Out Of The Night (24 page)

Startled, they both
ran toward him.

Tony kicked the one called Faraj in the face and sent him sprawling. With a strong jab to the throat and a strike to the neck, Ali died instantly. When the other guy moaned, Tony grabbed a dirty rag from the floor, wrapped it around Faraj’s neck and choked him until he stopped breathing.

Putting the gun in his waistband, he ran to Joe and slid on the ground before him. He lifted his friend’s head. “Joe, Joe, can you hear me?”

Tony felt for a pulse and took a deep breath
when the steady throb of a heartbeat tapped against his fingertips.

Knowing there was no way Joe could walk on his own feet, Tony picked him up and threw him over his shoulder.
Then he raced for the exit.

Outside
, he motioned for Abby to drive forward and pick them up, but the white van remained where he’d left it. He ran as fast as he could with a man on his shoulder, but it felt like he was stuck in cement. He made it to the van and opened the door.

Abby was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Abby waited patiently in the van, her eyes trained on the double doors. Hopefully, Tony would be heading her way any minute.

Suddenly
, a man put his hand over her mouth and yanked her from the van, into a car, which accelerated quickly.

As her pulse raced, she struggled to orient herself. With one glance at the man sitting to her left, she knew.
El Jibar had her and she was sure to die. That’s what this man did. He killed people.

She
reached to the right, across the lap of the man who’d grabbed her, aiming for the door handle with thoughts of jumping from the moving vehicle, but a sharp slap across the face had her rethinking her actions. “You have no right to touch me, you scum,” she gritted out at el Jibar.

“You can call me anything you want, but know I will slit your throat without a second thought.”

She wiped her mouth. “I know you’re a monster. You don’t have to remind me.” She struggled against the other man trying to tie her hands behind her back. “You may kill me, but your day will come.”

“I want you to call this American and tell him to release Joe Mitchell
, and I will release you.”

Abby had to stall for time. El Jibar had just told her what she wanted to know. Tony ha
d Joe and their mission a success. She prayed he took the CIA agent to safety before trying to come for her. And she knew with all her heart, he’d come. “I can’t do that. I have his phone.” She had the phone Arman had given her at the hotel. Falcon would use the signal to search for her.

“What?” That
apparently wasn’t the answer el Jibar wanted. “Why do you have his phone?”

“He left it with me when he entered the warehouse.”

“Show me, I don’t believe you.”

“It’s in my back pocket.”

The man to her right pulled the phone from her pocket and held it in the air.

“How do you get in touch with him?”

She shrugged. “I can’t.”

“After him,” el Jibar shouted
to the driver. “Find him and run him down.”

Abby prayed t
hey’d never be able to locate Tony. He knew this area as well as the locals, so he stood a good chance of getting away.

El Jibar grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. “Where is he taking my prisoner?”

Abby couldn’t breathe, and from the pounding in her head, she assumed he planned to kill her. She could only stare into the eyes of her murderer.

Suddenly
, he released her. “Tell me or I’ll kill you. I swear.”

Abby’s voice wouldn’t come out of her mouth. She tried but couldn’t speak. El Jibar slapped her again then grabbed h
er hair and shook her violently. Tears drenched her eyes, yet she couldn’t do anything to make him stop.

He
let go of her only to grab her shoulders and shake until she screamed. “I don’t know where he’s going. He didn’t tell me.”

He backhanded her and she tasted blood.

“Liar.” El Jibar had worked himself into such a state of rage Abby wondered how his heart could stand it. “You are a lying American whore.”

She slumped against the back of the seat. “You can kill me, but I still can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

El Jibar smacked the driver in the back of the head. “Go faster. Find him or your family is dead.”

“Yes, el Jibar. I am doing my best.”

He turned to her and grabbed her chin. “You may not know where he is taking Joe Mitchell, but you do know his plan. What does he plan to do with my prisoner?”

