“May I help you?” a motherly-looking woman dressed in Afghan garb asked in English.
Daisy worked up a helpless expression. She grabbed the woman’s hand in both of hers. “I hope you can help me,” she said in Dari.
The woman reassessed her. “What’s wrong, my dear?”
“If you go to the front of the store, you’ll see a man who has been following me all day. He knows my boyfriend is out of town on business, and he’s,” Daisy swallowed. Then she started again. “He’s going to follow me to my home. I need to go to my friend’s house without him seeing where I’m going.”
The woman sighed. “And you can’t go to the police,” she shook her head sadly.
It was true. Both women knew that it was very likely the police would take the man’s side.
“What can I do to help?” The woman asked.
“If I can change from Western clothes?” Daisy asked hopefully. “Perhaps one of your beautiful parahaans and tombaan sets, and left the store in disguise…?” She let her voice trail off as she looked around the store she saw the exquisitely handmade trousers and overdresses in subdued and bright colors, all with coordinating scarfs. If she wore the scarf low enough, she should be able to disguise herself.
The woman gave Daisy a thorough once-over. “It might work. We would have to get you the right shoes as well, and you could put your purse into one of the shopping bags.” Now the sales clerk was getting into the project.
She hustled Daisy into a cramped fitting room, where she was met by many women laughing behind different curtains. This was obviously a fun outing for the ladies.
Before she had a chance to take off her blouse, the woman thrust three different garments into the fitting room. Daisy looked around to see where she could put them, finally seeing a hook. She snorted when she saw the price tags. The woman might be willing to help her, but it was definitely going to cost.
It was just as well. She needed to fit in at the Intercontinental Hotel, so high-end clothing was for the best. All of the clothes that the woman had picked out were rich and vibrant and beautifully made. Daisy chose the deep purple, and it fit like a dream.
Perfect. I’m outta here.
When the woman tried to thrust some more clothes into the dressing room, Daisy stepped out.
“I choose this,” Daisy smiled.
“Excellent choice. I will get the shoes and chaddar to cover your hair. We can pin it here, so you will be unrecognizable.”
Within five minutes, Daisy had just spent more on her credit card than a night at the Ritz Carlton in New York. Thank God Leo had paid for lunch.
“No, no, no. The chaddar is still not right,” the woman said again. For the third time, she re-pinned Daisy’s scarf, until none of her hair showed, and it flowed softly around her face.
The saleswoman looked at her critically. “You’ll do.”
She shoved Daisy’s clothes and red purse into shopping bags. “Go out with a group of women, you’ll be less conspicuous that way.”
Damn, she was really getting into it. Maybe the Afghani woman wanted to be James Bond too.
Daisy stayed close to the entrance looking at a rack of clothes. When three women started to walk out, she walked close behind them, followed them to the left, and down the escalator. She looked up and saw the man in the windbreaker still standing in front of the women’s clothing store.
I did it!
She glanced at her watch. It was six-twenty. She’d be cutting it close.
As soon as she was on the ground floor of the mall, where all the food shopping was, she hurried to the south exit. How in the hell was Rayi going to recognize her when she got to the hotel?
One problem at a time, Daisy. First, just get your ass to the hotel on time.
When she got outside, she yanked her red purse out of the shopping bag and held it over her head.
Many drivers shouted at her to give her a ride.
“Miss Squires!”
She turned her head to the young man waving at her. He even looked like Malek. She hurried over to his car and got in.
“The Intercontinental Hotel.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
His tires actually screeched before she had a chance to put on her seatbelt. After she got it on, Daisy reached for her St. Christopher’s medal around her neck and held on.
Here she was again, in another hotel lobby about to meet another man who would hopefully have information about her father. She stood in front of the hotel gift shop, pretending to admire whatever it was they were selling. Her mind was so oblivious, she didn’t even know what she was looking at.
“That’s a nice watch, isn’t it?” A man asked her. “Who would you buy it for?”
“My stepfather. I try to always get him something from every country I visit. But I would like something that is made here, instead of something that he could buy in the US.”
“You are a good daughter. I believe our car is waiting.”
Daisy turned to look at the man. They were of a similar height and she could look directly into his kind and intelligent eyes.
She smiled. “You’re right, we don’t want to be late for our plane.”
Yay, I remembered my lines!
“No, we don’t.”
He indicated they were going back to the valet area, where the door was open, and he escorted her to the waiting limousine. She raised her eyebrow.
“This has a privacy screen,” he quietly answered her unasked question.
She nodded.
The valet opened the door for her, and the driver opened the door for Rayi on the other side of the vehicle. After they were settled, the limousine began to move at a sedate pace. It was nice to not have to worry for her life for a change.
“How do you know my stepfather?” Daisy asked.
“I did a few humanitarian stories that interrelated with Tajikistan, and I needed corroboration. Your stepfather ended up pointing me in the right direction.”
Daisy nodded, she could see Alistair doing that.
