by Kaylea Cross
“Thanks,” she murmured, setting her backpack in the foot well before climbing up into the seat. The vehicle was armor plated with bullet-resistant glass. Couldn’t be too careful over here. Americans and westerners in general had a lot of enemies.
“Welcome.” Zaid waited until she put her seatbelt on and looked over at him before continuing. He was close. Close enough for her to see the flecks of gold and green in his eyes, and the thick fringe of black lashes surrounding them. “So, I’ll see you later tonight then.”
He was insistent, but she wouldn’t make any promises. “If I can make it.”
One side of his mouth tipped up in a smug grin, and it was so damn sexy it had her imagining what it would feel like to cup that rugged, dark-bearded face between her hands and kiss those smiling lips. “You’ll make it.”
She fought a smile at his confidence as he shut her door. It was impossible not to like him.
The driver started the engine and drove them out of the car park. When she glanced in the side mirror, Zaid was still standing in the same spot, and raised a hand in farewell.
For some reason the gesture tugged at a deeply buried part of her.
Purposely looking away from the mirror, she mentally sighed. He was a complication she hadn’t foreseen, and one who, under different circumstances, she might have been tempted to try on for size.
Ten minutes later her vehicle was a few blocks from the hotel she and the others were staying at when a low rumble shook the ground. The driver stopped in the middle of the street and they all looked through the windshield as a huge plume of black smoke spewed into the cold, clear air.
“That’s right near our hotel,” Jaliya said, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket.
Before she could get it out, the driver’s phone rang. He answered in Dari, and she listened to his side of the conversation, gaining enough information to understand that there was a major problem. Whatever had caused the explosion, it must have been big.
With the phone to his ear, the driver glanced at her with a frown. “There’s been a suicide bombing outside your hotel. The entire area’s on lockdown.”
The blood drained from Jaliya’s face. Some of her team were there.
She looked back at the rolling cloud of black smoke billowing high into the sky above her hotel, her gut telling her two things. The location and timing were too much of a coincidence for her to believe it had been anything but a targeted attack.
And that meant her team was being hunted.
Chapter Five
Heart pumping, Zaid jumped out of the vehicle as soon as the driver pulled up to the security checkpoint, Hamilton right behind him. A scene of total chaos met their eyes.
A block beyond the barricade, the hotel Jaliya and her team were staying at continued to billow huge clouds of smoke. The entire area had been closed off while emergency crews responded to the casualties and the fire. Sirens wailed as frightened civilians were herded away from the area, choking the streets and sidewalks and making it impossible to move.
Zaid showed the security personnel guarding the checkpoint his ID and spoke to them in rapid Dari, eager to get through the barrier and find Jaliya. Through Taggart, they’d received word about the bombing just as they’d left the outskirts of Kabul.
The initial report said Jaliya and her two teammates hadn’t been at the hotel when the bombing occurred, but she hadn’t answered her phone when he’d called her, and he wanted to see her with his own eyes to make sure she was okay. Besides, if the bombing had been a targeted attack on the hotel, she might still be in danger.
After talking to his superior on the radio, one of the guards finally let Zaid and Hamilton through the barricade. Together they hurried through the crowded streets to get to the hotel, where a tighter, interior security perimeter had been set up.
“Damn,” Zaid muttered when he caught sight of the smoldering wreckage of twisted metal that marked the truck bomb. The front of the hotel was missing completely, wiped out by the blast. Paramedics and other first responders were busy dousing the flames and carrying victims out on stretchers.
“That had to be one big-ass bomb,” Hamilton said. “Looks like it might have been a five-ton truck.”
The location and timing of it worried Zaid. Impatient, he relayed his information to the men standing guard and waited to be let through. If the vehicle Jaliya was riding in was anywhere near here when the blast went off…
He scanned the crowds around him in all directions, searching for a glimpse of her.
“Taggart said Rabani and the others were okay,” Hamilton said, correctly guessing the cause of Zaid’s concern. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
Zaid didn’t answer. He’d only relax once he saw her himself, and then make sure she was moved to somewhere secure.
This had the style of The Jackal all over it, and if Jaliya was in his sights, then Zaid wanted to get her to safety. He’d already lost one woman he cared about deeply, and he’d be damned if he would watch it happen to Jaliya without doing everything in his power to shield her. If that made him come across as an overprotective control freak, so be it.
He glanced to his left, then his right. On the east side of the street across from the hotel, the crowd shifted to let paramedics by with a stretcher and Zaid’s gaze landed on a familiar female figure standing with her back to him, dressed in beige cargo pants and combat boots.
Relief swept over him in a warm wave. “There she is.”
Without pause he jogged toward her, knowing Hamilton would follow. He didn’t call out her name, not wanting to draw attention to her identity in case she’d been targeted and some of The Jackal’s spies were among the crowd, watching. There was a slim chance this was unrelated to either The Jackal or Jaliya’s team, but his gut said otherwise.
She still had her back to him as she spoke on her phone, her free hand covering her left ear to help her hear better. The smell of smoke and scorched metal hung thick in the cold air.
