Rekindled (Titanium Security Series) (2 page)

Horror reverberated through her, then pain, almost worse than the bullet wounds. Could it be true? Then, slowly, the numbing fog of denial took hold. She turned her face away from him and closed her eyes, trying and no doubt failing to hide her agony.

She’d risked everything for the man she loved, and had lost it all.

Because everything Jack had ever told her was a lie.

Islamabad, Pakistan

Present Day

Arms folded across his chest, Alex Rycroft leaned back in the hard plastic chair and stared across the stainless steel table into the prisoner’s dark, defiant eyes. For more than five minutes now they’d been playing eye contact chicken. Neither one of them wanted to be the first to blink.
I got all day, asshole.
“I give final clearance on them taking you outta here for your next surgery. You don’t tell me what I need to know, and I can cancel that surgery slot with a single phone call.”

Malik Hassani glared back at him in defiance, that deep set stare fixed on his. “I know how this game is played. Far better than you ever will,” he replied in nearly unaccented English.

Alex hid a smirk at the pointed reminder. Hassani had been a high ranking official of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence for many years before he’d left to pursue his terrorist agenda. He’d earned his ruthless reputation for a reason, but whether the bastard believed it or not, that didn’t intimidate Alex. This piece of shit sitting opposite him had ordered several attacks on his team over the past few weeks and had just attempted to pull off a full-scale military coup that had almost succeeded. “How’s that hand doing right now?” he asked the prisoner instead.

Hassani’s mouth, framed by a short, dark goatee, twitched ever so slightly in annoyance. His face held a grayish cast that had nothing to do with the sickly overhead lighting. A fine sheen of sweat dotted his forehead. He didn’t answer, even though Alex knew he was hurting pretty bad. Surgeons had gone in there once already to patch up the mess made by a SEAL Team Six member’s point blank 9 mm round prior to capture. They had to go in again to reposition the pins and screws if Hassani was ever going to be able to use his hand again someday. Not that Alex gave a shit about that.

Maintaining his relaxed posture, Alex switched tactics. This man would never bend for something as meaningless as pain relief or even the chance to use his hand properly again. Alex decided to cut through the usual bullshit and dangle the only bait he knew Hassani would be tempted to jump at. “You haven’t asked me about Bashir yet.”

A tense silence followed. Alex didn’t move. Every word they said was being recorded, and others watched from the opposite side of the two-way mirror in the hallway.

Something flickered briefly in those nearly black eyes. That hard slash of a mouth tightened ever so slightly.

Little tells a less experienced interrogator might have missed, but Alex knew he definitely had the bastard’s interest now. “I guess no one’s told you?” he continued casually, even as urgency hummed inside him. They had to nail this asshole
now
to get charges pinned on him and start the lengthy legal process that would follow. And they had to make sure they exposed the rest of his network to stop any future terror operations they might have planned and maintain the fragile balance of power in Pakistan. A destabilized nuclear Pakistan was the personal nightmare of every intelligence officer in the region.

“Told me what?” Hassani growled. “That he’s dead?”

“No, not dead. Worse. He’s alive…and willing to talk.”

“You’re lying.” That hard mouth twisted into a cold sneer. “If Bashir’s alive, he won’t talk.” He said it with total confidence that, coming from any other man, Alex might have seen as naiveté.

But not this one.

“No? Huh. Guess that must have been some other five-foot-ten former ISI officer we pulled out of that cave with you then.” Alex shrugged, tilted his head to the side. “We know he’s your most loyal man. Care to tell me about the others yet? Because I can guarantee you they’re not as loyal as you seem to think. And that thumb drive the SEALs found on you in the cave?” He gave a low whistle. “Lot of interesting stuff on there. You play dirty.” Hassani had documents and incriminating photos on dozens of big name players in the region. Government officials, intelligence officers, politicians and military higher ups. All held by the balls because of Hassani’s blackmail. Teams of people in the NSA and CIA were combing through the drive now to uncover and begin unraveling Hassani’s corrupt network of power.

The hard stare turned disdainful. “You’re fishing, Rycroft. And I’m not in the mood to play.”

