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“Yes.”
“Considering the possible circus we may walk into down there and the fact that terrorists have ramped up their attacks in this area recently, I’d say yeah. It’s necessary.” He pulled out his Desert Eagle and chambered a round before clicking the safety back on and returning it into the holster. “Don’t forget, someone was taking shots at you just the other day. If anything like that happens again, I need to be prepared to respond and take out the assailant.”
She winced at that, and he frowned.
“Let me guess,” he said, “you don’t like the idea of me shooting someone, even if they’re attacking us.”
“I don’t,” she admitted. “Look, I read your résumé—I know you’re a sniper. I’m sure that means you’ve been in situations where the gun in your hand was the difference between your teammates making it back to the base at the end of the day or…not.”
“Y—” He tried to answer, but his throat caught, remembering the friend hehadn’tbeen able to save. “Yes,” he said after a moment. “I have.”
“Okay. Now think about whatmyexperiences have been. I run a charity. I go to areas that have been devastated by war—and by all the awful things that happen when the war is over and people are left to try to rebuild their lives around bombed buildings, smashed power grids, and way too many empty chairs at their tables, if they’relucky.If they’re not lucky? They get dead bodies piled up in the streets and the risk of IEDs underfoot every time they step outside. You’ve been trained to fight violence with violence, to stop the bad guys by force. But all my training and experience makes me want to stop the violence before it starts. Because once shots are fired, it’s a lot harder to keep things from escalating.”
Her eyes were wide, full of sincerity as she pleaded with him to understand. And in spite of himself, he felt his respect for her rise another notch. He didn’t agree with her attitude, didn’t think that putting his hands up and refusing to fight would end the violence in the world—but he could understand where she was coming from.
Still, he had a job to do. “I get where you’re coming from,” he said gently. “But you hired me to protect you, and that’s exactly what I intend to do, by any means necessary. I can promise you that I won’t use violence indiscriminately. I’m better trained to use this gun than ninety-nine percent of the people on the planet. I only pull the trigger as a last resort, and only after weighing the cost of the sacrifice I’m making.” Some of the shots he’d taken still lingered with him, even years later. It was never a simple or painless decision, even when it was a necessary one.
“Taking a life is never easy,” he said, stepping forward and taking her hand, relieved when she let him. “Never. I wouldn’t want it to be, because that would mean I’d lost my humanity. But if that’s what I have to do to keep you safe, then so be it.You’remy team here. You’re the one I’m going to make sure comes home safe, no matter what. If you don’t like the way I handle some aspect of your protection, we can definitely talk about that, and I’ll try to make accommodations—but at the end of the day, it’s going to have to be my call. I won’t let anyone keep me from protecting you. Not even you.”
Her eyes met his, wide and dark and startled. The moment felt charged, intense, as she stared into his eyes as if she’d never seen anything like him before. Her lips parted, and he found he was holding his breath, waiting to hear what she’d say—
“Please fasten your seatbelts and stow all of your mobile devices,” the pilot announced cheerfully over the PA system. “We’ve been cleared for landing at Al-Hambra International Airport and should be on the ground in Jubail in approximately twenty minutes.”
The moment was broken. She looked down and to the side while he awkwardly dropped her hand, stepping back toward his seat. They didn’t say anything more as the plane continued its descent, but he caught her sneaking looks in his direction every minute or two.
Of course, he caught them because his eyes stayed on her the whole time.
* * *
Hot wind smacked Toni’s cheeks, and the air smelled of baked asphalt and jet fuel. Nervousness had her heart slamming against her chest as she stood at the top of the stairs to descend from the plane. Masses of people swarmed below on the tarmac. Near the bottom of the steps stood Spencer, keeping an eye on the crowd from behind his dark sunglasses. Every rigid line of his body, from his tense shoulders to his resting military stance, screamed “Don’t mess with me.”
Despite her earlier words, she found his overt show of strength oddly comforting. Especially considering it looked like even more people had shown up than the sheik’s assistant had led her to expect. They’d cordoned off a small area around the podium from which she would make a speech. From there, a long red carpet cut a swath through the crowds to their waiting limo. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath.
Everything was riding on this trip. In a few days, she would give her big presentation—but this initial intro speech would be the one that would either get people’s attention or not. There were a slew of dignitaries in attendance, and their assessment of her here and now would determine whether they’d come to her presentation. That would, in turn, determine whether she could drum up enough donor interest to get the funding she needed to continue her program after this scheduled delivery. If she failed at any step along the way, her foundation would fold and children around the world would lose a resource focused on helping them out of poverty.
No pressure at all.
She made her way down the steps, the wind making her glad for the slim cut of her dress and the fact that she’d decided to tie her hair back beneath her prim sun hat. It wouldn’t do to flash this crowd or show any impropriety.
Near the bottom of the staircase, Spencer stepped in beside her, the warm weight of his hand at her lower back reassuring as he guided her forward to the podium. His movements were a bit stiff and cold—playing up formality for their audience, which would expect it—but at the last second he leaned in and whispered, “You got this.”
At least she had one vote of confidence.
Toni launched into her memorized speech, saying the right things at the right times and pointing to the appropriate graphs and charts when needed. If someone had asked her later what she remembered about the event, she couldn’t have told them a thing. She usually prided herself on living in the moment and taking everything in, but today… Well, today she felt lucky to remember her own name, let alone those of the dignitaries staring back at her with unreadable expressions.
Though she couldn’t remember the details, she was sure she’d hit all of her major project points and highlighted the ways in which her e-reader distribution would benefit the country of Jubail both educationally and economically. Since the goal was to increase investment in her program, she also highlighted her goals to carry the program into other regions and let the citizens of other nations experience similar benefits.
Job done. If not well, then at least competently and concisely. By the time she was finished, she felt hot and flustered and ready to collapse in a puddle of stressed-out goo. As if sensing her fatigue, Spencer moved in once more and whisked her down the red carpet to the limo. The press called out a barrage of questions, but she ignored them. A later presentation would be scheduled specifically for the media, so there was no harm in ignoring them now. They’d get their chance.
Once she was settled in the cool leather interior of the air-conditioned car, she took a deep breath and rubbed her throbbing temples. Perhaps it was the heat that made her feel lightheaded. Then again, maybe it was the man sitting beside her, a slow and devastatingly handsome grin spreading across his face. “You did fantastic out there,” he said. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and crossed his ankle over his knee, his green gaze narrowing as he looked at her, his expression growing more concerned. “You okay? You’re pretty pale.”
She nodded. “I think so. I’m probably just having an adrenaline crash. I was really stressed over that presentation.”
Her tone must’ve sounded less than confident, if his frown was any indication. “When did you last eat?” he asked.
“I nibbled a bit on the plane. Apart from that, before we left DC, I guess.” Toni gave a shaky shrug and stared out the tinted window at Jubail’s glittering capital city of Hasan in the distance, all sleek skyscrapers and luxury resorts. “The temperature is warmer than I expected for this time of year.”
“Yeah.” Spencer snorted. “I remember the first time I was here with my SEAL team, one of my buddies, Gage, got heat exhaustion. Of course, the jackass was trying to show us all how tough he was by hauling two armed torpedoes on his back at the time.”
