Chapter Five

Heart pumping, Zaid jumped out of the vehicle as soon as the driver pulled up to the security checkpoint, Hamilton right behind him. A scene of total chaos met their eyes.

A block beyond the barricade, the hotel Jaliya and her team were staying at continued to billow huge clouds of smoke. The entire area had been closed off while emergency crews responded to the casualties and the fire. Sirens wailed as frightened civilians were herded away from the area, choking the streets and sidewalks and making it impossible to move.

Zaid showed the security personnel guarding the checkpoint his ID and spoke to them in rapid Dari, eager to get through the barrier and find Jaliya. Through Taggart, they’d received word about the bombing just as they’d left the outskirts of Kabul.

The initial report said Jaliya and her two teammates hadn’t been at the hotel when the bombing occurred, but she hadn’t answered her phone when he’d called her, and he wanted to see her with his own eyes to make sure she was okay. Besides, if the bombing had been a targeted attack on the hotel, she might still be in danger.

After talking to his superior on the radio, one of the guards finally let Zaid and Hamilton through the barricade. Together they hurried through the crowded streets to get to the hotel, where a tighter, interior security perimeter had been set up.

“Damn,” Zaid muttered when he caught sight of the smoldering wreckage of twisted metal that marked the truck bomb. The front of the hotel was missing completely, wiped out by the blast. Paramedics and other first responders were busy dousing the flames and carrying victims out on stretchers.

“That had to be one big-ass bomb,” Hamilton said. “Looks like it might have been a five-ton truck.”

The location and timing of it worried Zaid. Impatient, he relayed his information to the men standing guard and waited to be let through. If the vehicle Jaliya was riding in was anywhere near here when the blast went off…

He scanned the crowds around him in all directions, searching for a glimpse of her.

“Taggart said Rabani and the others were okay,” Hamilton said, correctly guessing the cause of Zaid’s concern. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

Zaid didn’t answer. He’d only relax once he saw her himself, and then make sure she was moved to somewhere secure.

This had the style of The Jackal all over it, and if Jaliya was in his sights, then Zaid wanted to get her to safety. He’d already lost one woman he cared about deeply, and he’d be damned if he would watch it happen to Jaliya without doing everything in his power to shield her. If that made him come across as an overprotective control freak, so be it.

He glanced to his left, then his right. On the east side of the street across from the hotel, the crowd shifted to let paramedics by with a stretcher and Zaid’s gaze landed on a familiar female figure standing with her back to him, dressed in beige cargo pants and combat boots.

Relief swept over him in a warm wave. “There she is.”

Without pause he jogged toward her, knowing Hamilton would follow. He didn’t call out her name, not wanting to draw attention to her identity in case she’d been targeted and some of The Jackal’s spies were among the crowd, watching. There was a slim chance this was unrelated to either The Jackal or Jaliya’s team, but his gut said otherwise.

She still had her back to him as she spoke on her phone, her free hand covering her left ear to help her hear better. The smell of smoke and scorched metal hung thick in the cold air.

Zaid slowed as he approached, angling toward her so that she could see him in her peripheral vision. Her chocolate-brown gaze darted to him, and even though she didn’t say anything, the relief on her face told him he’d been right to come.

Jaliya quickly finished her conversation and lowered her phone as she turned to him and Hamilton. “News travels fast.”

“We heard a few minutes after it happened.” Zaid scanned her quickly and didn’t see any sign of injury. Or fear, even though she had to be shaken. He relaxed a fraction. “You all right?”

“Yes. We’re all fine.” She sighed and faced the burning building. “Security’s locked everything down and won’t let us in. The agency’s working on finding a secure location to move us to. But I’ve got material related to a current investigation I need to retrieve from the safe in my room, and I’m not leaving until I get it. And after this, I won’t let anyone from the hotel or their security touch it. Until I know what’s going on and who detonated that bomb, I’m not trusting anyone here, not even the guards hired by the agency. I’ve tried to argue my way in, and called my boss to see what he can do to get me in there.”

