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The people who supplied Bibi with her wares got their artifacts by stealing from sites, both known and unknown, across the region. Some were stolen from Petra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Westerners knew of Petra from its role in the third Indiana Jones movie, or more recently in the second Transformers movie, in which the filmmakers placed the World Heritage Site in Egypt.
American tourists who purchased artifacts from Bibi were not getting trinkets from a movie set, and it wasn’t a harmless crime because there were plenty of artifacts to go around—an argument Diana had heard from more than one dealer. No, these days, the looting of famous sites like Petra and lesser-known sites throughout the Middle East served one primary purpose: funding terrorism.
Bibi was a small but important cog in the system. Diana had approached her with the ruse of having artifacts to sell in an attempt to infiltrate the supply network. Taking out the suppliers would be far more effective than recovering artifacts one at a time after they’d been sold and illegally imported into the US. Only if they took out the supply line would they be able to stop millions upon millions of dollars from flowing into terrorist pockets and thereby funding attacks throughout the world.
Diana was a hidden soldier in the War on Terror. Her plan had been ambitious, and now…it had failed.
She’d killed Bibi and probably herself.
“I’m sorry, Morgan,” she whispered into the phone.
“Diana don’t do this. Stall. A security team is on the way.”
“He’s got a knife to Bibi’s throat.”
Morgan cursed loud and long. In a different situation, Diana would be impressed with the woman’s creativity. “How long ago was your subdermal tracker replaced?”
Diana kept her gaze fixed on Bibi as she did the math. “Three weeks, two days.”
“Good. So there’s no recent cut to identify where it is under your skin. If they take you, don’t trigger it until you know you’re at your final destination. Once triggered, it only lasts four hours.”
Diana had been schooled on this when the tracker was first implanted in her arm, and again when it was replaced in a different spot to keep the battery fresh, but she understood why Morgan needed to say it.
Panic would be so easy right now, and once upon a time, the same kind of subdermal tracker had saved Morgan’s life.
“I won’t panic.” Not unless they’re about to kill me. Then all bets are off.
“Freya’s on the line with the Pentagon now. They can scramble a team from Rota or maybe one of our forward operating bases. Someone will come for you, Diana.”
Yes, they would, but the odds these men were going to simply abduct her for ransom were slim. No. They probably wanted to know about her work for FMV and how much Bibi had revealed about their operation.
And then they would kill her.
All at once, Bibi kicked the man with the knife in the knee and dove to the side.
With Bibi no longer in his grip, Diana turned and ran, darting between people who hadn’t spotted the drama playing out at the far end of the aisle.
She ignored the pain in her ankle and ran like she’d never been in the accident. Her life depended on her ability to run fast, so she would find a way.
She heard curses and shouts, but didn’t dare look back. The man would be chasing her. Her mad dash would give Bibi a chance to escape.
The arched gate was in sight. Maybe the security detail would be on the other side.
She tucked her phone into a hidden pocket in her head covering and ran full out for the gate. She crashed into a man, knocking him to the ground and nearly going down herself, but didn’t pause to apologize.
She reached the gate just as a shot rang out.
She prayed her pursuer had shot into the air and there would be no casualties among the Friday market visitors and vendors.
She cleared the gate.
Was it possible she was free?
She scanned the street. There were pedestrians milling about, and a block away, she spotted Oman from her security team, standing next to a car parked at the side of the road with the passenger door open. He waved toward the open door.
Thank you, sweet Mother Earth.
She reached the vehicle and dove inside. The door slammed behind her, and the car pulled away from the curb, leaving Oman behind.
