Page 20 of Stand Fast

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.

Chapter Six

Hands on hips, Jaliya stepped back from the open folder on the desk and turned to look at the picture board she and her team had assembled on the back wall. All men who were reputed to be connected to The Jackal somehow. One of them might evenbehim.

Staring at the photo of the man at the top of the second column, a wave of cold swept through her veins.

“I don’t like the look of it,” her boss, David, said next to her.

“No. I don’t either,” she murmured, her eyes fixed on the image of the man in the dress uniform.

Since the hotel bombing four days ago, all evidence turned up by their investigation seemed to point to this man being involved. A local chief of special police with the insider knowledge, connections and means of carrying out such an attack, and he was widely rumored to be working with The Jackal.

With the amount of evidence they had compiled against him and the smokescreen surrounding some of his recent activities, as of right now he was her team’s number one suspect in The Jackal investigation.

The problem was finding enough proof linking him to the bombing to pin on him and bring him in. Unfortunately, corruption within law enforcement, the military and the government were commonplace here, making her team’s job even harder.

“Most of these tossers are bent as a nine-bob note,” she muttered.

David chuckled. “I love your British expressions. They’re so educational.”

“You must know a lot of them by now,” she said with a grin, still studying the board.

Trying to get someone to rat out a corrupt official was near impossible no matter how much money she waved at them, especially since she and her team were considered outsiders and not to be trusted by the locals.

Her being female made it even worse. Not to mention the risk of blowback that could be unleashed on an informer.

They had a list of other suspects as well, of course, their pictures all mapped out on the wall of their temporary “war room” here at Bagram, where she’d been since Agent Khan—Zaid, she corrected herself sternly—had escorted her and the others here right after the bombing.

Ridiculous, to think of him in any kind of formal way whatsoever after what had happened in her hotel room. She still couldn’t believe she’d kissed him like that, stunned by her immediate and visceral reaction to the feel and taste of him.

The intensity of it had taken her completely off guard. She blamed it on a moment of weakness, a combination of curiosity, desire and adrenaline that had momentarily destroyed her common sense and objectivity.

While she was embarrassed about her lapse in judgment, she wouldn’t go so far as to wish it hadn’t happened. That kiss had been the most romantic, erotic of her life, and it had woken a kind of yearning inside her that she’d never felt before. But that’s as far as things could go between them, and she’d have to make that clear to Zaid the next chance she had to speak to him in private.

The door to the war room opened and several Afghan military commanders walked in in full uniform. Colonel Shah and General Nasar. Their units had been assisting Jaliya’s team with the investigation into the bombing, as well as searching for leads on The Jackal.

Shah was as rigid as ever in his bearing. He took one look at the wall they’d constructed and began demanding information about the bombing investigation.

Jaliya complied, mentally gritting her teeth at the disdain in the man’s eyes as he listened to her. When she finished he conferred with David. Behind him, General Nasar spoke in a low voice to two of his men. He oversaw the operations of the NIU and had just returned from the site of the bombing in Kabul with an explosives team.

He didn’t say much, preferring to observe and come to his own conclusions during meetings and briefings, and only offering his opinion if asked. Jaliya had worked with him several times on various things during this deployment. The DEA and other American assets frequently worked with him and his units in investigations and on operations.

Turning from Shah, her boss shook Nasar’s hand. “General. Thank you for coming.”

Nasar nodded and stood beside her to peruse the board, his hands clasped behind his back and his feet braced apart in parade rest position. Even in this casual setting, he was ever the soldier, his uniform and grooming impeccable, and his men were the same. He had a calmer, quieter demeanor than Shah.

“You’ll note we’ve just added a new face to our list of suspects,” David said to Shah and Nasar.

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