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Dangerous Attraction 10
Gage stuck his hands in his back pockets, obviously in no hurry to leave. HadHunter asked him to stay with her? “So, how you holding up?”She stopped what she was doing to meet his eyes. Did he want her to lie? “Honestly? I’m not sure.”A wry grin curved his mouth. “Not the nicest introduction to Pakistan.” “No.” Worse than she’d ever imagined, and she’d imagined plenty of awfulthings in the past few weeks.“Well if it’s any consolation, you held it together better than most civilians would have under the circumstances. You impressed the hell out of Hunt, and that’s not easy to do.”That piqued her curiosity. She set the tube of ointment aside. “He said that?” “Pretty much.” He lowered his tall, muscular body into a wing chair near thebed, leaned back into it. “We called Ray to tell him you were all right. You want something to eat while you wait for him to get back?”“I couldn’t eat right now, but thanks.” Her stomach was way too iffy at the moment to even contemplate putting anyt
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“Your mom?”“And brother.” She stepped back and gestured for him to come in, then went and sat against the mound of pillows stacked at the headboard.“Is your brother involved with the foundation too?” From her file Hunter knew he was two years younger than her.“No, it isn’t his thing, so he hasn’t been involved from the get go. He owns a restaurant in Phoenix.”Interesting. He crossed to an armchair positioned across from the foot of the bed and sank into it. “You look better.”She met his eyes, a glint of humor lighting their pale depths. “What, you didn’t like my shell-shocked, I-just-narrowly-escaped-being-blown-up look?”“I like this look better.” More than was professional of him, if he was honest. She had color in her cheeks again and she seemed much steadier. But that’s not what he wanted to talk to her about. “I’ve decided to make another change to the schedule.”She leaned forward and sat cross legged on the bed, giving him her full attention. “Okay…”“There’s no credible t
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In the safety of his Rawalpindi apartment, Youssef sipped on a mug of hot coffee while he worked up the nerve to get in touch with his shadowy TTP contact. After two days of digging, he had nothing of consequence to report about Khalia Patterson. Except for what he’d learned in the online article he’d read less than an hour ago. Since it was in English and as far as he knew his contact didn’t speak it, Youssef hoped this early information was enough to satisfy him. At any rate, he was out of time. He had to report in tonight.Setting the mug aside, he typed a message in Pashto and waited for a response. Three minutes later, a sharp ding announced a reply.Did you get the phone I asked you to? Yes, he answered.Log off, erase the data and call me at this number immediately.Pulse thudding in his throat, Youssef did, wondering about the sudden urgency. They must be on to something big. What did they want with him, though? It made no sense for them to keep involving him, unless they had
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Hunter slid his hands into his cargo pant pockets, his whole demeanorsoftening. She didn’t want his pity, but his concern felt nice. “Nothing further that I’ve heard, but he’ll be conferencing with the rest of us during the briefing. And if he heard anything, either you or I would be the first to know. Tom’s good that way. He’s got lots of connections to call on so he’ll be digging right now along with the State Department, don’t worry about that.”Why shouldn’t she? She was already worrying about another thousand things anyway. What was one more? She forced herself to nod.“Briefing’s about to start,” he said, assertive and self-assured. “I’ll check back in later.”“Okay,” she answered dully.He started for the door, waving at Ray to stay where he was. “I’ll let myself out.” His gaze cut to her again and she couldn’t help but respond to the kindness she saw there. “Try to get some rest if you can. I promise you we’re on top of everything. You’ve already come this far, right? You can
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The four men with her in the vehicle seemed relaxed enough once they passed through the final military checkpoint in their journey, but Khalia’s stomach was in knots as they drove deeper into the northern part of the infamous Swat Valley. Hunter had come to her room late last night to give her a brief rundown of emergency and safety procedures for the school. He’d listed them quickly and calmly, stressed he was only reviewing them all with her as standard procedure, and when she didn’t have any questions for him, he’d left. Surprisingly, knowing the procedures ahead of time actually made her feel more secure and she’d managed to sleep until her alarm woke her well before dawn.Once known as the Switzerland of the region, it was easy to see why. If she hadn’t known it was Pakistan, she’d half expect to see Julie Andrews come running over the hill at any moment, dressed in a nun’s habit and singing her heart out. The high mountain peaks soared skyward, yet untouched by the coming snows,
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Khalia went around the room to help some of the students. After they overcame their initial shyness about Zaid speaking to them, they listened carefully to her instruction. Straightening at one girl’s desk, a sense of unreality hit her. Miss Patterson, teaching arithmetic in an outlawed school in the tribalregion of the Swat Valley. Who would ever have thought that would happen?By the time they broke for recess she felt much more relaxed. The small windows set into the cinderblock framed distant craggy peaks that towered over the valley. Hunter and the others were out there somewhere, keeping watch over them all. At least for today.In the afternoon session she joined a primary class in their reading circle. When Khalia was invited to sit in the circle, one little girl around six years old came over and climbed into her lap. The trusting gesture completely melted her. When the student beside her took her turn reading aloud from the book, Khalia leaned over to look at the foreign scr
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Through his high-powered binoculars, Hunter tracked the students’ steady progress across the grassy plain. Khalia was bringing up the rear, carrying a little girl. When she at last reached the emergency bunker and disappeared inside it, some of the tension in his shoulders eased. Good girl.“They’re secure,” he said in a low voice to Gage over the squad radio. “Let’s move.” Grabbing his rifle, he climbed to his feet and prepared to make the fifty yard run across the open space to a clump of bushes he’d chosen for his next cover.Currently making their way down the hillsides on two sides of the valley wall, the Taliban fighters seemed to be converging. So far Hunter’s team had spotted fourteen in total. That didn’t account for any others hidden from view or possible reinforcements coming in from other areas.Charging over the grass to his new position, he dropped to one knee and took another look around. “I’m in position. Dunphy, give me status.”The spotter’s steady voice came through
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A new burst of gunfire suddenly broke out on their far left. The Paks, finallygetting into the fight. Hunter stayed flat on his belly and waited for the remaining targets to come close enough.“Three tangos down here,” Dunphy reported, confirming Ellis had already taken out three of his own targets. “Looks like reinforcements are coming down that trail. Four so far.”“Team leader copies,” Hunter replied, readying to fire his weapon at the next enemy. Bullets slapped into the cinderblock beside him, showering him with dust. His vision zeroed in on the closest man’s chest, sighting down the length of the rifle barrel.“RPG, incoming!”At Dunphy’s warning, Hunter and Gage simultaneously flattened against the ground and covered their heads a second before the round whistled over them and hit the north wall of the school with a loud bang. The ensuing explosion blew apart the cinderblock and shook the ground. Hunter grunted as the blast wave rolled through his body and chunks of debris rai
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