The noise of the growing mob outside swelled louder. A muted roar made by hundreds of angry voices chanting one of the only Urdu phrases he knew.Death to America.Hunter Phillips checked his weapon one last time and turned in a crouch to face the six other men now trapped with him in the burning Interior Ministry building. Three of his security contractor teammates, and three international diplomats who were scared out of their fucking minds and visibly struggling to hold it together.The sound of more breaking glass shattered the tension in the room. Another fire alarm blared to life from down one of the hallways, signaling that the flames were spreading fast. Already the smoke was thick enough to make his eyes sting. “We’ve got a minute or two, max, before they scale the wall,” he said to the man on his right.Scottie, the team leader and Hunter’s best friend, scanned their darkened surroundings, but they both knew there was only one way out. “Call again for an emergency exfil,” he
Scottie ended Hunter’s descent with an upraised fist that commanded him to stop. His voice was calm, his eyes intense as he stared up at him. “That’s an order, Hunt. Get your ass up there.”Everything in him rebelled at the command, but he knew Scottie was right. His first duty was to the diplomats they’d voluntarily come to save. He’d get everyone to the roof and direct the bird in, then come back for Scottie if necessary. “Roger that.”Suddenly Scottie’s head snapped around to face the corridor and he fired twice at more attackers. Hunter turned and ran, taking three stairs at a time. Four strides up, he heard Scottie grunt. Hunter whirled in time to see him struggling to his knees, blood pouring out from beneath the bottom of his tactical vest.Without hesitation he lunged down the stairs toward his friend.“I said go!” Scottie’s annoyed gaze bored into his, filled with resolve. Hunter read the unspoken message there. Scottie was prepared to give his life to save the rest of them.
Bent over his keyboard in his third floor office, Youssef Khan inspected the latest schematic in his AUTOCAD program. He was concentrating so hard that he jolted a little in his chair when his computer signaled an instant message with a loud ding. He frowned. He never got instant messages at work. Only at home when he was communicating with one person in particular.His heart rate kicked up a notch. When he read the username along with the message, written in Pashto, his insides tightened.Is she here?It was him. Youssef almost couldn’t believe it.They’d never attempted to contact him here at work before, but IM was his contact’s preferred method of communication. The man was paranoid about phones being tapped and e-mails being traced, so he was always sending messages via different usernames and accounts to avoid detection and tracking. Youssef straightened and considered his reply. Whatever the contact’s network wanted, it must be important for them to take the risk of contacting
“He’s here.”Khalia blinked and looked up from her laptop at Ray Dunlop, the fifty-eight- year-old co-founder of Fair Start Foundation, standing in the hotel room doorway. “What? Who?”“Your team leader.”Huh? Was her jetlag so bad that she’d screwed up the date somehow? A quick check of her calendar assured her she hadn’t. “He’s a day early.”“Yeah, how about that.” Ray’s sun-weathered features gave nothing away about what he thought of the head of her newly arrived security detail. She knew nothing about the man in question except that he’d been handpicked by Tom, the owner of Titanium Security. Normally she would have at least read a file on the men in her detail before arriving here in Pakistan but in light of recent events, Tom had been left scrambling to find replacement contractors for the job.“Downstairs?” she asked, a little nervous about meeting the man who would be responsible for her safety for the duration of her visit.Ray nodded. “In the lobby.”Okay then, apparently f
Given what he’d seen and read about her in her file, Khalia Patterson wasn’t at all what he’d expected. And Hunter wasn’t the kind of man who liked to be surprised. Not in this line of work.Next time he talked to Tom, he was going to give him hell for this.Hunter held Khalia’s gaze as he approached and pushed aside his misgivings about the job. First off, she was a hell of a lot prettier than he’d realized. The few pictures he’d seen of her hadn’t been of good quality, and her face had been all puffy and wet from crying at her father’s funeral. She might not be beautiful, but there was definitely something about her that drew his interest. She moved with a smooth, purposeful gait that spoke of a high level of self-esteem and he had to give her points for maintaining eye contact without flinching because right now he wasn’t making an effort to mask his feelings about this detail.Taking her out to the tribal region while there was a credible threat against her life? Even if he hadn’t
The knock on her hotel room door came at exactly nine the next morning. Hunter was punctual, that was for sure. She liked that he cared about attention to detail.Khalia strode over to answer the door, took a deep breath to quell the butterflies flitting around in her stomach before pulling it open. She and Hunter hadn’t gotten off on the best footing yesterday, and it was her fault. He probably thought she was a total bitch and hated the thought of being near her for the next week. She was determined to make amends for any damage she’d caused and smooth things over.She pulled the door open. Hunter stood there with his hair still damp from a recent shower and wearing cargo pants and a collared shirt. “Hi.”“Morning.” His intent gaze swept over her, taking in the modest knee-length blue dress and black silk scarf she’d covered her hair and shoulders with. Though there was nothing overtly sexual in the perusal, she could sense the male approval there and a shocking burst of heat filled
By the time they reached the Ministry of Education building, nerves wereonce again jumping in her belly. Hunter escorted her upstairs to the appointed office without a word. “I’ll be in the lobby when you’re done,” was all he said before leaving.Khalia went into the meeting, relieved to have Ray there with her. The minister—a portly man somewhere in his fifties, dressed in a business suit— stood and shook their hands, then offered Khalia his condolences about her father while an appointed photographer took some shots of them. She put on a smile.This one’s for you, Dad.He’d be proud of her for doing this. Knowing that helped a lot and kept her centered. Even though he was gone forever, his approval still meant a lot to her. She could be brave for him, for his memory and legacy.Together, she and Ray laid out the purpose for their trip, Fair Start’s intentions for the new girls’ school in the Swat Valley, and their belief that girls deserved the right to a quality education, no matt
What? Too stunned to protest, Khalia sprawled flat on the pavement. The breath whooshed out of her as Hunter’s hard weight landed on her back, squashing her against the burning hot sidewalk. Someone near her screamed. A split second later she heard the loud bang of an impact, then the still air was ripped apart by a violent explosion. The force of it tore over her like a raging wind, whipped through her body like a shockwave. Her eardrums and lungs felt like they’d exploded from the pressure. For a split second the sidewalk rolled and bucked beneath them as if they were on a boat.It took a moment for the truth to sink in. A bomb.Her heart hammered against her ribs. Hunter was still on top of her, his arms crossed over her head and face to shield her. She didn’t dare move. People were screaming, running past them, even over them. Hunter grunted when someone stepped on him, but he didn’t budge from his position atop her. She could hear the sound of glass shattering close by, hitting t