by Ronie Kendig
“Why would someone have your picture?”
Heath met the steady gaze of his new “partner.” A kindness wreathed Haur’s face, in contrast to the infuriated, arrogant gleam in Bai’s. “I have no idea.” Though he hoped he did—he hoped she had the same healthy curiosity about him that he had for her.
Something stuck to the back of the printout.
He slid his fingers between the two.
Hurried footsteps drew his gaze to the lopsided opening. Watters leaned in. “We got a lead on the two missing.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s the girl Burnett wants and”—he angled a dossier page toward him—“this guy. Peter Toque. Equipment supplier out of Ohio.”
“My man,” the spook reminded them.
Relief sped through Heath’s veins so swift and thick, he wanted to laugh. She was alive.
Watters tugged a phone from his pack and dialed.
While the sergeant radioed in, Heath glanced down to the papers in hand. What he saw made him stop. “What …?” Weird. What was Jia doing with a picture of him at Landstuhl?
Twenty-Six
Deep in the Hindu Kush
20 Klicks from Chinese Border
Between the overzealous colonel and the dropping temperatures, they had one hope to stay alive: he must become allies with Zheng. But that would take some convincing, and the only way to do that was to provide real information. Scattered around the circumference of the small site, Zheng’s men were alert and jovial. How they could be with the ragged claws of the icy winds and snow billowing around them, he could not fathom.
“I can help,” Peter braved, breaking his silence as Jianyu continued staring at the still-unconscious Jia. “I have information about her that would prove useful.”
“How can any information you have be useful to me?” The sneer seeped past Jianyu’s lips and infected his words.
“I know her real name.”
Snickers swirled through the snow.
“You know nothing!” Jianyu punched to his feet. “Do not attempt to become my ally. I have little use for you, American.”
“I’m not American,” Peter said, allowing the accent he’d hidden these long months.
Appraising eyes narrowed. “British. Spying on your own allies?” He seemed amused.
“Her involvement in the survey team had a smell to it.”
Wind whipping at them, snow drifting around their heads like angry halos, neither moved. Or spoke.
Then, without a word, the colonel turned toward Jia, squatted, and traced a finger down her face, tucking her thick, black hair away from her face. “What do you know of her?”
The man had a strange sort of obsession with the woman lying at his feet. Was it possible this madman—and yes, Peter knew exactly who this rogue before him was—loved her? What was their history? That was the lone hole in his knowledge.
“Her name is Darci Kintz.”
Jianyu stilled. Stood, his gaze still locked on her.
Feeding off the man’s apparent interest in the information, Peter pushed on. He must get this man in his pocket or he would be as good as dead. “She lives in New York.”
Someone coughed. A nervous one, that drew Peter’s gaze to the side, but he could not tell who had made the sound or why. When he looked back—
A boot sailed into his face.
The afternoon darkened and swirled to black.
Deep in the Hindu Kush
18 Klicks from Chinese Border
Fire and ice. Pain and peace. Tumbling and turning, writhing through her mind amid screams and haunting silence. Running toward people only to see them slip away. Out of sight. Out of existence.
Dr. Colsen. Looking at her, talking and taunting. Then his head exploding.
Jaekus dropping from a ledge with a ravenous scream.
Darci jolted.
White-hot pain speared her side. She drew up a leg, covered her side, and froze. Her yelp strangled by her tears.
“Easy, easy.”
Blinking, she found no difference between eyes open and eyes closed. Was she blind? Or was it dark? Wait—no, there. She could see a differentiation in the shades. She wasn’t blind. So, where was she? Pulling herself up, fire lit through her abdomen again.
“Stop moving.”
Even as he spoke, the memories stumbled through her mind, one on top of another. The campsite. The professor, Jaekus, then getting knocked out—she sucked in a breath. “Toque?”
“Tell me you didn’t forget me.”
She couldn’t laugh. It hurt too much.
“But if one more Chinese person plants his boot in my face …”
She snorted, and a sensation like a live cat trying to claw its way out of her stomach shredded her smile. “Where…?”
“An abandoned shack. Not sure how far, but I’m guessing twenty or thirty miles from the Chinese border. He seems to be heading in a very particular direction. I heard him insisting they stick to the schedule.”
So, Jianyu was meeting someone.
“Look, Darci, I should tell you, I think he’s got some wicked bad allies. I’d wager he’s trying to attack the bases, but that’s a wild guess.”
Pressing her arm to her side, she pried herself up. She ground her teeth, ignoring the throb. Sweat dripped down her face and back. She let out a heavy breath as she pushed herself upright.
“And I think he has plans for you.”
“Why would you … think that?” Bile rose in her throat at the pain.
“He knows you. Knows everything about you. More than you could possibly imagine.”
“Of course he does. His father is Chinese intelligence.”
“No, Darci. It’s worse. He knows everything!”
As if her mind backfired, a crack in their conversation revealed itself. How did he know her name? “Who are you?”
