Page 36 of Stand Fast

A large knot seemed to lodge in her chest and her mind began working overtime. Was this intel accurate? Had Barakat told them the truth, or had he just made up a story to get her off his back? That risk always came with the territory. Everyone on the taskforce understood it, even though her team had agreed this target looked solid.

Zaid and his teammates, along with the NIU and the flight crews, were executing this op based on her recommendation, and acting on the intel she’d provided. She wasn’t directing it or solely responsible, but she was responsible enough. If anything went wrong, or if this one ended in failure like last time…

She shook away the thought and attempted to quiet her busy mind. Zaid and his team were pros. They would be careful, and this time, the drugs and weapons would be there.

Right at that moment Zaid glanced up and caught her looking.

Jaliya lowered her gaze and fought the blush working up into her cheeks. Her personal feelings for him didn’t matter here. She couldn’t give him any more focus than she would give any other member of the taskforce, or she would risk others figuring out that something was going on between them. Also, she didn’t want to distract him when his and his teammate’s lives depended on planning this op carefully.

Taggart addressed the flight crews next, reiterating some of what Jaliya had said earlier, and adding a few more things. “Any questions?” he asked as he finished.

Agent Dubrovski shook her head, her honey-blond hair wound into a sleek knot at the nape of her neck above the collar of her flight suit. “No, sir.” She and the others left for the flight line, where the crew chiefs were already busy checking and readying both Blackhawks.

Jaliya answered some questions from the FAST Bravo guys, and one from General Nasar about the expected size of the anticipated shipment, conscious of Zaid’s eyes on her the whole time.

After the NIU left to get kitted up for the coming op, FAST Bravo conducted their own meeting. Jaliya stood off to one side, remaining out of their way but close by if any of them needed her to clarify a point.

It was fascinating to watch them. So different from the conventional units she’d worked with before, their process very similar to SOF units. Less authoritarian, more democratic.

Rather than having Taggart or even Hamilton dictate how things would go, all the members were involved in the discussion, and even though the chain of command was clear and everyone deferred to both Hamilton and Taggart, each man had his say.

“All right, boys,” Taggart finished a few minutes later, straightening. “Go suit up and be ready to hit the flight line at oh-one-twenty.”

The team filed out of the room after its commander, but Zaid hung back, waiting by the door for her when she’d gathered up all her files. “Will you be watching from the TOC?” he asked her.

She wanted so badly to pull him back into the room and slam the door shut so they could be alone for even another minute, just so she could kiss him again. Run her hands all over the hard muscles beneath his shirt. Tell him without words how much she cared about him, that she would worry about him when he was out there, and silently beg him to come back unharmed.

But that would take her one step closer to the point of no return with him, and that was a place she couldn’t go. She wasn’t ready to make herself that vulnerable to him, or to risk losing her heart when their lives and careers were too different to make any hope of a relationship possible.

“Yes.” She would be there the entire time, and not leave until they’d landed safely back at Bagram. They were risking their lives because she and her team had convinced command that this operation was necessary.

She prayed they were right.

He headed for the exit with her, his sheer presence and masculine energy holding her spellbound. “So, we didn’t get to have our game night.”

“I’d forgotten all about it.”

One side of his mouth tipped up. “Well, we kinda had a lot on our minds tonight. Anyway, the guys never got around to it anyway. You busy tomorrow night? They’re planning for it after dinner. It’ll be like a secret date,” he added, his eyes brimming with amusement.

She really shouldn’t. Especially not with whatever was happening between them increasing in intensity. Certainly not when her job required her to provide intel that sent him and his team into potentially deadly situations each time they went on an op to investigate her team’s findings.

He gave her shoulder a friendly nudge. “What, you already got a better offer or something?”

That made her grin. “Not sure yet.” She should have just said no, made some excuse. But she couldn’t. She was already too addicted to him to stay away. And on some level that scared the hell out of her, but at that moment she just didn’t care.

“It’ll be fun,” he coaxed.

Probably, but all she cared about was being able to spend time with him. “No promises. But I’ll see what I can do.”

His answering smile made her heart squeeze. “I’ll look forward to it.” He stopped to open the exterior door for her. A blast of cold air slapped her in the face, instantly clearing her head. In the space of a heartbeat she was back in work mode.

The wind was picking up again. Might affect visibility for the flight crews, and the team members on the ground once they inserted.

Stepping through the doorway, she paused. She was heading right to the TOC, and he left, to join his teammates. Walking away from him felt wrong on a visceral level. She simply couldn’t do it.

She turned to face him, let her eyes drink in every rugged, masculine detail of his face. Just in case.You’d better come back to me.“Be safe out there.”

He gave her a soft smile that made the ache beneath her ribs even worse. “I will. And because I’m guessing you’re not the kind of girl who gets all mushy over flowers, I’ll bring you drugs and weapons when I come back instead.”

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