Page 4 of Commander

“I’m sure you could still do those things. Albeit with an audience.”

“The last thing I’ll want to do is to put on a full face of makeup and look pristine to go get some comfort food. I’d need a ringmaster to control the chaos.”

“You do realize, your marriage would have been less of a media circus if you’d decided to tie the knot before he took office?” He rubbed a thumb under my eye. “You look exhausted.”

“If I’d done that then this last assignment wouldn’t be feasible. With the American people focused on me and the ‘American wedding of the century’—” I air quoted, “—the team can implement our plan.”

A slight tremor ran up my spine as I peeked toward the Secret Service agents discreetly positioned outside my door. My privacy had become all but nonexistent the second the election results had come in last fall.

At least the head of my security was an agent in Solon and understood my need for discretion. Whenever I “worked,” he’d make sure I was given enough space so I wouldn’t break attorney-client privilege. Well, that was the excuse given to the rest of my protection detail.

“It’s dangerous and could place all of us in the middle of a scandal bigger than anything we’ve ever faced. Are you sure it’s worth it? There are other ways.”

“There are no other ways,” I countered. “Ameera Kamini sacrificed her safety countless times to help us. The least we can do is help her escape the web she was caught in because of us.”

Three months ago, my best friend and fellow Solon agent had been kidnapped by a terrorist organization known for human trafficking. They’d assumed she was an American spy and decided to auction her for the information she knew. I’d entered the auction as a potential bidder under an assumed name I’d used during various operations. The only stipulation I had to meet was to show a net worth of over one hundred million. With the money I’d get from Ashur I qualified. Now we were in a wait-and-see mode. The date was set for two weeks from now, but the place and exact time of the bidding was still unknown.

“It has the potential to cause an international incident if we don’t time this right.”

“Not if you do your part and I do mine. Once she is on US soil again, I can relax.”

It killed me that Ameera wouldn’t be part of the wedding. Even worse was not knowing where she was. We’d followed countless leads, but by the time my agents reached her, Ameera’s captors had moved to a new location.

“No, that’s when the trouble’s going to start. The story of her being on assignment is only going to work for a few more weeks. We’re lucky no one has grown suspicious since she has a history of living out of the country for long periods of time.”

“We’ve had the decoy checking in. As far as anyone knows she’s on assignment in South Africa. We’ll make sure to debrief her on her reports before she goes back in.”

“Tara, we don’t know what condition she’ll be in when we find her. She may never go back.”

“She’s strong. No matter what happens, she won’t break.”

I had to believe this—the alternative was unthinkable.

“We have another problem to navigate. Actually, two problems.”

“What?” I asked.

“Her father has entered the auction.”

I clenched my teeth. “How do you know? And how the fuck did he find out she was missing?”

Ameera was the daughter of Hamir Ustaf, the self-proclaimed king of Janestan, a small country near India and Pakistan. Nearly thirty years ago, while attending Princeton, he’d had a one-night stand with Ameera’s mother, Nicola Kamini, a fashion model. Ameera had never met Hamir and wanted nothing to do with him.

As far as the world was concerned, Nicola’s husband, Travis Angelo, was her biological father.

It wasn’t until she was twenty-five and working at the UN as a foreign relations specialist that she’d met Hamir. He’d expected her to accept him with open arms but was shocked when she’d informed him that any contact with her could result in arrest for his crimes against humanity.

What Hamir hadn’t known was she worked for Solon and was aware of everything he’d done from the time he’d left the university until he’d become the dictator. He was the poster boy for the type of people Solon fought against.

Needless to say, Hamir hadn’t taken the slight well and had vowed to make her see the correct way to treat her father.

Tyler looked out the window and ran a hand through his hair. “The same way we found out they’re auctioning Ameera.”

The dark web. This hidden portion of the web was scoured by Solon agents continuously and was how we conducted most of our operations.

“Ustaf has created a counter auction to find his daughter and bring her to him.”

“So, he’s going to buy her, just to sell her in marriage to the most useful bidder?”

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