Out Of The Night (14 page)

Hussein lifted Joe into a sitting position and leaned him against the wall. “We must never leave him alone again.”

“I think you
’re right.”

“I will call Nadir and tell him to come and help us. El Jibar is due tomorrow. He will take him away then.”

Hana grabbed the sleeve of her husband’s shirt. “El Jibar? He is the one you are turning this man over to?”

Hussein didn’t look at her. She shook his arm.

“Stop, Hana. This is not your concern.”

“It is my concern, husband. What have you done? That man is a vicious killer.”

Hussein pointed to Joe. “He is an American spy out to destroy our way of life.”

“He is a man with a family like you.” Tears sprung to her eyes without warning. She’d been a fool to allow this. First
, his crazy cousin with his anti-American ideas, then a man was captured and put in her cellar, and now she learned it was all for the most dangerous man in the world.

All the torture and pain ahead for Joe Mitchell plowed through her mind.
She wished she’d never saved his life. Better he just died, here in the cellar, without pain.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Cairo

After making love most of the night, Abby and Tony woke and dressed in more traditional clothing. He’d instructed her to leave everything behind but the necessary paperwork.

As they walked out the door, Tony bent and kissed her on the mouth. Decadent pleasure zinged straight to her mid-section. He tasted like minty toothpaste and sinful purpose. They broke the kiss and she giggled.

Tony leaned away. “My kisses didn’t have that effect on you last night.” He reminded her.

She playfully slapped at his chest. “Oh, giggling hurts your ego?”

“Not exactly, but that’s not the response I was hoping for.”

“Shame on you, Tony Archuletta.”

Tony went still and the smile slipped off his face.

“What is it?”

He blinked several times. “I don’t know, but you saying my name just now brought back a slew of memories.”

Abby tensed. Did he suddenly remember? “What kind of memories?”

“Of my family. My parents and my childhood.”

She smiled. “That’s wonderful. You’re getting better.”

Tony scratched his head. “I hope so.”

They returned to the same restaurant they’d had dinner at the night before. Tony had assured her this outdoor café had the best food in the area.

They took the same table as their earlier visit and both ordered coffee.

“Soon we’ll be leaving for Damascus. Arman has arranged for us to travel overland with a guard at the border in his pocket.”

“Okay.”

“The car should be here soon.”

They picked up their cups to take a sip when a clink of metal on concrete silenced the area. Tony jumped up to shield her just as the explosion erupted. Then everything went black.

Washington
, DC

Bea Waters entered the revolving doors to the Harrington Hotel, went directly to the lobby
, and took a seat. She’d checked in earlier under an alias. Disguised in a brown short wig, contacts, and a spiffy pair of blue slacks, colorful top, and flat silver shoes, Bea felt like a different person.

With a hotel keycard in her
possession, the staff had no idea she was undercover. Earlier in the week she’d overheard Karla Moore tell a coworker about meeting her new boyfriend at the Harrington Hotel tonight. She had been very explicit about spending the night fulfilling all her sexual fantasies.

While
Bea had overheard the gossip, she hadn’t blushed. She had her own little fun on the side. Of course, she’d never bring that to work, but she and Ed had done some very delightful things between the sheets. In her opinion, life didn’t end at sixty and neither did sex.

Bea took out the daily news and pretended read, while she watched the door over the top of the newspaper. It didn’t take long for Karla to walk in and head for the elevator.

Bea slid in right behind her with her nose buried deeply in the newspaper. Karla didn’t recognize her as Bea stepped to the back. People seldom noticed a woman over thirty. “What floor?”

Bea didn’t look up. “Fourteen.”

Karla pushed her number and number nine as well. Perfect. When they stopped at the appropriate floor, Karla stepped out and went right. Bea moved to the door and held it open to see her co-worker walk to the end of the hall. Then she stopped and unlocked the last room on the right.

