Cover of Darkness (26 page)

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

Shi'a—or even brothers in Islam. Maybe the money was simply too good to pass up?

An explosion rocked their vehicle.

"Jesus and Allah," Fahdi gasped, grabbing his chest as Luke slammed on the brakes.

Dec gripped the dash with one hand as his head snapped forward. In front of them, about half a click down the road, a plume of smoke rose into the air. Heart pumping like a jackhammer, he craned his neck out the window. Swore.

"Looks like a suicide bomber just detonated in the outdoor market."

"Jesus," Ben muttered.

People ran, waving their arms, screaming. The traffic ground to a standstill.

Fahdi leaned forward so his head came between the front seats. "Any...casualties?" he asked in a near whisper, eyes glued to the carnage.

Dec shot him an odd look. The Iraqi had gone pale. Surely he'd seen this before?

Fahdi swallowed. "My wife... She was going to the market...with my daughter and the baby."

Dec exchanged a glance with Luke. Shit. No wonder Fahdi's face was pasty with fear. "We'd better go help."

Luke sighed. "Roger that." His phone rang. "Yeah," he answered, listened for a minute. Then his eyes shot up to stare out the windshield. "Okay, don't move. We'll come to you." He disconnected. "Davis is pinned under some debris."

"How bad?"

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"Bad enough he can't get out himself." He shoved a pistol into his waistband. "Ali, go get Bryn at Sam's and take her back to the barracks while we take care of this."

"Why," Dec asked, alarm prickling. "Davis find out something about Tehrazzi?" Because if Bryn was in danger, he wanted her to have more protection than Ali could give her.

"'S all good," Luke said, opening his door. "Let's move."

Rhys grabbed their first aid kit and they piled out of the truck. Fahdi was on his cell phone, trying to reach his wife.

Dec waded through the crowd, mouth tight at the burning wreckage of the car that had detonated the explosives, creating as many pieces of shrapnel as possible. A crude but effective method to inflict the most harm and terrorize the civilian population. But then, there were a lot of ways to die in Baghdad.

When they finally returned to their barracks, Ali met them at the door. "She's inside," he said. Dec found Bryn reading on her bunk. She sat up as they filed in, and her welcoming smile warmed him.

Then she noticed the bloodstains on his BDUs. He'd tried to clean most of it off before coming inside, but the way her smile disappeared told him he was still a mess. Tough to keep clean moving dead and mutilated bodies, though.

Her eyes were worried. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

Dec avoided her gaze. "Suicide bomber."

"Was that the bang I heard an hour ago?"

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"Yeah. Davis got cut up a bit, but he's okay." His back was going to hurt like a bitch for a while, though. The beam they'd pried off him had left one hell of a mark. "We dug him and some of the other wounded out."

"That's why you've got blood all over you." She wrapped her arms around her waist.

He wanted to hug her, but he didn't dare.
Yeah, Bryn.

Baghdad's not a nice place. People get blown up here every
day. And I hate that you're sitting here in the middle of it
.

There was nothing he could say to make her feel any safer at the moment. He felt bad about that. At least Fahdi's wife and two small children were safe. They'd been at home when the bombing happened. Other women and children hadn't been so fortunate.

He didn't want to think about that anymore. "Sam take good care of you?"

Bryn seemed to understand why he'd changed the subject.

"Sam took amazing care of me." She glanced at Luke. "She's awesome."

"Yeah," Luke responded, tossing his armored vest onto his bunk. "She's a sweetheart. We're lucky to have her, too. Her boss back in Langley didn't want to let her go."

Bryn brushed at her pants. "So besides the...incident, how did it go out there?" She faltered when no one answered right away. "I'm not supposed to ask that, am I?"

"Don't worry about it," Dec said, removing his body armor.

They were all on a need to know basis, except Luke. He was the only one who knew all the details of what was going on during this op. Yet even he didn't know everything in the big 246

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picture. That was the luxury of a deputy director back at CIA headquarters in Virginia. "We were just doing some reconnaissance, getting the lay of the land so far as Tehrazzi's connections in Baghdad go."

