Chapter 35
The plan was simple enough.
The timing was another matter entirely.
According to her instructions, Sonia wanted the Emir taken out of the picture within the next 24 hours.
A job that usually took months- weeks at the least, to plan, was to be conceived and executed in two hours. His appointed transport would be there to take him to his task; a task Eliot was convinced would have dire global ramifications.
He had no choice, though. At least, not yet.
As he outfitted himself and committed the map of the Emir's office to memory, he thought back to the job that made him leave the government's service so many years before. He had the same feeling then too- reluctance and doubt. His intuition told him what he was doing wasn't right but he had followed his orders and regretted it every day since.
This isn't like that, Spencer. He assured himself. You're buying time. That's it.
The problem was that he was only half convinced.
"Damn that Sterling. I should have known…" Nate's hand tore roughly through his hair.
"I hope he's not scared," Sophie spoke softly against the cold metal door of their cell. She planted herself there ever since she and Nate woke up and she realized Joshua was not with them.
"I'm sure he's fine," Nate offered softly. He went to Sophie and sat beside her, leaning his back against the metal door.
"She has no reason to hurt him," Sophie told Nate pointedly and he nodded in agreement knowing that Sophie needed the reassurance more desperately than he did.
"She wants us," Nate assured her. "She needs us… for something."
He spoke his thoughts aloud, the nagging feeling of the far too slowly developing picture, frustrating him beyond reason. Then Sophie turned toward him and he saw her tear-streaked face.
"He's fine, Sophie," he assured her softly, "I promise. Like you just said, she has no reason to hurt him."
Sophie nodded but the heartbreak on her face was etched. She would have no ease until she saw the little boy with her own eyes. She leaned against Nate and took small comfort in his presence. She was tired to the bone. So much had happened in such a short period of time; So many of her things that she'd desperately prayed for had been granted. She had her family back; she was back in the arms of the man she loved; but somehow her peace, her happiness felt preempted. It ached that much more because it was within her grasp.
"Damn it," she turned back to the door. Her anxiety was rising again. "Why won't they come and talk to us…something…anything?"
Nate though, was grateful for the reprieve. As worried as he was about the little boy, he knew he and Sophie needed to be prepared for when Sonia decided to pay them a visit.
"We're missing something," he said more to himself than to Sophie, "I just…can't get a handle on it."
He leaned his head against the door as Sophie rested her forehead against it. Neither aware that a floor above them Eliot was preparing to change the course of the world.