“I know that, Dad.”
“You do?”
He wanted to confess to her that he was a flawed man and knew it. Sometimes, maybe, he went too far to protect her. Sometimes he didn’t understand why he did the things he did.
But he stopped himself. Wouldn’t his honesty just confuse the seventeen-year-old, who was already flirting with cynicism as she struggled to find her way in her new life in Virginia?
“Dad, you sound tired. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, sweetheart. How are you?”
School was okay, she said. She’d met a couple of girls her age that she liked.
“Good. I’m glad to hear it,” he said, drifting back to the image of Malie’s yellow-gray face, her angelic expression. Thinking: So many times we forget the most important things in life.
One day he would tell his daughter about the Norwegian girl and her rescue, but not now. Akil appeared in the doorway.
“The king wants to speak to you,” he whispered.
Crocker took a deep breath and said, “I have to go, sweetheart. I wish you a very happy birthday. I love you. I’ll be home soon.”
He walked back to the waiting area, scolding himself for not speaking to his wife, too, and hoping she’d understand.
I’m going to be a better father and husband. I’m going to treat myself better, too.
The king of Norway sounded like a soccer coach exhorting his team after a late-season victory. “We shouldn’t forget that Malie is just one of thousands of young women who are victimized like this every year. But this is an important accomplishment, a message to people all over the world that the good will prevail and…”
“Yes, Your Highness. I agree.”
The king’s words sounded hollow. For all Crocker knew he could have been some preacher or motivational speaker from down the street.
“Thank you, Your Highness. I’m glad we were successful. Yes, I’d be honored to visit your country. But I have to spend time with my family first.”
The joy on the people’s faces in the waiting room was real. Jakob, Mancini, the red-haired man from the embassy, the ambassadors of Norway and France, Klausen, Bahrami, Waleed, Davis, the nurse and doctor, even Jim Anders and Claude Mathieu were all celebrating, congratulating one another, happy and open, in a way that said We’re all in this together.
A moment of truth. Yes, we are all in this together.
Then something dark intruded. What?
Amid the bright chatter, the ship drifted across the horizon of his conscious again.
Oh, yeah. The Syrena.
Figuring that this was as good a time as any to tie up the last loose end, he found Bahrami discussing the qualities of horse breeds with Waleed and pulled him aside.
“You think you can get me in to see the captured kidnappers?”
“Do you know anything about horses, Mr. Crocker?” the colonel asked back.
“Beautiful animals. But I need to talk to the kidnappers.”
“You want to do this now?”
“That’s correct.”
“But why?”
“I continue to be concerned about the ship.”
The colonel’s eye glistened as he lifted a thick eyebrow. “You’re an interesting fellow, Mr. Crocker. Are you always this focused and driven?”
“Most of the time, yes.”
“And you’re convinced that the ship is still relevant?”
“Haven’t my instincts been accurate so far?”
The colonel’s laughter sounded like hiccups. “I can’t argue with that. Follow me.”
Up they went to the dimly lit fourth-floor hallway, where they stopped at a door guarded by two sleepy Omani soldiers holding AK-47s. The colonel from the Internal Security Service spoke to them in Arabic, and the two soldiers saluted and stepped aside.
At the door Bahrami whispered, “I’m sticking my neck out for you, Mr. Crocker. And in return, I expect you to act within the bounds of reasonable behavior.”
“I appreciate that, Colonel,” the SEAL leader answered, wondering what he meant by “reasonable behavior.” “I’ll make it brief.”
The hospital room was dark and smelled sharply of ammonia. A man’s snores echoed off the walls. As soon as Crocker saw the kidnapper’s profile in the moonlight through the window, his anger started to rise.
He leaned over and slapped the prisoner on the cheek. “Cyrus? Hey, asshole. Wake up.”
Crocker switched on the light over the bed.
The young man stopped midsnore and opened his eyes. They were black and defiant, immediately expecting trouble.
“Cyrus, remember me? You tried to shoot me in the hotel suite.”
Fear froze the skin around the man’s eyes.
“Here’s the situation,” Crocker explained firmly. “Your days of kidnapping girls—of doing much of anything—are over. But if you cooperate with me, I can help your family.”