The sooner they got her away from here, the better. “Let me take a shot. Wait here.” He motioned for Hamilton to accompany him to the side entrance, where more armed guards were stationed.

In Dari Zaid argued his case for gaining access to the building, and fed them a lie about being government security contractors guarding a state VIP. It was imperative that they clean out their client’s room before either the police or military reached it, and if they weren’t granted access before then, there’d be hell to pay.

After some arguing between themselves and their superior, Zaid pressed harder, promising severe consequences for them if they didn’t let him and his team upstairs that instant. The guards weren’t happy, but they grudgingly agreed. Zaid waved Jaliya over, who shot him a surprised look and followed him into the building.

“We’ve got fifteen minutes,” Zaid told her, pulling his Glock from its holster on his hip as he reached the door to the stairwell. Hamilton and Jaliya both had pistols in hand, and kept watch while Zaid opened the stairwell and checked it. “Clear.” He started up the concrete steps, maintaining his vigilance just in case anyone or anything was waiting to surprise them. “Where are we headed?”

“Fourth floor, number 416. End of the hall, near the far exit,” Jaliya answered behind him, Hamilton watching their six as they ascended the stairs.

The stairwell was deserted, and when Zaid checked it, so was the fourth floor hallway. He strode for the door she’d mentioned, then held his hand out for her key card. “Stay put out here with Hamilton,” he told her, then eased the door open. He swept the room, and, seeing no threats, swung the door wide open. “You’ll stand watch?” he asked his teammate.

“You know it,” Hamilton answered.

Jaliya quickly moved inside and Zaid shut the door behind her. She headed straight for the small closet opposite the bathroom and eased the folding door open, her weapon in her free hand.

With fast, economical motions she accessed the small safe and turned the knob back and forth to enter the combination. She let out a relieved breath when it opened. “It’s still here.” When she straightened and turned back to him, she held a flash drive and a file folder in her left hand.

“Need anything else? We’ve only got a few more minutes before our time’s up.” If they weren’t out of here by the specified time, they’d have pissed off security agents coming in after them and Zaid would rather not be subjected to any more questions right now. His priority was moving Jaliya away from here as quickly as possible.

She was already hurrying to the dresser set against the wall opposite the double bed. “Just a few of my clothes and personal things.”

In the midst of shoving a handful of what looked like lacy underwear into her backpack, a low rumble sounded below them. Both she and Zaid froze.

A moment later the rumble increased to a dull roar, and the floor shook.

Jaliya gasped and took a step back. Zaid immediately rushed to wrap a protective arm around her shoulders, ready to push her under the desk and cover her with his body. Another bomb? Debris falling from the hotel? But the floor stopped trembling a moment later and the noise ceased.

“God,” Jaliya whispered, pressing a hand to her stomach in relief.

Hamilton pounded on the door. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah,” he called back. “Just some rubble falling off the front of the building.” He turned Jaliya around to face him and grasped her chin with his fingers to make sure she was coping okay.

She stared up at him with those gorgeous, thickly-lashed eyes, unmoving, only a few inches separating them. The sweet, clean scent of her filled his nostrils as he searched her face. She hadn’t shown the faintest trace of fear until now, even though she had to be rattled. That bombing was too damn close and if she’d arrived a few minutes earlier she would have been caught up in the blast.

“You sure you’re all right?” he asked her softly. Her skin was so damn soft, and her mouth was too damn tempting. The bravery she’d shown in the face of danger put a crack in the wall he’d erected around his heart. That combination of strength and softness sucked him right in.

She swallowed and gave him a tiny smile. “Yes.”

He couldn’t let it go. “Was your team the target?”

“I’m not sure.”

“But you’re not sure it wasn’t.”

She lowered her gaze, her chin still grasped in his fingers. “No.”

He sighed. “As soon as we leave here, we’ll get you and the others back to Bagram.”