Fear rose and Abby knew she had to do something. This man
enjoyed making people talk, and she’d never considered herself brave, not like Tony or the other Falcon agents. She was a damn reporter.

She didn’t know how to handle this type of situation. But she knew she couldn’t tell this creature from hell that Tony planned to take Joe to a compound and helicopter him out of the country to safety.

No, those words couldn’t cross her lips. She refused to betray the man she loved. The only person who, at one time, had loved her in return. If she died, so be it. But not Tony. Nothing could make her endanger his life. “I don’t know his plan.”

A meaty fist slammed into her solar plexus
and stole the breath from her lungs. Abby bent over and fought to get oxygen back into her body. Darkness moved closer. She blinked slowly and managed a small breath. She gasped then sputtered, before sucking in a gulp of air.

El Jibar grabbed her by the hair and pulled her upright. He
rammed his fist into her nose, and blood squirted over the interior of the Mercedes as blinding pain exploded in her head. Her thoughts were groggy, and for a moment she didn’t know where she was or whom she was with.

Then reality gripped her like a vice. Abby knew with her hands tied and
sitting between two crazy men who didn’t have a problem beating a woman, it was time she fought for her life. She made a dangerous decision. She might die, but she wasn’t going to go easily.

Black rage pounded her blood
into a fevered pitch. Straining against the bonds on her wrists, she managed to get one hand loose and pulled off the rag they’d used to bind her. Screaming as loud as she could, she came up out of the seat.

With h
er feet beneath her, she elbowed the big man sitting next to her in his Adam’s apple. He clutched his neck. She doubled her fist and smacked him in the right eye.

That freaky el Jibar grabbed her around the waist from behind. She kicked back
. Then she turned and started punching him. He covered his face as a roaring sound filled her ears. “You like beating women? Well, how does it feel?”

She bent her knee and came down hard on his lap. He screamed. The driver pulled out a gun and told her to stop or he’d k
ill her. She grabbed the gun as he pulled the trigger.

Bullets ricocheted through the car, hitting the man
sitting next to her in the shoulder. He howled in pain. Then the driver slammed on the brakes and yanked the gun from her grasp. He put the barrel against her forehead. “Stop or I shoot.”

Abby raised her hands and fell back into the seat
, knowing the fight was over for her.

El
Jibar beat her without mercy. When he finished, she could barely breathe, and both her eyes were swollen shut. Blessed darkness took her in its sweet arms, and she didn’t hurt anymore.

***

Tony’s first instinct had been to find Abby, but his training wouldn’t allow that to happen. His main objective had always been to save Joe at all costs. As he raced through the streets at a wild pace, he prayed Abby would be okay. Thankfully, he hadn’t told her where he was taking Joe, so el Jibar couldn’t follow him.

His passenger groaned
from behind him on the carpeted floor mat. “You’re going to be okay, Joe. Arman is waiting with a helo.”

“Tony?” Joe’s voice sounded raspy and hoarse.

“I have you. You’re going home.”

“I
…I didn’t say anything.”

“I know you didn’t. You’re too good an agent to do that.”

“I wanted to. I wanted to so badly. The pain.”

“I know, but now it’s over and in a few minutes you’ll be heading out of country.”

“El Jibar?”

“He captured the girl I came here with. As soon as I drop you off
, I’ll find her.”

“Oh
, God.” Joe groaned. “The man isn’t human. He plans to use the money to buy a delivery system to destroy America with bio warfare.”

“From what I’ve learned, that’s not going to happen. Arman said Parker, Karla Moore
, and Hall were all arrested.”

“Thank God.”

For the rest of the drive, silence filled the van, allowing anger and disgust to dig deep into Tony’s mind. Why hadn’t he left Abby where she’d be safe? She belonged at the Embassy in Moscow, so nothing could touch her. Now, with her in the hands of el Jibar, only God knew what the man would do.

At the compound, Arman ran out to meet
Tony and help with Joe. “Where’s Abby?”

