14. MADDY

14

MADDY

“Your phone was ringing,” Dad says as I return from the bathroom to the pool patio where we are having late dinner.

Dad is humble, only in his shorts, boat loafers, and a white button up, with a spoon in his hand as he eats haladnik , a cold beet soup, Dad’s summer favorite I made for him.

I spent two nights at his villa. Dad brought a cook with him—no surprise here. But he lets me make his meals. The astounding thing about Dad that I love the most is how humble he can be if he chooses. He owns a mansion in Sydney with a staff of thirty, but he can as easily stay in his former school friend’s house in the country and eat fried fatback and eggs for every meal and drink moonshine. Or he’s fine with camping out in Africa and grilling his own food. He can be anywhere, with anyone, kings or ex-cons, betting on two-million-dollar horses and driving a bulletproof Maybach with a five-car escort or fishing in Siberia or eating with his hands in Ethiopia or crashing on a blowup mattress at his childhood friend’s dacha . With one permanent detail—he does have a lot of guards by his side.

Spending two days with him was surreal. Still is. But I miss this—seeing him, talking, and not about money but about what we were up to in the past two years.

His pool patio is lit up by florescent decorative lights while the surrounding area is submerged into darkness. There are five guards around the house. His IT assistant, Ricardo, is with his team in one of the rooms. One of his right-hand men, Artiom, chills by the open double doors to the patio. I don’t recognize anyone in his team from the times before.

Dad kicks off his loafers and stays barefoot as he slurps the soup. There’s a shot of chilled vodka next to his plate, as well as fresh bread and green onion with salt. Dad can be humble when he wants to. That is when he has a moment to forget that he is working or doing business.

I take a seat at the table and watch him.

“Your phone,” he prompts as he picks up the shot and downs it, then dips the green onion in salt and stuffs it in his mouth.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Everyone has been calling me for the last two days. Kat, Callie, Kai, Guff, Bo, Ya-Ya. Because of Raven and what went down. But in the last two days, because of my dad. He is the top news at Ayana today. The President of the European Commission called to see if his daughter, who resides at Ayana, could get a ride with him back to the mainland in his military helicopter. After Dean Doukas’s helicopter was shot down, no one dares to use the airspace. Except my dad, of course.

I pick up my phone and look at the missed phone call. A long number—a satellite one.

“Weird,” I say.

No one harasses me anymore. Not since my secret spilled out.

There is a message from the same number, and when I open it, my hand goes over my mouth in shock.

Unknown: Beautiful girl, I’m coming back.

Is this someone’s joke?

“Is it…” I can’t even finish the sentence. I dial the number, and it right away drops. I dial again. It drops.

Dad notices. “What is it?”

“I got a message. I think it’s from Raven.”

He sets his spoon down and straightens, staring at me.

My heart thuds like crazy as I dial Archer. The second he picks up, I talk. “I think it’s Raven. Archer, I think Raven just tried to call me.”

“I just got a phone call from him,” Archer says curtly.

The news hits me like lightning. “From… from Raven? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

My eyes dart to Dad, who stares at me intently. “And?”

“And he said he’ll call back. He’s in Port Mrei, Maddy. He’s alive. But I think there’s some trouble.”

“How did he call?”

“Satellite phone. He’s alive, Maddy. He is. But I have to call you back?—”

My dad lunges for my phone across the table, yanks it out of my hand, and puts it on speaker. “What was the prefix on the number he called from?” my dad says calmly, setting his fist on his hip.

My heartbeat spikes so high that Raven would’ve gotten an emergency alert on his phone if he had one.

“813,” Archer says.

My father’s chin tilts in satisfaction as he gets up. “Mine.”

“What does that mean?”

“My guy. The signal is from my satellite.”

I stare at him. “You have a satellite?” I say at the same time as Archer.

“In collaboration with the Middle East, yes.” He motions with his fingers for Artiom to approach. “Mr. Crone, the phone is one of my men’s in Port Mrei. If it was Raven who called, then my man found him.”

“It sounded like they were in trouble.”

“All my satellite phones have GPS trackers. I will check with my IT guy. I will be at the Center in five. You have a cyber operations specialist?”