"Well. You're all back safe, so that's all I care about."

She amazed him. Even after what had happened last night in Damascus, she was still handling everything well. He'd never met a stronger woman. He just hoped she had the stamina to keep it up until the job was done.

The others headed back to the TOC while Dec grabbed a quick shower and then hit the computers to find out if they had any new intel. He'd volunteered to stay behind and watch Bryn because he didn't want Ali to do it. The control freak in him was on board with the possessive male programmed to protect her himself. After passing on a couple of tidbits to Luke, he went back to check on Bryn to see if she needed anything. It probably wasn't the best idea that they were alone together after last night in her hotel room, but he had enough sense to maintain distance from her.

He appreciated that she hadn't pressed him about how far things had progressed between them. Most other women would have at least tried to pry an explanation out of him, yet she had handled herself with remarkable maturity—something he probably shouldn't have been surprised about, although she had to be confused about the mixed messages he'd been sending her. Shit, he was confused enough for both of them.

If he'd been working this case as a civilian, his conscience wouldn't have been so torn up. But he was an active-duty SEAL, and he couldn't let his feelings for Bryn get in the way.

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So far he'd allowed his attraction to her to compromise him to the point that he'd not only kissed her, but would have loved to get her naked in that hotel bed. Bryn knew it. Hell, she
wanted
it, which made it harder for him to do the right thing and maintain the boundary—blurred as it was—between them. In some ways, it was harder than what he'd gone through to become a SEAL.

He found her sound asleep on her bunk, the paperback dangling from her hand. Stopping in the doorway, he let his eyes sweep over her pale face and the pool of dark hair spreading across her pillow. Sleep was the best thing for her right now. He had no idea how she'd coped with all that had happened without having a breakdown. She was a total sweetheart, and he would never have guessed someone so feminine and gentle could be so incredibly tough. She was everything he'd ever wanted in a woman and more, and that made it so much harder to keep his growing feelings to himself. When this whole thing finished, he could see himself settling down with her. She was so alone now, and he wanted to make her feel secure. He had a big, close-knit family back home. They'd take her in and love her to pieces. If things worked out, maybe they'd even get married and have children of their own. He wanted kids, and she'd be an incredible mother.

Bryn stirred in her sleep. Her brows twitched. Her expression seemed troubled.

He had a bad feeling she wasn't having a nice dream.

Her hand jerked on the paperback. Her breathing quickened. Then her eyes flew open and she sat up with a 248

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gasp, scanning the room fearfully. When she saw him, she relaxed, but drew in an unsteady breath and swabbed at her face. A sheen of perspiration dampened her skin.

Ah, baby.
"You okay?"

"Fine." She dropped her gaze, wiped at the sweat on her upper lip.

He crossed the room and hunkered down in front of her.

"Nightmare?"

She nodded and bent to retrieve her book without looking at him, rattled, but trying not to let it show.

He knew something about waking up with your heart slamming against your ribs because of a flashback. When she shoved her fingers against her eyes with a tired sigh, he couldn't stop himself from passing a hand over her hair. "Lie back down."

She hesitated a moment, then did as he said, watching him.

"What was it about?"

She lowered her eyes. "It was...when Masood was shot. I was sitting in his lap." Her fingers pulled at the edge of her blanket. "I heard the gun go off, felt the bullet hit...and the blood spattering. I wasn't sure if I..."

Ah, hell. "If you'd been hit."

"Yes." A shiver rippled over her. Then another. And another, until she was shaking.

Dec couldn't stand to see her hurting. He wanted to hold her, make her feel safe, but his conscience wouldn't let him.

He'd confused her enough already, so he shouldn't touch her.

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it do now? He'd been all over her last night anyway. The least he could do was offer her comfort in a platonic way. He gave in.

