Page 13 of Her Sensual Protector

“Why would they want to know if he was working with terrorists if he was kidnapped by terrorists? That doesn’t make sense,” Nic, the youngest of their team asked.

“Good question. Because they’re idiots. But that wasn’t what they were really after. They wanted her to stop all of the ruckus her family was causing in the States to get her father freed. It wasn’t looking good for the government or for the officials in Afghanistan. She refused. Boy, did she refuse.”

“What do you mean?” Raiden, their team medic asked in his normal thoughtful way. He had a gleam in his eye. Leo could tell he wanted in on the joke.

“They had no idea who Daisy was. None. Nada. They thought she was just the youngest child of the Squires clan, coming to ask the ambassador for help. She put up with their bullshit for only so long, then she stood up and slapped the desk and started growling at them.”

Raiden’s lip twitched. “Growling?”

“Honest-to-God growling. She stared them down, told them who she was, what she accomplished, and told them to basically get their shit together. It was a beautiful sight to behold.”

Kane McNamara was the first man who started laughing, Cullen Lyons wasn’t far behind. Of course, Kane started laughing first; his woman was quite the ballbuster. After they started laughing the whole team joined in. Even Max Hogan, their leader chuckled, which was rare for him; he was a pretty serious guy.

“But you ended up getting a sit-down with her, right?” Kane asked.

“Absolutely.”

“How?” Cullen asked. “If she was such a ballbuster, why would she be willing to sit down and talk to you?”

“All I know is she left all those guys eating her dust, but as she was leaving the conference room, she winked at me.”

Every man in the tiny room groaned. “Heartthrob does it again,” Asher Thorne said with disgust.

“And don’t you forget it. I know you all think it’s the Italian Stallion with his curly hair and soulful eyes, but it’s me. They love us Latin Lover types.” Leo buffed his nails against his dusty T-shirt.

Again the men groaned, all except Ezio. “What, Ezio, you’re not going to disagree?” Leo looked over at his Italian teammate. “You don’t want to fight for your Italian Lothario status?”

“Hell no. I have Samantha, I already know I’ve won,” Ezio smirked.

“Okay, boys, can it. I want to hear the real stuff. What did you find out when you got Daisy alone?” Max asked.

“She told me that if her old man has been in countries where it’s been necessary to deal with the local terrorist organizations to get the people the care they needed, he wouldn’t have batted an eye. The problem here is that a lot of the clerics aren’t real down with his approach, which riles up the terrorists, so it makes him a target. She knows this. She’s not wearing rose-colored glasses where her father is concerned.”

“So he’s all about the medicine. How do you think he’s interacting with his captors? Did you get a read on that from her?” Max nodded.

“He’d be a stubborn asshole. There’d be no give,” Leo answered.

“Great, just great. So that means the Haqqani Network will be chomping at the bit to kill him as soon as Siraj gets back from Pakistan,” Kane said disgustedly. “The man doesn’t have the sense God gave a gnat.”

“That about sums it up,” Leo agreed. “I worry what Daisy’s next move is going to be.”

Max’s head shot up and his eyes pinned him. “What do you mean by that? She did her thing. She went to the embassy and demanded they act. What other play does she have?”

“I don’t know. She’s smart and determined. She couldn’t have built up her charity the way she has without being willing to go over, under, and around any and all obstacles to get what she wants. She’s not going to let the ambassador stop her from trying to get to her father.”

“But she knows there is a rescue being planned, doesn’t she?” young Nic asked. “I mean, it’s kind of obvious that you’re special forces.”

“It better not have been,” Max growled.

“Nic’s right, it was to her. I told you, she’s smart. She put it together by the time she was done shaking my hand. I didn’t confirm nor deny any of her questions. She was adamant about knowing what our timeline was. That’s what worries me. She’s going to do something.”

“Fuck,” Max said as he ran his hand through his dark hair. “We don’t need this. Kane, call Tom and have someone put a tail on her, in case they haven’t already. I want her watched in case she does something stupid. Okay, onto our next order of business.” Max motioned for Kane to open up his field-grade laptop. That thing could withstand bullets and some minor explosions. And one time it had withstood Kane throwing it thirty yards in frustration.

“Hold on.” Leo looked over at Raiden and grinned. They watched as Kane went into his duffel and pulled out a bulky sack. He loosened the draw string and took out a bunch of bubble wrap, which he carefully unwrapped until he got to his mini-projector. He might be brutal with his laptop, but his projector was dealt with like fine bone china.

He plugged it into his laptop, and images appeared on the far wall.

“Lights, Nic,” Kane said.