Burned (3 page)

The hotter fantasies had evolved from him merely fucking her, into a slow, thorough seduction to unlock that sensuality trapped just beneath the surface. He wanted to taste her, watch those gorgeous eyes darken with arousal and need as he unraveled her to the point where she was moaning and panting beneath his hands, his mouth, his body.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

Realizing he was staring and probably making her more uncomfortable, he forced his gaze away. “No, not at all.” Damn, he was supposed to be easing her mind, not thinking about stripping her naked and making her come.  

The moment she was steady on her own she pulled away and started up the steps with her cane, her gait stiff and jerky.

The bright red front door opened a moment later and out stepped Alex Rycroft, Zahra’s boss and the head of the NSA detail Sean and the other Titanium members answered to. In his early fifties, the former SF NCO was dressed casually in jeans and a button down shirt. His silver gaze swept over both vehicles before landing on Sean and he gave a greeting nod. Looking away from him, Alex focused his attention on Zahra. When he saw the cane his eyes turned glacial for a split second, then his whole face softened with the fond smile he gave her.

“Welcome home, Zahra. Everything’s set up and ready for you. Come on in and I’ll show you around while the boys move your stuff in.” He set a hand on her arm, the gesture protective, and to Sean’s surprise she didn’t argue as Alex helped her up the concrete steps to the front door.

Oh yeah. If anyone knew Zahra’s story, Alex did. And knowing what he did of the man, Sean didn’t have a chance in hell of prying it out of him.

Chapter Two

Amir parked his cab at the curb in front of the Hilton Baltimore and got out to unload his passenger’s luggage. Once the payment was taken care of he climbed back into the Prius and called dispatch. He sighed as he looked at the digital dashboard clock. Another four hours before he was off shift and the night had been slow so far. At this rate he’d barely clear enough to pay for his fuel and meals for the day.

He was debating on where to go next when his cell phone rang in the front cup holder. Pulling it out, he checked the display but didn’t recognize the number and there was no name. “Hello.”

“Amir. Peace be upon you,” the male voice said in Urdu.

“And upon you,” he answered, heart beating a little faster. He couldn’t be sure it was
them
, but he didn’t know who else would call him by name and speak to him in his native tongue other than his family members. And the number had already told him this caller wasn’t contacting him from Pakistan.

“Is this a good time to talk?”

“Yes.” Actually the timing couldn’t be better.

“We have a job for you. You must go to the pre-arranged place and await further instructions. Understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“How long do you need to get there?”

“Twenty minutes.”

“Good. We’ll contact you then.” He disconnected before Amir could reply.

Amir’s pulse throbbed in his throat as he started the vehicle and headed for the highway, excitement and anticipation bubbling hot in his veins. He’d hoped to be of service to the cause one day but hadn’t really expected it to happen so soon…

He took the on-ramp onto the highway and sped toward Baltimore/Washington International airport. At this time of night the traffic was light and he arrived on the beltway well within the twenty minute window he’d given. He stayed on the perimeter road and waited for the call, knowing no one would ever be able to track him as long as he stayed in the “dead zone”. The air traffic control tower here overpowered signal interception in this precise area. If anyone was tracking him with a beacon or had planted some sort of listening device in the cab, neither would work. He didn’t know exactly how it worked or why it was like that, and he didn’t much care.

That dead zone was why he’d been instructed previously to come here and why so many drug and arms dealers chose to do their business here. The taxi he drove only made him look even less suspicious and it also enabled him to navigate his way around the city better than anyone. He had the perfect cover. He just hoped he was capable of delivering whatever it was that the cell wanted.

His phone rang a few minutes later and he didn’t bother checking the display when he answered this time. The response was immediate.

“You know of the bombing that happened a few days ago?” the man said in Urdu.

Amir knew all about it, from the news coverage. The suspect had been killed, but no one else. The media had tried to link Mostaffa to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan cell they were both affiliated with but as far as he knew there had been no further developments in the investigation. Until this moment Amir hadn’t been sure of the connection. “Yes.”

“There is a group of government security contractors we need eliminated. The last operation failed and we are turning to you because of a special connection to a member affiliated with this team who works for the NSA. Her name is Zahra Gill.”

At the mention of that name the hairs on the backs of Amir’s arms stood up. “I know of her.”

“Yes, we know you do. I assume you understand the connection we mean?”

He did and it astounded him. “I haven’t seen Ibrahim in years, not since we attended the same mosque together.” Before the man had gone to prison for attempted murder.

“You must go see him. Find out if he can locate her. As of right now she’s our best chance of finding the other team members, and with no military or weapons training, she’s also the weakest link. She’s your first target.”

“I’ll go see him as soon as I can.” He both dreaded and welcomed the meeting. There was no telling how the other man would react, but perhaps Amir would walk away with some useful information. At the very least he could ease his old acquaintance’s mind that Allah’s will would still be carried out.

“When?”

The urgency in the man’s voice didn’t escape Amir. The man at the top of this chain wanted it taken care of immediately. “Either tomorrow or the next day, depending on when I can get in to see him.”

“Good. Find out what he knows and report back to us. Call the first number I contacted you from, at the place you are now.”

Amir agreed and ended the call, barely aware of what was happening around him as he drove on the loop back to the airport. He would stop there and pick up his next fare but he knew that until this assignment was taken care of it was all he would think about. He’d only ever killed a human being during combat before this. But then, this
was
a holy war and he was a soldier of Allah, a true believer. He would do what he must to complete the mission.

Once he found the woman, he knew exactly how he would kill her.

History always had a funny way of repeating itself.