“So, do you have any information for me regarding Ethan Squires? Anything at all about what he might have been doing either here or in Pakistan?” It had finally occurred to her that the Haqqani Network spanned both nations and he could have just as easily enraged the Network on either side of the border.
He looked at her sadly.
“What? Tell me. What?”
“In Pakistan, one of the madrassas that he visited and inoculated children, was where Siraj Haqqani’s nephew attended. It was lucky he wasn’t killed while he was still over in that country.”
“I know that. I’m also thinking it was either Dr. Williams or a member of his staff who tipped off Siraj that it was my father who did the inoculation. It’s the only thing that made sense, since they wouldn’t be sure which doctor did it.”
Rayi nodded. “You’re right, but before that happened, a member of the Taliban, who didn’t want additional international trouble, told your father to immediately leave for the United States.”
Daisy felt like her head was going to explode. Did her father have a death wish, why in the hell didn’t he go home? What the hell had he been thinking? Fine, he did his normal shit, he ignored all common sense, risked his life, and put the life of Dr. Williams and the rest of his team in jeopardy.
Nothing changes.
“Why did the Haqqani Network wait until he was in Afghanistan to kidnap him?” Daisy asked.
“According to my sources, the one good thing Williams did was to give your father a running chance. He sent him over to Afghanistan before laying the blame at his feet.”
“Yeah, like that was a nice thing since the Haqqanis have a hold over both countries.”
Rayi nodded in agreement.
“Since Williams has a way to contact the Haqqani Network, I need to talk to him and see if I can get ahold of the same person. See if there is a way I can get a meet with Siraj.”
“That’s suicide.”
“There has to be something
he wants more than my father’s death. We can get money.”
“No. After what your father did, he will want to make an example of him. Your best bet is for someone to rescue him, or put pressure on the Haqqanis.”
Daisy didn’t want to give away that there was a potential for rescue, so she didn’t say anything about that. “I don’t suppose you know of any way to diffuse this situation with somebody else at the Haqqani Network, not Siraj?” she looked at him hopefully.
“The only possibility is the Taliban putting pressure on them. The Haqqani Network is still allied with the Taliban and the Taliban is trying to put itself forward as more of a government entity these days, not a terrorist organization. But it is doubtful that the Haqqanis will change their minds.”
“How do I get a meeting with the Taliban?”
“I don’t think you want to. Right now, it is a tenuous situation at best. All communication should go through proper channels, through your embassy to the Afghan government or directly with the Taliban.”
“My embassy has been pretty clear that they won’t do anything.”
“The pressure that your family is putting on the American government back in the United States is helping. Soon the US government officials here in Afghanistan will have no choice but to have some under-the-table talks with the Taliban.”
“But by that time, it will probably be too late, won’t it?”
She waited for a response, and finally, Rayi nodded.
“So again, how do I get in touch with someone within the Taliban? Someone who won’t kill me on sight?”
Rayi looked out the window. “We are almost at the airport. I will call you tonight and see what I can do. In the meantime, go back to your hotel and wait for my call.”
“Don’t you need my number?”
“I have it.”
6
Leo found Kane and Max poring over new satellite images in the tiny conference room.
“They lost her,” he said between gritted teeth.
“What?” Kane asked. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s talking about Daisy. She managed to lose her tail. Goddammit, Leo, didn’t you contact Tom? If he was in charge, there was no way she would have gotten away,” Max said. He was clearly irritated.
But so was Leo. Actually, he was more than irritated, he was a little bit scared. What in the hell was that woman up to?
“Lieutenant, I know how to carry out an order,” Leo said with his back straight and his shoulders thrown back.
“Can the ‘lieutenant’ bullshit, you know that pisses me off when we’re not in front of the brass. I’m sorry I questioned you. But seriously, are you telling me that somehow Tom Ludlum and his team managed to lose one little girl?” Max was now irritated and incredulous.
Now Leo was feeling a tad bit of admiration. “Woman, sir, she is definitely a woman. You got to remember she’s been all over this big wide world, kicking ass and taking names as she runs that charity of hers. Very few things stop her. I should have been more clear with him, that she’d be slippery.”
Max rubbed the back of his neck. “You shouldn’t have to have been. Tom wears big boy pants, he knows what’s up, he should have figured that out for himself. How’d she lose him?”
“She went to a clothing store at a mall. They figure she went inside wearing Western clothes and came out wearing Afghani clothes, then took a different way out of the mall and a different driver. It was all planned out pretty slick.”
“Dammit! What’s she planning on doing?” Max always took his missions personally. That was just who he was. He was their leader and nothing escaped his notice. Of course, Leo was taking this pretty damned personal himself. When he thought of the petite, intelligent, beautiful woman he’d had lunch with earlier, his stomach lurched at what she could be doing out there.
“I don’t know, Max, but you can be damn sure she’s out there intelligence-gathering. She didn’t have much for me today at lunch. She had a good idea of what kind of work I did. I’m telling you, nothing got by her.”
