Shiva (34 page)

How could he not be? Here he stood
,
against all odds
,
drinking a shake with the love of his life
,
not forty
-
eight hours after being drugged and kidnapped. If that didn
’
t prove God was pretty awesome, he didn
’
t know what would.

After draining the cup of its contents, Brandt set it down on the counter and pulled Rebecca into a hug.
“
Come here.
”

She laid her hands on his chest.
“
You are freaking me out a little here.
”

“
In a good or bad way?
”
he asked, pressing their hips together.

Her cheeks flushed
“
Well, I
’
d thought the bad way, but now…
”

“
But now, what?
”
He asked as his palm caressed her cheek, his thumb stroking the soft skin.

Rebecca
’
s one hand snaked up his neck, pulling him down toward her. Her other hand made its way down his belly, tugging his shirt up until she touched flesh. His skin rippled under her touch.

“
Now?
”
she murmured.
“
I
’
m pretty sure there is a king-sized bed upstairs.
”

He loved how she thought.

Their lips met. Hers warm and inviting. Despite all the trauma it had been through, his body responded the way it always did. Roused, he pulled her even tighter to him. His hands coursed over her back, tugging
up
her shirt. Their tongues intertwined
,
foreshadowing
what their bodies would be doing very, very soon.

If it
weren
’
t
for the fact that Vakasa could stray out at any moment, Brandt would have taken Rebecca right there and then.

“
Whoa!
”
Lopez shouted as he entered, throwing a hand over his eyes.
“
Put a sock on the door or something.
”

They broke off the kiss, but did not break their embrace.

“
Having difficulty finding us a suitable getaway car?
”
Brandt asked
,
hoping that his tone backed
off
Lopez.

“
Difficulty?
”
Lopez snorted
,
entering the room.
“
Finding a beater car in Egypt is about as hard as finding a corn on the cob at a state fair.
”

Of course the corporal had found a car in under five minutes. It was
Lopez
. Brandt knew he should get back to work, but damn if Rebecca didn
’
t feel so right in his arms.

He couldn
’
t exactly order the corporal out of the room so he could make out with his fiancée. He
’
d have to find a more creative way.
“
Perhaps you would like to
—
”

Then Lopez spied the parlor.
“
Shakes? Are you kidding me?
”

Rebecca loosened her embrace as the corporal ran over to the counter.

“
If they
’
ve got peanut butter
,
I can make it into ribbons for a Reese
’
s
-
style shake!
”

Sighing, Brandt let Rebecca back away from him. Maybe having a shake machine around all the time wasn
’
t such a great idea.

CHAPTER 13

═══════════
═══════

Undisclosed Location

1:18
p
.
m
.
(
EST
)

“
We
’
ve got a problem,
”
Stark said, stirring Bunny out of her semi-sleep.

“
What?
”
Prenner asked
,
his tone as starched as his uniform. How the guy could go all night and not wrinkle his jacket went against all that was right.

Stark pointed to the screen.
“
Mr. Saramais has been receiving numerous payments
—
from numerous countries and agencies.
”

Bunny scanned the bank account list. Several names popped up. The Bahamas Commonwealth Bank. Probably one of the most famous CIA front companies out there. She turned to Emily.

The woman gritted her teeth, flipping open her phone.
“
On it.
”

Another account that stood out was the New Hong Kong Import Company. Bunny had seen the name before. Like how they had traced funds from that Chinese front company to the team that
had
attacked them in Russia.

Another line item was from the Iranian government
—
directly. No cover or front there. Just the Islamic Republic of Iran Treasury.

“
What are all these payments for?
”
Bunny asked
,
a question
that
she felt was rhetorical
,
except Stark answered it.

“
Research,
”
he stated.
“
Or at least that
’
s what the grants say.
”

“
On what?
”
Bunny thought out loud. The Viking study probably cost a grand total of a couple hundred thousand dollars. The totals on this ledge added up into the millions, tens of millions.

Stark stretched
out
his fingers, cracking the knuckles.
“
That is going to take me a while. Saramias has got his own shell companies
,
plus a Swiss
and
Cayman Island account.
”

“
I guess if you are trying to hide from the Disciples, you would need a ton of capital,
”
Prenner suggested.

