Noah frowned. “I understand, Sir, but I respectfully request...”
“Camelot, your orders are to contact Captain Hayes and allow a team of his men to escort you to Denver International. Our people will pick you up there when you arrive.”
“Yes, Sir,” Noah said.
“I know you’re supposed to be emotionless, but losing a team is going to be hard on anyone, even you. Let’s get you back here and patched up, let somebody else go after Andropov.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Very good. I’ll see you for debriefing day after tomorrow.” The line went dead as it always did when Doc Parker had said all he wanted to say.
TWENTY-TWO
Noah looked at the phone and found the number for Captain Hayes, but his thumb only hovered over it. He knew what would happen if he disobeyed the orders he had just been given, but just as he had done in the desert of Iraq, he considered whether those orders conflicted with what he knew was the right thing to do.
He also considered the conversations he had had lately with Sarah, and with Moose and Neil. He had acknowledged that his desire for Sarah’s happiness and well-being was a form of love, and acknowledged her own feelings for him. As far as the two guys, he had come to think of them as necessary to his life, which was probably as close to forming a true friendship as he was capable of coming.
If he didn’t play the game, there was no doubt Nicolaich would kill them within a matter of days. Noah was capable of accepting that fact, but the logical necessity of abandoning them seemed to sit heavy in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t put a name to the feeling, but Noah realized that he was feeling an emotion for the first time in many, many years.
There was a conflict going on inside him, he realized, a conflict that was caused by some change in his personal makeup. In the past, back in Afghanistan, he had been forced on three occasions to walk away from men who could not be saved. He had never anguished over it, had never considered disobeying the orders to do so.
This situation was no different, except for that lump in his guts. The thought of never seeing Sarah, Moose or Neil again made that lump seem to grow.
Orders, however, were orders. Noah pushed the lump away as he picked up the phone to call Captain Hayes. It didn’t even occur to him to make a mental apology to the three he was about to abandon to their fates.
Before he could complete the call, his phone rang, and the caller ID said the number was restricted. Noah squinted at it for a second, and then answered.
“Hello?”
“Ah, the indomitable Noah Wolf,” said Nicolaich Andropov. “Are you ready for the next round of the game?”
“Where are my people, Nicolaich?”
“They are being kept in luxurious accommodations at the moment. That will change, of course, if you fail to cooperate with me.”
“Why should I do that? You’re going to kill them anyway, we both know it. Why should I give you any satisfaction when saving my friends is a lost cause?”
“Oh, but the cause is not lost. I assure you, Mr. Wolf, you most certainly can recover your friends alive and quite well. All it takes is some minor cooperation, and the four of you can be together again. You can take them home and tend to their injuries.”
“And what kind of cooperation are we talking about?”
“The kind you are most suited to. There is an individual that I need to have eliminated. If you complete that mission for me, I will return these three, shall we say, negotiating points to you. If you refuse, one of them will die each day for the next three days. The one to die will be chosen by the roll of the dice, so I can’t even tell you which one will be first.”
“You’ve got plenty of assassins,” Noah said. “Why would you need me to do your dirty work?”
“Let us just say that the target is an extremely difficult one. I feel confident that a man of your particular mental abilities can accomplish the mission, but I cannot imagine anyone else who might do so.”
“Then that’s what this has all been about? The attack on Neverland, everything, all just a ruse to get me in a position where you could blackmail me into killing for you?”