Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
The intel was correct. Huisman’s army was a ragtag group of mercenaries, and not top paid ones. These were men he culled from the bottom or hired from local towns. Likely he’d wanted to make sure no one in his employ had ties to intelligence agencies. He thought he could tie up their loyalty with money and the prestige of working in a place like this.
The dude highly underestimated Kenzie Taggart’s ability to flirt and roll a guy.
“I want to see Devi Taggart and my mother.” Time. He needed to buy the team a little time to get everyone in place.
They’d picked him up on the outskirts of Kathmandu, and he was surprised they hadn’t roughed him up more than they had. He’d had his hands zip tied and a coarse fabric bag tossed over his head. That was the moment he knew Huisman was going to play this to the hilt.
Because if Ben Parker was working for him, wouldn’t he know they had the location of his base here?
They were risking a lot for Kenzie’s crush. If Huisman was telling the truth, this was one big-ass trap, and they were falling into it.
If he was lying, what Ben Parker did next would prove if he was an ally or the enemy.
Parker, who had told them he was ready to infiltrate Huisman’s pain palace. He was supposed to meet the American operative deep inside the base. He would be coming in via air ducts.
Kenzie would be entering with a little more shock and awe.
“I think we can arrange that,” Huisman said. “After we discuss your part in this.”
It was hard not to look around and get more of a lay of the land, but he forced his attention on Huisman. “I thought my part in this was to show up and probably get murdered by you. Or stuck in a cage and used to make my mother work for you.”
“Your mother is a stubborn woman,” Huisman said with a tsking sound. “She claims my timeline was far too short to build a how-to manual. And she seemed to notice the cameras and where they were placed. There were a few things she did that I couldn’t see. Naturally it was all to the delivery system. A delicate operation, that if done improperly could explode in my face. Smart woman. I can’t toss her body off the side of the mountain. So yes, I do need you to ensure her cooperation with the next round of my plan. You see, she was right about the time crunch.”
“The World Economic Forum is slated to meet next week. You want it in chaos.” He knew that much.
“I want it burning, but I’ll settle for chaos. That’s where the next bomb goes off,” he admitted. “I told your mother I needed three, but I think I’ll keep one. The whole world will be talking about the double agent who set this all in motion for Beijing. When the WEF is hit with the same thing a week later, the West will go to war with the East.”
The man liked to talk. It would be his downfall one day. “Parker is taking the blame for you?”
Huisman chuckled. “Ah, I should have said rogue American agent. I think you’ll find you now have five million dollars in a bank account in the Caymans. I have a friend in the States who is planting all the evidence even as we speak.”
Well, that shouldn’t be a surprise. Huisman knew how to use his assets, and he would see Zach’s separation from his team and his real life a definite asset. After all, hadn’t that been his plan all along? “What am I supposed to do? Strap a bomb to my chest and blow up the city?”
“Heavens, don’t be so dramatic. You’re going to take one of my helicopters and deploy the bomb from the air. I’ll provide the pilot, of course. And a few guards to ensure you do your job. You see, this is how I know it will work. Your mother understands it’s you who will be setting it off, and she didn’t even scream and cry and try to fix it. So I’m sure she hasn’t sabotaged the bombs.” Huisman neatly summed up the impossible position Zach’s mother had been put in. “Once it’s revealed you are working for the Chinese, I won’t even need you to be the one to plant the WEF bomb. Everyone in the world will be hunting you down, and they won’t look to me at all.”
“Somehow I think my boss will disagree.” A mistake. He needed to play into Huisman’s dreams. “He might hate me right now, but he’ll back me up for his niece’s sake alone.”
A low chuckle came from Huisman. “Well, he can disagree all he likes, but I happened to buy all of the parts for these bombs from a very specific Russian syndicate.”