Chapter Four

      Monday, September 14, 5:00 p.m.

      “I need a vehicle registration search,” Emir said as he spoke to his contact. It was standard procedure, a first link to who or what these men had been—dead bodies didn’t talk.

      “Stolen vehicle,” he said to Kate after he ended the call.

      “Not what either of us hoped for.”

      He shrugged. “Did you expect anything else?”

      She paused as if pondering the information. “It fits. Definitely not best case, but not a surprise, either. The vehicle makes sense but the attack itself seems like a piece that just doesn’t fit. If the men who attacked us at the airport were originally with the kidnappers, why would they leave the group, come back and try to kill us?” She rubbed her thumb along the inside of her wrist, as if doing so would somehow provide answers. “They won’t get money from a body. It makes no sense.”

      Emir looked at her. “I have three brothers.”

      She frowned. “They can still negotiate with one of your brothers.” Her eyes met his. “Were they trying to kill you to ensure the others paid?”

      “Maybe. I don’t know.”

      As the Hummer slowed, Emir pulled out his phone and punched a series of numbers. The massive bronze gates leading to his home slipped smoothly open and Dell maneuvered the vehicle inside.

      Emir slid the passenger window down.

      “Heard anything?” A middle-aged man with a Beretta strapped to his waist and an AK-47 over his shoulder asked as he stepped out of the one-room stucco cabin that functioned as a guardhouse. Lines of worry etched his forehead and his lips were compressed in an angry line.

      “I’m sorry, no,” Emir said, his eyes on the guard as if some silent communication were passing between the two.

      He could feel Kate’s eyes on him and knew that it might seem odd to apologize about his sister’s disappearance to his staff. It certainly wasn’t the norm, but then, nothing about this estate had been the norm since they’d lost both a matriarch and a patriarch on the same day. After that, the rules of running a large estate had changed.

      Many of his employees were also friends, especially of Tara. Tara was a favorite among the estate’s staff and he knew they were worried sick about her. She had the ability to touch the heart of everyone she met. Little things mattered to her, like knowing the birthdays of each employee. She could ask each of them about their families, the smallest details of their lives and call their children by name. Considering the number of staff in their employ, Emir had never been sure how she did it.

      The guard’s hand moved to the Beretta at his side, touching it almost reverently in an unspoken acknowledgment of solidarity.

      “Rashad, this is K. J. Gelinsky. She’ll be working with me to get Tara back.”

      Rashad gave a solemn salute and a nod.

      “Pleased to meet you,” Kate said.

      “Been with the family twenty years,” Emir said as the vehicle moved on.

      “He has an alibi?”

      Emir tensed. “Rashad is devastated by what happened to Tara.”

      “But he was questioned?” she persisted.

      “He was at home with his family when it happened. There’re a half dozen men who work with him, all of them with airtight alibis. Zafir questioned everyone, not just security.”

      “I’d like to see where she was taken.”

      “Of course...” Emir said, and couldn’t help but admire the way she remained focused and calm no matter what was thrown at her. “On the outside, away from the main gate.”

      “We need to go back,” she said.

      “You’re surprised I didn’t stop there right away?” he asked at the slightly puzzled look on her face.

      “No.” She shook her head. “You were testing me.” She looked at him, her eyes sweeping his face. “And, yes, I need to see where Tara was taken.”

      Dell’s phone buzzed. A minute later he turned around with a troubled expression. “My mother just texted me. My father doesn’t have long.”

      “Dell, I’m sorry...” Emir began.

      Dell had offered to drive him as a favor between friends. Even with his father in hospital and the family gathered for those last moments, Dell had insisted on at least taking him to the airport. He suspected that Dell had sensed something off—and, as usual, that instinct, which had saved them a number of times on previous assignments, had been right.

      “Don’t be,” Dell said as he opened the door and got out.

      Emir got out of the backseat. Dell was obviously anxious to go as he handed the vehicle’s keys to him. He looked over to see Kate slip out the other side and grab the small canvas travel bag that Emir remembered tossing into the backset at the airport, which seemed like a million years ago. He turned his attention back to Dell. It was a difficult situation and he wished that he could change things for his old friend.

      Instead, he could only take the keys Dell handed him.

      “Dad’s had seventy good years. Meantime, you need to find Tara. If you need me, you know...”

      “I know, man. No worries,” Emir replied. Dell had been there with him not only today but after his parents’ deaths, and while he and his brothers raised a sister who at the time had been a young teen.

      Emir watched as Dell turned with a nod and headed toward a battered-looking Jeep at the edge of the long drive that led to the entrance of the property. He could feel Kate’s presence beside him but he didn’t look at her. He needed a minute to let his emotions settle. There’d been too much tragedy in too short a period of time.

      The sky was cloudy and the temperature was in the high sixties, much lower than average. Somehow the air seemed even cooler. He looked over as Kate shivered.

      “You all right?” Emir asked as he looked at her with more concern for her comfort than he knew he’d shown since she arrived.

      “It’s been a long day,” she admitted. “I’m tired and just a little chilled,” she said as she pulled a lightweight jacket out of her bag, the soft smell of coconut wafting around her.

      If she’d been a man he wouldn’t have worried about her comfort. Another reason why she shouldn’t be here.

      The masonry wall that surrounded the compound stretched out in front of them. They’d retraced their way on foot to the entrance of the compound, stopping seventy-five feet outside of it to a spot where Emir had been told his sister had been taken. Behind them, it was dusty and flat, a field that stretched into nothingness. Behind that, a public road ran about three hundred feet perpendicular to where they were. It was close enough that, had there been any traffic, the noise would have been disturbing. Ahead of them, rows of palm trees announced the entrance to the Al-Nassar compound.

      “They took her with little fight,” Kate said minutes later.

      “How do you know that?” he asked. It wasn’t something anyone else had seen. In fact, with one man dead and another in the hospital, it seemed rather a ludicrous