“Yes.”

“Good. We need him. We will locate the phone. I bring my men. You get your team ready. We are sending them to extract Mr. Levi.”

As soon as he hangs up, he nods to Artiom. “ V Tsentr. Naberi Aziku. Pust’ gatovit kamandu. ” To the Center, and tell Azik to get the team ready.

“I’m coming with you!” I say.

“Of course, you are coming with me.” He doesn’t look at me as he stomps to the door and dials someone on his phone, then speaks in Russian, telling the guy to locate the phone number of one of his men in Port Mrei.

In seconds, the entire house is on their feet.

And my heart is jumping out of my chest as we ride to the Center two minutes later.

At the Center, everyone is on edge. IT guys and Mr. Ortiz have their eyes on the surveillance screens on the wall, all of them lit up. Some show the camera feeds along the Ayana perimeter. Others show aerial footage—the IT team must’ve already sent drones to Port Mrei.

The Commander, the man in charge of special operations, is here too. He is on the radio, giving orders to assemble several soldier units and be ready to move out.

Archer and Bishop are by my father’s side as soon as we walk in. Dad’s IT guy gives the satellite phones coordinates. They are passed on to the Ayana IT team. Right away, one of the screens on the wall lights up with a live map of Port Mrei and a blinking green dot on it—the satellite phone.

“They are by the Venus Den,” Bishop says.

“Locate the closest breach point.”

“Map out the best route to approach.”

“Give me half a minute,” an older IT guy says. He has multiple computers at his desk. Must be the cyber operations specialist.

Everyone starts talking at once, but my eyes dart to a different screen that’s a live arial view of a Port Mrei street. It’s hard to make out anything on a black-and-white night-vision feed. There are dozens of dark figures. The drone is closing in, and I see white flares. There’s shooting. My nerves are on edge. One of the little dark figures there is Raven. I say, “Please, please, please,” in my mind over and over again, hoping he gets out of there safe.

Screens are everywhere showing the GPS tracker, multiple drone footages, the cams from all around Ayana, the AI logistics mapping out the best possible route.

My ears catch everything.

“Twenty men of the special forces unit. Ready in ten.”

“Drone is down. Another one is down.”

“There is a shootout.”

“There are children. Be careful. Four, yes.”

One of the night-vision screens shows people and trucks on a wide street. Suddenly an explosion turns the screen black.

“A bomb went off.”

“Number 25 is down. Send more drones! Get them to follow the group!”

But all I do is stare between two screens—the next aerial drone footage that is back on and the green blinking dot on another screen. My heart wildly thuds against my chest. Blood pounds between my ears. My eyes well up with tears because that dot is Raven. He is alive. He is moving. And though he is in danger, he is right there. Breathing. And he is coming back. He is coming back.

My lips move in the silent mantra when I feel a hand on my back and snap my head at the person.

Dad. His eyes study my reaction. “ Vsio sdelaem, rebionak ” He winks at me. “ Vsio budet chiki-briki ” We’ll get it done, child. It will be tip top.

His eyes shift to the main screen as he crosses his arms in front of his chest like there is no worry in the world, like he’s playing a video game. And his cocky voice is back when he says, “ Tsar’ skazal—tsar’ sdelal. ” Tsar said, and Tsar got it done.

Fucking Dad!

I want to scream. I would’ve been annoyed by his cockiness if I wasn’t watching Raven’s life depend on what happens next.

Archer’s phone rings again. He raises his hand in the air and snaps his fingers.

“Quiet!” he shouts.

He motions to one of the IT guys, and the ringing transfers onto another screen on the wall. The ringing is now on speaker when Archer answers. “Yes! Speak!”

“Archer, we have five women and four children with us.”

The voice is panting. Shouts and shooting are in the background, but the voice is unmistakable. It’s Raven.

I think I’m about to pass out. I release a shaky exhale. My knees go weak.

“They need a way out of here,” Raven says fast. “Ali is with me. We have a number of weapons. Shepherd and his men are helping, but dozens of Butcher’s men are on us.” A loud rustling sound interrupts his speech, but he comes back on, panting. “We need to get protection for the women and children!”

