For his plan to work, he had to wait for the chase to begin in earnest. Then he’d draw them into his carefully laid trap. The rugged mountain terrain to the west was treacherous for enemy forces at the best of times. Malik was going to ensure the people coming after him would never make it out alive.
“Get me a secure line,” he commanded. “I need to make some calls.” Intelligence agencies would be monitoring transmissions in the area but he had to take the risk of exposure in order to capitalize on the protection he’d garnered from certain members within the military, ISI and Taliban groups over the past few years. It was time to call in the favors owed to him.
“Yes, sir.”
Malik stood and stretched his back before crossing to the small desk on the opposite side of the room and gathering the paperwork he’d set there. The files included names, contact information and various goodies that he could use to blackmail the men if they suddenly had a change of heart and tried to renege on their promises to him. He had it all on an external thumb drive he kept on a chain around his neck, but using a computer here to review the material would have been stupid. Before he left this location he’d make sure the paperwork was destroyed.
He spoke to Bashir without looking at him. “Have the bodyguards bring the car for me as soon as it gets dark. I want to sleep in that next safe house tonight.” It would likely be the last good sleep he got for the next few days at least, but the end result would be worth it.
****
Seated between Sean Dunphy and Evers as the Air Force C-130 lifted off the runway at Landstuhl in Germany, Jordyn took a deep breath and let it out slowly to dispel the tension inside her. Things had been tense after Alex’s announcement back in the NSA conference room, and she felt like she’d been caught up in a whirlwind ever since.
This flight had been the first one available to Qatar, which was why Alex had gotten them all on board. From there they’d hop another flight to Islamabad. Now all ten of them—including Tom and Evers—were crammed into jump seats on either side of the plane’s cargo area, which was filled with pallets of supplies and two armored vehicles destined for military personnel stationed at Bagram in Afghanistan.
Next to her, Sean had his head back against the bulkhead, his right arm draped possessively across Zahra’s shoulders as she snuggled into him and tried to sleep. They were all tired and trying to nap when they could but Jordyn was too keyed up to sleep at the moment.
She now knew the bandage on Zahra’s leg was from a bullet wound sustained the previous weekend during a run-in with a TTP cell member sent to hunt her at Malik Hassani’s command. During the flight to Germany, she’d also found out from Gage about Sean’s unfortunate—albeit likely well-deserved—predicament that had followed.
Knowing he wasn’t sleeping yet, she leaned toward him to be heard above the noise of the four turboprop engines and spoke close to his ear. “So, I hear you had an unfortunate encounter with some laxative-laced brownies.”
He cracked one deep brown eye open at her and smirked. “Yeah. It was the shits.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “Only you, Dunphy.”
“I know,” he said with a nostalgic sigh. “They got me good. Kind of awesome, actually.”
He
would
think so. “Does Zahra know what she’s in for with you?” The analyst seemed pretty straight-laced, but maybe that’s what made it work; her seriousness balancing Sean’s mischievous side.
“Yep, and she’s good with it. Of course, with her I’ll just pull harmless little pranks. I save my A game for these guys.” He indicated the teammates seated on the other side of the cargo area with a jerk of his chin.
Yeah, she could only imagine what lay in store for the male team members once they set up shop in Pakistan. “Even that laxative revenge didn’t teach you anything, huh?”
“Course it did. Taught me next time I’ve gotta bring out the big guns.” He said it with such relish that she couldn’t help but grin. She’d bet he already had something planned out and ready to execute when the time was right. Although from the stories she’d heard about him from her brother and Blake over the years, Sean wasn’t exactly known for his sense of timing. At least when he was in operational mode he dropped the clown act.
On her other side, Jake Evers tapped her politely on the arm. “You hungry?” He held up the open bag of chips he’d pulled out of the duffel at his feet a few minutes ago.
“Thanks.” They’d snagged a sandwich at the base but she was far from full. She took a handful and started to munch, perusing the rest of the team seated across the belly of the cargo area of the plane. Talk about a learning curve. She understood why Blake hadn’t told her about all the recent attacks on the team, but it was still a lot to take in. Hard to believe she was now in the middle of it.
