Page 25 of ELITE Protection
“Hannah,I need you to wake up.” Isaac’s voice seemed to come from far away. It was not the lover’s caress she had expected.
The instant his words penetrated her sleep, Hannah bolted upright. “How close are they?” She threw off the covers and leaped out of bed.
Where the hell are my clothes?Her gaze darted around the unfamiliar room. She tried to put together the pieces of yesterday. Nothing seemed to match up except the fear that had run through her every day and every night since she’d landed in Syria two years ago.
“Where the hell am I?” She heard the panic in her own voice.
Isaac stepped to her and wrapped his arms around her.
She knew him. He equaled safety. When his hand traced up and down her spine, and he allowed them to just stand there, she knew the danger was not close.
“What’s going on?” She leaned back to look into his eyes.
“Why don’t you get dressed,” he suggested. “Coffee is ready, and I’ll whip us up some breakfast.” Isaac released her and took a step back.
He didn’t seem to be the warm, tender lover from last night. This man was all business. Damn, she hated morning afters. They were always so awkward, but it wasn’t like she could get dressed and make the walk of shame back to her own place. She and Isaac were stuck together for the unforeseeable future.
Resigned, she told him, “I’ll be there in a minute.” Then she reconsidered. “Do I have time for a shower?”
“Sure.” Isaac turned and left the room. His one-word sentence told her she was not going to like their next conversation.
Refreshed from a hot shower, dressed in yoga pants that she often wore as long underwear and a turtleneck, Hannah padded in her sock-covered feet into the kitchen, following the smell of food.
From the tight muscles in his face, Isaac looked angry as he stirred cheese into eggs.
Not one to put things off, she jumped right in. “Tell me the bad news.”
She watched the muscle in his jaw expand and contract several times.
“Are you married?” He didn’t even look at her.
“No.” She’d never even been engaged. Although Aziz had often spoken of making her his wife, he had never asked her to marry him. “What gave you that idea?”
Isaac turned the fire off from under the eggs and spun to look at her. “Why does ISIS want you dead?”
Hannah closed her eyes. She knew this day was going to come. She just hated that Isaac was going to be the one to hear her story. He’d realize what an immature child she’d been. She hated to look like a fool, especially to him.
“It’s a long story, and one I’m not very proud of.” She opened her eyes expecting to see his condemnation already.
His face was totally unreadable.
“Can we at least sit down for this?” She wasn’t sure if she could continue to stand.
“Grab the plates,” he ordered. “I’m hungry. We’ll eat and talk.”
She sighed at the reprieve and grabbed two plates from next to the sink where they had dried overnight.
She set her plate on the table, and he took the seat across from her. Shrugging, she admitted, “I’m not sure where to start.”
Isaac forked up some eggs and stuffed them in his mouth. He stared at her as he chewed. He was not going to be any help.
“Okay, you know I was in the YPJ, the all-female battalion in the Syrian army. Since I had three years of college—”
Isaac interrupted her. “Exactly how did you end up in the middle of the civil war in Syria?”
A chuckle escaped before her lips drew into a thin line. “In college, I was studying international relations and political science.” A better idea of how to explain it came to her, so she changed directions. “It was just like the other night when we were watching TV. Back then I saw a news flash where young girls in Syria had been kidnapped from a small town near the Iraqi border. It was very close to the refugee camp where I had been born. I felt this tremendous need to go there and help those girls.”
His brows drew together. “But you’re an American, right?”