Right away, the cyber ops guy pulls a map on a screen, a green dotted line showing a trajectory through the east part of Port Mrei and toward Ayana.

Bishop motions to the Commander.

“We are on it!” the Commander replies.

“We are on it!” Archer repeats into the phone. “I’m passing you on to Bishop and the IT guys.”

My dad intercepts the Commander. “My extraction team is going in with yours.”

“With all due respect, sir, it’s not about your daughter,” the Commander argues. “It’s about Ayana.”

Dad motions to his guards. “It seems that Mr. Levi is Ayana’s business and my daughter’s. That means he is mine.”

The Commander shakes his head, irritated, but several of Dad’s guards are already barking orders into their radios. “We are on! Ready to take off!”

They stomp out of the building, the Commander scurrying behind them.

And I stare at the green dot on the main screen, my Raven.

Kat is here. “What’s happening?”

I fill her in, and she wraps her arm around my shoulders as we both watch the blinking green dot on the screen getting closer to the Port Mrei edge.

Our ears are taking in every phrase and word that comes through the speaker that is now a succession of beeping and noises and orders, mostly from the teams on the ground.

“Make sure you protect the children and women.”

“They are okay.”

“We see them.”

“Ready to intercept.”

“Do not approach. I repeat, do not approach.”

“The extraction team went in.”

“Dammit. Stay away?—”

“Sir, we are going after them!”

An explosion rocks the screens, and one of them goes dead.

“No,” I whimper, covering my mouth with my hand as Kat hugs me tighter.

My knees are so weak that I feel like sinking onto the floor. Kat is biting her nails as her eyes are on the screen.

I've never believed in God, per se. But there must be forces that rule this world. So, despite how stupid it sounds, I swallow a sob, close my eyes, and whisper on repeat, "Come back, come back, come back."

Archer, Marlow, Bishop, and Ortiz watch the screens as the updates keep coming.

“They are getting close to our lines.”

“Get them!” Archer shouts at the screen, locking his hands behind his head.

Shots erupt with disturbing continuity. Then, an explosion. Shouts. Men are yelling.

It’s chaos, and it’s almost impossible to figure out what’s happening as we all bring our hands to our mouths.

The IT guy with the microphone in his ear snaps his fingers. “Got them!” He jumps off his seat and faces Archer. “Sir, we got them!”

The shooting on the speaker stops.

“Got them.”

“Two men. Five women. Four children.”

“Withdraw. Withdraw. I repeat. Withdraw.”

“Crossed the Ayana line.”

“The extraction team is in. Withdraw.”

“Sir, we got all of them. I repeat. No casualties. Everyone is safe.”

My heart gives out. Tears start streaming down my cheeks, and I don’t hear anything else but the cheers and applause that go around the Center.

Kat is hugging me, but my eyes are on the blinking green dot moving toward Port Mrei.

My breath hitches. “Why is the green dot going back? Archer! What’s happening?”

“Ma’am!” The IT guy draws my attention. “The satellite phone was left with Shepherd’s team that’s going back to Port Mrei. It’s all good.”

“We got him!” Kat shouts in my ear, shaking me excitedly.

Him. Raven.

Archer walks hurriedly toward me and pulls both of us into a hug.

I grin, laughing through tears as he says, “We got him, Maddy. We got him. He’s coming back.”

He lets go and turns to one of his assistants. “Get a large villa ready. The one with at least six bedrooms. Call Callie Mays, ask her if you can borrow some kid’s clothes. There are children coming.”

He gets on the phone with Kai. “Bro, I have some news and I need some help… Candy, yeah. Candy and some girls. They are coming to Ayana… Yeah, right now, as we speak. With Raven and his guard… Yes, found them… Yes, Raven. Yes! Fucking Raven! Yes… Yes… Yes…” He grins. “I don’t know what state Candy and her girls are in, but she knows you, so I need you. She’ll feel more comfortable if you are around… Thanks, bro. See you.”

Archer winks at me as he notices me staring.

Dad still watches the screen, then calls someone and nods, saying calmly, “Okay. Good. Good. Good.”

I walk to him and hug him with all I have.

“Thank you,” I whisper as my tears soak his shoulder.

And then I call Little.