Alex clenched his jaw.
I’m sick of
playing
with you too, asshole.
For two days now they’d been circling each other like wary combatants, with little result. Even with Hassani in chains, in pain and sleep deprived, Alex couldn’t force anything out of him. Not without taking much more drastic and forceful measures, and those methods had unfortunately been prohibited by the U.S. government. Especially with such a high profile prisoner as this.

“What about the traitors, then?” Alex said.

“What about them?” Hassani shot back.

“All the politicians and law enforcement people you control. Even the military. When it looked like you were going to be captured, they all caved and turned on you. Want to know who sold you out to us?”

The man’s jaw flexed, then one side of his mouth curled in bitter amusement. “Fine. Who sold me out?”

“General Sharif.” Alex watched his reaction closely, noted the flare of rage in Hassani’s eyes just before he masked it. “For a whopping two hundred K in cash. U.S. dollars, of course.”

Hassani’s nostrils flared. Alex could feel him seething underneath that calm exterior. The beast was right there, clawing for freedom. Alex was going to enjoy pushing him until the chains holding the animal snapped.

“He and his men were already deploying to the border when the firefight started in that valley. Between us, the American forces out hunting you and your own military and police changing allegiances at the last moment, there was no way you were getting across that border, Malik. Zero.”

Hassani raised a taunting brow. “If you know all of that, then you don’t need to question me.”

“Oh, but I do. Until I unearth every last one of your sources. And you and I both know there’s one key player who hasn’t been mentioned yet.” The informant within the ISI itself. Whoever it was, he was the key. Once Alex discovered his identity, he could shut down Hassani’s entire network and expose every last one of his followers to the international intelligence community.

“You’ll have to be more specific,” Hassani answered, sounding bored this time.

Alex gave him a cold smile. He and Hassani were both in their early fifties. They’d both served their countries in Special Forces before going on to intelligence work. But that was where the similarities ended. “We’re close, you know. There’s new intel coming in every day from your former supporters. Plenty of them jumped at the chance to change sides once they got a better deal from us. Whether you cooperate or not, we’re going to find out who you’ve got in the ISI and make it all disappear like a bad memory.”

“Well, I’d hate to spoil your fun, Rycroft.”

Would he. Alex noted the shadows beneath the other man’s eyes. So dark they looked like bruises. Doctors had already told him that Hassani was feverish due to him fighting an infection. Even if his condition deteriorated, Hassani would continue to be a formidable opponent. Alex knew he wasn’t getting anything more out of the bastard for now, maybe not ever. Might as well do the right thing and get Hassani’s medical situation resolved before their next session.

Alex uncrossed his arms and stood up. “We’re done.” He strode for the door, motioned for the guards to open it for him. The heavy steel lock clanged into place behind him. He spoke to the dark-haired Fed waiting outside the room by the two-way mirror. Jake Evers, another member of the NSA taskforce Alex had set up. A former Army officer in his early thirties who now worked for the FBI. “Take him in for the surgery.”

Evers gave a wry chuckle. “That went well.”

“I thought so,” Alex replied pleasantly. “You saw his reaction when I mentioned Bashir?”

“Oh yeah. Looking forward to seeing you keep needling that sore spot.”

Alex smirked. The way things looked now, Bashir was about the only weapon he had at his disposal to crack Hassani with. “Perk of the job.”

“Yeah, rub it in, you bastard.” Evers got on his phone. “Alert the medical staff. We’re bringing Hassani in.”

Alex stood by the large two-way mirror that looked like a window cut into the wall as two burly Pakistani guards entered the interrogation room. They approached Hassani from behind, yanked a black hood over his head and hauled him to his chained feet. Evers waited for them on the other side of the door with two heavily-armed Feds. “Let’s go,” he told them. He gave Alex a nod on his way past.

When they were gone Alex texted Hunter and received a reply that the SUV was parked out front. He slid his tactical vest on before heading outside into the bright October sunshine. He walked up to the vehicle just as the convoy taking Hassani to the secret medical facility left the parking lot.

