“All right, eight” she said, her fear and frustration rising. “Whatever the number, there’s a small army out there and just you and me in here. And what are you doing? Setting an alarm? We don’t need an alarm, we need help!”

“No,” he said. “We need out. And that’s where we’re gonna get.” He pushed the sideboard back against the wall and headed toward the kitchen. He motioned her to follow. “Let’s go.”

He led her through the kitchen without turning on a light. A quick left past the refrigerator to a dark open doorway.

“This way to the basement,” he said. “The handrail is on the right. Soon as you close that door behind you, I’ll turn on the light.”

The basement was partially finished—half-paneled, half-bare cinder blocks. Jack crossed the littered floor to a section of paneling, poked his finger over the top, then pulled. The section swung away from the wall on hinges. Behind it, a circular opening, four feet across, gaped in the block.

“What on earth?” Alicia said.

“Not on,” Jack said, “in the earth.”

“A bomb shelter?” The thought of being sealed up in that dark hole, crouching and cowering while men with machine guns searched for her was too much. “Oh, no. I don’t think I can.”

“It’s a tunnel.” She sensed from his tone that his patience might be wearing a little thin. “It’ll take us to the field across the street. Come on. We don’t have much time.”

He handed her a flashlight, and motioned her to go first. Taking a breath, she ducked inside and crawled in a few feet. She found herself in a ribbed tube of galvanized metal; cold, but surprisingly clean. Jack came in after her, pulling the wall closed behind him. She turned on the flashlight as darkness engulfed them.

“Shine that over here a sec,” he said.

He set some sort of latch on the panel section, then wriggled past her. He took the flashlight and began crawling down the tunnel.

“This way.”

“Do I have a choice?” she said, wondering where and when this night would end.

16.

16.

“We must accomplish this very quickly,” Baker heard Muhallal say as they approached the front door.

The Arab kept looking up and down the road, as if searching for signs of life. Nothing but darkness out there.

“Worried about someone calling the cops?” Baker said.

“Yes. Of course. I am not a citizen, and I have no diplomatic immunity. My arrest would cause great embarrassment to… to my organization.”

And just what is your organization? Baker wondered. He’d been trying to figure that one out since this whole thing started.

“Not to worry,” Baker said. “This won’t take long at all.”

“And don’t forget—”

“I know, I know. Don’t hurt the girl.”

“That is correct. Do anything you wish to the man, but she must not be harmed.”