But what if Saramias wasn
’
t hiding from the Disciples? What if Saramias was out there as bait? A lure that she had just advised Rebecca
to
take?

“
We
’
ve got to warn them,
”
Bunny stated.

Prenner shook his head.
“
We agreed to radio silence until they leave Egypt.
”

Bunny bit the edge of her fingernail. It turned out it was just as hard to be on this side of the radio as it was in the field. As she rubbed the scar that came around her rib and ended at her sternum, she realized maybe not quite as hard as out in the field, but pretty damned close.

* * *

Rebecca adjusted her
jibab
so that it completely covered her clothes. The long
,
flowing
black
robe obscured any figure Rebecca might have liked to think she had.

Talli held out another garment.
“
This is your
niqab
.
”

“
I thought it was a
burka
?
”
Davidson asked.

Rebecca shook her head, studying the hat-like garment that would cover her head and face.
“
No, a
burka
is a single garment. It isn
’
t worn nearly as common in Egypt as it is in Saudi Arabia.
”
Rebecca took the
niqab
.
“
This way
,
once inside
,
a women can easily take off the
niqab
yet still be modestly dressed from the neck down.
”

“
Modest?
”
Lopez snorted, sucking down his third shake.
“
More like get thee to a nunnery.
”

“
I think that is the point,
”
Rebecca stated. She knew dressing in the local fashion was important. It was important to blend in. To mask her very Western features. Still
,
she hesitated to put on the
niqab
. Many woman around the world voluntarily covered their hair and face as a matter of their religion. Many others didn
’
t do it voluntarily. In countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran
,
they could be beaten or whipped for showing their face to non-related males.

“
You could stay with Lopez,
”
Brandt suggested.

Rebecca shot him a look. Like she
’
d pass up the chan
c
e to ask Saramias what the hell was going on? Yeah, right. Besides, she had just nearly gotten squeezed to death by a python. A veil shouldn
’
t be that big a deal. As Rebecca donned her
niqab
, the little girl next to her did as well. Even though the child was going to stay with Lopez in the getaway car, it was best to keep her identity under wraps.

“
Don
’
t worry,
”
Rebecca murmured to Vakasa as she lowered the eye veil. The girl gave a thumbs
-
up as she adjusted the veil to fit properly. It appeared she
’
d worn one of these before.

Rebecca wasn
’
t quite so comfortable veiling up the only part of her body that the
jibab
and
niqab
didn
’
t cover. But her blue eyes were a stand out in this part of the world. They had to be concealed.

Dropping the veil over her eyes, Rebecca felt a wave of claustrophobia. And she wasn
’
t even claustrophobic. She had read somewhere that wearing the eye veil was like wearing a dark pair of sunglasses. Um…
T
hey were wrong. A pair of sunglasses made you feel sexy. To her
,
the veil blanked out her identity.

Brandt put his arm around her and kissed the fabric.
“
You
’
re still beautiful.
”

She shoved him away.
“
You say that to all the black
-
robed, indistinguishable women you meet.
”

“
If it helps any, I
’
m wearing a hat too,
”
Brandt said as Talli finished with the head garment. The scarf was a bright red with a white-checkered pattern
,
carried down from the days of Mesopotamia.

“
It
’
s called a
keffiyah
,
”
Rebecca chided.
“
And it has a function to keep the heat and sun from the top of your head.
”

Talli indicated to the flap on the side of the scarf.
“
Use this
to
guard your mouth and nose if we get into any sandy areas.
”

“
With any luck
,
we should be going into a building
,
then right back out to the airport
,
”
Brandt said before turning to the men.
“
All right. In light of recent events
,
this is a country in unrest. We have got to lie low
…
Lopez?
”

The corporal adjusted his
agal
, the rope that kept the fabric secured to the head.
“
Army crawl, Sarge. That
’
s my goal.
”

Brandt seemed satisfied, nodding for them to move out. He took
Rebecca
’
s
hand, helping her down the short staircase to the hangar floor. If she
’
d thought the
jibab
was bad on the plane? Try wearing a black all
-
consuming garment in ninety-five-degree-plus weather. Rebecca was already sweating.