Page 73 of Zain

The man who, once again, would come through for her. He hadn’t let her die in the cave, had shielded her from a bomb, had protected her with his life without question. Wherever Zain was now, he was moving heaven and earth to find her.

She had to do everything possible to help him succeed. Because she wouldn’t allow Zain to carry another ounce of guilt or pain.

All she had to do was stay alive and make it easy for him to find her.

To start, she had to figure out who was behind this in the first place. She replayed her captor’s questions about her relationship with Zain.

Why would that matter? What piece did their involvement hold in this puzzle?

It shouldn’t matter if they’d slept together, but for some messed-up reason it did...

Her brain raced, trying to make sense of the mess, just as it had when Zain first kissed her. She’d thought he’d fallen for her, but he’d only wanted to fool Ali into—

“Oh my god,” she whispered. Ali was involved. Had to be. He was the only one who had a shred of proof regarding her intimacy with Zain.

That was how her captor knew she’d lied. He’d tested her and she’d failed. But what did Ali want with her? He wanted to kill her, of course. But what information did he want about Zain’s mission?

Considering she knew very little about Zain’s objective overseas, she wouldn’t figure that out. If Zain didn’t piece together Ali’s involvement, he wouldn’t find her. She had to secure her escape.

And fast.

***

“Hang on afucking minute,” Rami cautioned. “You’re gonna blow this.”

But Zain couldn’t contain his fury. Heat, scalding and lethal, burned his extremities. He’d been lied to. He’d been used. And now, those same cocksuckers had gone after Dana.

An innocent person in all this shit.

Zain paced the boardroom. The space was too small, and the walls and ceiling moved closer and closer to him, containing him in a box no bigger than a prison cell. He pressed his forefingers to his temples and closed his eyes over the roaring of blood against his eardrums. “Where’d you get this information?” he asked Ghost.

“Well, you’re not going to believe this, but Ali is an informant for the CIA.”

Zain blinked. “What? How do you know?”

Ghost sat and laced his fingers behind his head. “I have an intel guy in Afghanistan—”

“Who?” Zain demanded. He wanted names and he wanted answers.

“He’s the same colleague I called when Dana was attacked. He’s the best of the best. Hacker extraordinaire. He worked government-level jobs until they couldn’t afford him.”

“So how’d he find out about Ali?”

“Ali’s phone records can be traced right to Langley.”

Zain snorted. That was pretty fucking damning. The revelation sat like battery acid in his stomach. He couldn’t piece shit together fast enough, not when he needed this informationyesterday and his mind couldn’t get over the fucking shock of how royally he’d been fucked.

“Ali was ordered to arrange the bombing of your SUV on the way to the airport. No surprise. But Maxine ordered the hit.”

Rage prickled in his eye sockets. He balled his hands into fists. That fucking bitch. She’d lied about everything. Tricked him. And gone after Dana. “I don’t understand,” he growled. “Why do this? Why go after her? Dana knew nothing. Hell, I fucking knew nothing other than that they wanted to get to Jabar. Hardly something to kill a civilian over.”

Ghost’s hardened face was unreadable. “There’s more.”

Zain continued pacing. He couldn’t keep still. Couldn’t contain himself another goddamn minute let alone listen to facts that were tearing his life apart. But he had to. He’d walk through a minefield and back if it meant they’d find Dana. “Tell me.”

Ghost rocked forward in the chair and the metal squeaked. He rested his arms on the table. “This is gonna be hard to hear, but you need to know.”

Zain froze. A low buzz of warning sounded in his ears.

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