Chapter Twenty-two
Present Day
Hannibal Inn
Sousse, Tunisia
Justin wiped a trickle of blood from his face. Khazri had lost consciousness, but not before going through immense pain. Through his muffled screams, he had given Justin the location where Karolin was being held. To end the suffering, Khazri had volunteered even more intelligence than Justin had asked for.
He glanced at Khazri’s limp body held against the wall by a series of nails, then picked up the bloody hammer. The Tunisian should be too weak to make even the slightest move, but Justin wanted to take no chances. He stood up, his eyes never leaving Khazri’s face, then he walked to the bathroom.
He washed his hands, watching the blood snaking down the drain. Then he looked at his sweaty face in the mirror. What have I done? What have I become? He glanced back at his clean hands. But this is for Karolin. It is so she doesn’t have to experience what he just went through.
Justin drew in a deep breath and shook his head. He wished there was another, easier, humane way. But they were dealing with the devil and were being drawn into these devilish ways.
Back in the room, he studied Khazri’s face. He was still unconscious and breathing with difficulty, but he was alive. Yes, and he’ll give us more intel if he wants to stay alive. Justin reached for his phone and called Marco. “Yes, Marco, I learned where Karolin is.”
“Wonderful, Justin. Let’s go get her.”
“Not so fast. She’s in another safehouse, which is well-guarded.”
“I’m sure we can break in, like we did with this one.”
“The safehouse has greater security, up to twenty men.”
“Maybe Khazri is lying.”
Justin shook his head. “No, he was telling the truth.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
“Khazri for Karolin. His life for hers.”
“His men will agree to that exchange?”
“If he wants to live, he’ll convince them. My idea is for Khazri to tell them to transfer her to a new, safer place, claiming the current location has been compromised. Once Karolin arrives at the new location, Khazri will help us free her.”
Marco did not reply right away. “It has a lot of moving pieces, but it might work.”
“If Khazri can’t convince his men, we still know where she is. I’ll inform Carrie and then Flavio, so they can start working on Plan B.”
“All right, but before you do that, what are we going to do with the little girl?”
Justin frowned. Alina was the little girl whose mother was killed during the raid on the safehouse. He had not asked Khazri about her family. Justin doubted the jihadist would know, but he had the resources to find out. “Can she stay with you? At least until we find out more about her family?”
Marco hesitated for a moment. “If it has to be that way.”
“Yes, I wouldn’t be able to explain Alina to Carrie and the rest of the team.”
“Okay, can we come up?”
“No, the living room’s a mess. Stay with her for a few more minutes. What are you doing, by the way?”
“Shopping. Found a clothing store, and she’s trying on shoes.”
Justin smiled. “Good, keep her occupied. I’ll call you when it’s clear to come back.”
“All right.”
Justin ended the call and glanced at Khazri. His head was twisted to the side, and his chest was rising and dropping very slowly. Blood was trickling from the wrist wounds and along the blue wall. That’s going to take a while to clean. He sighed. And I should patch him up before he bleeds to death.
He stepped closer to the window and looked through the blinds. A stream of cars was racing through the intersection three blocks away. He listened for a long moment, then reached for his phone. He walked to the other end of the room as far away as he could from Khazri. If he was only pretending to be unconscious to avoid further agony, the jihadist would not be able to spy on Justin’s conversation.
Carrie answered her phone after the first ring. “Justin, where are you?” she asked in a worried tone. “I’ve been trying to reach you for ten minutes.”
He heard shuffling in the background, and Carrie’s voice sounded distant and muffled.
“I couldn’t sit still, so I went out. My phone somehow switched to vibrate. How did the op go?”
“It didn’t. When we got to the location, the house had already been attacked.”
“What?” Justin tried to sound as surprised as he could, considering Carrie had put him on speakerphone. “How did that happen?”
“It’s unclear, but the place was crawling with onlookers, police, and army troops.”
“So, all targets are gone?”
“It appears so. We could see a couple of bodies being brought out of the house.”
“But ... you were en route to the safehouse?”
“Right, but about five minutes out, just as we entered the neighborhood, Wahidi’s signal disappeared. We stopped to figure out what happened and reacquired the signal north of the safehouse. We decided to track it—”
Patton’s voice interrupted her. “Carrie decided it was wiser to follow the signal rather than focus on the safehouse, against my advice and that of the team.”
Justin said nothing. If Carrie felt like defending herself, she was fully capable of doing so.
She said, “Anyway, the signal moved around the neighborhood, then returned to the house. By the time we reached it, the attack was over.”
Justin drew in a deep breath before saying, “And we don’t know where Khazri is?” He looked at Khazri’s bloodied face across the room.
“Negative, and we don’t know about Karolin either.”
“Well, there’s good news about that. One of my contacts discovered her location. She’s being held in a safehouse in the area around Thalassa Sousse Resort, northwest of the city.”
“That’s excellent news, Justin.”
Patton said, “How did you come upon this intel?” His voice carried an unmistakable tone of doubt.
“I called a friend. Nothing official, but he has good connections.”
“Oh, does he?”
“Yes, was I supposed to sit there and do nothing?”
Patton did not answer, but Justin could imagine him frowning and shaking his head.
“Justin, when will you be back?” Carrie said. “We’ve got to call Flavio and make plans to release Karolin.”
“Yes, I’m maybe twenty minutes out. Give me half an hour. I’ll call Flavio and update him, especially since we can’t free her ourselves. The safehouse is a fortress.”
“And how do you know that...? Oh, yes, your friend.” Patton’s voice rang with irritation.
“Yes, he almost died to secure that intel, Patton, so I don’t appreciate your tone. You know how much I want to free Karolin, and I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“Justin, you’re already doing that...” Patton said.
Justin sighed but did not ask Patton to clarify. It was clear what the CIA agent meant.
Patton said, “So, if we can’t use force, how are we going to get her?”
Again, Justin remained silent. “I’ll talk to Flavio, see what he thinks.”
“A trade perhaps,” Patton said in a voice that Justin interpreted as more than a suggestion.
“If we have something Khazri wants,” Carrie said.
Justin smiled and glanced at Khazri. I’m sure he wants his life back. “Let me talk to my friend and Flavio, and then we’ll go over the plan at the hotel.”
“Sounds good,” Carrie said.
Justin ended the call and drew in a deep breath. He would not be able to brush away Flavio’s pointed questions as he had done with Patton. Convincing Flavio was going to take a lot of persuading, with a certain amount of finagling. While Justin was skillful in both areas, Flavio had much more experience in these matters, and he also knew Justin very well. I’ve got to be careful about what I say and how I say it. And give him everything up front. Well, almost everything.
He sighed, then dialed Flavio’s office number.