“So get one of them to flip!”
“Right.” The idiot scoffed. “Those guys are true blue. No way they’ll go against the system.”
“If you don’t make this happen, our entire plan is ruined. And that’s unacceptable to me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
There was a slight pause and then, “Yes.”
“Good. Find our targets. I don’t care what it takes. Don’t call me again until you have something useful to say.”
With that, Sadiq ended the call. “Damn it!” He slapped the top of his desk.
Asad had assured him this man could get the job done. But for the first time since finding his dear brother, Sadiq was beginning to question his judgement.
The poor bastard had better pray he finds those he’s been tasked to eliminate. After all, Sadiq’s future depended on it.
****
“You really shouldn’tbe out here.” Trace stepped onto the patio.
For the past five minutes, he’d been watching as Emma stood at the concrete’s edge.
Dressed in a pair of wide-legged denim capris and a soft white top, she had her arms crossed at her waist as she watched two squirrels play and skitter about in the grass at the tree line’s edge.
“They keep dancing around each other,” she spoke with her back to him. “One moves closer, the other steps back. It’s been going on since I came outside, and I was just thinking, they’re acting a lot like us.”
His chest tightened because...she wasn’t wrong.
“Emma.”
She turned to face him, a mouth he swore he could still taste curving into a sad smile.
“It’s okay. I get it. You’re here to do a job. When this is over, you’ll go back to Richmond, and I’ll—”
“What?” He slid his hands into his pockets and walked slowly toward her. “What will you do after the danger is over?”
“I haven’t decided yet. But I was thinking...” She moved toward him. “We’ve been here four days with no word that we’re any closer to finding him than when we first arrived.”
Unfortunately, she was right.
“And?”
“And...as nice as this place is, there’s only so much two people can do to pass the time.”
His heart gave a hard thump, his dick jumping in his pants as he wondered if she meant for her statement to come off the way it had.
Dropping her arms to her sides, she closed the distance between them. “The way I see it, we should be taking advantage of our time here.” The greens and browns in her eyes darkened. You know, do something...fun.”
“Fun?” Trace stopped walking, but Emma continued to come closer.
With her bare feet nearly meeting the tips of his boots, she rose up on the tips of her toes and whispered against his lips, “Fun.”
Definitely meant it how it sounded.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” he lied.
From where he stood, it sounded like the best fucking idea she could’ve conceived.
“Probably not,” she agreed without pause.