Page 76 of Gwen's Delta
“The odds of us finding the bomb in the palace are not good. If we pull this off, you owe me a lottery ticket.” Merlin headed back to the conference room, phone in hand. They needed to get to the palace. He prayed that Roe was correct; they didn’t have time for a mistake.
“Done. But if anyone can do it, Delta 3 can. Good hunting.”
“Copy that.”
If the Daesh acquired more power and money, there would be no place safe from their attacks. They needed to make sure it didn’t happen. Merlin’s gut said Roe was correct.
He was done waiting for the interrogators to give them intel. They needed to get to the presidential palace and evacuate everyone while they searched for the explosive.
As Merlin shared the information with the rest of the team, a CIA agent entered the conference room.
“One of them finally gave it up,” the agent said. “Presidential Palace at sixteen hundred hours. There’s a news conference with the president and the secretary of state.”
“Yeah, need to get there.” Merlin’s body vibrated with the need to move. “Can you get us transport to the palace? Someone needs to order the evacuation. We only have two hours until detonation if you’re correct.”
“We’ll handle the evacuation orders. Oh, and they gave up Rashad, too. He’s supposed to be watching from his townhouse,” the agent shared.
“You must have stepped in shit this morning,” Woof said.
Agent no name barely cracked a smile. He handed them the keys to the van. “Go, we’ll handle the rest from here.”
“What about them?” Merlin titled his head, indicating Gwen’s parents.
“They’ll stay here until we debrief them. They’ll return to the States when we’re done. With their cover blown, they’re done.”
Merlin figured as much and kind of felt sorry for them. He didn’t know how invested they were in their jobs. Being a spook wasn’t easy, and if they’d been doing it for almost thirty years, they’d had a good run.
“I’ll let your daughter know you’re going home,” Merlin said as they left the conference room.
They had to get across the city during midday traffic. It would be a fucking miracle if they could get to the palace in time, let alone find the device. The safe house should be out of the blast radius unless it was nuclear. Then they’d all be fucked. Though if the intel the CIA had was correct and Rashad was close, he wouldn’t risk his life, not when he was making a play to take over as the leader for all the factions of the Daesh.
Tossing the keys to Jangles, Merlin jumped into the passenger seat and dialed Zip.
“What did you find out?” Zip sounded agitated.
“Presidential Palace at sixteen hundred hours.”
“Fuck. You don’t have much time. And Rashad?”
“The CIA has his location. They will take him down while we neutralize the threat. How’s Gwen?”
“I got her patched up. A few of the cuts were deeper than they looked, but she didn’t need stitches. But she’s worried about you and her parents. I’ll put her on.”
“Luke?”
Merlin’s stomach knotted when he heard the stress in her voice. “Hi, princess. How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine. Zip took care of me. What’s going on? How are my parents? Did you get the information you needed?”
“I’m fine and so are your parents. For now, we have to take care of another part of our mission. Zip will be there with you, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I don’t like the sound of that. It’s why you really came, isn’t it?”
Gwen was smart. Merlin should have expected these questions, but he didn’t have time to soothe her worry. He would probably catch a rash of shit for telling her the truth, but it might be the last time he’d ever speak to her. “Yes, it is. There’s a plot to blow up the presidential palace.”
“And you’re going to stop it.”
It wasn’t a question, but he answered anyway. “Yes. It’s what we do. Stay with Zip. I’ll be back soon.”
