She had a role to play in her own rescue. Convincing Sayed that she was weak and terrified and useless didn’t make her weak and terrified and useless; it made her smart. Yelling to try to get information to Riley had been a mistake. She needed to be careful not to make another one.
So she didn’t respond to Sayed’s question, just kept her head down and wounded arm pressed against her chest.
“I’m going to teach Phoenix how to be more polite. Not to ignore, how do they say it, cultural norms. I’m going to teach him respect.”
She had to bite her tongue to keep from asking him why he didn’t just ask Phoenix out on a date. Sayed was obviously obsessed with him.
She whimpered, shying away as he reached for her, fighting every instinct to use the multiple self-defense moves she knew. She could break Sayed’s arm and then probably his nose in under ten seconds.
But that wasn’t going to get her off this plane.
Save it.
“Phoenix will do anything for you, won’t he?”
“He’ll give you money if that’s what you want.” She purposely made her voice shaky. “But he’s not rich. Not rich enough to afford a plane like this.”
“I don’t need money. I’m not interested in his money at all. I am interested in teaching a young, brash American what happens when he disrespects someone of importance in my culture. Do you know anything about my culture, Miss Wilde?”
She really should’ve listened to her friend Lyn more closely when the woman had rambled on about ancient Egyptian ideas and languages, her dissertation topic. The most Riley really knew about Egyptian culture came from an online quiz she’d found that determined how many camels someone was worth.
That probably wasn’t what Sayed was talking about.
Terrified. Passive. She shook her head. “No.”
“So many nowadays think we should be more progressive, but I believe the great Egyptian culture should go back to its basics. There are reasons we are one of the oldest cultures in the world. Because of our strengths. Some would call it barbaric what used to be done to those who did not respect our ways.”
He touched her shoulder, and she couldn’t stop her flinch.
“I’ve done nothing the past two weeks but think about the ways I could make your Phoenix understand the true price of insulting someone the way he has insulted me.”
Sayed removed his hand and settled into the chair beside her. “In your culture, everyone is so quick to forgive after an apology and charming smile. In my culture, in the real Egypt, such a thing is unforgivable. It is paid for with one’s life.”
Sincerity and belief fairly dripped from Sayed’s words. He was absolutely committed to what he was saying. He planned to teach Riley this “lesson” in the most painful way possible.
“If hands were cut off for stealing a loaf of bread, how much worse should it be for someone who enters a home under the guise of friendship and then commits robbery?”
She shook her head, keeping her gaze lowered.
“Undoubtedly your Phoenix thinks he can talk his way out of this, charm me with his American wit, and a wink as he has to so many of his YouTube followers. Not this time. Not again.” He stretched out his legs in front of him. “The myth of the Phoenix was of a creature that burned, and then rose from the ashes. This time, Phoenix will only burn.”
Riley glanced over at Sayed to find him smiling with authentic joy.
Suddenly, passive and terrified didn’t require any acting at all.
Phoenix was about to make the jump of his life and there wasn’t a single camera anywhere in sight to capture it. No doubt the sheer risk alone would have garnered millions of hits.
Riley had learned early in his career that nothing brought out viewers like the possibility of serious hurt.
In this case, he might get seriously dead.
So many things could go wrong with this jump. The wind was already too high to be considered safe. The pilot was nervous and a little sketchy.
Then, once Riley jumped, he had to land with precision. The rooftop he had to land on was roughly the size of a postage stamp. And all it would take was one person of the dozens and dozens Sayed had on his property to look up into the beautiful Egyptian sky and it would be all over for Riley. Gavin hadn’t been kidding when he’d said this jump was just short of a suicide mission.
This was not the type of jump he’d normally be willing to risk no matter how many views it got him.
But he was willing to try anything for Wildfire.
Any jump. Every jump.
He double-checked his parachuting rig again. It was just him and the pilot on the plane. The rest of the team was on their way into Sayed’s compound by land, ready to rendezvous once Riley had interrupted the alarm in the security room.
According to the heat signature scan information Kendrick and Neo had provided—Riley didn’t know how they’d gotten that information because it meant hacking a military satellite, but he was damn glad they had—it looked like Sayed was keeping someone in the same holding cell where he’d kept his kidnap victims last time. Wyatt and Gavin had both agreed that Sayed would like that sort of symmetry, and that it was very possible that’s where he was keeping Wildfire. It would be the first place they would check, and then they’d go from there based on what they found.
But everything hinged on Riley being able to shut down that security feed and alarm in the southwest corner.
Then the plan was what it always tended to be when he worked with Linear Tactical: get in and get out before anyone was aware.
As much as he’d like to stick around and kick Sayed’s ass, all that mattered was getting Wildfire out.
But if Sayed had hurt her… If she was dead…
Riley couldn’t even let himself think about it.
But if the worst had happened, that motherfucker was going down.
He had to focus, had to believe that Riley was going to be okay, and he was about to get her out of here.
He touched the long-range comm unit in his ear. Everyone on the team had one.
“Cyclone, my flight should be in range in about five minutes. I’ll be going hands-free.”
He would need both his hands to successfully land on the roof. His comm unit would run the whole time.
“Roger that, Phoenix,” Zac said. “Everyone will maintain mission-critical communication only. We’ll all be hands-free.”
“Roger that.” Riley swallowed. “Zac, if I don’t make it… If something happens…”
“We’ll get her out, Phoenix. Nobody’s leaving here without her. Count on it.”
He heard the grunts of agreement all around.
“Thank you. I know you’re taking considerable risks, and you all have families of your own.”
“We have family inside that compound too,” Wyatt said. “The Rileys are part of our family. Thanks for not having to make us say two different names. Makes heartfelt speeches a lot shorter.”
Everyone chuckled.
“Not to mention, Charlie will kick my ass if I come home without Riley.” The laughter grew at Finn’s comment. “Seriously, you guys. We’ve got a new baby in the house, and if you think Charlie is scary on a good day, you should see her when she hasn’t slept in four nights.”