Zaid slowed as he approached, angling toward her so that she could see him in her peripheral vision. Her chocolate-brown gaze darted to him, and even though she didn’t say anything, the relief on her face told him he’d been right to come.
Jaliya quickly finished her conversation and lowered her phone as she turned to him and Hamilton. “News travels fast.”
“We heard a few minutes after it happened.” Zaid scanned her quickly and didn’t see any sign of injury. Or fear, even though she had to be shaken. He relaxed a fraction. “You all right?”
“Yes. We’re all fine.” She sighed and faced the burning building. “Security’s locked everything down and won’t let us in. The agency’s working on finding a secure location to move us to. But I’ve got material related to a current investigation I need to retrieve from the safe in my room, and I’m not leaving until I get it. And after this, I won’t let anyone from the hotel or their security touch it. Until I know what’s going on and who detonated that bomb, I’m not trusting anyone here, not even the guards hired by the agency. I’ve tried to argue my way in, and called my boss to see what he can do to get me in there.”
The sooner they got her away from here, the better. “Let me take a shot. Wait here.” He motioned for Hamilton to accompany him to the side entrance, where more armed guards were stationed.
In Dari Zaid argued his case for gaining access to the building, and fed them a lie about being government security contractors guarding a state VIP. It was imperative that they clean out their client’s room before either the police or military reached it, and if they weren’t granted access before then, there’d be hell to pay.
After some arguing between themselves and their superior, Zaid pressed harder, promising severe consequences for them if they didn’t let him and his team upstairs that instant. The guards weren’t happy, but they grudgingly agreed. Zaid waved Jaliya over, who shot him a surprised look and followed him into the building.
“We’ve got fifteen minutes,” Zaid told her, pull
ing his Glock from its holster on his hip as he reached the door to the stairwell. Hamilton and Jaliya both had pistols in hand, and kept watch while Zaid opened the stairwell and checked it. “Clear.” He started up the concrete steps, maintaining his vigilance just in case anyone or anything was waiting to surprise them. “Where are we headed?”
“Fourth floor, number 416. End of the hall, near the far exit,” Jaliya answered behind him, Hamilton watching their six as they ascended the stairs.
The stairwell was deserted, and when Zaid checked it, so was the fourth floor hallway. He strode for the door she’d mentioned, then held his hand out for her key card. “Stay put out here with Hamilton,” he told her, then eased the door open. He swept the room, and, seeing no threats, swung the door wide open. “You’ll stand watch?” he asked his teammate.
“You know it,” Hamilton answered.
Jaliya quickly moved inside and Zaid shut the door behind her. She headed straight for the small closet opposite the bathroom and eased the folding door open, her weapon in her free hand.
With fast, economical motions she accessed the small safe and turned the knob back and forth to enter the combination. She let out a relieved breath when it opened. “It’s still here.” When she straightened and turned back to him, she held a flash drive and a file folder in her left hand.
“Need anything else? We’ve only got a few more minutes before our time’s up.” If they weren’t out of here by the specified time, they’d have pissed off security agents coming in after them and Zaid would rather not be subjected to any more questions right now. His priority was moving Jaliya away from here as quickly as possible.
She was already hurrying to the dresser set against the wall opposite the double bed. “Just a few of my clothes and personal things.”
In the midst of shoving a handful of what looked like lacy underwear into her backpack, a low rumble sounded below them. Both she and Zaid froze.
A moment later the rumble increased to a dull roar, and the floor shook.
Jaliya gasped and took a step back. Zaid immediately rushed to wrap a protective arm around her shoulders, ready to push her under the desk and cover her with his body. Another bomb? Debris falling from the hotel? But the floor stopped trembling a moment later and the noise ceased.
“God,” Jaliya whispered, pressing a hand to her stomach in relief.
Hamilton pounded on the door. “You guys okay?”
“Yeah,” he called back. “Just some rubble falling off the front of the building.” He turned Jaliya around to face him and grasped her chin with his fingers to make sure she was coping okay.
She stared up at him with those gorgeous, thickly-lashed eyes, unmoving, only a few inches separating them. The sweet, clean scent of her filled his nostrils as he searched her face. She hadn’t shown the faintest trace of fear until now, even though she had to be rattled. That bombing was too damn close and if she’d arrived a few minutes earlier she would have been caught up in the blast.
“You sure you’re all right?” he asked her softly. Her skin was so damn soft, and her mouth was too damn tempting. The bravery she’d shown in the face of danger put a crack in the wall he’d erected around his heart. That combination of strength and softness sucked him right in.
She swallowed and gave him a tiny smile. “Yes.”
He couldn’t let it go. “Was your team the target?”
“I’m not sure.”
“But you’re not sure it wasn’t.”
She lowered her gaze, her chin still grasped in his fingers. “No.”
He sighed. “As soon as we leave here, we’ll get you and the others back to Bagram.”
“That’s not necessary—”
“I’m not leaving you in Kabul.” He needed to know she’d be safe, and the best way to do that was to guard her himself until he got her to a secure location. “The agency can figure out where to put you after that.”
