Page 113 of No Regrets

He risked stroking a hand over her hair. “Stop it. No one said it would be easy, right?”

“What if I can’t? What if I never get past it? This is exactly why I pushed you away in the first place.”

“Listen to me.” He held her hand lightly in his own. “However long it takes, I’ll be here. I’ll never give up on you, and I don’t want you to ever think that I would.”

She turned to face him, opening her eyes. He could see them brimming with tears and he wanted to make it all better. Fix it. He took her hands and gently tugged her upright into his arms. She clung to him, tears flowing.

The shrill ring of his cellphone startled them both. Dex glanced at it seeing Sam’s caller ID. Fucking great timing.

“Morning, Sam.”

“Dex, you on your way in?”

He glanced at his watch; it was just after seven. They had agreed yesterday to meet at The Farm for eight.

“Almost. What’s up?”

“We have some information.”

Dex’s face turned grim; his brain suddenly thrust back into reality. “What information?”

“I’ll meet you at the farm.” Sam rang off before he could say anything else.

“Everything OK?” Kelly wiped her eyes, studying him with concern.

“Yeah, but we need to head in. I guess Sam has some news.” He kissed her tenderly on the lips. “Will you be alright? I feel like a fucking asshole.”

She shook her head. “Don’t. Like you said. We knew it wouldn’t be easy.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Dex followed Sam into his office.

“You got something?” Dex asked anxiously.

“I got a call from CIA.”

“Khalini?’

“Yeah. He slipped up, mentioned his brother.”

“Amir Khalini? He died in the airstrike three years ago.”

“That’s what we believed. CIA contacts in country confirmed that. But the way Ahmed just spoke of him, he’s very much alive.”

“If he is, he could be behind these threats. We captured his brother. Fuck, he could still be working for Lazir.”

“I know. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Ahmed could be playing with us. CIA and NSA are on it. As soon as I know more, you’ll be the first to know. Meanwhile, we tighten up security on you and Kelly. I’m not taking any chances.”

“You think there’s a serious risk?”

“If Amir is alive and working for Lazir and has worked out who you guys are, yes, I think there’s a risk.”

Fuck. Dex tensed. That son of a bitch was not getting near his woman. Never. The bastard would have to get through him and his team first.

“Come on, let’s debrief the Mexico op. Nothing more we can do right now. No one is getting to her here.” Sam said as if reading his mind.

An hour later, Raven still sat around the debrief table going over the op. Jackson had called to say Taylor was out of surgery and doing well. He’d be out for a few weeks but should make a full recovery. Sam had let them go get some rest. They would have their debrief later.

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