War Bringer by Elaine Levine Read Free Book Online

social media threads of their main people of interest, when his phone buzzed. Max stepped out of the ops room and pointed to him. “It’s Jafaar. You’re on, Khalid.”
    Rocco put his phone on speaker.
    “Peace be upon you, Khalid,” Jafaar said in Arabic.  
    “And upon you, peace, Jafaar,” Rocco returned.
    “I am calling with felicitous news. One of our important allies is celebrating the wedding of his daughter this weekend. Only his closest friends and allies have been invited to attend. My boss and your client, Abdul Baseer al Jahni, has been selected to represent his region. As his only agent in this country, I will be standing in for him at this momentous event. Each representative is allowed to bring a guest. I choose you. As my friend and in your capacity overseeing the security of his foreign affairs, it is correct that you join me. I regret not being able to give you much advance notice, but I suspect King did not give anyone much, due to his need for security.”
    The hair lifted on Rocco’s neck. He flashed a look at Max and saw that it had the same effect on him.
    “I am honored that you asked me. I will be pleased to attend with you. And it will provide me with an opportunity to review the security infrastructure he has in place. I’m sure I’m not the only one attending the event who is interested in ensuring King has taken adequate precautions to ensure the privacy of you and all his guests.”
    “I will call and set up that walk-through.”  
    “Where and when is the ceremony to be held?”
    “Meet me at Yusef’s hotel at noon tomorrow. We will travel to King’s private quarters together. There are two events: the initiation tomorrow night and the wedding Sunday morning.”
    “Very well. But know that if King refuses to allow us to inspect his security procedures, I must counsel al Jahni to decline his participation.”
    “Indeed, as he should.”
    “I will need the exact meeting coordinates in advance.”
    “I do not have them. We are to park at a rendezvous point, where we will follow one of King’s vehicles for the remainder of our journey.”
    “So be it. I will see you tomorrow, my friend.”
    “Allah keep you safe,” Jafaar said. The line went dead.
    Greer strolled into the conference room.  
    “What the fuck was that about?” Max growled.
    “You up to this, Rocco?” Greer asked.
    “Yeah. I am.”
    Max nodded. “I’m calling Kit.”
    “Bolanger here.”
    “Rocco got a call from Jafaar. Have a listen.” Max replayed the call for Kit.
    “Well, damn. What the fuck was all that cryptic shit? What initiation was he referring to?” Kit asked. “And who’s King’s daughter?”
    “Your guess is as good as mine,” Rocco answered.
    “Son of a bitch,” Greer snapped. “You don’t think it’s Fee, do you?”
    Kit sighed. “Don’t think we can rule that out.” Silence. “Rocco, you good to do this?”
    “I am.”
    There was another pause at Kit’s end. “Look, I don’t know if these two things are connected, but Lobo just said that several international power players who’ve been on their watch list are heading to Denver. It raised flags because there are no known meetings or summits happening here this weekend.”
    “Maybe they’re coming out for some R&R,” Greer suggested.
    “Not this group. They’re heads of shadow banks, oil magnates, and top governmental leaders and advisors to leaders in several different countries. This group isn’t on friendly terms most of the time.”
    “Jafaar said he was representing al Jahni at this event. Made it sound like there would be other geo-reps there,” Rocco pointed out.
    “All right. Rocco, I want you to take Selena as your date. Greer—get Rocco and Selena outfitted so that they can patch us in when they can. Blade will tail you in Rocco’s truck. When Jafaar gets into Colorado, Angel can join the parade. Maybe this is the break we needed. I’ll update Kelan on this. I’m out.”  

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