Page 92 of Over the Edge

He made a face at her. “How about we find some shade and take a nap? I didn’t get much rest in that barn last night. I spent the whole time waiting for someone to come in and try to rob us or slit our throats.”

“I’ll take the watch while you catch some zzz’s,” she replied.

He had to admit, having a buddy out here had been a huge boon to his sleep schedule. That, and he would never have heard the nursery rhyme from that kid on his own. The local children were cautious of strange men. Who could blame them with so many dangerous strangers roaming around in this part of the world?

They drove until they found a giant boulder beside the road. Using the metal detector he’d bought, he carefully cleared it for stray landmines before parking in the shade cast by the rock. He opened the Range Rover’s windows and leaned the driver’s seat back almost flat. “Wake me in an hour.”

“Roger,” Anna murmured, already scanning out her window into the distance with a set of binoculars.

He only got to sleep about a half-hour before the sattelite phone started to vibrate.

He took the call. “William? Is that you?”

“Trev. How’s my baby brother doing these days? Still playing SEAL with the Yanks?”

Same old William. He managed to be insulting without saying a single impolite word. “I’m in the area. Thought we might hook up and say hello.”

“In person?” William squawked.

Hah. He’d managed to surprise his brother. “The sooner the better. I’m on a clock.”

“Do tell. You working?”

Trevor rolled his eyes. “What do you think?”

“All right. Don’t tell me anything. Even though I show this line being fully secured and encrypted.”

Why was it, even though they were grown men, both with distinguished careers and at the tops of their respective fields, they still managed to bicker like they had as children? He exhaled hard, stemming his irritation. “Can we meet?”

“Where are you?”

“Just crossed the Khyber Pass going west.”

“What are you doing up that—“ Will broke off. “Never mind. I’ll ask in person. I’ve been running out of J-Bad, but I’m in the field right now.”

That was handy. Jalalabad wasn’t too far south of the Khyber Pass.

Will was speaking again. “Copy these coordinates down.”

Trevor quickly jotted down the GPS coordinates William gave him, then his brother asked, “How soon can you get there?”

Trevor calculated fast. “Assuming we don’t run into any trouble, two hours.”

“I’ll see you then. And I won’t be alone, so don’t shoot my friends.”

“I won’t be alone, either,” he replied. He intentionally didn’t mention that his companion was a woman. He relished the shock Anna was going to cause in his brother and his colleagues.

Will cut the link without bothering to say goodbye.

Anna looked up from the paper he’d written the coordinates down on. “It won’t take us more than an hour to get to this spot. Why did you say it would take two hours?”

He smiled wolfishly. “Because I want to set up an ambush.”

Anna blinked. “Of your own contact? Do you think he has turned?”

“He’d better not have. He’s my brother.”

“As in your biological, grew-up-wrestling-with-him brother?” she exclaimed.

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