John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City
What the hell am I doing?
Alexis had no clue what had possessed her to follow Amira when she overheard one of the security officers reporting where the woman appeared to be heading. The children were safe, but she felt compelled to save this woman. She had seen firsthand the terror on her face, had heard her story, had helped her get her family to safety.
She felt she knew the woman.
And the woman she knew would never be doing this willingly.
So she might be able to help. If she could just make contact with her, find out what hold it was these horrible human beings had on her, she might be able to get her dad to help.
And all these innocent people could be saved.
Including Amira, a victim if there ever was one.
Yet when she had spotted her standing with her eyes closed, the bomb revealed for the world to see, her words delivered with such passion, she began to have second thoughts. What she had just heard wasn’t coerced. There was no fear there, no reluctance.
It was fervor.
Religious fervor.
She had heard it before, and she recognized it for what it was.
She had just never heard it delivered by someone holding the trigger to a bomb, a bomb she understood might be radioactive.
Her intention was to stop this woman by convincing her they could deal with any threat made against her.
But now she wasn’t so sure.
If this woman truly believed in what she was doing, then there were no threats against her. Or if there were, they didn’t matter.
She clearly believed in what she had just said, there was no faking that passion.
What am I doing here?
She glanced at one of the security cameras, realizing at that moment her father was probably watching her.
Asking the same question.
Amira raised a hand into the air, a hand that appeared to be holding a trigger.
“Amira, wait!”
“What the hell is she doing there?”
Leroux shook his head, recognizing the desperation in his boss’ voice. It was a desperation he had shared on more than one occasion, and was feeling it now as he watched the love of his life hide behind a counter that would provide zero protection against the blast about to occur. “I don’t know, sir, our last report had her evacuating with the children.” He turned to Sonya. “Find out what happened.” Sonya nodded, activating her comm, though it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter who was to blame for letting a civilian get this far, and there probably was no one to blame.
The orderly evacuation relied on people behaving as expected, that they’d either want to escape, or they’d hunker down and hide.
It didn’t count on a friendly walking deeper into the situation.
But now they faced it. His girlfriend and his boss’ daughter, about to die.
Unless together they could come up with a plan.
A plan they had no way to communicate to each other.
Alexis spotted a woman behind a counter nearby, just out of the corner of her eye. She seemed to be watching them, and for a moment Alexis was ready to dismiss her as merely a traveler hiding in panic from the woman with the bomb strapped to her chest.
Yet there was something familiar about this woman.
Something unafraid in the way she was watching.
Could she be law enforcement?
If she was, she wasn’t wearing a uniform.
Undercover?
Now that was a possibility. A definite possibility. Few of her dad’s people wore uniforms. Actually, she wasn’t sure if any of them did. And sometimes the best security were those who just blended in with the crowd, and if there was one thing JFK had a lot of, it was crowds.
What do I do?
If the woman was just a civilian, then she had to give her a chance to escape, so she couldn’t let Amira see her.
And if she were law enforcement, then she had to give the woman a chance to act.
What would Dad do?
She had to think like a spy. It was because of her father that she was here. She felt it was almost a family duty to help people. He helped them by killing those who would kill Americans, she tried to help those in need, the victims of the chaos he fought.
And today, for some reason, she had felt compelled to come back the moment she knew the children were safe.
That’s it!
“Amira, why are you doing this?”
The woman stared at her, genuine dismay on her face, as if she hadn’t expected anyone she knew to see her commit the horrendous crime she was about to. “No, you shouldn’t be here. Go now, before it’s too late!”
She was clearly concerned, which made no sense considering she was willing to kill thousands. Perhaps it was easier to kill a thousand strangers than just one person you had a connection with, one who had saved your life and that of your children.
The woman behind the counter poked her head out and suddenly Alexis knew why she seemed familiar.
She works for Dad!
She stepped slowly to the side, trying to make it look as casual as possible, forcing Amira to turn to keep facing her, putting her back to the agent.
Sherrie!
“Amira, what about your children? You fought so hard to save them, why would you want them to die now?”
Amira’s eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and the trigger lowered, if only slightly. “You mean they’re still here?”
Alexis felt sick to her stomach as she nodded, lying to the woman. But it could save them all if she thought her own children might die.
“But why? Why didn’t you evacuate them?”
Alexis lowered her gaze, staring at the floor, as if in shame. “I made a mistake. I thought they’d be safer staying where they were.” She motioned toward the bomb. “But that’s no ordinary bomb, is it? I heard someone say it was some sort of nuclear device.”
Amira shook her head. “I know nothing of these things. I just know that it will cause pain and suffering on an untold scale.”
“Then why are you doing this? You’re a good woman, Amira. I know that. Only a good woman would go through everything you did to save her children, only a good woman would have told me about the terrorists that were in your midst. Why are you doing this? What hold do they have over you?”
“My family.”
“But your children are safe.”
Amira shook her head. “Not my children. My parents and brothers and sisters. They have them back in Syria, and if I do this, they will all be safe.”
Alexis continued the lie. “But your children won’t be. Is killing them worth saving the others?” Her stomach churned, knowing it was a horrible question to ask.
The woman emerged from behind the counter, walking quickly toward Amira. Alexis resisted the urge to glance in her direction.
Amira’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know what to do.” She looked up at her. “Go! You go, get my children, and get them out of here.”
Alexis shook her head. “I can’t do that.”
Amira closed her eyes.
“Then they die serving Allah.”
Sherrie surged forward, reaching up with her left hand and squeezing it around Amira’s trigger hand, the other shoving her Glock in the back of the woman’s head and squeezing the trigger.
Alexis screamed as Amira’s body crumpled to the floor, Sherrie still gripping the trigger. She didn’t risk removing the woman’s hand from the device, instead deciding to leave it to the experts.
She activated her comm. “Target is down, bomb is secure, send in the bomb squad, now!”
“Roger that, bomb squad on their way.”
She recognized Chris’ voice and closed her eyes, thanking God she had survived this, more for his sake than hers. She loved that man, and when she got home tonight she looked forward to forgetting what had happened today, at least for a little while.
Boots hammering on the floor rapidly approached, the bomb squad apparently trailing them at a distance.
Alexis had dropped to her knees, her face in her hands as she continued to sob, staring at the pool of blood rapidly expanding toward her.
“Are you okay?”
Alexis looked up, shaking out a nod, the sobs continuing as the bomb squad came into sight. Suddenly she rose and walked toward the body, taking a knee, then doing something Sherrie wasn’t expecting.
She reached over and brushed some hair that had come loose from Amira’s chador, tucking it back out of sight. Then she looked at Sherrie.
“Did you have to kill her?”
Sherrie regarded her for a moment then looked away, saying nothing. She knew the woman didn’t mean it, was looking for someone to blame for the entire situation. She knew she had done the right thing.
And knowing it would haunt her for years to come.