“Are you that far gone? Peter Toque—”
“Equipment supplier. Who isn’t an equipment supplier.” She steeled herself against the fire in her ribs and for the truth. “Now. Who are you, really?”
Quiet swirled around the small hut. “British intelligence.”
He’d told her. Shoot! Opening their secret IDs and placing them on the table meant the situation was much worse than she could have imagined. “I knew something about you wasn’t right.”
“What,” he said from across the hut, where she guessed he’d been tied up. “Didn’t I do the Ohio country boy well?”
She eased back against the wall, feeling the bamboo poles digging into her back. “What were you doing”—she breathed hard and swallowed—“with the team? Why were you there?”
“When your name showed up on that manifest, I knew something was up. So did my bosses. They wanted to know what you Americans were after, so being the good spy analysts we are, I embedded to steal all your secrets.”
Darci groaned. Ninety percent of intelligence came from assets embedded in innocuous positions, just to monitor goings-on.
The throaty rumble of a vehicle drowned her words as slivers of light streaked through the not-so-weather-proofed walls. Darci squinted against the brightness.
Diesel and loud.
“Sounds big.”
“Really big for this mountain pass.”
Considering she wasn’t up-to-date on their location, she couldn’t gauge that. But his notice helped. “Did Jianyu give any indication of what he’s doing?”
“If he had, I would’ve told you.”
“And I’m just supposed to trust you?”
“We’re captives to the Chinese military. What choice do we have?”
“To keep my trap shut and stay alive.”
He snorted. “We have to get out of here.”
“You’re brilliant, Sherlock.”
“Thanks.”
Crunching pushed her eyes open, and her pulse thrummed to find his shadowy form standing over her. Wait … something … something wasn’t sitting right. Now he wanted them to work together? “I thought
you were tied up.”
“No, I just couldn’t see you till the trucks rolled in.”
Right. He really must think she was the dimmest bulb in the pack. Though her weakened state pushed her to trust him, to not have to work so hard, her instincts objected. Pain poked her, and she used it for an excuse not to reply.
“He had one of his men check your ribs.”
She snorted again. “That explains the ungodly pain—they’re butchers.”
“They saw a scar …”
Darci stared out of the corner of her eye. Night blindness made it impossible to read his expression, but that sounded like a very leading comment. The rickety cot creaked, and the air whirled as he eased beside her on the bed.
Alarms blazing, Darci felt the first tendril of panic as she realized she would be in no shape to incapacitate him again or fight him off if he wanted to incapacitate her.
“Is it true?”
At least he had the brains to soften his voice. She was right! Indignation wormed through her all the same. He was digging for information. Most likely working for Jianyu. If that was true, then what was Jianyu holding over Toque’s head to make him do his dirty work?
She’d play along. Let him dig a wide circle around the truth. He’d never know the truth if it hit him in the face, so she had time on her side. “Is what true?”
“I heard him—on the pass. He asked about a baby.”
“Then you also heard my answer.”
“But the scar …”
It made sense now, putting him in here with her. To bleed her courage. Typically, prisoners were kept apart so there was less chance for collaboration, less chance of encouraging each other, more opportunity to break them.
“Appendix,” she said.
A door flung open. Light and soldiers flooded the room, and for the first time, Darci saw that they had not been alone. Jianyu stood in a corner, his eyes narrowed. His expression reeking of fury. Hands behind his back, he stalked toward them.
Toque, who sat beside her, started to rise.
Jianyu shoved him down and did not remove his grasp. “What does he mean to you, Darci.“
A new heat swirled through her, sparking adrenaline. She looked to Toque, who hung his head. Traitor. She bet he’d tried to barter his way into Jianyu’s life with a slip of information. But he had no idea the damage he’d done.
Ba.
Jianyu grabbed Toque by the neck and shoved him onto his knees in front of her, then jammed a weapon to his temple. “What does he mean to you?”
She glared at Jianyu. “What, are you going to kill everyone? What will you do after he’s dead? Kill me?” She tried to stand but flopped back down. Pain drove through her side and back like an iron bar. “This is stu—”
Crack!
Warmth splattered her face.
Twenty-Seven
Parwan Province, Afghanistan
Trust is not easily gained.” Though Haur understood this, had been beaten with this over the last twenty years, he struggled in his present situation to accept that the men around him, seasoned in warfare just as he was, viewed him as an enemy and not an ally. It worked against his purpose, against his mission.
That must change.
And he knew just how to do it. Haur placed himself near the dog handler.
Strongly built with intelligent eyes, the man said nothing.
Haur bent to pet the dog.
“Don’t.” Heath Daniels stepped into his path. “She’s not a pet. She’s working.”
Haur inclined his head. “Sorry. I did not know.” It did not escape his notice that Daniels tucked the photos into his leg pocket. They’d provided him virtually no information on the survey team, which was why he’d gone digging for some. He tugged the heavy, oversized jacket they’d given him closer and started out over the swirl of snow dancing over the scene. “It will be a hard storm.”
“Always is,” Daniels muttered as he gripped his dog’s lead and moved toward the others.
