FRIDAY. UNKNOWN, IRAQ.ERIN LOPEZ BALANCED HER weight on the ball of her right foot, doing her best Olympic gymnast impression. The crate had to be at least a decade old and wasn't structurally sound. She pressed her ear to the side of the building and listened to the vibrations transmitted by the stone. She willed them to tell her something, impart her captor's secrets, but all she got was a very cold ear for her trouble.When she'd first been dumped down here, she'd told herself that someone was coming to get her. As poorly organized as this group was, NexGen's security would find her.She'd held fast to that idea for all of twenty-four hours.The last day hadn't provided her with any reason to believe someone was coming for her, and that meant her chances of getting out of here were getting fewer by the second.The reality of her situation was that to these people she was a foreigner working for a foreign company taking what should belong to the local people. If NexGen
Erin held up her hand, shielding her eyes from the kitchen light. After almost three days of darkness, even a little light was too much.A man grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her up the steep stairs. Her head ached, and her eyes couldn't quite focus after being in the dark for days. Someone spat curses at her while another jerked her scarf down, covering her face.She saved her breath. These people had been hurt and wronged. They wanted a target for their anger. Begging them to see her as a person wouldn't change them. With any luck, her compliance would make them lazy. When they underestimated her, that would be her one and only chance out of this."What are you doing?" a woman demanded. The only woman Erin had heard."We're going," the man in charge of this faction said."No. No, you are not," the woman said."We have been here too long. It is not safe.""You cannot go anywhere now, you idiots. Weren't you listening? The truck isn't working."Several people mutter
FRIDAY. UNKNOWN, IRAQ.RILEY CAUGHT SIGHT OF another pair of men in long, white garments. They were being trailed from both sides. That accounted for four of the eight they'd identified as a threat."Grant? Nolan? Can anyone hear me?" he said, keeping his voice low."They're following us," Erin said.Fuck.There was some kind of interference on the comms. Once again, whatever toys these people had didn't make sense for the kind of operation they were running. "This way." Riley grabbed Erin's hand and pulled her into the darker shadows of one of the homes."What are we doing?" Erin whispered.Did he lie to her and keep her calm? Or did he bank on the hope she was cool under pressure given her background?He rolled the proverbial dice and decided to take his chances. The woman in that video who'd fought back was someone he'd like to work with."We're cut off from my team," he said. "We have a vehicle parked past these homes behind a service station. I need to get
"How so?" Riley didn't want to put ideas in her head, but he was of the same mind."They jammed your comms." She turned to stare at him. "An eight-person team breached a well-guarded facility in a heavily patrolled area-for what purpose? I'm not valuable. I don't have security clearance. Their resources don't match them. So either they bought the equipment-with what money?-or someone gave it to them because they wanted to hit that location." "Why would they do that?" he asked."Because someone wanted me out of the way or dead." She slid down in her seat. "I think...""You don't know for sure they were after you." What was it about Erin Lopez they didn't know? Why was she a target? He and the others hadn't figured out why they'd grab Erin, either.Erin studied him for a moment. He could feel himself hanging in the balance as she weighed him against something else. Could he say or do something to make her trust him? There was something about her eyes and that crooked smile of
FRIDAY, MOSUL, IRAQI KURDISTAN.MARK FOREST CLIMBED THE stairs to the ramshackle building that served as Allied Security's headquarters. It was a far cry from the air conditioned, comfortable office he'd had with NexGen, that was for sure. He'd had it made, and that upstart bitch had cut him off at the knees. Now he was reduced to running his company out of a shack and doing what amounted to the armored Uber of the Middle East.He peeled off his Kevlar vest and hung his helmet on a peg to dry. Though the city was undergoing a massive clean-up effort, and everyone wanted a piece of the pie of what was to be the biggest, organized city development in decades. He sat at his desk, the weariness weighing on his shoulders.It wasn't supposed to be like this. He'd scraped his way to the top. That NexGen gig was supposed to be his. He'd put in the hours, recruited the men, did the jobs. The side work was what it took to keep business going. Everyone knew there was a cost, and they tru
Once more, Erin flipped the lights off and jumped in bed before she could talk herself out of it.She squeezed her eyes shut, willing her mind to remember the room bathed in light instead of shrouded in shadow. She listened to her own breathing. The size of the room didn't matter. It was still damn loud, just like it had been in the cellar.Any minute, someone was going to bang on the door and jolt her awake.This wasn't working.She needed to move, to pace, to see.Erin rolled out of bed and flipped the lights back on.The stress had worn her thin. What she needed was to get home, back in her apartment, have a strong drink, maybe a sleeping pill. She'd work through this. She had to. She would.A tap at her door made her stop short.It wasn't the hinge rattling bang, but it might as well have been the way her heart galloped in her chest.She stared at the shadows under the door.Who was it?Another tap."It's me," Riley muttered.She glanced at the digital clo
SATURDAY, ERBIL, KURDISTAN.MARK FOREST CHECKED HIS phone again.His bad luck was changing. The dark cloud that had shadowed him ever since the day that woman stepped into his life was finally clearing out. His little kidnap scheme might have failed, but he'd entrusted ignorant people with a task far beyond their skills. What did he expect was going to happen?This time, he'd chosen his team wisely.Every man stood to lose everything if they let Erin Lopez live. They were committed to shutting her down and salvaging their futures.It was only a matter of time until she realized what she'd inherited. Mark had assumed they'd nipped the problem in the bud when he'd organized Osman Elahi's death. He was just another NexGen employee. Mark had found out too late that Osman was a paranoid bastard who made backups of his backups.Finally a text message came through.An address."Buckle up," Mark said to the men clustered into the back of the van.They'd get one shot at thi
Riley held up his hands. "Not...exactly."The doors opened again, and the other four members of the team hauled two plastic traveling crates inside while Thomas, Erin's bodyguard, trailed behind them. NexGen had insisted he'd be of service, but the guy was dead weight."Grant?" Melody infused a note of sweetness in her voice.Grant straightened and eyed Melody like he might a snake."Come here, please?" she asked.Grant crossed to the bar and leaned against it."He slept with the asset," Melody whispered."So?" Grant shrugged. "They're adults.""It's not appropriate." Melody blinked rapidly."Look, you're still new so you haven't been around, but this happens." Grant picked up a cup and drained it."We need to discuss this policy, because it isn't okay. How are you okay with this?""I trust my guys." Grant glanced at Riley. "We hire the best.""Erin." Grant nodded at the woman who'd almost snuck up on them. "Have a nice drive?""Yeah. Sure." Erin's reply was w