Buffalo West Wing (34 page)

My wrists hurt and my ankles chafed; when Josh tried to loosen my bindings, Clarr yelled at him to get away from me.

“We put up a good fight,” I whispered to him. “And we’re not done either. These men are going to put you on camera. Think about anything you can say that might tell your parents where we are, without these guys knowing.”

Totally confused, Josh stared up at me panic-stricken. “What do you mean?”

“When we get out, look around. If you see anything unusual that can help them find us, say it on camera. Maybe talk about a family vacation that you remember that is like the place they take us.”

“A vacation?”

I was losing him. “Anything at all, Josh. Think about any clues you can give your parents. I know it’s hard, honey. I know it’s a long shot, but we have to keep trying and never give—”

“Shut up back there,” Clarr said.

We rode the rest of the way in silence.

CHAPTER 28

“TURN LEFT HERE?” NOURIE ASKED.

“No, next left,” Clarr said. “I keep forgetting you’ve never been at headquarters before.”

“And I shouldn’t even be here now.” Nourie turned as instructed. “If the hospital plan would have gone the way it was designed to ...” He let the thought hang. “Now my cover’s blown and there’s nothing for me to do but get out.”

“If you can,” Clarr said. “It’s going to be tough.”

The two were quiet for a long moment.

“Just about a mile more,” Clarr said. “Turn right at the next intersection.” He waited a beat, then asked. “So why didn’t you bring the kid up here right away? Somebody else could have given you directions. Why go all the way out to that house and have to deal with transporting the two of them?”

Nourie made a noise of impatience. “If anything went wrong with taking the kid, Sami didn’t want headquarters to be compromised. He thought this was the only way to make sure everything stayed separate until the last minute.”

“Makes sense.” Clarr glanced back at me. “Too bad we had all the trouble with her. What a feisty one. Who gets to do the honors?”

The pain in my hands and feet evaporated as I processed his words.
Do the honors?
As in, kill me?

“That’s Sami’s call,” Nourie said. “But if it were up to me ...”

“Turn left here.”

Nourie turned. “This is pretty remote.”

“It’s supposed to be.”

After another five minutes down another road with no lights, Clarr told Nourie to slow down. “Pull up to that gate,” he said. “We have to wait here for a guard to meet us before we’re let in.”

The fence was cyclone with barbed wire wrapped in spirals up top. I couldn’t see much in the pitch-dark beyond the glow of our headlights. These were the gates of hell.

Nourie pulled up and placed the car in park. After a minute he asked, “What’s taking so long?”

Clarr lit up his watch again. “They’re not expecting us for another twenty minutes.”

“Great,” Nourie said, banging the steering wheel. “How far up is the building? Can one of us get past the fence and get someone’s attention?”

“You want your head shot off?” Clarr asked. He sat back. “We’ll wait.”

Less than a minute later, a sentry approached the door. I’d managed to position myself to be able to see out the front, and when the young bearded man trotted forward, I gasped. He motioned for Nourie to cut the headlights, but not before I saw his camouflage outfit and the giant machine gun across his chest. Josh sat up at my exclamation, but by the time he looked out the window, the lights were out.

Nourie rolled down the driver’s-side window. The man with the machine gun asked him some questions in a foreign language. Clarr looked lost. At least we had that in common. The man at the window stepped back. The moment he was gone, Nourie put the car in gear and we eased forward through the now-open gate.

“Which way?” he asked Clarr.

“About two hundred feet to the right.”

We pulled up to a double-sized prefab house. Every room inside was lit up like there was a party going on. I supposed in some ways, there was.

“Home sweet home,” Clarr said. He jumped out of the passenger seat the moment the van stopped.

Nourie turned off the engine and alighted. “I’ll take the boy.”

“Sure, you bring home the prize,” Clarr said. “Leave me with the she-devil.” He opened the side door.

“Don’t let them separate us,” I whispered to Josh.

Nourie reached for the boy, but he squirmed away into the cargo area’s far reaches. “Get back here,” Nourie said and climbed in to get him.

I was still bound but I had flipped onto my back and used both feet to kick him as hard as I could.

Nourie went sprawling sideways, banging against the open door. Clarr shouted, “Hey!” and reached in to stop me. He tried to grab my feet, but I called upon every ounce of energy I could muster to fend him off. I didn’t know what I hoped to accomplish. At this point I just knew I had to fight. As I kicked, the laces around my ankles loosened and I hammered Clarr with one-two foot punches.

He grabbed hold and yanked me out of the van. Airborne for a heart-pumping moment, I fell to the ground with a
whump.
Nourie wrestled Josh down and came out the side door with a squirming, screaming nine-year-old burden in his arms.

At that very moment, the world exploded.

At least that’s what it felt like.

Lights burst around us like a giant blue sun had suddenly erupted over our heads. I blinked against the glare and the noise. Megaphones blasted with men barking orders. Sounds of people running, shouting, and sharp-edged silhouettes against the hot, bright blue combined to make me wince, but I scrambled sideways to my knees. “Josh?”

I couldn’t make out what was happening. “Josh?” I called again. I couldn’t find him, but I thought I heard him cry out. Squinting against the brightness, I tried to see.

Then out of the din I heard a familiar voice on a loudspeaker. “Put the boy down.”

Crouched between Clarr to my left and Nourie to my right, I spotted Josh, still in Nourie’s strong hold. Whether he was unconscious or terrified, I didn’t know. Nourie took a step back.

