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“Good. Let me know if you hear about any road closures.”
We’ll take the country routes until we get to Interstate 80, then a combination of local roads and freeways north into New York.
It’s a tense ride, one spent constantly monitoring footage from our aerial drones while listening for threats. Fortunately, the local roads in the region cut through thickening forests, giving us cover from the trees and keeping us out of sight from traffic cameras. Everything has gone according to plan so far — we shouldn’t be tracked back to our base. However, we always have our emergency protocols if our compound is discovered. We’ll be okay.
After six hours of driving, heading past Utica and into the Adirondacks, we arrive at the compound; Stanislaw and Henrik had driven ahead of us in case anyone was looking for a van and a Cadillac, but they’re waiting inside the gate when we stop.
They join Baptiste, Eyal, Kate and I as we gather in a group hug.
“Thank you,” Kate says. “Thank all of you so much. You saved my life.”
“You helped,” Eyal replies. “It was a team effort.”
“It was nice to do something good for someone,” adds Henrik.
“Instead of something bad,” Stanislaw finishes.
We hold the hug for a time; I rub Kate’s back.
“Thank you,” she says one more time. “For everything.”
I take her hand as we split apart.
“Come on, you must be starving. What would you like? You’re a free woman. What are you craving?”
She chuckles.
“Amit’s in Manhattan. But let’s just say pizza.”
I lean in and kiss her.
“Can do.”
—
We bring in a dozen pies, several orders of wings and a trough of garlic knots — enough for everyone at the base and then some. I tap a keg and pour beer after beer. Kate sits at my side and introduces herself to my team of operatives: spies, mercenaries, analysts and more.
“So many people worked for this,” she says when they’ve all taken their seats to eat and celebrate. “I never would have imagined.”
“This was nothing,” I reply, kissing her. “I would have called on more — as many as needed, to save you.”
“How are you able to pay all of them? Weren’t your assets frozen when you were declared dead?”
I shrug.
“The ones people knew about. I kept plenty in secret accounts just for this sort of thing, and I raised more. We got paid quite a bit to kill Hamza Bin Khaled, among others.”
“Oh,” she says, sipping her beer.
“If you’re worried blood money was used to rescue you, we only killed bad men, like arms dealers. And not all the jobs involved killing.”
“Good.”
When we’re done eating, I lead Kate to my room.
“Sorry this isn’t much,” I say, gesturing at the spartan quarters. Not even a little bit decorated, it contains just a bed and a dresser. At least the bed is big enough for two — and comfy. It’ll be a step up for Kate no matter what, though she deserves better. When this is over, I’ll book us rooms at the nicest hotels around the world, everywhere from the Swiss Alps to Tulum.
“It’s okay,” she says, sitting down on the mattress.
