Page 7 of Chasing the Past

“Rachel, this isAsal Noor.”

Rachel’s eyes widened but she covered her shock quickly. “It’s nice to meet you, Asal. I’m Rachel Wyatt.” She held out her hand.

Asal accepted it. “Thank you.”

“Why don’t we go into the conference room?” Eli pointed to a room just down the hallway.

He led the way. The room had a long mahogany table and at least ten chairs were positioned around it. Photos of the founding team members when they’d been in the service hung on the walls alongside black and white pictures from around the island. He waited for her to sit but she didn’t.

“I’m not sure what to say,” Asal said with a sigh.

Eli couldn’t believe how much like Sashi she appeared. Asal’s hair was longer, and she had a scar that ran from her temple down to her chin. But everything else was so similar it was uncanny.

He went over to the fridge in the corner, pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to her.

“Thank you.” She accepted it and took a sip.

She might not know what to say but the questions were practically tumbling around in his head. “How well do you know the man you are engaged to marry?” Saying the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Omar says we’ve known each other since we were children, but I don’t remember any of it.” She touched the scar absently as if unaware of doing it. “I sometimes have memories of people I believe are my parents, but I don’t remember Omar or his family.” She thought it strange that she couldn’t remember Omar as a child.

She’d been severely injured. The scar could be a few years old, or it could be much older, like eight years older.

“What else do you remember?” He pulled out one of the chairs. “Please, sit.”

Asal stared at the chair and then out to the street in front of the building, her frown deepening. “Only for a minute. If he comes back and I’m gone . . .”

She didn’t finish but he believed the possibilities were bad.

Eli claimed the chair next to her after she sat down and waited for her to speak.

“I don’t remember anything before waking up in the hospital and finding Omar there.”

“That’s your fiancé?”

“Yes. Omar Haddad.”

The name didn’t set off any warnings, but Eli made a mental note to check on Omar.

“Omar told me I had been in Kabul with friends when the government collapsed and the Taliban took over. Our friends were at the airport when an explosion happened nearby. I was hit by a piece of shrapnel and hurt badly. They were doctors and managed to get me on the plane and did their best to treat my injuries until we landed in Cairo. I was rushed to the hospital and in a coma for weeks before I woke up.”

“Were you living in Kabul?” This surprised him. Sashi and her husband had lived in Kandahar and then she’d moved to Kunduz but there was never any mention of ties to Kabul. As far as Eli knew, Tahir’s murder case was still unsolved and his death was considered the result of a mugging that had gone wrong. Eli never believed the mugging story. Tahir Ghulam had been gathering intel for Eli’s team. Tahir had met with Eli shortly before his death. He said he would have information on the terrorist they’d been hunting down soon.

Known by the intelligence community as “el-Nemr,” or the Panther, he’d been responsible for some of the worst terrorist attacks in recent years leaving behind his calling card, a card with an image of a panther. No fingerprints, no DNA on the card.

Asal looked at him strangely. “No, I wasn’t living there. I’m from Cairo.” Her brow screwed up. “We were on holiday.”

Holiday? During the fall of Kabul? Another thing to check out.

Eli leaned forward. “What did your doctor friends say about the explosion?”

Her huge eyes found him. “I don’t know. I never spoke to them. They had to leave before I came out of the coma. Besides, they were mostly Omar’s friends, or so I was told.”

“Really? I guess I just assumed since they were doctors like you that they were your acquaintances too.”

“A doctor?” she exclaimed in disbelief. “I’m not a doctor. I run a small flower shop in Cairo.”

This was another surprise. Was it possible there were two women who looked so much alike? Eli didn’t believe it.

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