“Yeah, about that.” Harry came to Jack’s side. “I’d kinda like to hear the brilliant plan, too.”

“Me too,” Jack muttered.

“You mean you don’t have a plan?”

“Why do I have to have the plan?”

“You always have the plan.”

Jack gave Harry a withering glare; Harry just smiled in return. It wasn’t quite his usual carefree smile, but it was close enough that it gave Jack some hope. If Harry could still grin, then things weren’t so desperate. But he was right. They needed a plan.

On the floor, Keri had turned her body towards her husband, shielding her daughter as much as she could. The sight caught at Jack’s heart, reminding him of his niece, Matilda. Even though he hadn’t seen her in a long time, Jack had adored spending time with her. They’d play games, have tea parties and she’d once decided he was her rocket-ship to the moon. She’d be seventeen now but all he could think was what if little Tilly was here right now.

Wish you were here?

“Right,” Jack grunted. “A plan.”

He looked around the rather empty room for inspiration and his gaze landed on the final prisoner in the far corner. The guy had his knees pulled up to his chest, head buried in them. He was half turned away like a frightened animal. Like the rest of them, his hands were secured behind his back.

“Jack,” Keri murmured. “He . . .”

Jack nodded in acknowledgment and went over to the young man and crouched. The poor kid was shivering despite the long-sleeved tee and jeans.

“Hasan? Hasan Darmadi?”

Slowly, the kid raised his head and blinked at Jack. He was barely twenty, with a slightly too narrow face, but with nice features accentuated by sharp cheek bones and big, soulful eyes. His skin was about the same shade as Jack’s, his hair midnight black. There were small studs in his ears and one in his nose, with holes above and below his left eyebrow but no bar. The nose and brow piercing were new since Jack had last seen him. Well, seen him clearly. The hazy memory Jack had of the night in the club wasn’t detailed enough to say either way.

“Or, should I say Dixie Normous.” Jack smiled gently. “I missed your performance, but you looked great. I’m sure it was awesome.”

Hasan’s eyes got even bigger. “Really?” He shrugged. “It was okay. I forgot the words to the song and missed some steps.”

“I’m sure the next one will be brilliant.”

For a moment he looked hopeful, but then his shoulders slumped. “We won’t get out of here.”

“We will.” If only Jack knew how. “When did they take you?”

“Um, three days ago? They kept me somewhere else but this morning we came here.” Hasan glanced across the room at the Sings. “Then they came and she said . . .” Trailing off, he let out a shuddering breath. “She said . . .” Tears welled and, unable to carry on, Hasan tucked his face away again.

“It’ll be fine. I promise.” Goddamn. A pair of big, sad eyes and he was making stupid proclamations.

Standing again, Jack left Delta Subject alone and went back to Keri. Harry had managed to get his hands in front of his body and was unlacing his shoes.

“We need to talk,” Jack said to Keri.

She nodded, whispered something in Malay to her husband, then got to her feet. “You’re the field leader. How do we get out of this mess?”

Indicating Harry, Jack said, “We’re working on it, but it would help to know exactly what’s happening. I know some of it, but not all.”

“What do you know?”

“I know that Delta Subject over there is about as far from a terrorist threat as anyone can get.”

The entire time Jack had been tasked with keeping tabs on Delta Subject, he had felt there was something off about it. And not just because Director Tan had held their agreement over his head to get Jack to take the assignment. He shouldn’t have waited so long to review his cognitive model. It had only supported what Jack had believed all along. Hasan wasn’t in Sydney to pave the way for his uncle’s radical ideas, or to lash out on his own; he was here to get away from a family that couldn’t accept him for who he was—a young gay man with dreams of being a drag queen.

And by the expression in Keri’s eyes, she was well aware Jack was right. “I know. I didn’t at first, but when your reports began coming in, showing there was no risk with Delta Subject, I wanted to end the surveillance.” With a quick, worried look at her family, she lowered her voice even more. “But then I started getting photos delivered to my home. Of Aiman at work and Millie at school. Of them at the park, in our home, shopping.” Her shoulders shuddered.

