six. Administered in one simple slap, she didn’t see coming.” He chuckled. “Luke rushing to catch her before she fell made it easy for me to inject him in the neck.”
That got my hackles up. I ground my teeth, ready to smash his teeth in. Fuming, I stepped forward. Wilkes stopped me with a touch to my arm and gestured to his watch. He was waiting for something.
“You’re a criminal powerhouse unto yourself. I never figured you’d fear a man like Xavier Sinclair, Kabir. What does he have that you don’t?” Zarina drew my attention again.
“Fear?” he scoffed. “I don’t fear that arsehole—”
“Yeah, right. Whatever you say.” She seemed to be provoking him to no end. Either she knew Wilkes was already on the ground, or something else irked her, and she was trying to keep it in.