“El Jibar has her.”

“What?”

“Yeah, while I was getting Joe
, he nabbed her.”

“Let’s go get her.”

Tony wrapped Joe’s arm around Arman’s shoulders. “You get Joe home safely. I’m going back after Abby.”

He turned to get
in the van. “Tony,” Arman called out. “There is a man we’ve worked with before who can get you out of country after you find her. I’m not sure you remember him, but he’s an Israeli named Bin Meir. Saul Bin Meir. You’ll find him one mile west of the Mosque.”

“Thanks, Arman.”

“Allah be with you, my friend.”

“And with you.”

Tony had no idea where to find el Jibar, but he’d start by ditching the white van and going back to the car he’d driven from Cairo.

Back in the vehicle, he took his cell phone from the console and dialed the office. As he drove, darkness swiftly approached
, and he wondered where Abby was and if el Jibar had hurt her. Anger forced him to pull over before he wrecked the car.

Frank answered.

“It’s Tony. I’ve lost Abby.”

“What?”

“El Jibar has her.”

“Oh
, shit.”

“Arman is bringing Joe back.”

“He’s alive?”

“Yes, and no security was broken.”

“That’s something to be thankful for. But Abby in the hands of that crazy bastard isn’t good, Tony. Not good at all.”

“I need to find her, Frank.”

“Okay, we will. Brody’s here right now, pulling up satellite images. What kind of car are they in? Do you have a neighborhood or an address?”

“Nothing,” Tony said.

“I know el Jibar loves luxuries. Brody, check all newer model cars in the area.”

“What about her cell
phone, Frank. She may have it on her.”

“We’re already pinging off cell towers.”

Tony wiped the sweat off his face and yanked off the remaining beard. He’d ditched the wig and contacts earlier. “I don’t even have her number.”

Frank let out a troubling breath. “I do. I sent her after you. I know everything there is to know about her.”

Tony laid his head back and closed his eyes. God, he was tired. All the running around with part of his memory gone and the struggle to get Joe was siphoning energy from him like a vacuum cleaner.

“Tony
, you there?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, did you find anything?”

“Her phone is about two blocks from you.”

“Which way?”

“Go straight down the road you’re on, and it should be right there near the side of the road. Do you see a car or a house, maybe?”

With the light
s of the vehicle on, Tony slowly drove down the vacant street. Not a single car in sight. “I don’t see anything but a few houses and an empty lot.”

“Get out of the car and search the gr
ound, she might have dropped it or el Jibar could’ve ditched it.”

A few more feet and in the headlights, Tony saw a cell
phone. He stopped the car and ran to pick it up. He slid his finger across the bottom and the screen lit up.

Tears welled behind his eyes.

“You found it, Tony?”

“Yes. It’s hers.”

“But she’s nowhere around?”

“No, nothing in this area.” He walked back to his car. “But they’d been here. Maybe he took her to the house we searched earlier.”

“Tony, on the next block is a black Mercedes registered to Green Gulf Construction.”

Damn, what a break. “You sure?”

“Yes, but we can’t see how many people are at that address. Check it out.”

Tony left his car at the corner and ran between the houses to the alley. Checking his gun, he found the house with the car in the driveway. Slowly
, he crept to the back of the house and looked inside.

Backtracking swiftly, he moved away from the house and squatted next to a
palm tree. “Frank, I found him. He has Abby tied to a chair.”

“We don’t have another agent on the ground close to you, Tony. I’m afraid you’re on your own the rest of the way. Call back when you can.”

Tony stashed the phone in his hip pocket and walked toward the house. The darkness covered his approach, but he wasn’t trying to hide. He had little choice but to face down the devil and see who walked away.

He stepped to the front of the house
, and it surprised him no one watched the doorway. He kicked the door open and shot the first man he saw.

Abby sat in the middle of the room tied to a chair. Her face had taken a beating no woman should have to bear.

“She’s mine, el Jibar. I want her back.”