throw up, but her body didn’t comply. It was as if it weren’t even her body anymore. As if she were in a coma and no one knew she was actually awake.
As her attacker climbed into the boat and started its engine, Claire’s fear of the open ocean was replaced by another fear, or, more properly stated, a resignation—whoever this man was and whatever his intent, she was never going to see her family again.
• • •
Seven miles south, the Zodiac entered St. Simons Sound and continued on. At the tip of a narrow point of wooded land was the entrance to a small, winding creek. The man killed the main engine and switched to a smaller, quieter motor. There could be no witnesses.
His assignment was almost complete. By the time anyone realized Claire Marcourt was missing, the plan would already be unrolling and there’d be nothing anyone could do.
He glanced down at the woman as he removed a weatherized Iridium satellite phone and dialed a string of digits.
When the call was answered, he identified himself.
“Hotel Sierra?” a man’s voice asked on the other end.
They spoke in code, using the military alphabet. Hotel represented the letter H, which in this communication stood for hostage. Sierra stood for S, as in secure.
“Affirmative. Hotel Sierra.”
“ID Lima.” Identify location.
“Lima three,” the man in the Zodiac replied, indicating he had arrived at the creek.
“Roger. Lima three,” the voice replied. “Charlie Mike.” Continue mission.
“Roger. Charlie Mike.”
With those words, Claire Marcourt’s fate was sealed and the rest of the operation was officially set in motion.
CHAPTER 1
LUFTHANSA FIRST-CLASS LOUNGE
FRANKFURT AIRPORT
GERMANY
Lydia Ryan looked up from her tablet as a waiter set a drink in front of her. “I didn’t order this,” she said.
“No, ma’am,” replied the waiter. “It is from the gentleman.”
Ryan shut down the tablet and cautiously glanced around the sleek, chrome-and-leather-accented room. She didn’t see anyone looking back at her. “What gentleman?”
As the waiter smiled, a man seated in the area behind her said, “This gentleman.” Ryan recognized the voice almost immediately.
“May I join you?” he asked as she turned around to face him.
Before she could respond, the man had already stood, his own drink in hand, and was walking around to her.
While paths did sometimes cross in the intelligence world, Ryan knew better than to believe in coincidences. The fact that she and Nafi Nasiri, deputy chief of the Jordanian General Intelligence Department, were in the same airport lounge was no accident.
He was in his late forties, tall, with medium-length black hair and refined, handsome features. He came from a wealthy family related to the King and had been educated in England and the United States. He had a penchant for dark Italian suits and his shoes were always highly polished. On his left wrist he wore the same elegant Patek Philippe watch that Ryan remembered.
“It’s good to see you again, Lydia,” he said as he set a briefcase down and took the seat facing her.
“It’s been a long time, Nafi.”
“Even so, you haven’t changed at all. You’re still as beautiful as ever.”
Still the player, she thought to herself as she smiled and shook her head. “How’s the shoulder?” she asked, beating him to the punch.
Reaching across his body, he massaged his right shoulder. “I find the changes in barometric pressure difficult, particularly before it rains.”
Three years ago, Nasiri had knocked her to the ground as a suicide bomber was about to detonate. He had taken shrapnel in his upper arm and had used the injury ever since as an attempt to guilt her into sleeping with him. “That’s too bad. I guess it’s a good thing you live in the desert, huh?”
Nasiri smiled. He had worked with multiple female intelligence agents over the years and had been able to break all of them down—all of them except Ryan.
She was like no woman he had ever met. The stunning product of a Greek mother and Irish father, she was tall—at least five foot, ten inches—with a mane of thick, dark hair framing an aristocratic face, illuminated by two large, deep green eyes. The fact that she had never said yes to him made him want her all the more.
She was also a highly adept field operative. Despite only being in her early thirties, she had proven herself on multiple occasions to be just as courageous, just as skilled, and just as deadly as her male counterparts. He could only imagine how exceptional she would be in bed.