Page 103 of Red Line

“All the time. It still catches at my feet and sometimes tumbles me end over end.” She pressed up to look him in the eyes. “But I don’t think that’s what you’re asking me. I think you want to know if I’ve everfallenin love before. And the answer is no. I don’t know what that feels like. I don’t know what this is between us, but it’s something. Don’t you think? It’s like we were offered an opportunity. It could be there, we could have that, but it wouldn’t be free. The price would probably be very high.”

She curled back into his arms, and Nomad pressed a kiss into her hair. That was exactly right. It was there for the taking. But there would be a cost extracted.

Nomad knew that he had to treat every moment with her as precious.

He would have this mission, and then she’d be gone.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Red

The morning had come, and the day had gone. Eleven long hours in a bus traveling east over the mountains into the rocky and monochrome distance.

They had arrived at a buffet dinner in the community tent and drummers who did their earnest best to entertain the travelers. But everyone was exhausted from the ride, and their attention was polite but not engaged.

After making love that night, she and Nomad curled into the Berber blankets, which kept them cozy against the sudden drop in desert temperatures.

She’d had her hospital dream again. Each time, it started further along the story. Last night, she’d started on the rollercoaster train but woke before things got too wild because Nomad wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her to him until her bottom rested against the inside curve of his hips. Curled around her like a nautilus shell, he’d whispered, “Shh-shh-shh, I’ve got you.” He kissed her hair, and she fell into a restorative rest.

Now, Red stood outside the open doorway, taking in the last scattering of stars and embracing the cold desert air. Today, it would heat up to a hundred, making the sand glisten with mirages.

It was the time between dawn and sunrise. She listened to the sonorous call to prayer that hummed meditatively through her body. It rested her soul. When silence fell again, Red stepped into the tent and shut the door behind her.

Nomad lay on the bed with his booted feet extending a good six inches over the edge. A squeaky fan sang overhead as it twirled shadows across the tent ceiling. The air was hazy with dust in the dim light, and there was nothing to do but wait. And listen to the open mic on Simone’s phone. “Do you ever get a comfortable night’s sleep?”

“At my house, I have a bed made for someone my size.”

“I didn’t know such a thing existed. So, anything?” She lifted her chin toward the notepad that rested on his chest.

“Nothing beyond this.” Nomad unbent an arm he had used to pillow his head and waved his hand in a circle, indicating the static that hissed and crackled from his phone. “They’re not up and chatting with their handlers, that’s for sure. Good that we have WIFI here in the camp. We’ll lose connectivity once we’re out on the ATVs.”

“Now that we’re here and you’ve met the people on our tour, seen the people who run the place, have a feel for things, give me your best guess.” She moved over to snuggle into his body and lowered her voice to a mere whisper. “What percentage that we’re right and this will go to plan.”

“Eighty-two percent.”

“Oddly specific. And oddly tip of the tongue.”

“That’s the number that flashed into my mind.” He grinned.

Red’s phone pinged, and she locked eyes with Nomad. “A hundred percent chance that’s the eighteen percent you were missing.” She flipped her phone over. “I need to call.” They moved up in the bed until they sat shoulder to shoulder, balancing the phone between their ears to keep the information to themselves. The only privacy was the thick tent cloth and a few feet of grass.

“Yes,” she said.

“Brava.” It was Grey.

“Thank you?”

“No, thankyou. I have a lot to catch you up on. We have a lot of answers. For the moment, what you need to know is there was a change of mission objectives.”

Red turned to Nomad and popped her brows up, mouthing, “Eighteen percent.”

“We still need you to get pictures of the people who show up to meet with Simone. We’re depending on the fact that this is a big-money sale, and they will send competent, high-level people into the desert to pick her up. Stepping back about the ring sale. We now know there is a three-day delay on the funds moving from Kamal to Elena’s accounts. International laws and the amount of money come into play. Elena’s account will be out of reach of U.S. influence. We’d hoped to trace the money. We now know that’s not going to be possible.”

“Okay.”

“The new game plan is to move the money ourselves or to make sure that no one can access those funds.”

“I’m not following.”

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