Keeping the door open, Bea waited until she was reasonably sure Karla had entered the room before stepping into the hallway. She gulped and hated to admit her stomach didn’t feel so well. If someone saw her, she was a long ways from the elevator and without an excuse to be on the ninth floor.

Determined to find the truth, Bea quietly walked to the end of the hall and pressed her ear to the door. Nothing.

Maybe Karla was alone? Bea hoped to find her with someone and perhaps recognize a voice.

The elevator door dinged, and Bea stepped across the way and pretended to look in her voluminous purse for her room key. Carefully, she took out her cell phone and her car keys as she pretended to search for her card.

As the man walked closer, Bea clicked the camera on her phone several times, hoping she captured the stranger in one of the frames. The closer he came, the more snaps she got off.

Finally, holding her key up in triumph, she put everything in her purse and tried the key in the door. The stranger came closer.

“Are you having trouble, Miss?” Senator Nick Parker looked right at her then smiled and stepped over to help.

Bea looked at the room number. “Oh, how silly. I’m on the wrong floor.” She looked over and saw the handle of a gun beneath his jacket. What did he plan to do with that?

He chuckled good-naturedly. “Happens all the time.”

Bea turned and headed toward the elevator, her heart hammering against her chest. Senator Parker and Karla Moore. She’d never expected that. And still the two of them being together didn’t explain the interest Karla had in Tony Archuletta. Something about this whole set-up screamed of trouble.

A few feet
from the elevator, Parker called out, “Miss, I think you dropped your keys.”

Bea knew better. A quick glance in her purse told her he lied
, and she needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Just as he neared, Bea stepped into the elevator and pushed the first button her finger landed on. The door closed before Parker could stop her.

Not taking any chances, Bea got off at
the fourteenth floor and hurried to her room. Breathing hard, she rested against the secured door. Maybe being a spy wasn’t that much fun after all.

She tossed her wig on the bed and went into the luxurious bathroom and splashed water in her face hoping to refresh and calm her nerves. With her face covered by the towel
, she made her way to the bed and sat on the edge. She’d get little sleep tonight for she planned to leave the hotel by midnight and go home. This way she didn’t have to worry about running into Parker or Karla.

She had to find out what the two of them were up to
, so she could alert Vince Colanglo and Frank Hamilton. She didn’t worry about Zoe saying a word about Tony should Karla decide to take matters into her own hands. No, the one thing Frank demanded was complete confidentiality from his people.

Now, what would her next move be? Parker might say something to her tomorrow at work, but she’d already made up a story and had an iron clad alibi.

Instead of finding out more information, she walked away with more questions. How did Tony fit into all this, and what about Joe Mitchell and Brad Hall? She needed more information, and she knew exactly how to get it.

Cairo

Abby woke to the sound of coughing, screaming and cries for help. She lay on the hard ground. Raising her head
, she looked in horror at all the litter surrounding the area. Bloodied and mangled bodies strewed the area like broken dolls.

People crowded around to help, some wailing, others methodically shoving debris away to get to those needing assistance.

She sat up, shoved a tabletop off her leg and searched for Tony. Oh, God, where could he be? He had stood closest to the road, so he took the brunt of the explosion.

Struggling to her feet
, she noticed one of her shoes missing, and blood dripped from a wound on her left arm. That didn’t concern her.

Tony.

She had to find him before anyone else. They had been the targets of the bomb. It had been thrown right at them. In the last second, she’d looked away just as Tony raised his hand. Had he tried to catch it?

God
, no!

She stumbled on people, bodies, and rubble. Blood poured into the street and coursed toward the ditch. Human beings were slaughtered. Women and little children had only been collateral damage to these monsters.

Pushing on, her bare foot slipped when she stepped into a pool of blood, and she went down to her knee. Forcing herself up, she crawled closer to the street, where she’d last seen him.

Then she saw his shoe. A lone shoe without a foot. Snatching it up, she crept through the mire to a body covered in blood she thought could be Tony. Had she found him at last?