“Bet you haven’t traveled in style like this for a while,” Evers remarked.
“Not for a while, no. Can’t say I’ve missed it.” Although she did miss the Corps sometimes. It had challenged her, forced her to dig deep and forged her into a stronger, more confident person. She’d served four years before applying for and receiving an honorable discharge. Her memories of her service were some of the best and worst at the same time.
“Well, at least your quarters will be better than anything you stayed in with the Corps.”
The jump seats were gonna make for one hell of a long, uncomfortable ride to Qatar, that’s all she knew. “I’m pretty stoked about that. Alex said there might even be the possibility of hot showers in our future.” That would be a welcome change. Marines had notoriously shitty luck when it came to accommodations, rations and equipment, and often had to make do with whatever was leftover once the Army and Air Force were outfitted.
Evers grinned, showing off even white teeth, his brown eyes twinkling. “Only the best for us. You seem to be settling in pretty well so far. I know there’s been a lot to take in.”
She didn’t know too many Feds, but she liked Evers already. And he wasn’t hard on the eyes, with his dark good looks and broad shoulders. He’d done eight years in the Army and finished as a captain. “You could say that, yeah. Looks like we’ve got a good mix of people on the team though.” Claire and all the remaining guys on the team were sprawled in the seats on the opposite side of the aircraft, arms crossed, chins resting on their chests as they tried to snatch some Zs. By now Jordyn had a pretty good feel for their personalities.
Hunter was the grim, serious one, the undisputed leader, and the most intimidating of the group. Gage was the friendly one of the group but he had a hard edge to him that came with being in command of men for so many years, and she had no trouble at all picturing him in the position of Team Daddy he’d served as for so many years with Special Forces. Sean of course was the prankster, although he was a gifted spotter and a total pro when he was working. And then there was the quiet, professional man that captured her attention without even trying.
Jordyn let her gaze slide to Blake, and was startled to find him staring back at her. His normally taciturn expression was gone, replaced by a slight frown between his brows and his delectably full lips were thinned as if he was annoyed. Then his eyes flicked to Evers and a rush of understanding hit her.
He thought she was flirting with Evers? He obviously didn’t like it. Or maybe he thought Evers was flirting with her, she wasn’t sure, but seriously? It pissed her off, since he had to know her better than that. Yeah, Evers was hot and seemed like a nice guy. That didn’t mean she’d openly flirt with a member of the team she’d just been assigned to.
Sending Blake an icy glare, she turned her attention back to Evers, who was much more pleasant company and didn’t make her stomach knot into a ball every time she looked at him.
He also didn’t create any butterflies in there either.
She settled into an amiable conversation with him and tried to force Blake from her mind. It didn’t work. He’d been giving her the distance she’d asked for, yet somehow that hurt worse. She was more conscious of him than ever, right there on the other side of the plane. It made her chest ache to leave things between them this way. They wouldn’t see each other much once they arrived in Pakistan. As soon as they got settled into their quarters she’d have to set things right between them before he headed out. If anything happened to him out there she’d never forgive herself for not mending the rift between them.
Nodding at something Evers was saying, she snuck another glance back at Blake. As though he felt her gaze on him his eyes opened and locked on hers. He held her stare for a few seconds, his expression unreadable, then broke it by closing his eyes and settling into a more comfortable position to sleep. She couldn’t help but notice those muscular arms folded across his wide chest, or the way her heart rate increased at the sight of him. Even though she got that he didn’t have romantic feelings for her, she knew he still cared and that was the hell of it. She was starting to think she’d never be able to fall out of love with him completely, and her naughty side still demanded that she lick every inch of that caramel-toned skin.
Tearing her gaze away from him, she looked back at Evers and realized he was waiting for an answer. “Sorry, what?” she asked, embarrassed that he’d caught her practically undressing Blake with her eyes.
“I asked if you and Blake have known each other long.”
“Yeah, a long time. Years and years.”
He nodded. “Glad he persuaded you to jump on board.”
“Thanks. Me too.” Although part of her was already questioning her sanity for doing this to herself.
