Chapter 29

Yousef was no stranger to being chased through wilderness roads. He had crossed enough factions in northern Iran while investigating his father’s death that he’d had to run on more than one occasion. Derek and Maddie thought he was paranoid. But they had no idea of things he’d done. They were after him. Mossad, CIA, Yakuzi, al-Queda. He was an equal opportunity offender. His hand was steady on the wheel and when he blasted through a small village and then south. He pulled up into the foothills on a goat path. He was sure he had missed Derek and Maddie. The roads on this side still had patches of snow on them and there were no other tire tracks through it.

He stopped beneath a ridge and took binoculars from the car, then climbed up to the ridge to look back along the road. The Jeep Patriot he’d wildly shot at when he hit the road came into town slowly, as if checking every alley for him, and then came to a complete stop. After a minute the driver backed into a short tight passage between two buildings. Nothing moved and Yousef used the opportunity to scan the surrounding countryside. From his vantage point he could look over a shallow depression between two ridges that rose toward the mountain. There was movement high above the valley. Yousef could not be sure, but it looked like Maddie’s boyfriend rushing down the mountain.

Yousef swung the binoculars back toward the car in the village. A man got out and looked up the valley from the village. Near the top of the valley, the road that circled the summit cut across just above a small lake or pond that still had a crust of ice on it in spots. The man definitely looked native, but something was out of place. This was no opportunistic kidnapper. This man was moving with determination that indicated he was searching for something or someone specific.

Then Yousef saw him check a hand-held device, look up the far ridge, and check the device again. The man headed off toward the ridge, carefully picking his way along, and staying sheltered beneath over-hanging rocks. Yousef looked down the ridge he was on to where he had parked his car. It was barely visible from his location, but he realized that anyone looking through binoculars from the other side would be able to see it clearly. It’s too late to do anything about that now, he thought. Better to keep out of sight and watch what was going on.

He kept scanning the area. The man he assumed was Keith was struggling on slippery paths high up the mountain. Yousef looked farther up and saw two more figures at the edge of the terrace near the tumulus. One pointed down the trail toward Keith, but instead of hurrying to intercept him, they paused and lit cigarettes. This was definitely not the behavior of rebels on a mission. It seemed that they were content to simply keep track of where he was. As Yousef watched, they began casually to pick their way down the trail.

It took Yousef a minute to pick out the man from the Jeep again. He lay partially concealed beneath scrub 200 meters from the village where he left his car. He was scanning uphill, then checking his device and then looking up again. Yousef followed his line of sight to the top of the opposite ridge. In a moment there was movement. Two figures appeared. It took only a moment to identify Derek and Maddie.

So it wasn’t Yousef the stalker was tracking. It was Derek and Maddie. With Keith coming down the mountain, the Zaynes descending from the ridge, and the stalker pursuing from the village, they would all converge at the pond.

For the first time in his life, Yousef felt completely free. No one was pursuing him. Instead, it was he who could pursue the other four. This is where it will end, he thought triumphantly. How appropriate that he would put an end to the betrayals, an end to the search, and an end to Derek all at once. It was near.

Yousef watched until he was sure he could pick up the trail of the people converging at the south end of the pond. He scrambled back down the slope to his car. He realized now that the supplies Derek had him bring from the plane in Adana were there for no other reason than to pin the library bombings on Yousef. But Sophie had taught a reluctant Yousef about using explosives. He began assembling the charges—just enough for Yousef and Derek. Just like Sophie showed him. Just enough.