Harry had his shoelace threaded through his cuffs and clenched between his teeth so it stretched taut. He sawed the plastic of the cuff up and down furiously. It was a slow process but one that would work, eventually.

“I couldn’t go to my director. They were too close to my baby. I couldn’t risk it,” Keri continued, almost as if she expected Jack to admonish her for needing to protect her family.

Even if Jack had wanted to berate her for it, it would have been hypocritical. Hadn’t he defied the Office for Ethan several times?

“It was Khun Sein, wasn’t it,” Jack prompted.

“I didn’t know at first,” Keri admitted. “It was just the photos at the start, then actual threats and commands. I tried to find out who it was, but an overt search would have signalled the team and my director that something was wrong. It wasn’t until two days ago I found out it was Sein. That’s when they took Aiman and Millie and said if I didn’t follow them to Canberra, they would . . . kill Aiman, slowly, and take . . . take Millie for themselves.” A couple of long, deep breaths to calm herself, and then she said, “So I came to Canberra. They got me just outside of the airport and here we are. And I still don’t really know why.”

Jack sighed. “I think I do. He was linked to the subject of one of my old jobs. The subject, and Sein, are part of a larger organisation. We’re not sure what their goal is, but it requires a large number of trained soldiers and weapons—” Which Valadian had been working on. “—and undoubtedly was being funded in part by money made from drug production in the Golden Triangle. I guess Sein is here for information. About Valadian, or other members of the group. Or just to find out how much we know.”

“And Delta Subject was being set up as the fall guy. Flag him as a terror suspect and when this place blows, and his body is found . . .”

Jack glanced at the huddled kid. “I’m just sorry I couldn’t clear him before now.”

“You did, though,” Keri whispered. “I knew it, too, but I was the one who said you had to keep watching him, keep him a suspect.”

“Under duress,” Jack reasoned.

Harry’s hands flew apart, the sawn through cuff dangling from one wrist. Grinning widely, he got up and came over to Jack. “Can’t help but see you’re still cuffed.”

“Had a few slightly more important things to do,” Jack replied dryly. Then with a little flourish, brought his freed hands around to show Harry the loosened cuffs dangling from one finger. “But I can multi-task.”

Smirk vanishing, Harry grabbed the cuffs and studied them. “How the hell did you do that?”

“With this.” Jack held up the pin he always kept tucked into the back of his waistband. While he’d been talking with Keri, he’d managed to pull it free of the material and insert it into the lock on one cuff. The thin metal was just enough to pull the teeth away from the roller lock. He’d then pulled the strap out of the lock, loosening the cuff.

“What the . . .” Harry took the pin and studied it, then the cuffs, quickly getting how it worked. Grumbling to himself, he freed Keri, then went to her husband.

Jack looked around the room again, searching for something that would help them get out. By the time Harry had everyone freed of their cuffs, Jack was trying to decide if he, Harry and Keri could battle their way through at least ten fake DSOs, an assassin and find whoever Khun Sein had sent to do his dirty work.

Before he could conceive of a working plan, the lock on the door clunked open. Hastily, everyone grabbed up their discarded cuffs and, hands behind their backs, pretended to still be restrained. Harry moved up beside Jack, between the door and the others.

The door opened and two of the DSOs came in, dragging a third man between them.

“Found this one trying to sneak in the back way.” One of them sneered at Jack. “Figured he was one of yours. We decided to punish him for being dumb enough to get caught, just so you wouldn’t have to.” He grinned like it was the biggest ever joke.

The prisoner sagged between his captors, held up only by their grips on his upper arms. His head hung forward, lolling loosely on his shoulders, dark hair falling over his face. A drop of blood hit the floor under his head. He wore dark tactical clothing similar to the AFP special ops guys, and his weapons had been taken away. In fact, Jack thought the butt of the gun sticking out of the waistband of the DSO to the left was that of a Desert Eagle.

“Thanks,” Jack muttered dryly. “You shouldn’t have.”

“Our pleasure,” the DSO said as he and the other guy dropped their prisoner to the floor at Jack’s feet.

“No, really,” Jack said as the prick tossed him a cocky salute. “You shouldn’t have.”

Before the frown had even started to form on the mouthy DSO’s face, Ethan was moving.