Page 31 of Stand Fast

Well, it was the truth.

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes as he drove them deeper into the city.

“We gettin’ warm yet?” Prentiss asked finally, checking the GPS on his phone.

“Take a right at the third street up,” Jaliya said.

Zaid did, and she swiveled in her seat to peer out her window at the buildings they passed. “Just up here on the right, about twenty metres—yards, I mean. Yes, there he is.” She pointed.

Zaid glanced over in time to see Barakat appear out of an alleyway and walk toward the building. He watched carefully to make sure no one was with him. “I want to drive around the block first, see if we have any other company.” Both his and Prentiss’s phones had tracking beacons in them, so Hamilton or Taggart would be able to follow their position, just in case.

“All right.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and got to one knee to reach for the opposite door, ready to open it. He wouldn’t have been human if he didn’t steal a glance at her sweet, round ass in the rearview mirror as she did.

Jerking his gaze back to the road, he continued past the café, turned left at the next street and doubled back around, checking for a tail. At this time of night there weren’t many people walking around—all of them men—but nothing tweaked his internal radar. Barakat was slouched against the far brick wall of the café, watching them when Zaid pulled up.

“We good?” he asked Prentiss.

“Yep.”

Jaliya opened the rear passenger door. “Get in,” she told him in Dari, pistol in her free hand.

Zaid lowered his right hand to the sidearm on his hip and kept careful watch while the kid got into the back, even though Prentiss already had her covered. Zaid didn’t question the territorial urge he felt toward her.

As soon as their passenger was aboard, he hit the gas. “Where we headed?” he asked Jaliya in English.

“Wherever. Just keep driving around while I talk to him.” She turned to Barakat, and when Zaid flicked a glance in the rearview mirror, the kid was looking nervously at her weapon. “What have you got to say for yourself?” she demanded in Dari.

“I didn’t lie,” he insisted. “I did not,” he said more forcefully when she raised an eyebrow at him. “I was told The Jackal would be in the village that night.”

“Well, he wasn’t. And not only that, we reviewed satellite imagery of the area for the week prior and every day since our last meeting, and he still hasn’t shown up. No weapons or drugs, either.”

Barakat folded his arms across his chest and seemed to curl into himself as he leaned against the corner of the door, keeping as much distance between himself and Jaliya as possible. “He should have been there,” he muttered.

Jaliya let out an irritated sigh. “What about tonight? Have you heard anything about who planted the bomb?”

“It was The Jackal.”

“How do you know that?”

He shrugged. “Everyone knows it’s true.”

Zaid mentally rolled his eyes. Seriously? That’s the best the kid could come up with in terms of evidence? Zaid had half a mind to pull over right there and throw him out on his ass.

“Why would he want to kill such a high-profile victim? He was the chief of the special police,” Jaliya said.

“Because he was working with The Jackal. And The Jackal was afraid he would talk.”

Whoa.Zaid met Jaliya’s eyes in the mirror for a moment before she focused back on Barakat. Prentiss would only be picking up words and phrases from the conversation at most, but he would be able to tell from her tone that Jaliya wasn’t taking any bullshit.

“You have proof?” Jaliya demanded.

“I overheard a conversation. I recorded it on my phone.” Barakat held it out to her.

She took it. “Who else is working with The Jackal?” she pressed.

“Lots of people. I don’t know how many.”

“How many people in a position of authority are working for him?”

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