The Rescue(109)

“I can hear you, but I can’t see you.”

“You don’t need to see me. As long as you and Ms. Mackenzie can see each other, this meeting will be productive.”

“What the hell is this?” said Decker.

“Come on, Decker. Don’t play dumb. You have exactly ten seconds to walk out of this room before my associate blasts Ms. Mackenzie’s brains onto the wall next to her.”

“She has nothing to do with this.”

“Wrong. She has everything to do with this right now, and only you can save her.”

“I don’t care what you do with her,” said Decker, grabbing the block of C-4 on the desk.

“I’ll kill them all, Decker!” said Harcourt. “Harlow Mackenzie. Her partners. I’ll even go after their families, like I did before. Did you hear that, Mr. Ross? If anything happens to me, you don’t stop until their family lines are erased! Same with Decker’s daughter. Same with Decker’s parents. Kill every single one of them. Finish the job. Are you starting to get the picture, Decker? Walk away right now, or all of those deaths are on you!”

“I know a bluff when I hear one,” said Decker, sounding very unsure of himself.

Harcourt muted his end of the teleconference and turned on the handheld radio, contacting the team leader that had assumed command of the quick-reaction team. “How are we doing out there?”

“We just reached the great hall,” whispered the team leader. “Give me two minutes.”

“You have one,” said Harcourt. “The next time I talk to you, it’ll be face-to-face, inside my study—standing over two dead bodies. Click the transmitter twice when you’re set up on the door. If I click three times, you breach the door and kill anyone inside. There might be a chance of resolving this without blowing up my office.”

“Understood, sir. Radio silence except for the clicks.”

He unmuted the teleconference. Time to up the stakes.

“Mr. Ross. Kill Kathleen Murphy,” said Harcourt. “Right now.”

Gunther Ross turned and nodded at one of the masked men guarding the women, who grabbed Kathleen Murphy by the hair and yanked her forward onto her stomach. A second gunman stepped into view and fired his rifle twice, the woman going slack on the ground.

Decker didn’t react to the slaughter. He just sat at the desk, looking defeated, his eyes fixed on the screen like he didn’t understand what he’d just seen.

“Now imagine Kathleen Murphy’s only sister, Hanna, waking up to find her husband and three children hanging from a tree in their backyard, right before being skinned alive and dissolved in a barrel of acid in her own garage. This is what will happen to everyone connected with you—Harlow Mackenzie, her partners, and Brad Pierce. Add him to the list, too. Why not? Do you see how far I’m willing to take this?”

“I don’t understand,” said Decker.

“What don’t you understand? And make it quick. The clock is still ticking. I’m giving you another ten seconds until I execute the rest of them, except for Ms. Mackenzie. My associate has something special planned for her.”

Decker shook his head, still staring at the screen, which zoomed back in on Harlow Mackenzie’s terrified face. Harcourt was starting to think that he wouldn’t need the team to blast their way into the room. Decker wore the pathetic look of a man who had been solidly outmaneuvered. Beaten so badly—he was unable to react. When he finally spoke, Harcourt almost took pity on him.

“I thought it was the Russians,” said Decker, rubbing his face. “I just—I figured it had to be them. Why would anyone else go after the families like that? I can’t believe—why would you do that?”

“You just figured it out?” said Harcourt. “Jesus, Decker. And here I was the whole time worried you’d already pieced it together. I mean—you found Meghan Steele against all odds. Take away the fact that she should have been dissolved and poured into a drain three months earlier, and you performed a near miracle. I knew you were good, but that was something else. Impressive. I struggled with that.”

“Struggled?” said Decker.

“I didn’t want to throw you and your whole group away. But at the end of the day, I figured a group that sharp would sniff me out eventually. I had to bring the entire world down on you—permanently.”

The handheld radio clicked twice.

“Time’s up, Decker,” said Harcourt, gripping the radio. “Surrender now, and the killing ends with the current audience. If my men have to breach that door, I’ll make good on the promise to murder every family member I can track down, no matter how remotely they’re related. Those deaths will be on you.”

“Not much of a choice,” said Decker, glancing at Pierce, who held the phone in one hand and a second device in the other.

When Decker nodded, Harcourt knew something was wrong. An explosive crack blasted from the radio, but the screen remained the same. Cries for help and frantic orders followed over the handheld radio as Pierce slowly approached the completely intact study door.

“That was just a warning,” said Decker. “The next one will be lethal. I promise.”

“Team leader, what’s your status?”

“They detonated a claymore on the far side of the hall right as I was about to breach the door. Most of my men are injured, but nothing life threatening. We’re pulling back. Who knows what the hell else they have waiting for us in there.”