"Scoot over," he said, ignoring the flare of surprise in her black eyes as he stretched out beside her and laid a hand on her back. She immediately tucked in close and rested her cheek over his heart. He clenched his jaw. He wanted to wrap around her so badly, but couldn't let himself. "Better?"

"Yes." She sighed, the heat of her breath penetrating his shirt.

He held himself back, managed not to wrap his arms around her. To soothe her, he ran his fingers through her long hair. The dream was probably still vivid in her mind. He decided to give her a different image to focus on. "Close your eyes and pretend with me," he whispered.

Her lids dropped. "Pretend what?"

"That you're in the loft of a log house in the foothills of the Rocky mountains."

The corners of her mouth turned up. "In Montana?"

He grinned. "Maybe. I'm there to guard you. You're warm and safe, no one else around for miles. It's dark, and there's a storm outside, so you can hear the wind against the windows and the rain pounding on the roof." He toyed with the ends of her hair. "There's a fire burning in the fireplace beside the bed, tucked under the eaves." He'd imagined making love to her there more times than he could count.

"Can you see it?"

"Mmm, yes."

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"Imagine you're cuddled up in the bed under a down quilt, listening to the rain and the crackle of the flames. You're exhausted from hiking all day through the forest and swimming in the lake. Your lids are heavy, your muscles are tired. All sleepy and warm." He waited a breath, tortured by the heat of her body. "You there?"

"
So
there."

"Good. Stay there and just breathe. Listen to the storm outside and know you're safe, wrapped up in that bed. Relax your muscles, let your mind go blank. Feel the warmth of the fire on your face." He slammed his imagination shut as it put him naked in that bed with her and focused on slowing his own breathing. He kept his touch on her hair gentle, lulling her back to sleep as the minutes drifted past. Her breaths deepened. Her muscles relaxed. He could almost hear the rain on the roof.

When he was sure she was sleeping, he eased himself away from her and climbed off the bed. Before he could change his mind and crawl back in with her, he made himself leave the room.

Baghdad

Evening

Tehrazzi watched the live feed coming from the informant's house from a camera hidden in the front entrance ceiling. Preparing to leave for their interview, Fahdi tugged on his shoes and then stood to hug his wife. "Don't worry," he told her with a reassuring smile. "I'll be very careful."

Wise of him under the circumstances, Tehrazzi thought.

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The woman wrapped her arms around her waist "The Americans will protect us, will they not?"

Oh, yes, they would certainly try.
If
they knew about the forthcoming meeting, which they did not. He'd made sure of that.

"They will. I'll be back late. See you in the morning." He walked out into the dusty street, and Tehrazzi lost the video, but maintained audio with the electronic bug secretly implanted in Fahdi's watch. The GPS chip beacon blinked on the screen in front of Tehrazzi as Fahdi turned west and headed toward the setting sun. Tehrazzi imagined the tickle of the breeze on his skin and the aroma of meat cooking wafting through the air. He'd walked the same route many times at this time of day.

The sounds of the traffic thinned out as Fahdi advanced deeper into the city. After crossing the river and winding his way through the tangle of streets and alleys, he turned again, heading away from the water toward their appointed meeting place in the crowded neighborhoods of Sadr City, where more security cameras picked him up.

As the informant neared his destination, Tehrazzi's blood hummed with anticipation. Were Fahdi's palms damp? Did his heart beat faster with each approaching step? He had to feel the eyes on him as he moved and suspect some unseen presence was following him. As if hearing his thoughts, Fahdi touched the pendant hanging from his neck and muttered a prayer.

Tehrazzi wondered again how trustworthy this contact was. If money could buy his loyalty for the Americans, then it 252

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should be easy enough for Tehrazzi to buy his loyalty back.

But how much did he know? This game Fahdi had involved himself in was dangerous enough without knowing everyone's dirty secrets. He would be wise to turn a blind eye to everything and simply be the messenger he was being paid to be. But perhaps Fahdi could do more for their Muslim brothers and sisters suffering under this terrible occupation.