Page 31 of Deadly Betrayal
Lips curving downward, Shahram turned backand slumped in his seat. “I thought I could help…”
Everything inside him urged Kaden to get outof the car, grab the man by the front of his jacket, and dump hisass on the side of the road. Azita sat quietly, her hands in herlap. She seemed to be waiting for his decision, but her sereneappearance was just a mask. Tension tightened the skin around hereyes and the corners of her mouth. Something glistened along hereyelashes.
Damn.
He moved forward, encroaching on Azita’s sideof the car, so he could place his mouth right behind the otherman’s head. It was something he’d seen drill sergeants do to newrecruits with impressive success. Shahram faced forward. Althoughhe didn’t move, anticipation had his back ramrod straight. Henearly jumped out of his skin when Kaden very loudly said, “Youwant to help? Well, you can’t help. Everything you touch turns toshit. Your brand of help will get us all killed.”
Kaden smirked and settled back in his seat.He lowered his voice, but kept its steely edge. “The only reasonyou’re still in this car is because of your sister. Because shewants you with us. But listen, and listen very carefully. From hereon out, you drive, you get us through the checkpoints, and you shutthe hell up.”
Although her shoulders were still tense,Azita’s mouth relaxed. She even offered him a small smile beforeturning to look out the window. Shahram started the engine andpulled back onto the highway.
Silence, blissful silence, reigned in thesmall car, but Kaden’s brain was screaming, filled with all thepotential repercussions from Shahram’s unfortunate lie.
Despite the early hour, the traffic grewincreasingly dense as they approached the entrance to the SalangTunnel. Azita had crossed the Russian engineering marvel—a narrowtunnel through the Hindu Kush mountains some three thousand metersabove sea level—several times in her life, the most terrifying ofwhich had occurred last year. She could have been killed thattime.
While she imagined being suffocated aliveunder tons of mountain rock, Kaden stared at her. “You okay?” heasked.
“I have never liked the Salang Tunnelmuch.”
Shortly before Faroukh’s death, he’d wantedto visit a friend in Mazar-e Sharif and had insisted she accompanyhim. A landslide on the northern end of the tunnel had kept themtrapped inside the dark, smog-filled pipe for hours. Since thetunnel had little ventilation, breathing had become difficult, andin his weakened state, Faroukh had suffered terribly, so much sothat she’d feared for his life.
Kaden glanced out the front window where theentrance to the tunnel loomed. “I’ve heard it’s a lot better thanit was, but with the increase in traffic and NATO convoys, we mightstill get stuck in a traffic jam.”
And that’s what she was afraid of. Whenthey’d crested an earlier peak, she’d spotted a convoy about akilometer ahead. She prayed today wouldn’t be a repeat of her lasttrip. Supposedly, USAID had just finished refurbishing the tunnel.She hoped the almost two billion dollars they claimed to have spenthad actually gone into improving the fifty-year-old structure andnot into some local warlord’s pocket.
Kaden offered her a bottle of water from abag on the seat between them. “You need to keep hydrated, or you’llget altitude sickness.” She arched a brow and a smile teased herlips, making his face redden. “But you’re a doctor. You alreadyknow that. Shit.”
His cursing turned her smile to full-onlaughter. “I would drink, but the risk of a bladder infectionoutweighs the benefits.”
“Bladder infection?”
Now it was her turn to blush. “There are nowomen’s… uh… facilities along this part of the pass.”
“And you can’t just go on the side of theroad?”
“Astaghfirullah!”
Her brother’s exclamation of disapproval fromthe front seat made her laugh until her shoulders shook and tearsran down her cheeks. When she was able to breathe again, sheexplained. “I am sorry. I was imagining the outrage if I were to dosuch a thing.”
Looking contrite and slightly bemused, Kadennodded. “Gotcha.” But when her brother’s attention turned back tothe road ahead, Kaden winked at her.
The fluttering sensation in her belly wasback. She’d never experienced such complicity with anyone, not evenShahram. While feigning to be watching out the front windshield,she studied Kaden. She loved his smile, the strong lips curvingaround straight white teeth, and she wondered how he’d sound if helaughed one of those great belly-shaking laughs. Would it be a lowrumble or a loud guffaw? Would his eyes twinkle or squeeze shut?She hoped to find out.
At that thought, her good humor vanished.Kaden was in Afghanistan to help her rescue Laila from Tariq—not torescue Azita from an unwanted marriage to Khalid. After theirmission was accomplished, Kaden would return to his home, and she’dnever see him again.
Her breath caught as Kaden’s hand, warm andcomforting, settled on her knee. Shahram’s attention was on theroad, and Kaden’s bag would block his view, wouldn’t it? She raisedher eyes to Kaden’s face and was instantly trapped by the concernand heat in his amber gaze. Her leg blazed where their bodiesconnected.
Shahram cleared his throat. “Mr.Christiansen, this is not America.”
Her brother’s angry words bounced around theCorolla. Azita jerked her knees toward the car door and instantlymourned the loss of Kaden’s heat.
Kaden’s mouth tightened, and he glared at theback of her brother’s head. “She seemed upset. I was trying to calmher.”
And it had worked. At least until her brotherhad ruined the moment.
“Do you touch all women who seem upset inAmerica?” Shahram shot back.
Kaden’s gaze shifted to the side window asthey inched into the Salang Tunnel. The darkness she remembered sowell was now broken by a neat row of lights on the ceiling. Theair, also, didn’t seem quite so heavy with fumes, and the surfaceof the road was much smoother. She sighed in relief. At least someof the money had actually served its intended purpose.