Clarr pulled me to my feet and placed the barrel of a gun against my right temple. “Don’t tempt me,” he shouted to the surrounding group. “Believe me, it won’t take much.” Although he still conveyed that sense of bravado he’d shown since his arrival, I noticed his voice quivered just a bit. There had to be fifty men and women—possibly more—silhouetted around us. I couldn’t see into the dark, but I felt the presence of an army poised to strike.

“Put the gun down,” Gav ordered. “You can’t get out of this. Don’t try.”

Nourie squeezed Josh so hard he yelped. “We’ve got what you want right here. No way we’re giving up.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Gav said. “There is no way out. We’ve arrested everyone. There is nowhere to go. Nowhere to turn. Your ‘brothers’ are in custody.”

The use of the term
brothers
seemed to shake Nourie. His face was pale in the bright light, but his eyes glittered. “Let us go and we’ll release the boy.”

Gav didn’t have a chance to answer. Clarr pulled me closer and pressed the gun harder against my head. “Want to know how serious we are?” he shouted.

I
didn’t
want to know. Ducking my head, I kicked hard backward against Clarr’s left knee. The gun in his hand went off with a deafening crack next to my ear and I stumbled sideways. I heard another
pop,
and Clarr spun against Nourie, causing him to lose his balance and his grip on Josh. The boy fell to the ground. I took heart from the fact that all this awareness meant I was still alive. I dropped to my knees and scooted next to Josh. “Stay down,” I said, attempting to cover him. I heard another
pop,
then another, and from my position in the dirt, I wondered if these were echoes or if there really was a firefight going on.

It couldn’t have taken longer than thirty seconds, but the adrenaline coursing through my beaten body made everything feel like it was in slow motion.

The quiet came suddenly. Then a shout, “Clear.”

There was scuffling around us and then we were surrounded. I was still on the ground, draped over Josh’s trembling body when a female agent knelt next to me. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Unable to speak, I shook my head. She untied my wrists and helped me to my feet. “Medic!” she shouted.

“I’m okay,” I said, pulling away from her and rubbing circulation back into my hands. “Josh?”

Another agent crouched next to him on the ground. The kid was scratched up and dirty, but he shook his head vehemently when the agent asked if he was hurt. “Ollie saved me,” he said. He scooched closer to me. “You said we would be okay. You were right.”

I sat on the ground and put my arm around him. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

The female agent urged me to stand up. “We need you to come with us.”

Another agent was trying to talk Josh into going with him. “I’m staying with Ollie,” Josh said.

The young, male agent tried coaxing him. “We need to get you back to the White House,” he said. “Back to your parents.”

Josh wavered, but only for a moment. “Okay,” he said. “But only if Ollie comes with me.”

The two agents looked up toward Gav, who was issuing directives with regard to Nourie and Clarr. Clarr had been shot and paramedics were working on him. I would find out later how everything had gone down, I was sure. For now I was just happy that Josh and I were alive and unhurt.

“Keep that guy away from his partner,” Gav said as agents handcuffed Nourie. “I want to interrogate them separately.”

As the team followed his orders, he turned to us. He didn’t look at me directly—and for that I was grateful. Had I seen one ounce of concern in his eyes, my tenuous hold on bravery would have broken down right then and there. All business, he consulted with the agents around us. “Take them both back to the White House.” Still without looking at me, he said. “I will debrief Ms. Paras later.”

The two agents nodded, totally unaware of the emotions swirling around us right now. I was glad of it.

Josh and I were trundled into a waiting limousine. I wanted to ask our escorts a hundred questions, but within two minutes of settling into the soft leather seats, security enveloping us with its comforting arms, Josh fell asleep against me.

CHAPTER 29

THE PRESIDENT, MRS. HYDEN, AND ABIGAIL RAN out the south doors as our limo pulled up. Josh had been roused by our slowdown at the White House checkpoints and now sat up, as eager to see his parents as they were to have him home. Our driver stopped the car and two agents stepped forward to help us alight. Josh was out of the backseat like a shot, racing into his mother’s waiting arms.

I felt a hot bubble of emotion work up the back of my throat at the sight of their obvious joy. Having had a nice nap, Josh was full of energy. “Mom, you should have seen Ollie. She was amazing. She kicked out the back light of the car all by herself and ... and ... called in the bathroom for help ... and made the car swerve. I thought we were going to get hit. And then she shot one of the kidnappers.”

I cringed at his description. I hadn’t shot anyone, but things had gotten a little crazy there and Josh was confused.

Mrs. Hyden looked as though she wouldn’t ever let her son go. “Oh my God,” she kept saying, over and over. She buried her face in the top of his head and held him close. “Oh my God.”

President Hyden’s eyes were shiny, but he nodded as he stepped over to me. “Ms. Paras ...”

“Ollie, please,” I said.

He smiled. “Ollie. I can’t thank you ...” Emotion tugged his mouth downward, and he struggled to speak.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I understand.”

He nodded again. “We’ll talk later.”

Two agents stepped up. One of them took my arm. “Ms. Paras, we need to debrief you.”

All I wanted was to get away from agents, to relax just for one solitary minute before being called upon to rehash the day’s events. My disappointment must have broadcast across my face because the president placed his hand on the arm of the agent who had stopped me. “Ms. Paras has been through enough. Don’t you think this can wait until morning?”