A man took her arm and asked if she needed help. Abby shook her head and forged onward to the still body. She couldn’t see his head for it hung off the curb. Stumbling, she finally looked down and gasped. She staggered backwards and put her hand to her mouth to hold back the screams.

The body had no head.

Panic spread over her like a sizzling fire. She turned away and vomited on the sidewalk. Clutching the empty shoe to her chest, she wiped away her tears and continued her search.

By now, the emergency people covered the street. An ambulance roared onto the scene with more people and more noise. Abby lifted her eyes and saw a woman hunched over a man, his head in the crook of her arm.

Tony?

Abby walked over to the woman and took the first decent breath she’d taken in a long time. It was Tony, but he had been seriously injured. “That’s my husband
,” Abby spoke in Arabic. She squatted. “Is he alive?” Her voice quivered.

The older woman’s rough hands traced Tony’s bloody brow. “He is barely breathing.”

Abby pulled Tony up by the shoulders. “Where can I take him for help, besides a hospital? We can’t go anywhere that would cost money.”

The woman continued to sit, her arms open and empty. “I have a son who is a
former soldier and has some medical training.” She came to her feet in one fluid motion. “Here, let me help you get him to my home close by.”

Together
, the two women wrapped Tony’s arms around their shoulders and dragged him a short distance to an alleyway. Abby felt bad for the older lady because Tony was no lightweight, and if his weight had her knees shaking, she could only imagine what the kind lady suffered.

Thankfully, they were
soon inside a small room, just off the street and laying Tony on a neat, colorful rug.

“My son will come soon to see if I am okay. He worries about me.”

Abby faintly smiled at the woman’s kindness. Accepting the wet towel, she gently cleaned the blood from Tony’s face, neck and arms. Besides a few cuts and scratches, she didn’t see a lot of damage. However, he had a serious wound on his head where blood gushed out at a frightening rate.

A
middle-aged man came in and hugged his mother. They exchanged concerns, and he seemed grateful she wasn’t hurt. The mother said her son’s name was Salem.

Then he looked at Tony. “I’m afraid this man is very seriously injured and needs to go to a hospital.”

Abby knew that wasn’t an option. If only she had Tony’s cell phone, so she could call Frank and get some direction on what she should do in a situation like this. She shook her head. “I can’t explain, but that isn’t possible. Is there any way you can help him?”

He looked around,
obviously thinking. “We must get him out of my mother’s house.” He glanced out the door. “Across the street is a hotel. Check in there, and I’ll come as soon as I can.”

“How will I get him there? Won’t the owner be suspicious if I carry an injured man into their hotel?”

“No, many people cannot afford a hospital, so that will not be unusual. I know this man, and I will explain you are poor and will send for your family.”

Abby took his hand. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what to say.”

“Do you have any money?”

She reached in
to Tony’s pocket, removed several bills, and handed them over to the stranger. Hopefully, this man with the kind eyes was on their side and wouldn’t send more people to kill them.

Together
, she and the man lifted Tony into a standing position and dragged him across the street, past several buildings to a hotel. The ex-soldier knew his business. The guy behind the desk didn’t ask any questions as he handed her the key.

Grateful, for a clean, safe place to put Tony,
she helped stretch him out on the bed. Abby straightened and took a deep breath.

Salem
o
nativ
e
pened a medic kit and asked for something to clean the wound. Abby went to the tiny bathroom and came back with a thin, well-used washcloth. After pouring what smelled like an antiseptic on the wound, Salem went about stitching it up.

Thankfully
, Tony slept.

“Do you think he has a concussion?”
she asked worriedly.

“Probably, but without an x-ray I have no way of knowing, so we’ll treat him like he does.”

“Do you think he’ll wake up?”

The man looked up at her. “I’m not sure he’ll live through the night. He’s been seriously injured, not only his head, but the impact of the bomb could have punctured or broken something inside.”

Abby didn’t want to think about Tony dying. Never waking up or anything like that. He’d been through enough.