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“Barely. He mumbled something to me in Turkish, then called me a bastard in English, then he started drooling on himself again.”
“Well, that’s something. Go see if you can find a kitchen or bathroom or something and pour some water on the dumb bastard. Just a little bit of coherency would be a good thing.”
“Gotcha.”
Ryker left the drooling mess and went to the kitchen that he’d scoped out earlier. He found bottles of water in the refrigerator and brought out three. He knew that having the drugged-out idiot drenched in water was not going to help their plan to have him talk to Kraken Elite, so Ryker hauled the fucker out of the chair and laid him down on the dining room table.
Kaan yelled at him in Turkish.
“English, you asshole,” Ryker growled. He positioned the man’s head over the edge of the table and poured water onto his face. Not so it would go up his nose, just so it would wake him up.
Kaan shook his head and jabbered some more in Turkish.
“English, motherfucker! If you want to save your nephew, speak in English!”
For just a moment Ryker thought he saw a glimmer of intelligence, then it went away. He opened up the second bottle of water and poured it on him.
“English,” Ryker yelled. “Your nephew needs you.”
“Adem? Deniz?”
“I don’t know which nephew. Your brother Ayaz’s son. Ayaz is dead. Men have kidnapped your nephew and are bringing him here now. Wake up.”
Kaan struggled to get up. “Ayaz? Dead?”
“That’s what I said. They killed your brother Ayaz. They’re bringing your nephew here, and they’re going to want information on Mehmet and Hamza. If you don’t give them the information they want, they’ll kill the boy.”
Kaan pushed at Ryker, then fell off the table onto his hands and knees. “Where are they? Who are these people?”
“They’re American mercenaries who don’t give a shit who they torture or kill. They only care about finding those American prisoners and bringing them home. They’ve killed your brother, his wife, and the other boy. You have a chance to save this nephew if you can get your head straight and do what we say.”
“Who are you?” Kaan demanded to know, as Kostya walked up beside Ryker.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ryker answered. “As soon as we help you get your nephew, you are going to help us get the American prisoner, are we clear?”
Kaan didn’t answer. His head started to droop.
“Fuck me.”
“Let’s get him in the chair,” Kostya said. “You’ve done everything you can.”
“The Kraken aren’t going to believe that he’s here all by himself, unarmed, no guards.”
“You’re right,” Kostya grinned. That’s when Ryker noticed the garments hanging over Kostya’s arm.
“Aw, shit, is it dress-up time?”
“It is. This mission, everybody gets to be an actor.”
“They’re coming in. You’ve got two sprinter vans and one truck,” Linc reported.
“Are all of the kids out of the school?” Landon asked.
“Yes,” Linc answered.
“Can you see into any of the vehicles?” Kostya asked.
“The truck is a flatbed with a cover, so I just see the one driver up front. The sprinter vans have tinted windows, but from what I can see through the windshields, it looks like each of them has a driver and a passenger. I’d say they have enough room to be carrying fourteen people, easy.”
