Exclusive. Katherine Garbera

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      Tory rubbed her head where she felt the beginnings of a bad headache. She and Ben both came from families who were tight and close, she thought. They shared that kind of upbringing and yet there was a part of both them that liked to be alone.

      D.C. was closer than Florida and Ben’s family wouldn’t ask uncomfortable questions. Plus, lately, she suspected that Alex had realized there was more to Ben’s job than met the eye.

      She swallowed hard. She was never really going to be alone again. She’d have a child with her for the rest of her days. A child.

      The words echoed in her head and she felt her entire world spinning out of control. The world that she’d always kept carefully ordered was being filled with chaos.

      Get hold of yourself, Patton. You’re an Athena grad, not some average wimp. She took a deep breath and pulled her Blackberry PDA/cellular phone from her pocket to check Ben’s calendar. He was supposed to be back in the country on Monday. The Fourth was on Friday so they might be able to see the Forsythe family.

      But Tory wasn’t sure that she’d be back from Berzhaan by then. True, it was seven days away, but the timing might be too close.

      Deep inside she knew she was being a coward, afraid to face Alex knowing that she was pregnant with Ben’s child. Afraid to be at a family gathering and know she was carrying the great-grandchild that patriarch Charles Forsythe craved. Afraid that she was going to have to come clean before she was ready to.

      She e-mailed Alex a quick note cautioning her that they might not make it. She mentioned Andrea and the kidnapping, which Alex had undoubtedly heard about by now, and the fact that she was on her way to Berzhaan.

      She e-mailed the three UBC field producers in Berzhaan with the information she’d pulled together so far and asked them to forward anything they had from Andrea. A producer hadn’t been assigned to Tory yet. She hoped that she’d get Joan Simpson, who’d worked directly with Andrea. At the very least she wanted to talk to the woman.

      Tory was booked into the same hotel that Andrea had stayed in and planned to start looking for clues to her friend’s whereabouts there.

      Her phone rang again. “Patton.”

      “It’s Jay. I’ve spent all day roaming around Suwan looking for any locals who might have seen Andrea or know what story she’s been following.”

      “Did you find any?” she asked, pulling out her notepad to take notes.

      “One guy, but I’m not positive he didn’t have Andrea and Shannon confused. He said he saw the blond TV woman yesterday. I’m going to see if I can find anyone to corroborate that.”

      What if Shannon had been the target? What if Andrea had been taken by mistake? Both women were similar in height and build. Tory made a note to find out what she could about Shannon and her reporting from Suwan.

      “That’s something. Can you check out where she was and see what she was asking about? Maybe try to find a more reliable source? I’ll be there shortly and I’m going to want to roll as soon as I hit the ground. I’ve been in touch with the producers and they said Andrea had a hot tip about some sort of rescue mission. Did you get a lead on anything like that?”

      “Not a word, but I spoke only to locals. I didn’t think there were any hostages until Andrea and crew got nabbed.”

      “Me either. I’ll start digging on this end and see what I can find.”

      “Sounds good. I’ll meet you at your hotel later.”

      She turned her attention back to her computer and started looking through files, searching the wire and the databases she had access to.

      Thirty minutes later she found what she was looking for. A unit of Marines had gone down in the mountains of Berzhaan when their helicopter was hit by enemy fire. Four men were rescued but two were missing.

      She had a tingling in her stomach that she couldn’t ignore. Ben was in Berzhaan. Was he close to Suwan? Had he seen Andrea? Damn him for being so cool on the phone when she’d mentioned the incident.

      What kind of relationship did they have?

      She understood the need for secrecy. She wouldn’t betray him. When was he going to start trusting her?

      Chapter 3

      Russ Dorn didn’t like the heat in Berzhaan. It hung in the air in oppressive waves, making a man struggle to breathe. Their contact, a young Berzhaani named Momar, had brought robes for all of his team.

      Russ shifted in his djellaba, not comfortable with the fabric draping over his camouflage. But he knew the importance of blending in. He stopped at the back of the large open-air market and rubbed some dirt into his graying beard to darken it.

      He purchased enough kaffiyeh for all the men. He spoke in Barzhaani, which he’d learned through deep immersion at home, playing only the Suwan national television station and listening to tapes from Berzhaan.

      He’d always had a gift for languages and he’d picked up Berzhaani easily, brushing up on his Russian as well. The language was now a part of him and as he stood in the marketplace letting the sounds flow over him, he felt himself becoming more Berzhaani. He felt it seep into his pores and he was ready for action.

      Larry waited in a small alleyway with Jake Brittan and Rodney Petri, two other fathers who’d joined the group. This was Russ’s elite inner militia. Men who knew how to act in a combat situation and weren’t afraid of the risks. Frankly, the ROE on this mission meant there’d be casualties and Russ knew each of the men was unafraid to give his life for the cause.

      They donned the kaffiyeh headgear and Russ thought they did a good job of looking like men of Islam.

      “Do you have the address for us?” Russ asked Rodney.

      “It’s on Sovetski—the name has been changed to something Berzhaani, but the locals still call it Sovetski. Its two klicks from the embassy in a small residential neighborhood. I’ve programmed the GPS coordinates into your devices.”

      Russ nodded at Rodney. “We’ll meet there at sunset. Larry and I are going to secure local transport back to the plane. You two make sure we have the carpets needed to get our package out of Berzhaan.”

      Rodney and Jake departed and Larry fiddled with his backpack for a minute before handing Russ a Stechkin СКАЧАТЬ