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“Has the Kingdom stationed guards at the site?”
“More likely a satellite camera is keeping an eye on it. The US Army reactivated their Monuments Officers group a few years ago. They have a lab in Virginia that monitors sites that could be in danger from looting. I wanted to reach out to them…but we both know they’ll see me as the villain.”
This made her think of Fahd’s instructions, all the site coordinates he’d given her, asking her to monitor sites in Syria if something happened to him. The reminder added weight to the guilt that threatened to crush her half the time. To do what Fahd asked, she’d need a computer with access to the satellite feeds. No one would give her that now.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
After planting a burner phone near the fenced-off area of an off-leash dog park, they checked into a vacation rental that Chris’s friend Xavier rented for them in Fairfax. The rental was a tiny one-bedroom house in an unincorporated wooded area. Surrounded by trees, it was private, even though the housing lots were relatively small.
It was cute and cozy, and Diana wanted to curl up in front of the fire and do nothing for a week. Well, maybe watch TV, but probably just sleep while being held by Chris.
“I can sleep on the sofa bed,” Chris offered upon seeing that the only bed was a double.
She rolled her eyes. “I think we’re way past the shy stage.”
He slipped an arm around her waist. “I’m not taking anything for granted with you, but given how we pretty much combust when we kiss, keeping things platonic will be harder if we share a bed, and I don’t want to take advantage.”
“Who said I want platonic? And I’m perfectly capable of giving informed consent. Plus I know you’re perfectly capable of keeping your hands off if I don’t give that consent. In the same vein, if you say no, I promise not to seduce you while you’re sleeping.”
He smiled. “Well, now, I don’t have anything to look forward to.” His lips brushed over hers, then he pulled back and met her gaze. “I want a relationship with you, Diana, and I don’t want to fuck it up by doing the wrong thing now, when you’re vulnerable.”
She gave him a sad smile. “If we wait until my life is straightened out, we might never have sex again.” She cupped his cheek. “Sleep with me tonight, Lieutenant Flyte. Whether we have sex or not, I’d like you in my bed. We’ll figure out later…later. Now, let’s eat dinner before it gets cold.”
Diana paced the tiny cabin. Boyd should have picked up the burner phone from the park an hour ago, and she was going to lose her mind from waiting. They had no plan B. She needed information, and she needed Freya to start looking into the IP address of the emails she’d received.
Finally, the burner phone rang.
She met Chris’s gaze. They’d agreed that she would answer any calls. Right now, the fact that Chris was the one harboring her was their one secret that was in her favor.
She hit the speaker button. “Yes.”
“Valkyrie. I’m surprised it took this long for you to reach out.”
“I had a few things on my plate.”
“Is your friend who was with you in the bar listening?”
Without looking to Chris for a signal of what to say, she answered. “No.”
“Fine. He’s probably back in ONP where he spent last January.”
She had no idea what that meant, so she didn’t have to fake a reaction. “Sure. Whatever.”
She met Chris’s gaze. He didn’t look fazed, but she guessed whatever Ian had said indicated he knew exactly who Chris was. Had one of his friends squealed, or had Ian known when he saw them together in the bar?
She dove in with her first question. “How well do you know Fr—” Almost too late, she remembered that even on a burner, she shouldn’t use names. “Friday?”
“Only by reputation.”
Boyd and Freya weren’t acquainted.
“Did you tell your client about my extracurricular job?”
Had he told Gardner?
“No, Val.”
“And why should I believe you?”
