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“But, in the end, Nadine came through for us.” Zora crossed her arms over her chest. “Nadine’s last act was to hand over everything she had on our targets. Everything she suspected.”
Harper still didn’t know if he believed the sob story Nadine had fed her former partner. Supposedly, Nadine had been blackmailed into it all. It was like a movie playing out in real life.
This might the Harper’s only opportunity to ask questions and get answers from Zora. He didn’t know if he wanted to do the job, but he wanted the details. “Okay, so what’s the job? What new insight did Nadine give us? Has Skilton said anything?”
Zora picked up a tablet from her desk and held it out to him. “There’s a young woman named Robin Suleiman. I want you to get close to her and find out everything you can about her family. Primarily, her father and uncle.”
Harper took the device. “That’s it? Seriously?”
“Yes,” Zora said simply.
Harper glanced down at the high-resolution image of the young woman—Robin—caught in a candid moment. Her hair was so dark it might be brown or black. It was hard to tell with the poor lighting. It was curled and hung down her back in a glossy wave. The photographer had caught her turning to look at something. With the light on her face, she seemed radiant. Beautiful. She had that tanned quality that made it hard to determine her heritage, but with a last name of Suleiman that narrowed it down a lot. He knew Suleiman was a Turkish translation of the name Solomon, and that there were several prominent figures in Islam that bore the name Suleiman, which made it a popular surname.
This was why Zora wanted him.
Out of everyone on their team, it was Harper who spoke Arabic. It could not be a coincidence she wanted him for this.
“No.” Harper handed the tablet back.
Zora’s long fingers gripped the tablet. “You already agreed.”
“And now I’m saying no.” He stood and zipped his coat. “I get what you do. Compartmentalizing information, controlling who knows what, preventing more leaks from happening. But here’s the rub. My team dropped everything to work with you. At every turn, we’ve been loyal. We’ve proven ourselves. When you couldn’t trust anyone, you turned to us. I get not telling me some things for my safety, but this isn’t enough. I’m not sticking my neck out there for you to decide to leave me hanging. And telling me to get close to a woman to talk about her family, who I’m guessing have ties to Middle Eastern powers? Yeah, that sounds like you’re painting a target on my back so you can keep your hands clean.”
Zora didn’t deny she might do just that.
She’d come close to it. On their very first job, their team had been faced with a decision, follow Zora’s orders and ignore a volatile situation, or do something. They’d chosen to act and, as a result, saved dozens of abducted children, not to mention two women who were now married to people on Harper’s team.
He smiled at her. “Let me know if you change your mind and want to be more honest with me.”
Zora’s expression never slipped. He had to hand it to her. She was a remarkably strong woman. He actually respected her. It couldn’t be easy to get thrown onto this team as the assistant director, only to have the actual director completely ignore everything they did. She’d made magic happen out of nothing but her will and determination. But he didn’t always agree with how she ran things. There was doing what you needed to keep everyone safe, and then there was whatever the hell this was.
Harper knew the gig was more complicated than Zora was letting on. It had to be if she was keeping this from Logan, his Team Leader, who had become Zora’s right-hand man.
He turned toward the secret door. Part of him couldn’t believe that was real. A secret fucking door. Who would have guessed? Did Tucker know?
If it came out that Tucker and Zora were getting it on in secret, it wouldn’t surprise Harper one bit.
“It’s too dangerous for you to know the specifics,” Zora said.
That made him pause. He turned, cocked his head to the side, and regarded her for a moment. “Oh?”
She blew out a breath, planted a hand on her hip, and pivoted. Her gaze remained on the floor. No doubt she was sifting through a million bits of intel right now. How she did it was beyond amazing.
“We now know Skilton was just a middle-man. He wasn’t really in charge. I think Robin’s uncle puts us one step closer to who is in power. Nadine had a list of names she believed were part of some governing council handing orders down to Skilton to manage.”
“So he was just an operations manager guy?”
She nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, most of the names on Nadine’s list are out of our grasp.”
“How do you mean?”
Zora just stared at him.
Okay, that was a brick wall. She wasn’t even willing to tell him. That meant the names were big. And very scary.
“But not Robin’s uncle? Who is he?” Harper unzipped his coat.
“Daar Suleiman. He and his brother, Cassim, fled Syria thirty years ago. They had a little money. Cassim made waves by marrying an American woman who owned a chain of motels and other businesses. They were together for about ten years, grew the business, then she ends up dead.”
