The page loaded slower than he wanted. Before the page loaded he knew what Khan was planning, the headline said it all. And it could be the most heinous of all attacks. He stared in disbelief.
HAYDEN PLANETARIUM TO HOST OVER 4000 FROM CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Khan was planning to kill thousands of school kids. He read the article. The American Museum of Natural History was hosting School Space Day for public schools from all over New York City. And the biggest surprise of all, Senator Richard Boden, the Democrat from New York, would be keynote speaker for the event. He read on, and then he looked at his watch and the date. If he was right, he only had six hours before busloads of children from all over New York City filed into a potential disaster. And if Jake was successful, by the time the first busload arrived, Khan would be dead.
Jake leaned back in his seat, content in his plan to kill Khan. He grabbed the envelope and ripped open the seal, and let the contents slip into his hands. At first, he didn’t understand what he was looking at, two newspaper articles and a photograph. He stared at the one on top, a newspaper clipping of Beth’s obituary with a shamrock taped to it. The second, a newspaper article about the tragic fire that took the lives of his parents with two shamrocks taped to it.
“What the…?”
He flipped to the last sheet, a photo of him at his parents’ funeral, just days ago, with a target symbol drawn on his face.
When the impact hit him, it hammered him. Every sinew in his body tightened. Waves of rage coursed through his veins. The airplane’s cabin closed in on him. He began to sweat. His hands trembled.
Collins.
Ian Collins had killed Beth. The son of a bitch murdered Beth and his parents.
The bastard.
Bentley had forewarned him, and he was right. This was the worst thing he’d ever read. He felt his anger swell but this time it wasn’t Laurence O’Rourke’s face he saw, it was that blue-eyed, brown-eyed, streaked-haired Irishman, Ian Collins.
And Collins would have to pay. Jake would track Collins to the depths of Hell and back if he had to, but Collins would pay.
Collins would pay with his life.
Then another revelation hit him. He picked up the photo of him at his parents’ funeral. The bastard was there at the cemetery. Watching. Watching him grieve. The sick bastard was there.
He grabbed the laptop with both hands and hurled it across the cabin where it smashed onto the galley floor. “You’ll suffer, you son of a bitch.”
That was the moment he felt it, cold and empty inside. Now, only one thing in life mattered.
Jake had to kill Collins — or die trying.
CHAPTER 65
Isabella Hunt picked Kaplan and Bentley up from the CIA hangar at the Dulles International Airport. She drove a white, non-descript Company van. Bentley’s bodyguards assisted Kaplan to the back of the van. With the pin in Kaplan’s leg and the cast preventing his knee from bending, a car would make transportation difficult. Bentley had urged Kaplan to check into a hospital, but Kaplan refused. He said he wanted to sleep in his own bed. He’d volunteered to come to Langley the next day for a full medical evaluation.
She’d spent the past two days regretting she didn’t tell Kaplan everything. It had been bothering her for a long time. Despite what she’d said to Bentley, maybe Kaplan did have a right to know. But still, it was her problem and she’d always handled her own problems her own way. And always alone. She wasn’t used to sharing or having others take the reins in her personal life.
Maybe she’d try to bring up the subject later with Kaplan.
Maybe.
Hunt pulled the van into the entry lane at CIA Headquarters allowing the guards to check all credentials. Even though the director was with them, certain security precautions and protocols were still required. After the van was scanned and identifications authenticated, the van was allowed entry onto the grounds of the spy agency. Hunt pulled to the underground entry and dropped off Bentley. His bodyguards exited the van first, checked the area then opened the door to the bulletproofed armored van. The two linebackers escorted the director into the HQ building as Isabella Hunt drove away.
“I’ll be your chauffer for the next few days, Mr. Kaplan.” She quipped. “May I take you somewhere? Perhaps the pool, I understand you enjoy swimming.”
Kaplan played along. “No, Miss Hunt, I think I’d like to go home. And I’ll probably require some assistance after we arrive. I hope that won’t be a problem for you.”
“No sir, Mr. Kaplan.” She turned around and smiled. “I aim to please.”
“How’s your leg?” She asked.
“Hurts like a son of a bitch.”
“Your fingers?”
“Not so bad. I’ve broken fingers before, just tape ‘em up and go. Of course, now I have these fancy little splints. Not sure I like them.”
“How’s Jake?”
“He did all right. I can’t figure him out though.”
She turned the van onto Kaplan’s street. “What do you mean?”
“He ditched us in Spain, then he reappeared like nothing had happened with a boat he’d rented and everything arranged. Like he knew ahead of time what Khan was doing. The CIA had no knowledge of any of it. And not only that, he had acquired weapons and ammo and provisions…if you can call candy bars provisions.”
“Did you ask him about it?”
“Oh yeah. And I got some smart-ass reply. He avoided saying anything definitive. The thing is…if he hadn’t done that, Khan would be long gone and we would probably be dead.”
Hunt pulled into Kaplan’s driveway. “But Khan is long gone. He got away and you two almost died.”
“If it weren’t for Jake, I would be dead right now. He’s very resourceful. And something tells me he knows Khan's location and is already on his trail.
“You think?”
“I’m sure of it.”
She got out and opened the door for Kaplan. He leaned on her as she walked with him to his front door. His keychain got caught in his finger splints and he dropped his keys on the front porch.
Hunt leaned down and grabbed them. “Allow me, sir.”
She got the correct key on the second try. “Now, may I assist you to your room?”
“Maybe the couch for now.” Kaplan hobbled toward a seven-foot leather couch in the middle of his den. “I think we have a few things to talk about, don’t you.”
“I don’t know, Gregg. I don’t want it to get complicated.” In reality, she knew it was already complicated. What she really meant was she didn’t want it to get more complicated. Her condition was her problem, why should she make it his as well? She should spare him the inevitable — it would be the right thing to do — but her heart wouldn’t let her. She was selfish and she wanted this time with him, however brief it might be. What she knew was the right thing to do and what she wanted to do were raging a battle inside her consciousness. It wasn’t fair. Just when she’d found someone, this happened. And her next decisions, she knew, would be the hardest she’d ever made.
CHAPTER 66
At precisely 7:00 A.M., Khan’s contact picked him up in front of The Excelsior Hotel in a black sedan; there were hundreds of black sedans with tinted windows in the city so it went unnoticed.
“Is everything in place?” Khan slid to the middle of the back seat.