Jones looked at him in understanding. "We're backing up."
"Giant steps," Payne mumbled. "Ten giant steps."
One.
They kept their hands in the air. The perfect prisoners.
Two.
The mutaween moved closer, never taking their eyes off Payne or Jones.
Three.
Each step was huge. Getting as far away as possible.
Four.
More words in Arabic. Discussing their situation.
Five.
Payne scanned the plaza, searching for additional guards.
Six.
The officer reached the bag and tapped it with his foot.
Seven.
Jones glanced at Payne, ready to move.
Eight.
Still aiming his gun, the officer dropped to his knees.
Nine.
Confused, he opened the bag and glanced inside.
Ten.
Payne and Jones grinned, covering their ears.
The timer, which Payne had set a moment before, sent a burst of electricity to the primer, which triggered the main explosive. The C-4 erupted with a vengeance, shredding the mutaween like they'd been struck by the sword of God, spraying chunks of bone and blood across the open courtyard and knocking Payne and Jones backward onto the hard ground.
If they had been any closer, they would have been in the kill zone.
But their giant steps backward had saved their lives.
It took several seconds before Payne was able to shake off the blast. When he did, he crawled over to Jones, who was rubbing his eyes, trying to refocus. "Are you okay?"
He nodded, even though he wasn't sure. "What about you?"
"I'm better than them."
51
Tuesday, January 2
Taif, Saudi Arabia
Payne and Jones were battered and bruised, but they reported to Colonel Harrington's office as soon as the Taif medical staff cleared them for duty. Each had sustained minor injuries, compliments of the bomb blast, but nothing a few days of rest couldn't cure.
Unfortunately, they realized a vacation would have to wait.
Harrington sat behind a large desk, staring at his computer screen, anxiously jotting notes on a legal pad. Every lime he opened a new file, he flipped a page and started again. His concentration was so intense he didn't notice I'ayne standing in the doorway.
"Colonel, you wanted to see us?"
Harrington glanced up. "Gentlemen, please have a seat. I'll be right with you."
Payne walked in first, followed by Jones. Both moved slower than normal, still feeling the effects of the previous day-one that had spanned several time zones and resulted in multiple bruises. Adrenaline had carried them through their mission, but now that they were back on base, the only thing that kept them going was their thirst for answers. And a lot of coffee.
"First of all," Harrington said as he finished writing, "let me thank you again. I know we talked briefly when you arrived last night, yet somehow I feel the need to repeat myself. Thanks to you, a major crisis was averted, and I just wanted to express my appreciation."
Payne and Jones said nothing, realizing that Harrington wasn't finished.
"That being said, there are still a number of loose ends that need to be dealt with, some of them more puzzling than others." He turned the pages of his notebook and focused on the first item. A single name was written: Shari Shasmeen. "What can you tell me about the girl?"
"Not much," Payne admitted. "We found her tied up and beaten pretty badly in a back room. She was in charge of some archaeological dig and gave us a tour of the maintenance tunnel before our assault. Other than that, we didn't have much time to chat."
"Yet you brought her back with you?"
Payne nodded. "After the blast, we slipped past the Saudi guards by going out the same tunnel. When we got back to the entrance, she was still standing there, unable to leave without a chaperone because of all the mutaween running around."
Jones added, "We figured she needed a way out, and we needed more information about Abdul-Khaliq. It seemed like a match made in heaven."
"On the trip home, did she tell you anything about the envelope?"
"Not really," Payne said. "She slept the whole way back. Why? What was inside?"
"Two things," Harrington answered, glancing at his notepad. "One of them is confusing, the other we're still trying to decipher. While you two were getting your beauty rest, my team spent the night trying to connect the dots. In fact, that's what I was working on when you walked in."
"Go on."
Harrington grabbed a manila folder that sat on the corner of his desk. Inside, there was a single document. He took it out and handed it to Payne. "Don't worry. It's not the original. We sent that out for testing."