“If that’s true, then why hasn’t al-Harakat cashed in by now? You think it takes two damn days to alert Tubeec that they have the woman he wants? Trust me, it doesn’t,” Julian said, then added, “Mena could have heard me talking to Hakeem when we were hiding out at the house in Giriftu. He warned me that a rebel group was approaching the house and we needed to leave right away.”
“You see, Hakeem was trying to help you. The bloke would never find Mena and keep us in the dark about it,” Simon added.
Sunny, who’d been quiet over the last exchange, turned and said, “Hakeem never told us that he found out about an attack on the house in Giriftu. We didn’t hear from him until after I’d already tracked Julian down using the signal from his comms pack. I was minutes from the Giriftu house when Hakeem contacted me and I told him I already knew Julian’s location.”
“Seriously Sunny? Now you don’t trust Hakeem either? You think we need to go behind Hakeem’s back to prove that he is where he says he is? Unbelievable,” Simon said, glaring at Julian.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I don’t want to waste time doing that. Glaze and Zale, can you trace the call made to Julian’s phone? Enzo, I need you to check in with ASF and see what they’ll tell you about their hunt for Tubeec. Julian, I need to talk to you … outside.”
Sunny’s confidence didn’t match her body language. Julian could tell something was bothering her about the whole scenario. Pieces of the puzzle that didn’t fit and didn’t exonerate Hakeem Underwood.
Following Sunny out of the conference room, he turned into the narrow hallway and walked behind her as she pushed through the back door and out onto the alley behind the TIDES offices.
A harsh amber glow from the crime prevention light at the corner shone down on them as he stepped in front of her.
Facing Sunny, Julian demanded, “Tell me what’s going on. Is Hakeem in the Ukraine or not? Could he have Mena?”
Sunny took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “Hakeem has worked damn hard to turn his life around.” Pointing at the building, Sunny continued, “The team is his family. The only one he has right now and I can’t let you take that away from him.”
Turning toward the trash dumpster in the corner, Julian kicked the side of the metal container, once then twice. “Fuck! Why did he do it? What the hell is going on?”
“I’m not sure yet. The first thing we need to do is find out where he’s hiding out with her. Hakeem knows exactly how to camouflage calls, make them appear as if they are coming from one location when he’s actually at another. Glaze and Zale aren’t skilled enough to figure it out. But you are,” Sunny said.
“Was this his plan all along? When I called TIDES, did he set me up?” Julian asked, anger swirling through his veins as he paced back and forth along the alley.
“I’m not sure,” Sunny admitted.
“Why would he kidnap Mena?” Julian asked.
“It’s complicated. Hakeem has a troubled past. One he’s been trying to run from, but it keeps coming back to haunt him. He was once part of Tubeec Hirad’s elite team of mercenaries until a joint SEAL and ASF mission bombed their training compound and got him out.”
“He’s a mole? Has he been working with Tubeec this whole time? Plotting against everything we’ve been trying to do to save Mena?” Julian asked.
“I don’t think so. I honestly don’t know for sure. My guess is he’s going to hand her over to Tubeec under some misguided sense of loyalty to his former leader and cash in on the bounty. But if we get a lock on that cell call, we can get to him before he does that and I can get him the help he needs. Julian, he’s been making good progress with his psychiatrist and this is a minor setback. He is a good person, deep inside,” Sunny said, gripping Julian’s hands. “Please don’t hold this against him.”
Julian pushed away from Sunny. “I handed Mena over to him on a silver platter. The man I thought was going to help me arranged an ambush so he could get back into Tubeec’s good graces and you expect me to believe he’s a good person? Why are you protecting this asshole?”
“Because he’s my brother!”
“Brother? You don’t have a brother. Sunny, I’ve met your family, your dad, and your four sisters,” Julian said.
Sunny said, “But you never met my mom. Hakeem is the baby my mother had that almost broke up my parent’s marriage. She gave him up to his father, a Kenyan man, and my Dad agreed not to get a divorce. After she passed away, I found information about Hakeem in one of her old safe deposit boxes. She knew he’d taken up with militant regimes in Africa and was trying to find him.”
Everything was starting to make sense. Julian said, “You had the resources to do what your mother couldn’t as part of special ops. You found him.”
“I orchestrated the joint mission with Reggie’s help to get my brother away from Tubeec. But I paid for it. Tubeec was pissed about losing Hakeem, one of his best-trained disciples. I don’t know how Tubeec found out about my connection to Hakeem, but he did. That’s why he abducted me. He wanted me to pay off the debt owed to him for taking Hakeem,” Sunny explained. “Last time I was with you in Florida, Hakeem called me. He’d finally hit rock bottom and wanted my help. That’s why I left and came back to Africa. With TIDES, I gave him an outlet to use his training for good, to help people. He’s been in therapy all this time and I know he’ll be able to get past what Tubeec did to him.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Julian glanced up at the sky. He understood why Sunny was so committed to Hakeem after everything she’d done to rescue him from Tubeec. But now Hakeem had turned back to his old ways. And he would be damned if he’d let Sunny’s brand new fucking brother hurt Mena.
“Julian, I never expected this to happen. I’m not going to lose my brother to that bastard again and you’re not going to lose Mena. We have to do this my way,” Sunny said, her eyes pleading with him.
Julian turned from Sunny and stalked back towards the door leading into the TIDES offices.
“Get me access to each call Hakeem made into TIDES HQ over the past two days and prep the team for the rescue mission,” Julian said, stepping inside the building. His body was numb as he focused on the task at hand. A situation that could have been avoided if he’d known the truth about Hakeem Underwood and his former connection to Tubeec Hirad.
“You’ll have them in two minutes.”
Turning, Julian looked at Sunny and said, “If Mena gets hurt because of this—“
