The elevator car arrived with ading, the doors opening to reveal Elizabeth Shields, Cobra’s head intel analyst, who was perusing something on a tablet.
She looked up. “Hey, Malik.”
Malik didn’t wait for her to exit the elevator but stepped in and punched the button for the top floor. “Come with me. I’m going to speak with Tower. You should be in on this.”
If she was surprised, she didn’t show it. “What’s wrong?”
The elevator began to move.
“Do you remember Kristi Chang?”
“The name is familiar.” Shields’ brow furrowed. “The op in Antarctica, right?”
“Yeah.” Malik did his best to seem calm. No one but Thor Isaksen, Lev Segal, and, of course, Samantha knew that he and Kristi had hooked up during that assignment. “She’s been working as a nurse in Nigeria for the past nine months. She was abducted from a mobile medical unit by armed assailants about five hours ago.”
“Oh, shit. Do they know who did it?”
Malik shook his head. “No, not yet.”
“How did you find out?”
“Samantha. She and Kristi are pretty close.”
Shields nodded. “Oh. Right.”
“I want Cobra to get tasked with this job.”
Shields didn’t seem surprised. “I suppose that could happen.”
She didn’t understand.
“I want Cobra tomakeit happen. We came to Glasgow to help you and McManus when you were knee deep in shit, remember?”
“Yes, but we’re Cobra operatives, and there was a terrorist connection. The Brits invited Cobra to join in. Kristi isn’t an employee of the company or someone’s spouse.”
“She’s a friend. She helped save Isaksen’s life—or have you forgotten?”
“I remember.”
The elevator doors opened, and Shields followed Malik to Derek Tower’s office. One of Cobra International Security’s two owners, Tower was a former Green Beret and a hard-as-nails badass. Malik respected the hell out of him—even if he could be an asshole.
Shields paused at the door. “I think he’s in a meeting.”
Malik didn’t give a damn. “Kristi’s life is on the line.”
He knocked.
Tower called out to them. “Come back in five—”
Malik opened the door and stepped into Tower’s office.
“Malik!” Shields whispered.
Hell.
Malik had interrupted his boss in the middle of a video chat with his little girl, Layla. The three-year-old looked down at her father from the large flat-screen monitor, dressed in some kind of dinosaur costume, a sparkly blue tiara on her blond head.
“This must be important.” Tower glared at Malik then looked up at his daughter, his voice going sweet and gooey. “Okay, Princess T-Rex, Daddy has to go now. I’ll see you tonight. Be good for your mommy, okay?”