LITMIR.BIZ

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wild beat. They all held automatic weapons.

      Samuel swore and dropped his field book before taking her hand to pull her ahead of him. She tripped as she started to run, her hand slipping free of his. Get to the Jeep. That was her only thought as she pumped her legs as hard as she could. But she could already see that the Jeep was too far away.

      They weren’t going to make it.

      Oh God, please no.

      She heard Samuel’s heavy footfalls behind her. Hard breathing. More swearing.

      “Run faster!” he yelled.

      She didn’t have to be told. If they were caught …

      She couldn’t think it.

      Gunfire exploded. Sabine screamed and scrambled to dodge the spitting dirt where bullets struck the ground. The truck skidded to a halt between them and the Jeep. More bullets sprayed at their feet, forcing them to stop running.

      Several men jumped off the open truck, shouting in Farsi, “Don’t move! Don’t move!”

      Samuel grabbed Sabine’s arm and pulled her behind him. She wanted to keep running. Instinct urged her to get away. But they’d shoot her if she tried. Shaking, she peered around Samuel’s big arm and watched in horror as rebels surrounded them.

      After a stuffy flight from Washington, D.C., Cullen McQueen left Miami’s sweltering heat and entered Executive Indemnity Corporation. A security guard behind a reception desk looked up and smiled.

      “I’m here to see Noah Page,” Cullen said. “He’s expecting me.”

      “Your name?”

      “Henrietta,” Cullen answered.

      The man nodded his understanding and stood. He led Cullen to a locked door and let him through. Cullen entered a sprawling office area surrounded by closed doors. He spotted a woman standing near one of them.

      She smiled. “You can go right in, Mr….”

      “Thanks.” He smiled back at her and went into the conference room. Only one person knew his name here, and he was going to keep it that way.

      Noah Page stood with his arms behind his back, staring out a panel of tinted windows on the far side of the room. He turned as Cullen shut the door. His face was lined and pale. Dark circles matched the grave worry in his blue eyes and his gray hair looked as if he’d run his fingers through it several times.

      Cullen walked the length of the long conference room table and stopped before Noah, shaking his hand.

      “Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Noah said.

      “You said it was urgent. Something about your daughter?”

      Noah swallowed, a scared reflex. The notion of a man like Noah Page being scared piqued Cullen’s curiosity. And a heap of foreboding.

      “She’s been kidnapped.”

      Cullen went still. “Do you know where she is?”

      “Yes … Afghanistan. The Panjshir Valley.”

      That was in the mountains. The Hindu Kush. There weren’t many worse places Noah’s daughter could have been captured. “What’s she doing there?”

      “She’s a contractor for Envirotech. She and another contractor were assessing groundwater conditions near one of the villages in the valley when they were abducted. I need you to get her out of there, Cullen. You’re the only one I know who can do it.”

      Cullen laughed without humor. “You must have me confused with God.”

      “No.” Noah sounded certain. “You know the terrain. You’ve done this kind of mission before. You do it all the time.”

      Not suicide missions, Cullen thought. He curbed his instinct to flat-out refuse Noah. “I know you’re worried about your daughter, but you have to realize how difficult it will be to get her out of there. Not only is Afghanistan unstable, it’s landlocked. You’d have to cross Indian and Pakistani ground defenses to get there.” That didn’t even begin to address U.S. forces inside the border.

      “I’ve already met with the Minister of the Interior in Pakistan. He’s agreed to clear you a flight plan into Afghanistan. There are regularly scheduled flights we can use as cover.”

      Cullen just stared at him.

      “I’ve also procured two armed Mi-8 transport helicopters capable of flying high altitudes, one for backup and to carry extra fuel,” Noah continued. “You’ll have a DeHavilland Twin Otter equipped with a special jamming pod. It’s been modified to fly long distances, too. I spared no expense on the equipment.”

      Rising tension tightened Cullen’s jaw. He could not agree to this. But it was Noah asking.

      “She’s all I have left,” Noah said in the silence, a pleading sound that didn’t match the man. “I wouldn’t ask if I had any other option.” He leaned over the conference room table and pushed a newspaper toward Cullen.

      Slowly, Cullen lowered his gaze. The page covering the kidnapping of two American contractors was exposed. Cullen had read about the kidnapping and seen it all over the news, but he’d never connected the name Sabina O’Clery with Noah Page. The media had stirred huge public interest in the female contractor who’d been taken by terrorists along with her partner, Samuel Barry.

      He looked at the photo of Sabine. She smiled wide and bright, green eyes dancing with life, red hair long and thick. She was a beautiful woman. He’d thought so the first time he’d seen the photo. He’d also thought with regret that she would probably be killed before anyone could do anything.

      Cullen raised only his eyes to look at Noah. Why did it have to be Afghanistan?

      “You’re my only hope of seeing my daughter alive again,” Noah said quietly, urgently. “I’ve made mistakes in my life, but this one will kill me if she dies over there. Before I have a chance to make things right with her.”

      Cullen wanted to groan out loud. How could he say no? To Noah. Any other man, he’d already have been walking out the door. But Noah …

      He couldn’t say no. He had to do it. He owed Noah too much.

      “It’s going to take time to plan,” he heard himself say.

      Noah closed his eyes, a sign that he recognized Cullen’s indirect agreement. “How much time?”

      “A week. Maybe less. I have to be careful.” And wasn’t that just the understatement of the year.

      Noah nodded. “I know you’ll do the best you can.”

      Even his best might not keep him alive, but he held that thought to himself. “What kind of intelligence do you have?” Cullen looked down at the table and saw a map and several satellite images.

      “Before we talk strategy, there’s something you need to understand about my daughter.”

      Cullen looked back at Noah and waited. What could possibly matter when her life was on the line?

      “She despises me.”

      Cullen couldn’t stop his brow from rising.

      “She has for years,” Noah continued. “Ever since she was old enough to think on her own.”

      “I’m sure she’ll change her mind once she sets foot on American soil again, compliments of you.”

      Noah shook his head. “You don’t understand. You can’t tell her I sent you.”

      “What do you want me to—”

      “If you tell her I sent you, she’ll find her own way home as soon as you get her out of Afghanistan. I know her. She won’t stay with you.”

      “What am I supposed to say to her? I can’t tell her who I am, either.”

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