****

Zahra strode into the conference room at the NSA’s headquarters just after lunch, anxious to start work after all the chaos of the past three days. After her hasty move and half-ass attempt at unpacking in her new place last night, she’d taken the morning off to tackle necessary errands. Things like forwarding her mail to a P.O. box and pulling out a stack of cash from her savings account to minimize her electronic footprint until the TTP cell and the threat they posed was neutralized.

The room was empty so she crossed to the long rectangular table, set up her laptop at one end and fired it up. Her right hip twinged a bit in protest as she sat but after a night of ibuprofen and stretching, the worst of the pain was gone.

She’d just opened a file Alex had flagged for priority translation when the glass door opened and Sean walked in. He flashed her that easy smile that sent tingles of feminine awareness through her body and suddenly the room seemed much smaller.

“Hey, how’d the unpacking go?” he asked.

“Pretty good. Just a few boxes left.”

“What about your hip?”

“Better, thanks.” She tore her eyes away from the mouth-watering sight of those broad shoulders and well-developed chest and nodded at her computer screen. “Was just about to start this bit. Should only take me twenty minutes or so. Do you need any help with more encryption? I feel like I’m out of the loop since everything that happened the other day.” The enemy’s encryption seemed to be getting more and more sophisticated. Zahra lived for cracking it and exposing their ugly secrets to the intelligence world.

“Finish up your stuff first then let’s see where I’m at.” Rather than sit across or down from her, he chose the seat right beside her and sank into it, the leather creaking under his weight. His warm, clean scent rose up to tease her, a mix of something woodsy and musky. On him it was sinfully delicious. She could feel his dark gaze on her, hot and intense, and it was all she could do not to squirm in her seat. The attraction was there and it was most definitely mutual, simmering just beneath the surface. Her reaction to him was so visceral and unexpected she didn’t know what to do with it.

Alex chose that moment to enter the room along with his assistant, Ruth. The sixty-something woman with the plump curves and chin length bob of silver hair was carrying a platter piled high with dark brown squares that smelled of rich, dark chocolate. Zahra’s mouth watered instantly. “You made brownies?” she asked hopefully, sitting up a little taller.

Ruth smiled and set the plate down in the center of the table. “They were a hit the last time I brought them in so I figured you guys could use the fuel since Alex told me you’re going to be pulling an all-nighter. I’ve got fresh coffee brewing in the lounge and a pot of that Earl grey you like,” she added.

Zahra eyed Alex and shook her head. “They don’t make assistants like her anymore. You’re so spoiled.”

Alex’s silver eyes warmed as he chewed a bite of brownie. “I know. She likes to mother me.”

“If I didn’t, you’d starve to death,” Ruth muttered under her breath as she headed for the door.

Zahra started to reach out a hand to grab a brownie but before she could move Sean’s arm shot past hers to snag one for himself. She watched as he bit into it and chewed, then let out a low, appreciative groan that sizzled across every one of her nerve endings. She stared helplessly at his sexy mouth, wondering if he made that exact same sound just before he came deep inside a woman’s body. Wondering what his lips and tongue and teeth would feel like on her naked skin. Her lower body tightened in reflex and her nipples went rock hard against the cups of her bra.

“Hungry?”

She jerked her eyes up to his, warmth spreading low in her belly at the wicked glint in his dark gaze, the intimate tone. Was she hungry?
Oh yeah.
More than she’d been since…well, ever. There was something about him that captured her interest and wouldn’t let go and it wasn’t just sexual. She could’ve controlled that response easily enough. No, this went deeper. He was smart, he was smooth, and the way he watched her, as if he saw into her, filled her stomach with butterflies. The protective streak he’d shown toward her was merely the icing on that luscious cake.

She could tell he knew what he did to her, and from day one he’d never tried to hide his interest. And while she got the impression he was a bit of a player because of the way he flirted and his supreme confidence in his interactions with women in general, he’d never crossed the line or been unprofessional with her.

Which was kind of a shame, when she thought about it.

Realizing she was staring, she pulled her gaze away from him and took a brownie for herself as the blood rushed to her cheeks. The man unnerved and distracted her whenever he was in the same freaking room. How the hell was she supposed to work with him in such close quarters for the foreseeable future? She’d never survive it.

“Hunter and Ellis are out doing surveillance on a possible suspect linked to the TTP cell,” Alex told her from across the table where he was setting down stacks of files in front of him. “Dunphy’s going to keep working on breaking the encryption to the new forum we found the other night while you finish up digging through the messages I sent you. If anything looks suspicious, flag it and I’ll take a look. We know Hassani’s got more people willing to carry out attacks here on his behalf and we know the TTP is in tight with him. They’ve likely got something else already in the works and we’re going to follow it right up the chain of communication and find this bastard before he can do any more damage.”

“Got it. Haven’t found anything suspicious yet but I’m only halfway through the translations.” Some of them were in Urdu, some were in Pashto. She typed the English beneath the lines while Alex left the room. Sean was busy typing on his own laptop. With him so close it was hard not to keep glancing over at him and she had to work at concentrating on the task at hand.

Alex strode back in a few minutes later and helped himself to another brownie. Stuffing half of it into his mouth, he lifted his eyebrows at her in question. Zahra frowned, not understanding. “What?” she asked when he kept staring at her expectantly.

He nodded at Sean. “You ask him yet?”

Sean lifted his head. “Ask me what?”

Zahra sent her boss a warning look, but Alex just grinned and swallowed the last mouthful of brownie. “She needs a date for Saturday night.”

Zahra wanted to close her eyes and cover her burning face with her hands as Sean turned his head and his dark gaze focused on her. “That right?”

“She’s getting some big alumni award from MIT for her encryption work here. Not that they really have a clue what goes on inside these walls,” Alex continued, eyes full of amusement at her discomfort. “The event’s black tie, very swanky. In light of the security situation she was thinking of not going, but then she asked me what I thought of taking you with her.”