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Before Talib could reply, his laptop buzzed notifying him the satellite images were ready to be viewed. PJ stepped closer to him as he pulled up the images from the last two hours and began to scroll through them.
She watched the images, scouring them for any signs that humans had travelled back across the border. When nothing showed up, she mentally cursed and huffed out a frustrated breath.
Talib looked at the young woman standing close enough he could smell the scent of her shampoo – lemon and some herbal scent he couldn’t immediately identify. It smelled fresh and somehow seemed to fit with her image. Watching her, he waited for her to lift her head and meet his eyes before he spoke, “Do not give up. We will find her, we just haven’t looked in the right place as of yet.”
Chapter 3
Talib started manipulating the images and pretty soon PJ could see the edge of the refugee camp come into focus. As he started to scan through the images once again, PJ took another step closer, leaning her head down towards the small laptop screen to get a better view. She was practically leaning against his back in an effort to see the screen more clearly over his shoulder.
“Stop! What is that?” PJ asked, pointing to the screen where a small dark shadow had appeared.
Talib squinted his eyes as he focused on where her finger was pointing, “I don’t know.” He ignored the way his heart rate had sped up as her arm brushed against his shoulder and neck. Swallowing quickly, he moved the cursor to enlarge the image and advance the playback, grinning when the sight of a donkey with a rider and another human leading the animal appeared. When they moved farther away from the camp, dropping down over the nearest sand dune, and then continued to head towards the border, Talib smiled. We’ve found them!
“That’s them, isn’t it?” PJ a
sked, excitement and energy evident in her voice. She pulled her arm back and straightened as Talib turned to face her.
Talib nodded, “Yes. I believe that is the young man who has been posing as a palace guard for the last few weeks. I believe if the rider were disrobed, we would find Miss Malone.”
“So now what? She doesn’t look like she’s being coerced to go with him.”
“Remember that appearances are often misleading. She does not appear to be fighting him; however, I doubt she went with him willingly without some sort of threat being made against her or the child she carries.”
PJ reared back a step. “What did you just say?” PJ asked, placing her hands upon her hips and narrowing her eyes at him.
“Miss Malone is carrying the future heir of Jawhara. I believe she is only a few months pregnant. The news has not been made public in light of the fact that the wedding has yet to take place.”
“Pregnant? Why wasn’t I told of this? Is there any Brock the guard who took her knows of her condition?” PJ was quickly reassessing the plans that had been forming in her brain. If the kidnapper knew she was pregnant, it made things that much harder because she would be less likely to risk an escape attempt. Damn it! Slade should have been told about this!
Talib was asking himself the same question; he only wished he knew the answer. “The possibility is there. Many of the palace guards have been made aware of her condition as she has been very ill and has only recently begun to feel better. I have been away from the palace for the last two days, and have not yet received status reports since I came directly here upon my arrival. I don’t know what kind of information he might have obtained.”
PJ shook her head; this situation just kept getting better and better. “So, maybe the guy who took her threatened to harm the baby?”
“We need to assume that is the case. Miss Malone would do anything to protect her child, even let herself be taken across the border. She will expect Kamal to move all the sand in the desert to find her. I do not intend to let her down. Bring your men back in.”
Talib watched her give the order for the men to come back to the trucks. As the only female amongst the Jawharan and Americans, he was impressed with her ability to command men who no doubt had much more experience than her. How had she come to be in charge of this mission? It’s obvious that there are much more experienced operatives among her fellow team members.
Shrugging his shoulders and cracking his neck, he tabled that thought for a later time. He quickly briefed the palace guard as to what was happening, ordering them all back to the palace at once. The entire palace was to be placed on lockdown, and as soon as Khalil arrived with Shira, they were to be escorted directly to the palace under heavy guard. Talib was taking no chances that another kidnapping might ensue before this one was resolved.
As they dispersed, he turned to watch PJ still consulting with the small American force. While Talib did not know any of the men personally, he knew Slade, and Slade only hired the best. His guess was that most of the men were ex-Special Forces who decided working for Uncle Sam had its drawbacks.
The only person he was unsure of was PJ. She wasn’t Special Forces – the Americans still believed that some jobs only a man could do. She carried herself with the confidence that only came with military training. He watched her, wondering how she had stumbled into Slade’s arena.
PJ could feel Talib’s eyes on her back and it was beginning to make her nervous. Something that was sure to have her reacting defensively rather than with a cool head. She shrugged her shoulders before turning to meet his stare. “What?!”
Talib quirked a brow at the defensive tone he heard in her voice, “Easy there. I was just wondering how you came to be mixed up with the likes of Slade.”
PJ’s mouth turned up and she laughed, “Slade is one of the best. He served with my brother over in Iraq.” Her smile dimmed at the mention of her brother, but she held onto as much of it as she could.
“So, your brother works for Slade as well?” Talib asked.
PJ sadly shook her head, “No. He never made it back home. He died over there and at the funeral, Slade promised to do everything he could to help me out. Tony had been all the family I had with our parents having been killed years earlier by a drunk driver. I had just finished college and was so messed up emotionally….”
Her voice trailed off and Talib laid a comforting hand upon her shoulder, “You don’t have to continue, if you don’t want to.”
PJ closed her eyes and let the warmth and strength of his touch soothe her nerves, “No, it happened a while ago.” Taking a breath, she continued, “Anyway, I enlisted and served my four years and then told Slade I was taking him up on his offer.”
“You asked him for a job?”
