Yaman recovered remarkably well from her ordeal. Little more than an hour later she looked unfazed, confident, in control as she stood across the room from Ryker, arms folded, glaring in his direction as he hit redial on the desk phone.
A desk phone in a room that kind of looked like an office of sorts, with a few basic chairs and a bookshelf on one wall filled with messy files. The room even had the luxury of an overhead fan to move around the stuffy and stale air, but otherwise, this space wasn’t much different from the cell Ryker had left. Bare concrete walls, no windows. At least the wooden door here had a small glass pane although it only looked out onto a dank, gray corridor.
‘Ryker, if he’s not answering—’
‘He’ll answer.’
He ended the call. None of the many attempts had gone through to voicemail; they just rang out endlessly. For more than half an hour. After holding Yaman at knifepoint it’d been a slow journey through the warren of corridors to this room. Yaman had remained amazingly calm with the knife at the ready to slice through her. She’d led them to this room as armed soldiers hovered. The whole time Ryker had wondered whether Yaman would simply lead him into a trap, but no. Perhaps she trusted that Ryker wasn’t bluffing with his threat of violence, and it was clear however embroiled she was in the clandestine world of spies and dodgy individuals, she wasn’t a fighter.
The guards remained on the outside of this room. Ryker could see two of their faces through the small window. Yaman had given them a very clear instruction to wait outside, to not do anything stupid. To not call for backup or try to storm the room.
And so far they’d stayed true to that. At least, as far as Ryker was aware.
But something about Yaman’s calm demeanor unsettled him still.
‘You don’t really have much of a plan, do you?’ she said, looking a little too pleased with herself.
‘My plan? You and me stay in this room until I speak to Peter Winter.’
‘And what if he doesn’t answer?’
‘I’ve got nothing better to do. Have you?’
‘Actually, I’ve got so many better things to be doing.’
Ryker shrugged. ‘There is another option.’
‘And that would be? Wait… I let you walk out of here. Is that it?’
‘No,’ Ryker said. ‘That’s not what I want.’
Yaman looked a little surprised by that.
‘What I want is to speak to Ismail Karaman. Alone. Just me and him.’
Her face screwed up with distaste as though he’d suggested something lurid. ‘That’s not happening.’
‘I don’t think you realize the trouble I had to go through in getting him here,’ Ryker said. ‘I—’
‘Trouble? You think you suffered? Is that how you’re characterizing the murder of six people?’
‘You know that’s not—’
‘All I know is you came here on an entirely unsanctioned mission, to kidnap and most likely torture a man. Even putting aside the dead, you’ve broken who knows how many laws.’
‘Laws? That’s almost funny, coming from you.’
‘Excuse me?’ From the incredulous look on her face, he could tell she didn’t like that insinuation one bit.
‘You knew I was coming here, didn’t you?’ he said.
No answer.
‘You had the Omani police ready to take me in. Karaman too. You didn’t only find out what I was doing in the time it took us to travel from Dubai to here on that boat. You knew all along. But you didn’t try to stop us. You could have done. But you didn’t. Which raises a lot of additional questions in my mind. Most likely I’m just going to be a scapegoat for something. Collateral damage, potentially, although if that were the case I’m surprised I haven’t already had a bullet in my head.’
He waited to see if Yaman had anything to say in response. Apparently not.
‘So you asked what my plan is from here? First off, I speak to Winter. Then I get to speak to Karaman. When I’m satisfied I have what I need from him, you can have him and do whatever you want. Put him back on his ridiculously expensive yacht if you like, carry on enabling and protecting him and his cronies.’
‘I—’
‘Save it. I’m not interested.’
The addition of the hand held up to halt her really got her blood boiling. He smiled as he turned away from her and hit redial once more.
Finally, the call was answered.
‘Winter, it’s me.’
A slight pause before he answered. ‘Are you OK?’
He didn’t sound particularly concerned. Which suggested he hadn’t heard anything yet about what had happened. So Ryker briefly explained. The snatch. Brock and his trigger-happy approach. The ambush by Yaman and the Omanis. Ryker’s current predicament.
