Page 8 of Her Righteous Protector

“Whatchya got?”

“Based on the intel that the CIA has provided, it looks like the last known location of Ms. Sorensen was in Kandahar, which was one of the last government-occupied territories, so that makes sense.”

“Did you take in the info I texted you about Ebrahem Nuri?”

Kane nodded. “Both his parents and his wife’s parents were from Sangin, so that’s likely where she ended up after he was killed.”

Max nodded. “Okay, Kane, then this is it. We’re going to explain that Kostya is onboard because he has info on the Nuri family, and he’s been in contact with Ms. Sorenson. Can you backdate some communication between Kostya and Lark to back this up, so when the Commander informs the CIA it’s bulletproof?”

Kane winced. “No can do, not when I’m in the air, and not with the equipment I have here. We’re going to have to pull in someone else.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Gideon?”

Kane nodded.

“Do you have some ideas on how it can get done, and what we need?”

“Give me five minutes to let them percolate, and with Gideon involved they should be boiling before we leave Crete.” He grinned.

“Okay, let’s get out of here and grab Kostya. Then we’ll get on the phone with Gideon. But before we do, make sure you take care of yourself in the meantime.”

Kane stood up and turned to the door, then paused. “Max? I have some info on this Meghan woman from the will that I think will shed some light on things.”

Max shook his head. “Not interested right now, we have bigger fish to fry.”

Kane nodded, and they both headed out of the plane.

3

Before they got back onto the plane, Max used his own computer to compose an update to Simon explaining the next steps of their mission. They were headed to Al Dhafra, the military airport on the eastern coast of UAE. From there, they were going to take a commercial flight into the Quetta International airport in Pakistan, which was two hundred and forty kilometers from Kandahar in Afghanistan. Recently, Pakistan had been turning a blind eye to the American military’s presence in their country, despite their leader’s official stance. Additionally, the Chaman border crossing had just re-opened the previous week due to economic pressures from both countries, so that would make it much easier for them to figure out a way to get into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

They were going to be met at the airport by three ex-pats, one American and two Brits. The American was a former Army Ranger, both of the Brits were former SAS. He and Kane would be communicating with them during their flight and formulating a plan to get them over the Pakistani border and onto Kandahar. Max didn’t mention anything about Kostya at that point; he wanted to ensure that Gideon worked his magic to provide a backstory so that he and Kostya had a decent reason for him to have snagged a ride-along with Max’s Night Storm team.

By the time Max got back onto the plane, Simon had acknowledged receipt of Max’s communique. Now for the hard part—ensuring they had two fucking workable plans in the hours it would take to get to the UAE. Kostya had changed seats and was now on one side of Kane while Max was on the other side.

Max had worked with Roger Snyder before. The former Army Ranger major was a good man. Smart. He’d married a Pakistani woman almost twenty-five years ago. They had lived most of their married life in the UK, and their children had been educated there, but his wife’s mother had become ill so they came back to live near her. As for the others, the only thing Max knew about them was through mutual friends. He hoped like hell they could supply the firepower and transportation they were going to need.

Kostya and Kane were already working with Gideon, figuring out scenarios on how to explain Kostya’s presence on the mission.

And it better be fucking good!

Max sucked in a deep breath.

Calm, Hogan. Calm.

With Kane working things out, it would be a marvel, he assured himself. It was time to worry about how in the hell they were going to get over the Pakistani border and then past all the Taliban checkpoints in Afghanistan. Max texted Roger so that they could talk. He wanted a plan in place as soon as they landed in the UAE since they weren’t going to be able to formulate one when they were on the last leg of their trip. Max was also hoping like hell the CIA would have some intel as to where Ms. Sorensen was currently located.

While he waited for the call back from Roger, he perused his team. He couldn’t help but grin when he saw that Leo was reading a book. This time it was Lost Horizon by James Hilton, pretty apropos considering the fact they were headed back to Afghanistan. Next, he saw that Asher and Raiden were both leaning in to hear whatever load of bullshit Cullen was spewing, and it must have been good, going by the grins on their faces.

Zed was thumbing through his phone. If Max had to guess, he was looking at pictures of his wife and the cutest kid imaginable, and that would be his daughter Lulu. She had to be almost three years old now. Ezio and Nic were both getting some shut-eye. Max’s phone vibrated; it was Roger.

“Yeah?”

“Max? I’ve got Nigel and Randall with me. Have you got your flight arranged yet into Quetta?”

“Yep. We’ll be arriving at fourteen hundred hours on Monday. We’ll be coming in on UE150. We need weapons; we have our gear, but everything else we had to leave in Crete. First, is it possible for you to get your hands on what we’ll need? Second, how can I get you the list in a secure fashion?”

Somebody laughed, Max couldn’t determine who.