As he got into the back and slammed the door, Hunter turned in the front passenger seat to face him. In his early thirties, the dark-haired former SEAL and now co-owner of Titanium Security was part of Alex’s current personal security detail. His light brown eyes twinkled with amusement as he met Alex’s gaze. “So. How’d it go?”

Alex shot him a wry grin. “Same old same old. You guys find anything of interest on the surveillance front?” For the past day and a half they’d been watching two different men with ties to the Taliban suspected of being involved with Hassani.

“Nada,” Gage responded from the driver’s seat in his North Carolina drawl, his tatted forearms flexing as he gripped the wheel. Alex had met the forty-two year old redhead back in his SF days, when he’d been a lieutenant and Gage had been a master sergeant. Hiring him and the rest of Hunter’s Titanium team had been one of the best decisions Alex had made in recent months.

“Both dead ends as far as we can tell,” Hunter added. “If they were involved with Hassani at some point we’ll find out, but so far it looks like they’ve cut all their ties with him. Still got a long list to work through though.”

Alex grunted a response as he scrolled through his new e-mails. A few urgent, though most he could deal with later.

“So, where to, bossman?” Gage asked as he fired up the engine. “Back to HQ?”

They’d set up temporary headquarters in a nondescript building near the outskirts of Islamabad, choosing a different location than the one they’d used during Hassani’s capture for security reasons. “Yeah, I’ve got some files to review. Any word from Claire yet on that latest encryption?” Before being brought onto the NSA taskforce Alex had assembled that included the Titanium team, Gage’s fiancée was one of Alex’s best employees. She was currently back at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, working her cryptology magic.

“She’s still working on it,” Gage replied as he turned out of the parking lot. “Zahra’s helping out from the hospital when she can.”

At the name, he felt a tiny twinge of guilt. In some ways she was like a daughter to him. There’d been so much going on since Hassani’s capture that Alex hadn’t had a chance to go back to the hospital yet. He felt bad about that, like he’d let Zahra down. “Any change in Dunhpy’s status yet?” The team’s spotter—Zahra’s boyfriend—had been badly wounded in an IED attack on the Khyber Pass the day before Hassani’s arrest and had no sensation or motor control from the waist down. It made the entire team even more motivated to bring down the rest of Hassani’s network.

Hunter shook his head. “Nothing. We’re gonna go visit him later if you wanna come. Got a present for him.”

“Yeah, but this present’s way nicer than the last surprise we gave him,” Gage added with a grin.

Alex could only imagine what they’d gotten for the team prankster this time. Hopefully something to yank him out of the depression Zahra had told Alex he was sinking into. “Maybe.” Though when he did pay a visit, he’d prefer to do it on his own. The guys fell silent and let him be as he scrolled through the last of his e-mails. His muscles tensed when he saw the subject of the reply his NSA contact had sent while Alex was interrogating Hassani.

Grace Fallon

He opened it, aware that his heart was kicking hard against his ribs. This was it. The message gave the name and address of the hotel where Grace was supposedly staying.

“Change of plans,” he said to Gage, unable to stem the surge of excitement that raced through him. “Got one more location to check out first.” He gave him the address, praying she would still be there.

Gage didn’t say anything but Hunter swiveled his head around to look at him and raised his eyebrows. “What’s up?”

Alex kept his expression blank. “Just something I want to check on.”
Someone.
He had to see her. Had to find a way to talk to her, get her to listen. Ever since he’d thought he’d spotted her in that Peshawar marketplace a few days ago, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. About what he’d do if he saw her again. Now he might finally get the chance.

He put his phone back into his pocket and stared out the window, wondering what the hell he was going to say to her if he saw her. He still couldn’t believe she was in Islamabad right now. Normally nothing could distract him while he was on the job, but knowing she was here had kept him from sleeping. For the past two nights he’d had nightmares and flashbacks about the last time he’d seen her—things he hadn’t experienced in well over two years. He thought of the first time he’d seen her, in that crowded restaurant in Mombasa one night when he’d met up with his CIA contact.

“There’s someone I think you need to meet,” was all the man said before dragging Alex over to a table in the corner.