‘Whoa, Ryker, back up. What are you… Six dead? In Dubai?’
‘You sent me a madman,’ Ryker said through gritted teeth, trying to contain his anger as much as he could.
‘You gave me next to no notice for a wild mission. What did you expect? The nation’s finest assets? But Ryker, slow down. Who is dead?’
‘Karaman’s guards. You’re telling me you’ve heard nothing about this.’
‘Nothing at all. And I’ve been keeping an eye out for news from the Gulf because I didn’t know exactly when you were moving.’
‘There’s been nothing about Karaman?’
‘Nothing about any of it. But… Karaman’s alive, isn’t he?’
‘Last time I saw him he was.’
‘And you’re where now?’
‘In a bunker with your good friend from SIS, Fatma Yaman.’ Ryker turned to look over at her. Damn, she looked so pleased with herself.
‘That scheming little bi—’
‘She’s in the room with me now, if you want to speak to her?’ Ryker suggested.
‘Pass me over,’ Winter said.
Ryker pulled the receiver from his ear and held it out toward Yaman. ‘It’s for you,’ he said.
She took her time coming over, Ryker unsure if her hesitation was due to wariness or if she was just trying to piss Winter off. When she took the receiver, she indicated for Ryker to step back then she turned from him and pushed her head down toward her chest and cupped her hand over the receiver.
Ryker tried his best to listen in but he could hear nothing that Winter said, and Yaman’s short responses were just muffled mumbles.
As he waited, Ryker switched his gaze intermittently between Yaman and the guards outside the room. He could wait and see if Winter really did have the authority and sway over Yaman – and whoever she was working for – to get Ryker out of this mess, or he could just do it himself. Storm out there and tackle everyone who got in his way.
That would get him free from this bunker, but it wouldn’t achieve his aim. He’d come here for Karaman. And he wasn’t leaving without him, or at least not until he’d had time with the guy.
Ryker was caught in his thoughts, staring at the guards outside when he heard the clunk as Yaman replaced the handset.
‘So?’ Ryker prompted her.
‘He really thinks a lot about you,’ she said to Ryker in such a way as to confirm that she really didn’t understand it. ‘In this world, it’s rare to see a person put their neck so far on the line for another.’
‘He trusts me,’ Ryker said. ‘I see you’re not familiar with the concept.’
‘The phone call really didn’t make much difference,’ Yaman said. ‘My plan was never to hold you here endlessly. I’m not stupid, Ryker. As you said, I involved the Omani police and army. There was already too much officialness to do anything… underhand.’
‘Lucky me. So you’re saying you’re letting me go free because you have to, not because you want to.’
‘Well put.’
‘Except I’m not going anywhere until I’ve spoken to Karaman.’
Yaman shook her head. ‘You can’t.’
Ryker took a step toward her, an attempt at intimidation because he knew that despite her bullishness she definitely was still scared of him.
‘I’m speaking to Karaman before I leave here,’ he said.
‘No, you aren’t.’ Her face broke out into an unlikely smile. ‘Why do you think we kept you in that room, Ryker? Three days you’ve been there. Why do you think the delay in me coming to see you?’
Ryker processed that. She’d already made clear that she hadn’t intended on keeping Ryker captive, torturing him, killing him, or anything as nefarious as that. No, this woman wasn’t outwardly brutal, but she was conniving in the extreme, every action deliberate and most actions with a hidden objective.
‘You get it now?’ she said.
‘Karaman’s not here, is he?’ Ryker said.
‘He never was here. We took him away immediately.’
‘Took him where?’
She looked at her watch. ‘It’s been a long journey for him, but… in about half an hour, he’ll be landing. And that’s when the real fun will start.’
‘Where?’ Ryker said.
‘He’s our country’s most wanted criminal, Ryker. And justice will prevail.’
She said that as though she actually believed her own words. As though this was what she’d intended with the intel on Karaman all along.
‘England?’
Yaman nodded. ‘You can make your own way there.’
She turned and Ryker didn’t stop her as she unlocked the door and stepped out.