Oath of Loyalty (Mitch Rapp #21)(84)

CHAPTER 41


RAPP backed the SUV through the outbuilding’s bay doors and then got out to close them. Cyrah was sitting at his workbench wearing a loose-fitting skirt and sweater. Most of her head was hidden by a knit hat topped with a white pompom that flopped back and forth as she devoured a ham and cheese croissant. A pair of Claudia’s sunglasses would eventually complete the ensemble, but for now they were lying next to her plate.

When she was done eating, he’d drive her to Cape Town and drop her somewhere out of sight of the American surveillance team. After that, it would be time to get rid of the other two women in his life. One of Nicholas Ward’s private jets was on its way to a remote strip three hours to the north and it would take both back to the United States—Bebe to the relative calm of her life in Maryland and Sadie to New York and whatever the hell it was she did there.

He couldn’t fight off a smile at the thought of never laying eyes on Sadie Hansen again. While there was no question that he wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without her, enough was enough. He wanted her out of his house, out of South Africa, and out of his hemisphere.

“So, you’re really just going to let me go?” Cyrah said through a half-full mouth.

He thumbed toward the SUV. “Your chariot awaits.”

She spun around on the stool, examining him for a moment. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“What’s your real name?”

“What’s it matter as long as my check clears?”

She didn’t seem inclined to let the subject go that easily. “I don’t normally start my client relationships this way.”

“Taped to a weight bench?”

“I was referring to the fact that you know who I am. It seems like that should go both ways.”

“I disagree.”

“You know my identity, Mitch. You know the identities of my team. And you have a way of making contact. It puts us in significant danger. If you were to make a mistake, we could be exposed. If you get into trouble, you could use us as a bargaining chip with the authorities.”

“How does my name change any of that?”

She slid off the stool, testing her balance in an overly large pair of Claudia’s boots. “You defeated a ten-man hit squad here. You managed to find Gustavo Marroqui—something no one has been able to do—and use what appears to be a military weapon to kill him. Then you were able to capture me. Finally, you’ve made a personal enemy of the president of the United States. Not very many people fit that profile.”

“Do you have a point?”

“Is your real last name Rapp? Because if it is, it would make me more comfortable. Mitch Rapp isn’t in the business of making mistakes. And he would never give us up.”

There was an undercurrent of excitement in her voice. Barely perceptible, but undoubtedly there. She was dying to take out the president of the United States. And why not? If she pulled it off in her normal anonymous way, it would be hard to argue against her being the best private contractor in history. A status she appeared to really, really want.

The positive side of that was that he trusted her to actually take on the job as opposed to disappearing with his down payment. The women she referred to as her sisters had been more reticent—pissed might be a better word—but also more anxious to keep Cyrah alive than she’d expected. The three of them had been through a lot together and they didn’t want her to end up under Claudia’s bougainvillea.

To the negative, it wasn’t going to be a quick operation and he was going to have to disappear for it. Cook would be getting reports about what was happening, and it wouldn’t take him and his lapdog Darren Hargrave long to figure out that Legion had been neutralized. When they did, they’d come after him with everything they had.

He opened the gate to the SUV and pointed. “Let’s just say I’m taking the Fifth on the subject.”



“Dinner’s going to be a little late,” Sadie said when he entered the kitchen two hours later. “I was having problems with the oven again. I think the upper heating element might have gotten nicked by a bullet.”

She was wearing Claudia’s apron, holding her chef’s knife, and speaking with her accent again. Pots and pans were strewn everywhere, and the air was heavy with something that admittedly smelled pretty good.

“It can’t be too late,” Rapp said. “I don’t want to leave that plane on the tarmac for any longer than I have to. We need to be out of here inside a couple hours. Are you packed?”

“Are we going to get Anna?” she said, sounding confused.

Rapp kept his expression impassive but behind it he was starting to worry. Letting her back in the kitchen had been a mistake.

“No, back home,” he said finally.

Her confusion deepened. “To Virginia?”

“No, Sadie. You’re going back to New York.”

She stepped back, a combination of shock and betrayal crossing her unlined face. “Are you blaming me for this, Mitch? Because you knew I had enemies before we got together. And it’s not like you don’t have the same. If anything, Anna and I are the ones taking a risk being around you.”

Rapp just stood there, unsure what to do.

“I deposited half a million dollars in your Swiss account,” he said, realizing too late how off point the statement sounded. In retrospect, sleeping through abnormal psych in college hadn’t been one of his best moves.