“Obviously, if she was able to pick up on the fact that she had a tail. And, knowing Tom, he probably had two people on her,” Kane said as he looked up from his monitor. “I’ve got her cell phone number, unless you already had it, Leo.”
“No, I didn’t get it from her,” Leo admitted. “Maybe before she does something too crazy, I can get her to meet with us.”
Max’s head jerked up. “That is not a good idea.”
“It might be, if she’s planning something totally batshit crazy.”
“Just get her on the phone,” Max said. He was clearly resigned to the situation.
Daisy had changed into jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and now sat in front of her laptop in her hotel room. She felt a little better after her shower. She hated waiting, even if there was something to occupy her time. God knows the e-mails had been stacking up like snow in Alaska. But almost all of the W.A.N.T. e-mails she forwarded to any one of her highly competent directors. There were a couple that she forwarded to the Chairman of the Board of Directors so they could discuss them in a few days. What she really needed to get to were the e-mails from her siblings and her mother. There was nothing from Alistair, but that was because he was going to be calling her.
Her finger hovered over her mother’s name on the computer. Alice Barrett had a complicated relationship with her ex-husband. They had four children together. Most of the pent-up hostility that she might have laid claim to had been worked through over the last twenty years, but she was still an advocate on his behalf because three out of her four children cared for him so much.
Hell, there had been times she had tried to bridge the gap between Ethan and Daisy. She’d tried hard to make Daisy see the good in her father, but it had been like pushing a boulder uphill. When Daisy was fifteen, she and her mom had had a shouting match that could be heard all over the Tajikistan embassy. Alistair had to step in. After that, her mother had finally stopped trying to intervene. She’d left it for the lost cause it was.
Daisy opened her mother’s e-mail first. She wasn’t surprised by what her mom had to say. She told Daisy to not wear herself out trying to be all things to her brothers and sister. Her mother knew that Daisy would try every avenue to rescue their father, but that she mustn’t beat herself up if she was unable to do so. She told Daisy to remember that her father had put himself in harm’s way and that Daisy was not responsible for fixing this problem.
Daisy smiled wanly. It was a nice thought, but her mother didn’t understand. She was the Executive Director of W.A.N.T., her unofficial job title was Maker of Miracles. She’d actually heard some of the women in her organization say that!
She and her team had helped get the money to ransom the girls from Boko Haram in Nigeria. Daisy along with others in her organization had gotten water wells drilled in the poorest villages in Zambia despite the government corruption. One arm of her organization that was just starting in Cambodia had just opened up a center for young girls and teens who had been sold by their families to brothels. These girls were severely physically and emotionally traumatized and needed a new start. It was Daisy’s hope that with the new people she had brought on that they would eventually be able to stop some of the trafficking before the girls were sold into sex slavery. The idea of not being able to save her father was unacceptable.
Next, she opened the e-mail from her oldest brother, Jim.
Hey Sis,
I think we’re really making progress over here. Brian met with a senator yesterday who seemed to think that the United States could get the Afghan government to do something. I don’t know if that means negotiate with the terrorists or if they would do an attack. But Brian said it might be something.
But I’m not sitting on my hands. I don’t trust our government to do anything, so I’ve been working with Davy. You know he has worldwide investments. He’s working with an embassy that might do something for us if ours fails. You know what I’m talking
about, sis.
Meanwhile, Karen is working with mom and Alistair to keep Dad’s situation on the front page. She’s managed to find one of his success cases to interview almost every day. Karen’s making it look like Dad should be up for a Nobel Peace Prize.
I know Dad isn’t always your favorite person, but what you’re doing means the world to Brian, Karen, and me. If anyone can push the grunts on the ground there in Afghanistan to do something, it’ll be you. We all love you, Daisy.
Love, Jim.
She opened up the attachments that he’d sent. She couldn’t help but smile when she saw Freddie and Mikey grinning into the camera with their identical gap-toothed smiles. They’d even lost their front baby teeth on the same day. Talk about identical twins.
She adored her nephews. They had just turned four years old. It had only been three weeks since she’d last seen them, but it felt like forever. She needed to get back to the States.
Daisy opened up Brian and Karen’s e-mails. They pretty much reiterated what Jim had told her, except for telling her about Jim’s friend Davy. Now that situation scared the hell out of her. Davy was Deyvid Chubais, his father owned the largest bank in Russia, and Jim had performed CPR on Davy’s mother-in-law at a restaurant years ago. They’d been friends ever since. If Jim was thinking of having Davy go to the Russian embassy for help, that was going to turn this into a circus.
She jumped when her phone rang. She looked at her watch, happy to see that Rayi was calling two hours earlier than she thought he would have. She looked at the number on the phone and frowned. It wasn’t an Afghan number, it was a US number, and it wasn’t any that she recognized. She thought about letting it go to voicemail, when she did the math and realized it was four a.m. on the East Coast in the States. It must be important.
She answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Daisy, this is Leo.”
She licked her bottom lip.
“Well, this is a surprise. I’d ask how you got my number, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to answer, right?”
Her Sensual Protector: A Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 5) Page 5