Page 91 of Acting on Instinct
White said she’d figure it out, and White was damned good at her job.
For now, Echo silently ate the take-out food the pilots had picked up for them in the terminal.
They now had four pilots on board. The first two were crashed out, sleeping after days of pushing the limits on acceptable time in the cockpit. The plan was that the fresh set would make the eight-hour flight to East Africa, they’d wait forEcho to grab Fatima, then the pilots would switch places, and they’d all convene in Spain. There, they’d switch again to fly everyone back to D.C.
They had a full plane. Not a single seat would be empty when they flew back to the States.
As Ty thought that, home sounded so far away.
He hadn’t felt homesick like this since his first deployment half a lifetime ago.
This time, though, he was homesick for Kira.
With Rory passed out on his plane meds, Ty popped his own sleep aid and slung down a gulp of water. He knew his body, and he was primed for a fight; just give him a bad guy or a mission that would test his capacity, and he’d take it on.
But to be successful, once they were boots on the ground, Ty needed to be rested and ready.
He watched his brothers tip back their own sleep pills.
There was the rumble of the plane, then the next thing Ty knew, the pilot was coming over the intercom saying they had a half hour until they were wheels down, and they’d face their own customs encounter.
Luckily, the CIA jet had well-hidden cavities where they’d stashed all of what Tanzania would consider contraband. They stuffed their BDUs in there for good measure. White had assured the team that these compartments were lined with a polymer that thwarted scent-trained K9s as well as electronic devices.
It should be safe, and if it wasn’t? Then they had no idea what was in the walls of the rental jet. They were just there on a boys’ trip.”
“Do men do that?” Nitro had asked, “Go on boys’ trips?”
“Hunting, deep sea fishing, the big game, this doesn’t sound familiar to you, Nitro?” White asked.
“I never called it a ‘boy’s trip.’”
Fortunately, Tanzania was pretty relaxed, especially when some of the team were able to speak Kiswahili with some fluency.
The team left the pilots to do what they needed to be ready for a quick exit and went into the terminal to rent three SUVs.
Echo wheeled to the middle of an empty parking lot and called White on video.
“Alright, I’ve got some things for you.” She looked exhausted. Echo had slept; she’d worked straight through.
“White?” Ty said softly.
“Absolutely, sorry, Ty, it should have been the first thing out of my mouth. The hospital confirmed Rohypnol. Kira has been released, and we have her secured in a CIA safehouse. She’s in the tub right now, and I need you mission-focused because she wants to go home.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Ty, I’ve got her. I promise.” White paused and pulled a noisy breath into her nostrils. “Now, as to this mission’s notes.”
“I hope one of them is an address and a headcount,” Jeopardy said.
“Stop jumping ahead in the story,” White scolded. “Listen up. As Ty and T-Rex know, William Davidson had a brain aneurysm and died shortly after he reached the hospital. That player is now off the world stage. Iniquus patched Christen through to Fatima’s phone so they could run their magic machine—whatever they’ve got going on in their technology department—to try to geolocate her. Fatima’s phone goes straight to voicemail. Her voicemail is full.”
Ty painted a hand over Rory, who was still groggy from his sleep meds.
“Iniquus used the contacts in Kira’s cell phone to get Nadir’s phone number. Christen called to talk to Nadir aboutwhat had happened with her father that spurred the call for a medivac helicopter, and to thank Nadir for being there for her father as a dear friend. Christen managed to keep him on the line long enough for Iniquus to trace the call to a private home just outside of Dodoma. I’ve sent you a file, T-Rex. I found that house on a vacation rental platform. That file has pictures of the interior and garden to help you plan.”
“Received,” T-Rex said, flipping through the images on his laptop.
“Nadir’s plane left two hours after he hung up with Christen. The plane lists Nadir and two security officers in the manifest.”
