Page 167 of Rescuing You

It was a subtle attempt to get control of the interview.

But Brock was too smart for that. His eyebrows rose, and Michael smiled and settled back on the bed.

“You already know that Leila and Jasmine are Saad Farad Fayad’s daughters. What you don’t know is that Saad Fayad has a twin brother. His name is Hasan Mahmoud.”

“Huh. But Fayad…” He clamped his lips shut, backing up to the chair Michael had indicated earlier. He sat, letting the information take shape in his mind.

Michael saw when Brock came to the same conclusion he’d come to. “When we saw—or thought we saw—Saad Fayad, it was actually…”

“Hasan Mahmoud.”

“How did they keep that secret?”

“Leila and Jasmine can tell you more. Apparently, they weren’t raised together because their mother feared Hasan.”

“Feared him why?”

“I don’t know for sure, but from what they said, he sounds like a psychopath.”

Brock was nodding slowly. “That explains…a lot.”

“I already told you Vortex is Khalid Qasim. He’s an old friend of the family. The head terrorist on the boat was Waleed Shehab.”

“They’re all working together? Shehab, Qasim, Mahmoud, and Fayad?”

“The sisters don’t think their father is involved, but…” Michael shrugged. “You’ll have to question Jasmine. She knows more than she’s said.”

Brock was nodding. “Do you trust them?”

“Leila, definitely. I wasn’t sure about Jasmine before. I considered the idea that we escaped because that was the plan, that Jasmine might be a plant—as you suggested.”

“But?”

“But you saw what Shehab did to get them back. Obviously, she was not intended to escape. Even so, I think there’s more to Jasmine’s story.”

“Exactly what?”

“You need to ask her.”

“I’m asking you.”

Michael kept his tone friendly. “I’ll tell you everything I know and everything I’ve guessed, but let’s give them a chance to tell you first, okay?”

“The thing is, your girlfriend has ties to terrorism.”

Any friendly feelings he’d felt toward Brock dissipated. “She has no control over who her family is.”

“You wouldn’t be the first spy to be taken in by a pretty woman.”

“Not all pretty women are working for the enemy.”

“Doesn’t explain why she went willingly with Qasim. She didn’t fight and made no effort to alert anybody at the airport she was being taken against her will.”

“Qasim threatened her sister.”

“She told you that?”

“Yes. And it makes sense. She probably couldn’t have gotten away even if she tried. And if she had, her sister would have paid the price.”