Best cure for a broken heart was to keep busy and focus on the good things in her life. Soon enough she’d be occupied with her new duties and Blake would be out on various missions, so she wouldn’t have the constant reminder of what she couldn’t have shoved in her face on a daily basis.
Islamabad was exactly the same as it had been back in early September: hot, crowded and potentially deadly.
Blake reached out to adjust the vent on the driver’s side of the dash board to aim the flow of cool air up to his face. Dunphy was riding shotgun with Zahra and Jordyn in the back of the black SUV. They were second in line behind Alex, Hunter, Claire and Gage. Evers and Tom rode in a third vehicle behind them, along with two Brits hired for additional security. One was a former Royal Marine and the other former SAS. Both had staked out their temporary digs here ahead of time to get everything set up for the taskforce’s arrival.
Gage’s voice came through Blake’s earpiece. “Ready to roll?” he asked from the lead vehicle. Blake and the former SAS member, Lang, replied in the affirmative and the convoy started out from the international airport. They hit traffic almost immediately. It made Blake twitchy as hell to be stuck between other vehicles, but at least they were all in the far right lane so they could get onto the shoulder to make a quick getaway if necessary. Last time he’d been here, he’d witnessed two suicide truck bombings in the downtown core. He and the other drivers were all more than willing to ram cars aside if it came down to it.
“It’s worse than L.A.,” Dunphy muttered, keeping careful watch out his side of the vehicle for anything suspicious. “And that’s saying something.”
Yes, it was. Blake kept quiet as Dunphy reached out and plugged his MP3 player in. Two seconds later the sounds of Van Halen filled the interior. “That all you ever listen to?” Blake asked with a shake of his head.
“Why would I listen to anything else?” he answered, sounding genuinely curious.
“Because it gets annoying for the rest of us?” Zahra asked dryly.
“You’re just saying that because you’re jetlagged and your leg’s bugging you,” Sean told her. “I won’t hold it against you.”
Zahra grunted and settled her head back against the headrest. Everyone wore tactical vests. Both women wore shawls to cover their hair, but Jordyn was definitely going to stand out in spite of that. With her height and vivid eyes, locals were going to be shocked to see her carrying a weapon and working on the machinery. She’d barely said a word to him the entire day it’d taken them to get here. Civil and polite, but nothing more. Damn Blake hated it.
Watching her talking and laughing so easily with Evers—the only other single guy on the team—during the flight to Qatar and the long layover there, had stirred something dark and primitive inside him. He’d always felt protective of her but somewhere during the past few years part of him had become possessive of her too. Which was just plain fucked up, since he had no right to be.
Gage’s voice came over the earpiece again, yanking him out of his thoughts. “This is going nowhere fast, so I’m getting us outta here. Follow me.”
Glad to be moving again, Blake pulled out behind the lead vehicle. He wound his way through the stagnant throng of traffic, ignoring the blare of horns and angry gestures from the other drivers. He bet most of them couldn’t say they’d barely escaped back-to-back suicide bombings the last time they’d driven into downtown. Hunter and his now-girlfriend, Khalia, had been the closest when the devices went off. The twin explosions had decimated a crowded government building and a half block of the city. They’d been lucky to walk away from that.
“First time to Pakistan, Zahra?” Jordyn asked in the back seat.
“Yep. Feels weird to be here. I know these are my people but I feel totally out of place. Probably have all kinds of relatives I don’t know about right here in the city. Not that I’m going to look any of them up, except maybe someone on my mother’s side once this job is done. We’ll see.”
“Not unless Alex vets them first,” Sean said. “I’m not taking any chances with you.”
Blake caught Zahra’s amused smile in the rearview mirror. “See? He really can be sweet when he drops that clown persona.”
“I thought you loved my clown persona?”
“I love
you
,” she corrected. “I tolerate the clown because I have no choice.”
Sean grinned and went back to doing his job—watching out for possible threats. Driving in a three vehicle convoy like this made them stand out, and that wasn’t a good thing. They needed to get to their destination quickly and lie low until they got the next piece of intel that would put them on the trail of Hassani and his network.