He, too, was an outsider. Though he had more intel and knowledge on this mission than Haur, they had kept him out of the loop. He eased next to the man again.
Daniels shifted a step to the side.
“They are not the most trusting.”
“Trust is earned.”
Haur looked at the sandy-haired guy. “Have you not earned their trust?”
Daniels kept his gaze on the men. The longing, the ache to be included ran through that flexing jaw muscle. “Not this time.”
“As it is with me, both here and at home.”
This time, the man met his gaze. “What does that mean?”
“I see that no one here trusts me.” Haur sighed. “Sent on a mission to retrieve Jianyu, I discover his betrayal and attempt to capture him with American help, yet no one here trusts me past the end of my nose. And because of my father’s treason against China, most of my own people do not trust me.”
“Do you mean your biological father or the minister of defense?”
Haur gave a slow nod. So Daniels knew more about him than he’d thought. “You go to a park to skate on the frozen lake. You see the ice, you know it’s ice, but you do not know how thick it is, how deep its hard facets go.”
Daniels watched him.
Haur said no more.
“Daniels, Zheng.”
They both looked to the leader, Watterboy, who held up a finger and circled it in the air.
Without a second glance, Daniels moved into the group with his dog, who hadn’t given Haur a second glance. That was a good sign, right? The dog didn’t see him as a threat.
He moved into position.
“SOCOM is running a UAV over the area to see if we can pin down the location of the missing and their captors. There’s been too much snowfall to know which direction they’re headed.” Watterboy folded a piece of paper and slid it into his slanted chest pocket. “Daniels, once we get that lead, we’ll want you to take point. You cool with that?”
The man’s eyes glinted with appreciation. “Yes, sir.”
Smart guy, giving recognition to the authority. Haur had this lingering feeling that Daniels had at one time been an equal if not superior to the men here.
“Zheng, we’ll need you to talk to us, let us know if you expect something, if a situation would make sense.” Watterboy’s eyes stabbed with accusation. “You came to us, so if you want to find your man, you gotta talk to us. Clear?”
“I am not your enemy.”
A shorter man with a vest strapped over a very wide chest snorted. “Yeah, that’s what my last dead enemy combatant said.”
Heat churned through Haur’s stomach, but he squelched the fury. He expected this. Still, he must not be a doormat yet not be a rabid dog at the gate.
“Do you understand?” Watterboy asked, his lips tight. His eyes hidden behind the dark sunglasses. “I don’t need trouble from you, and I don’t have to drag you on this mission.”
“Your message is clear.”
Whatever Zheng was up to, Heath wasn’t going to be a part. Or a pawn. The guy wanted an ally. Heath could understand. But it wasn’t going to be him. He would not be used to hurt his country or those he had vowed to protect fifteen years ago when sworn into the Army. It angered him to think this dude might try to play him.
“Coming online.” Candyman angled a handheld device to avoid glare from the low-slung sunlight and the blanket of white.
The mention of the UAV’s activation drew Heath’s gaze skyward. Though he saw nothing against the swirling snow and sun, Heath knew the UAV had or soon would make its first pass.
“Getting a dual feed,” Candyman said.
The Green Berets hovered over the handheld device, blocking his view. No, not just his view—him. They didn’t believe in him. Not like they used to when they’d follow him into the blackest of nights.
Maybe they’re right. Though the chiropractor adjusted his spine, it wasn’t a miracle cure for the brain damage that occurred two years ago.
> “Too bad, I need you on that team.”
Wind howled and tore at his clothes, the sky darkening. While they were waiting for the UAV information, he could get a leg up on this mission. Heath jogged back to the tent where the survey team had slept. He pointed to the blanket and bedding. “Trinity.”
She lowered her head and sniffed the material.
On a knee, Heath rifled through the broken box. Lifted a sweatshirt and held it up to Trinity. Again, she pressed her snout to the fabric, nudged her nose further in, then sat and looked up at him as if to say, “What now?”
She wasn’t a combat tracking dog—and what he wouldn’t do for that specialty like Aspen’s dog, Talon, had training in—but Trinity was a Spec Forces dog. She’d been trained and handled in the higher altitudes, the rocky, uneven terrain, the brutal weather. She could catch a scent and read body language. And take down the worst of the worst.
Though he was asking a lot of Trinity, he couldn’t help but question what this would take out of him. If he could even fulfill this mission. Though a migraine hadn’t exploded through his head, the ever-present thump was there. But Heath knew he was asking a lot of Trin this time—to find a woman she’d only met for a few hours, on a ground now covered with snow, which would eventually freeze her sensitive snout.
Purpose and meaning spiraled through his veins. He might have sucked down there at the base, working the speaking gig, but up here, his determination renewed that he’d been brought here for a purpose. As he looked up to the sky, the view crisscrossed with mountain peaks and spines, Heath knew meeting her at the base was no coincidence.
You brought me here for Jia, didn’t You, God? Maybe that was why he couldn’t stop thinking about her, couldn’t shake that beguiling smile and no-nonsense charm from his memory banks.