Page 75 of Gwen's Delta
“How about you, Mrs. Dedmond,” Merlin asked.
“I’ve never heard of him, either.”
“That’s interesting. He’s the one who sent us here with your daughter to pay your ransom.”
From the fleeting look of surprise on their faces, they hadn’t known about the plan to use Gwen. If Merlin hadn’t been watching for it, he would have missed it. If nothing else, they were well trained.
“Do you know anything about the plot to detonate a bomb in Cairo?” Merlin asked.
“Not much. We arranged to meet with Hassan to get the details, but he didn’t show,” Arthur Dedmond answered.
“Because he’s dead,” Jangles said.
“It’s what we figured. When he didn’t show, we came back to Cairo. Someone had tossed our hotel room, so we grabbed what we could and rented an apartment. We figured we were burned when we couldn’t reach our handler,” Arthur Dedmond explained.
Merlin didn’t care if they were burned or not. What he needed was information about the plot. “What’s the protocol for that?”
“Not something we will discuss with you,” Stacey Dedmond said, her voice chilly.
“No need to be bitchy,” Woof said. “Like you said earlier, we’re all on the same side.”
“How do you know our daughter?” Stacey Dedmond demanded.
Merlin shook his head. “It’s not important. If Gwen wants you to know, she’ll tell you.” From her reaction in the van, he doubted she’d want to talk to them anytime soon.
“Why should we answer your questions? You’re not CIA,” Arthur Dedmond asked.
“Because we saved your asses in the café. And whatever your mission is or was, ours is to stop the bombing.” Merlin held his temper by a thread that grew thinner by the moment. This was nothing but a waste of their time.
“Fine,” Arthur said. “It will happen today, this afternoon. Hassan found out the time and target. But we already told you that he didn’t show up at the meet up.”
“Fuck,” Duff said.
“That’s it, all we know,” Stacey Dedmond confirmed.
Merlin sighed with frustration as he glanced at the clock. As much as he hated the thought of torture, he hoped like hell whoever was interrogating the tangos they’d captured would get able to get the information they needed. “Jangles, you still have the SAT phone?”
“Yeah.” He pulled it out of his pocket and slid it across the table to Merlin.
“I’ll be right back.” Merlin stepped into the hallway so he could call Roe. The building appeared to be solid concrete, and he hoped he’d be able to get a signal. For once, luck was on his side.
“Turano.”
“Commander.”
“Give me a sitrep.”
“We’ve secured the Dedmonds and three tangos. We’re at a CIA black site. The tangos are in interrogation. We left Gwen at the safe house with Zip. She suffered some minor injuries while executing the mission, but she should be okay.”
“That’s good news. Did the Dedmonds give you anything useful about the plot?”
“Only that it’s today, probably afternoon. They claim they didn’t get the time or target location. When Hassan didn’t show for their meeting, they went into hiding.”
“I think I might know the target,” Roe said. “The Secretary of State is meeting with President el-Sisi today. In fact, there’s a press briefing at the palace at sixteen hundred hours. I’m betting the bomb is there somewhere.”
Merlin checked his watch. “That’s only two hours from now. They are upping the ante if they’re planning on taking out the president.”
“Rashad is power hungry. He’s trying to raise his status among the other insurgent groups. If he’s able to pull this off, he’ll have no problem raising funds and recruiting. Daesh would become the head of the snake,” Turano said.
