Hell for Leather (Black Knights Inc. #6)(70)

Qasim ibn Hasan…Jesus, Dagan thought. And if he wasn’t mistaken, that sound he was hearing was the sweet, dulcet tones of the shit hitting the fan.

“Why?” Delilah asked, and he cocked his head, staring at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?” Chelsea asked.

“Why would he bomb hotels or blow up city busses or kill schoolgirls? Why does he hate everyone so much?”

Ah, the search for reason in the unreasonable. Dagan knew the exercise well.

“Not everyone,” Chelsea corrected. “Just us. Because even though his previous targets were all on foreign soil, each of those countries is one of our allies. And all of his victims were either Westerners, like those in the hotel and on the buses, or they were proponents of Western ideals, like the Iraqi girls who had the unqualified gall to try to get an education.”

“Then why does he hate us so much,” Delilah asked, shaking her head. “I mean, what did we ever do to him?”

“Killed his family,” Tweedle Dee spoke up for the first time.

“What?” Dagan snapped.

“It’s true.” Chelsea nodded. “His wife and two boys were victims of a drone strike about a dozen years ago. Before that, Qasim was a simple merchant. Now, he’s one of America’s Most Wanted.”

“For f*ck’s sake,” Mac grumbled, running a hand over the back of his neck. “Sometimes I don’t know if we make more enemies with predator drone strikes than we kill.”

Dagan snorted. “Fire from above does tend to radicalize men who would have otherwise remained neutral.” After much consideration on the subject, years in fact, the only sense he could make of it all was that drones were an imperfect solution to an incredibly complicated issue.

“So it’s revenge he’s after?” Delilah asked.

“Yes,” Chelsea admitted. “But it’s warped revenge. What you have to remember is that his family was killed by accident. As terrible as it is to say, they were unfortunate collateral damage in a war. The war on terror. It happens. But he is deliberately taking his remorse and vengeance out on innocent targets. I mean, schoolgirls? Grannies and single moms riding the bus? There’s no reciprocity there, no equality of grievance. If he targeted military bases or embassies? Sure, I could see that. Give credence to his actions, even. A war is a war, after all.

“But he’s not going after soldiers or diplomats.” She shook her head. “He’s deliberately going after women and children. And that makes him a monster in my book. Whatever kind of man he might have been before that bomb landed in his village doesn’t matter. Now he’s evil. An evil man doing evil deeds.”

It was an impassioned speech given by a passionate woman. Chelsea was a true patriot. And she believed in the U.S. government. Even through all its missteps and mistakes, through all its self-serving appointments and support of totalitarian dictators, through all its posturing and bullying, she believed America was still a beacon of hope the world over. They’d had many discussions on the subject long ago, and it seemed her stance hadn’t become jaded in all the years since.

But she wasn’t finished. “We all, each and every one of us standing in this room,” she slid a glance toward him, “have lost people we love in this war. But you don’t see us killing indiscriminately. You don’t see us searching for nuclear weapons to unleash on an innocent civilian population.”

“Yeah.” Delilah nodded wearily, lifting a hand to her temple. “I…I understand. I really do. I just can’t help but wish my uncle wasn’t caught up in the middle of it.”

“You and me both.” Chelsea’s smile was compassionate. “But we’re doing everything we can, using satellite imagery and scouring traffic camera footage to try to locate that second rental vehicle. We’re going through phone records, recent online chatter of known domestic terrorist groups, and much, much more. I assure you, the minute I hear something, you’ll be the first to know. In the meantime, why don’t you head next door and get some sleep.”

Delilah shook her head. “I don’t think I can.”

“Then just lie down and rest for a while. We don’t know how long this thing will last. But regardless of whether its hours or days, you’re going to need your strength.”

“Yeah,” Delilah conceded on a heavy sigh, looking a little lost and a lot beaten down. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“And you don’t have to worry about al-Hallaj making another attempt to snatch you. These guys,” Chelsea motioned to the Knights as well as Dee and Dum, “will be taking shifts guarding both your door and your bathroom window around back.”

“Thank you,” Delilah said wearily, allowing her gaze to alight on every face in the room in turn. “Thank you all for everything.”

“No thanks are necessary,” Dagan assured her.

She gifted him with a sad, tired smile before turning for the door.

“I’ll take first shift out front,” Mac declared, stepping up behind her.

“Hey.” Dagan stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you let me do that?” He lowered his voice so only Mac you hear him. “Then you can go make right with her whatever it is you just made wrong with her.”

“I didn’t make anything wrong with her,” Mac insisted. “And I’m takin’ the first shift.”