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Chapter 13
As she watched Jase clean up the blood on his knuckles, she wanted to go to him. Help him clean the scrapes. Put bandages on them. But she knew he wouldn’t accept her help.
Swallowing, she said, “What’s the plan?”
Daubing some kind of medicine on his knuckles, he didn’t look at her as he said, “If you can get a signal, you need to let Mel know that you’re safe and what’s going on. I’m sure she’s frantic to hear from you. I’ll text Dev and Cody and tell them where we are and what we’re planning to do.”
Laila nodded slowly. “I probably shouldn’t call her.”
Jase shook his head immediately. “No. Texting is better. The less sound from in here, the better. When we’re done with that, we both need to sleep.”
“I can barely keep my eyes open,” she admitted. “Let me text Mel, then I’m conking out.”
Jase nodded toward the tunnel they’d used to escape the searchers. “Sleep over there, in case someone wanders too close. I want to be able to shove you into that tunnel and follow you.”
“Okay,” she said. She skirted around him and sat against the wall. Pulling out her SAT phone, she punched out a quick text to Mel. ‘still safe. Planning to leave late tonight. Will have to drive past Taliban, but Jase says they can do it.’
Then, pulling off her scarf, she bunched it up for a pillow and stretched out on the hard stone floor. She was so tired she barely noticed how uncomfortable it was. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she was asleep.
* * *
Jase watched Laila drop off to sleep. She’d been on the ragged edge of exhaustion, but now her face was peaceful. Relaxed. A breath shuddered in. Out. Her hands, curled beneath her neck, relaxed. With any luck, she’d sleep until he woke her late tonight.
Tearing his gaze away from her, he texted Dev and Cody. Told them they were planning on leaving the cave after dark, as soon as all was quiet at the Taliban camp. When they got to the Humvee, they’d haul ass.
Before they left, he told them, he’d set up the C4 in the arms depot cave.
She’d been tense and tightly coiled, but she’d finally relaxed. It gave him time to figure out how to handle the clusterfuck she’d planned.
He blew out a breath. What the hell was he going to do?
As angry as he was at her determination to return to Al Kamen, Jase was reluctantly impressed. She was willing to put everything on the line, including her life, to save her friends. He knew her well enough to know she’d do exactly as she’d said -- she’d try to walk all the way to that village if he and Cody and Dev didn’t drive her there.
It was exactly the same philosophy he’d used when he was a SEAL and now as a member of the CIA’s SpecOps. Saving your teammates was job one.
They didn’t leave any men behind. Laila wasn’t going to do that, either.
He needed to talk to Dev and Cody. Convince them to help Laila.
Moving into the outer cave, he lay on the ground and listened for a long time. Murmurs of conversation drifted up to him, but they came from a long way off. Impossible to make out the words. Why the hell were these guys still here? What did they have planned? Why was one woman so important?
Was it possible they’d found out she was a CIA agent?
How could they? As far as he knew, only Mel, and him, Dev, Cody knew that. Was there a traitor at the U.S. Embassy?
That was a question for Mel. Right now, his job was to get Laila safely back to the embassy.
He risked a look outside and saw no one. So they hadn’t resumed searching for Laila.
But they hadn’t left, either.
Dread twisting in his gut, he retreated from the cave opening and pulled out his SAT phone. Dialed Cody.
“What’s up?” Cody said.
“Put me on speaker so Dev can hear this, too. We have a problem,” Jase answered.
He explained what Laila had asked him to do, then said, “I’m one hundred percent sure she’ll make good on her threat to walk back to Al Kamen. She’s determined to save those kids and their families.”
