Oath to Defend Read Online Free PDF

private, a yacht could provide the margin of safety he’d need if the Americans kept looking for him. Hiding in Mexico certainly wasn’t what he had in mind for the reward he would give himself as soon as he completed his next mission. The Mayakoba resort was nice, he had to admit, but he deserved more. There was no way he was going to end up like bin Laden, isolated in a grubby villa, cut off from the world. His sponsors might think the “true way” was to live like a nomad roaming around in the desert, but refusing the advantages the modern world offered didn’t make any sense to him.
    His cell phone came to life with the sound of a Ferrari driving by at speed. He opened it and heard a voice.
    “I’m not being watched, but you are.”
    “What are you talking about, Ryan?”
    “I spotted your bodyguard as soon as I got off the ferry,” said Ryan, “as well as the surveillance team that followed us both to Tulum and back. They weren’t watching me. They were watching him. Leave now. Use the number I gave you earlier and tell them to get you out of there. And erase everything.”
    “Ryan,” Barak replied, “I don’t need your advice. This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t insisted on meeting.”
    The line went dead.
    “Jamal,” he yelled. “Get in here.”
    His faithful servant ran in, a startled look on his face. He had never been yelled at before.
    “What did you do?” Barak asked. “Ryan just called and said you were followed.”
    “Malik, I did as you told me. There was no one following Ryan. I didn’t see anyone following me. You trained me well. I did not fail you. Maybe Ryan is angry because you made him go to Tulum.”
    Barak shook his head. “I can’t take a chance that he’s wrong. Download everything on my laptop, then run the incinerator program. I’ll call for a ride out of here.”
    But he waited until his bodyguard had left the room before he called the number Ryan had provided. As faithful as Jamal was, he wasn’t in Ryan’s league and most likely had been followed. The problem was to escape and make sure Jamal was no longer a risk.
    “This is Barak,” he said into his phone. “Emergency, extraction now, beach off the Mayakoba.”
    The call ended, he went into the master bedroom and changed into black swimming trunks picked up his waterproof fanny pack. When he returned to the living room, he found Jamal waiting.
    “Your laptop is clean,” the bodyguard said. “Here’s your thumb drive. What do you want me to do next?”
    “You know what I must ask of you, Jamal. You have been beside me all these years, and you know I cannot be captured. What we have planned must be completed. Tens of thousands will die soon. Because of your sacrifice, you will always be remembered as a martyr. Let no one get by you. If no one comes and Ryan is wrong, call my number and I’ll get you out of here. Are you willing to do this for me, my friend?”
    “You know that I am, but Ryan is wrong, I promise you.”
    “I believe you. But this must be good bye for now. Guard the front. I must go.”
    As Jamal turned and started toward the foyer of the large suite, Barak took his silenced Sig Sauer P226 out of his fanny pack and shot him twice in the back of his head.
    “Sorry, old friend, but I think Ryan is right. You were followed.”
    When he was sure there was nothing in the suite that would lead anyone to him or compromise his plans, he threw a towel around his shoulders and walked out the door.
    On the beach, he saw a few couples walking along the water line and several parents watching their children playing in the white sand, but otherwise the area looked safe. He walked to the edge of the trees lining the beach and sat in the shade. If they knew where he was staying, he knew they wouldn’t leave the beach open to him. He looked up and down the beach, but saw no enemies approaching. Then he shaded his eyes from the afternoon sun and looked for a signal from his rescuer on the