He expected another argument, or even a show of annoyance from her, but instead her expression softened. “All right. Thank you.”
He nodded.
Her lips twisted into a wry smile. “I’m sure you think I must be a sandwich short of a picnic to take on this job in the first place, huh?”
Her choice of words made him grin. “No.” The grin faded. “But I’ll feel a lot better once I get you out of this city.”
She searched his eyes, suspicion creeping into her gaze. “Why are you doing this for me?”
“Because I care about you.” And he did. She’d flipped an invisible switch inside him. He’d sworn off relationships and women in general for at least a few more months, but somehow she’d shot that decision all to hell without even trying. He didn’t want his heart stomped on, yet he couldn’t stay away from her.
Surprise flashed in her eyes before she looked down again. “Well… Thank you.”
Zaid didn’t want her thanks. Something about her and this whole situation had triggered the protectiveness inside him and there was no shutting it off. Too many times over the past few weeks he’d imagined what it would be like to hold her. Taste her. Feel her arms twine around his neck as she reached for him.
He gentled his hold on her chin, cradling it. He’d whisk her out of this place in a minute. But first, he had to taste those soft lips.
In the stark silence he slid the pad of his thumb over the curve of her chin and up to that lush mouth he couldn’t stop staring at or dreaming about. Jaliya’s gaze darted up to lock with his, and the naked desire burning there sent a rush of heat through him, shooting straight to his groin.
Without giving either of them time to back out, he quickly holstered his weapon and took her face in his hands. A soft gasp fell from her lips and her lashes fluttered down as she put her hands on his shoulders and leaned closer.
That tiny signal that proved she wanted him destroyed the last of his control.
Bending closer, Zaid tilted his head and covered her mouth with his.
It was like touching a live wire. A jolt of pure electricity arced between them. He angled his head and parted her lips to deepen the kiss, hungry to taste her, to touch the warm, sensual woman behind the professional front she always wore. Her hands tightened on his shoulders.
Zaid kissed her slow and firm at first, then gentled it, tenderly stroking the seam of her lips with his tongue. She made a small, hungry sound and opened for him, easing her body forward until her breasts pressed flush against his chest.
He groaned and eased his tongue into her mouth, tasting, caressing while her fingers bit into his shoulders and his swollen cock pressed hard against her lower abdomen. She tasted so damn sweet, and those soft curves molded to him were—
Hamilton banged on the door. “Zaid. We gotta go.”
Jaliya instantly ripped her mouth away from his and stumbled back a step, looking guilty as hell. Her lips were wet and swollen and she was breathing faster.
Zaid clenched his jaw and bit back a growl of frustration. He shouldn’t have kissed her, but he’d be damned if he’d apologize because he didn’t regret it, and hoped she didn’t either. But Hamilton was right. They needed to move. “Yeah, coming.”
He drew a steadying breath in a futile effort to slow his heart rate, watching as she self-consciously smoothed her hands over her hijab that was still firmly in place. He wanted to pull it off her, run his fingers through the long, thick mass of dark hair he remembered from their first meeting back in Virginia. Wanted to wrap his hands in it and back her up against the wall, then kiss her until her knees gave out, until she was panting and trembling in his arms.
Until she was so hungry for him that she didn’t want to let him go.
Which was insane. He didn’t want to get crushed again. “Ready?” he asked her instead in a voice like gravel, his entire body on fire for her.
She seemed to collect herself for a moment, then nodded and reached for her backpack without looking at him. “Yes.”
Zaid followed her to the door, aching for more of
what they’d just shared. He didn’t want a relationship, at least not with someone who lived and worked thousands of miles away from him eight months out of every year.
But damn, now that he’d had a taste of her, he wished things could have been different.
Chapter Six
Hands on hips, Jaliya stepped back from the open folder on the desk and turned to look at the picture board she and her team had assembled on the back wall. All men who were reputed to be connected to The Jackal somehow. One of them might even be him.
Staring at the photo of the man at the top of the second column, a wave of cold swept through her veins.
“I don’t like the look of it,” her boss, David, said next to her.
“No. I don’t either,” she murmured, her eyes fixed on the image of the man in the dress uniform.
Since the hotel bombing four days ago, all evidence turned up by their investigation seemed to point to this man being involved. A local chief of special police with the insider knowledge, connections and means of carrying out such an attack, and he was widely rumored to be working with The Jackal.
With the amount of evidence they had compiled against him and the smokescreen surrounding some of his recent activities, as of right now he was her team’s number one suspect in The Jackal investigation.
The problem was finding enough proof linking him to the bombing to pin on him and bring him in. Unfortunately, corruption within law enforcement, the military and the government were commonplace here, making her team’s job even harder.
“Most of these tossers are bent as a nine-bob note,” she muttered.
David chuckled. “I love your British expressions. They’re so educational.”
“You must know a lot of them by now,” she said with a grin, still studying the board.
Trying to get someone to rat out a corrupt official was near impossible no matter how much money she waved at them, especially since she and her team were considered outsiders and not to be trusted by the locals.