“That’s not necessary—”

“I’m not leaving you in Kabul.” He needed to know she’d be safe, and the best way to do that was to guard her himself until he got her to a secure location. “The agency can figure out where to put you after that.”

He expected another argument, or even a show of annoyance from her, but instead her expression softened. “All right. Thank you.”

He nodded.

Her lips twisted into a wry smile. “I’m sure you think I must be a sandwich short of a picnic to take on this job in the first place, huh?”

Her choice of words made him grin. “No.” The grin faded. “But I’ll feel a lot better once I get you out of this city.”

She searched his eyes, suspicion creeping into her gaze. “Why are you doing this for me?”

“Because I care about you.” And he did. She’d flipped an invisible switch inside him. He’d sworn off relationships and women in general for at least a few more months, but somehow she’d shot that decision all to hell without even trying. He didn’t want his heart stomped on, yet he couldn’t stay away from her.

Surprise flashed in her eyes before she looked down again. “Well… Thank you.”

Zaid didn’t want her thanks. Something about her and this whole situation had triggered the protectiveness inside him and there was no shutting it off. Too many times over the past few weeks he’d imagined what it would be like to hold her. Taste her. Feel her arms twine around his neck as she reached for him.

He gentled his hold on her chin, cradling it. He’d whisk her out of this place in a minute. But first, he had to taste those soft lips.

In the stark silence he slid the pad of his thumb over the curve of her chin and up to that lush mouth he couldn’t stop staring at or dreaming about. Jaliya’s gaze darted up to lock with his, and the naked desire burning there sent a rush of heat through him, shooting straight to his groin.

Without giving either of them time to back out, he quickly holstered his weapon and took her face in his hands. A soft gasp fell from her lips and her lashes fluttered down as she put her hands on his shoulders and leaned closer.

That tiny signal that proved she wanted him destroyed the last of his control.

Bending closer, Zaid tilted his head and covered her mouth with his.

It was like touching a live wire. A jolt of pure electricity arced between them. He angled his head and parted her lips to deepen the kiss, hungry to taste her, to touch the warm, sensual woman behind the professional front she always wore. Her hands tightened on his shoulders.

Zaid kissed her slow and firm at first, then gentled it, tenderly stroking the seam of her lips with his tongue. She made a small, hungry sound and opened for him, easing her body forward until her breasts pressed flush against his chest.

He groaned and eased his tongue into her mouth, tasting, caressing while her fingers bit into his shoulders and his swollen cock pressed hard against her lower abdomen. She tasted so damn sweet, and those soft curves molded to him were—

Hamilton banged on the door. “Zaid. We gotta go.”

Jaliya instantly ripped her mouth away from his and stumbled back a step, looking guilty as hell. Her lips were wet and swollen and she was breathing faster.

Zaid clenched his jaw and bit back a growl of frustration. He shouldn’t have kissed her, but he’d be damned if he’d apologize because he didn’t regret it, and hoped she didn’t either. But Hamilton was right. They needed to move. “Yeah, coming.”

He drew a steadying breath in a futile effort to slow his heart rate, watching as she self-consciously smoothed her hands over her hijab that was still firmly in place. He wanted to pull it off her, run his fingers through the long, thick mass of dark hair he remembered from their first meeting back in Virginia. Wanted to wrap his hands in it and back her up against the wall, then kiss her until her knees gave out, until she was panting and trembling in his arms.

Until she was so hungry for him that she didn’t want to let him go.

Which was insane. He didn’t want to get crushed again. “Ready?” he asked her instead in a voice like gravel, his entire body on fire for her.

She seemed to collect herself for a moment, then nodded and reached for her backpack without looking at him. “Yes.”

Zaid followed her to the door, aching for more of what they’d just shared. He didn’t want a relationship, at least not with someone who lived and worked thousands of miles away from him eight months out of every year.

But damn, now that he’d had a taste of her, he wished things could have been different.