Page 80 of Deceptive Lies

Still, if they’d come this way then maybe they wouldn't have met up with his brothers when they did and been caught and captured for real.

Before the sun rose this morning, she’d said her goodbyes to Cooper and his brothers about a half mile from the property at the closest edge of the village to where she would have come if she’d walked out. Then she’d hidden out in there, used her bloody T-shirt to pretend to use the well water to clean herself up a little so it looked like she’d stumbled upon the place quite at random.

Then she’d sat there, huddled in a corner, and waited for the sun to rise so she could “sneak” away. All that time she’d imagined what it would have been like if she really had found this village alone, how scared and hurt she would have been, and how terrified she’d be found. Just because she was determined to fulfill her vow to her father and do good with her life didn't mean that sometimes she wasn't afraid.

She got scared plenty.

She’d been terrified while being held hostage by Tarek Mahmoud. She’d been terrified when she and Cooper were caught. She’d been terrified when she realized the helicopter was going to crash. She’d been terrified when she crept toward Cooper in the wreckage unsure if he was dead or alive.

And she was terrified now.

Just not enough to back out of the plan.

So instead of standing stock still looking around like her head was stuck on a swivel stick, Willow made herself keep walking.

Walking was the last thing she wanted to do. Her aching feet protested each step, and her muscles screamed at her to let them rest and recover. But she couldn’t do that. She had to keep walking through the town, had to play this like she would have if she hadn't met up with Prey’s Charlie Team.

Which meant walking and then finding someone to make contact with.

Hopefully before she had to figure out who she would have trusted enough if she’d been in the position she was pretending to be in for real the professor’s men came for her.

Willow was so afraid she was going to mess this up somehow. Not only were lives on the line because of what Professor Mahmoud and his people had planned, but the lives of a man she cared deeply about and his brothers were also at risk if she made one wrong move.

It had killed Cooper to stand back, to let her go, to drive away and leave her behind even if she was wearing a tracking device sewn into the hem of her shirt. So long as the professor believed she really had just walked out of the desert there would be no reason for him to check to make sure she wasn't wearing anything.

The problem was, Willow was all too aware that all it would takewas for one tiny thing to go wrong and this would have a very different outcome than they hoped.

“You can do this, Willow. Don’t go and give up on yourself now. You promised your dad you would make your life mean something, and you have every motivation in the world to do this and then get home safely.”

That was true.

Everything she had always wanted but never allowed herself to admit was all wrapped up in that six foot two package of lean muscle and huge, warm heart that was Cooper Charleston.

Now that he’d opened her mind to what she could have, of what could be waiting for her on the other side of this mission, she wanted to grab hold of it and refuse to let it be ripped away from her.

But it could be.

Far too easily.

As she kept walking, getting closer to the center of the village, there started to be people out on the streets. Willow was aware of every curious, suspicious glance thrown her way, and as badly as she wanted to shrink away from those scrutinizing looks, she couldn’t.

She wanted to be spotted.

Had to be if this was going to work.

The village was small, and she was starting to lose hope that there would be anyone who was part of Allah’s Warriors. What were the chances that they had someone in every village in the entire country?

Slim to none.

But this villagewasone of the closest to the crash site, and by now the professor had to know that both she and Cooper had survived the crash. He’d be looking for them, and she had to believe that he would be watching all the towns and villages they could reach.

The eyes on her made her skin prickle uncomfortably and she wished that one of those sets of eyes belonged to Cooper. She’d feel so much safer if he was within eyesight of her, but he wasn't. If any of the professor’s men spotted him close by but not with her, they would tip their hand.

So, he was probably a couple of miles away. Sitting with his brothers, waiting for the tracker she wore to indicate she was no longer walking sohe could follow. Follow but not intervene until he confirmed that Professor Mahmoud was with her.

This had been her plan, and she couldn’t back out.

Couldn’t be weak now.

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