Page 99 of Close Pursuit

“All the more reason to let them find us when we’re nowhere near her,” he ground out. “No one messes with me and mine without suffering the consequences.”

His expression was blacker and colder than she’d ever seen it. And yet, it sent a frisson of warmth through her.

“I’m still mad at you, Alex. You stabbed my big brother.”

“And not only spared his life, but saved it,” he replied tiredly.

Like he didn’t expect her to believe him. Something in the wall of anger at him she’d built around her heart cracked.

“Why?” she asked simply.

“Because he posed a threat to you and Dawn,” he answered just as simply.

Well, then. It was hard to argue with that. He helped her into his car and pulled out into traffic.

She asked, “What do you know about special operators in the Karshan Valley posing as rebel soldiers?”

“Nothing, other than what we saw.”

“You don’t know why they were there?”

“I’d love to know why they were there. Then I could identify who they were and figure out who’s screwing with us, now.”

They were almost to his building when her cell phone dinged an incoming email. She pulled it out of her purse and was startled to see the sender was CMcCloud. Uncle Charlie. She opened the attached file and a short list of names scrolled down her phone.

“It’s the list from Uncle Charlie of male Caucasians to Karshan a few months either side of nine months ago,” she announced.

Alex glanced over at her alertly. “Care to share?”

“Sure.”

“Once we’re inside and can’t be overheard,” he murmured as he parked the car.

“Paranoid much?” she quipped.

“I just got you out of the emergency room. Indulge me.”

He did look pretty frazzled, now that he mentioned it. “Were you worried when you heard I was there?” she asked in surprise.

He stopped in the act of closing her door and looked her square in the eye. “I’ve never been so terrified in my entire life.”

Wow. At a loss for words, she rode up to his condo in silence.

In short order, he installed her on the living room sofa with a pile of pillows behind her and a blanket over her. Not until he handed her a bowl of chicken noodle soup and made her slurp down part of it, would he let her talk business again.

Finally, he said, “Okay, let’s see Uncle Charlie’s list.”

She passed him her phone and he scanned the list without comment. He strode into his office and was in there less than a minute. He emerged carrying two sheets of paper. “I printed it out. If your head hurts half as bad as mine right now, you want nice, big, easy-to-read print, too.”

She smiled and patted the cushion at her hip. He sat down, his hip intimately pressed against hers. She scanned the list again. There were ten names.

“Care to tell me why your brother’s on this list?”

“He told me today he was in the area acting as an observer.”

“Hmm.”

“What are you thinking?” she asked him. The combination of his intelligence training and raw brain power could be leading him to all kinds of conclusions she wouldn’t spot in this list.

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