Page 97 of Over the Edge

Will said low and tense, “What are you doing, Trev? You can’t just blow our covers with a civilian like that—“

Trevor talked over his brother’s objections smoothly. “As for Anna, she’s a SEAL. Runs with my platoon and has for a while. And before you ask, yes, she’s a real SEAL, yes she blows up shit and kills people, and yes, she could make as good a run as me at kicking any of your asses if you piss her off.”

The trio of men stared at her in patent disbelief.

In fact, they stared so hard and long it actually began to get awkward.

Into the weird silence, she said gently, “You might want to roll up your tongues and put them back in your mouths. You’re starting to drool a bit, gentlemen.”

As one, the three men shook themselves and apologized, speaking over one another.

“For real?” Will finally got out in and around similar exclamations from John and Ace.

She shrugged. “Do you need me to kill one of you so the other two will believe? Who’s volunteering?”

Trevor spoke up. “I volunteer Will.”

She started to swing the Tavor up into firing position, but William threw up his hands in surrender, laughing. “I believe you, I swear.”

After that, she endured a barrage of predictable questions. How long had she been a SEAL, where had she trained, who had trained her, what had her training entailed.

Eventually, when the three men seemed to have come to the end of their interrogation, Will looked over at his brother. “What’s up, Trev? Why the S.O.S.? This is not a social call, I presume?”

Like most operators, the newcomers switched from joking to dead serious in the blink of an eye. But then, so did she.

Trevor explained, “We’re out here looking for one of our guys who went missing last winter. We believe Abu Haddad kidnapped him and is holding him.”

John Doe asked quickly, “The SEAL who went missing in the Swat Valley mess?”

“That’s him,” Trevor answered tersely.

Will kicked a stone with the toe of his boot. “I don’t know where your guy is, but I have heard rumors about where Haddad might be hiding out.”

“Any chance he’s up in the Taraz region? Beyond the northern pass?” Trevor asked.

“Where’d you hear that?” William exclaimed.

“Anna got it out of some local women on the other side of the Khyber Pass.”

Everyone stared at her and she shrugged. “Women are good sources. They hear everything and no one pays attention to them. Case in point, my walking right up to you, earlier.”

“Fair point, well made,” Will murmured.

Trevor asked, “Can you pinpoint where in Taraz Haddad is hiding out?”

“That’s close hold intel, brother. I can’t tell you.”

Not surprisingly, Trevor’s eyes narrowed. She knew that expression well. He wasn’t happy with Will’s answer. He said tightly, “My brother-in-arms is near death according to the reports we’re getting.”

Will studied Trevor, clearly measuring his brother. “Here’s the thing. An operation is being planned to disrupt Haddad’s heroin network. I can’t have you two waltzing into the middle of it and messing it up.”

Trevor replied, “You know as well as I do that, if a western team hits Haddad, the first thing he’ll do is kill his American hostage. It’s part of why he’s been hauling Kenny around with him all this time. He’s using our guy as cover from you types.”

Will’s jaw rippled the exact same way Trevor’s did when he was irritated.

John Doe said evenly enough, “That’s what our analysts believe, too.”

Ace, who’d been the quietest of the three so far, said, “Do you two think you could sneak in and get your guy without causing a lot of fuss?”

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