But Derek didn’t bat an eye. “She’s safe. She hopes to return to her work when this crisis is behind her.”
That wasn’t true, but it served Cobra’s aims to make Kazi believe it was true.
Kazi gave a forced smile. “She is a brave woman.”
He stood, clearly impatient to be done with Derek. “Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s it.” Derek stood, too. He shook Kazi’s hand and found his palm damp. “I know how important it is to you to be aware of everything that takes place in this province. I knew you’d want these photographs.”
“Yes. Thank you.” Kazi didn’t look at all grateful. “See our guest out, please.”
Derek turned to go, then stopped. “Oh, there was one other thing. It slipped my mind. It’s ridiculous, of course, but you’ll want to be aware of it.”
“Go ahead.”
“Word on the street here is that Qassim secretly works for you.”
* * *
Jenna couldn’t believe it.“You went to see Governor Kazi?”
That had taken balls of steel—or maybe Derek was nuts.
“It was a tactical decision.” Derek sat on her sofa, wearing an expensive dark gray suit, as if he’d just come from a meeting on Wall Street. “We needed to send a message, and there was no better way to do it. After that, I had a debriefing with the staff.”
“It sounds like a busy day.” Jenna sat beside him. “After you didn’t reply to my text, I couldn’t stop worrying. I could tell something was going on. Everyone was closed-mouthed and serious. The mess hall was all but empty at lunch and dinner.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t have that cell phone with me. If I was taken, I didn’t want Kazi having access to you.” Derek loosened his tie. “No one was trying to keep you in the dark, but none of us are used to having clients in the building. Usually, when we extract someone, we take them from wherever they are directly out of the country. We don’t bring them here. There are limits to what we can share, even with you.”
“I get it. You’re a black-ops company.”
“Private military company.”
“Right.” Jenna wasn’t sure she understood the difference. “Do you think Kazi got the message?”
Derek nodded. “When I left, the son of a bitch was sweating. I’m certain he’s behind all of this.”
Chills skittered down Jenna’s spine. “Why would Kazi want to come after me? This all seems so crazy—like something out of a bad dream.”
“I suspect it has to do with money.” Derek changed the subject, clearly not wanting to say more about it. “How are you feeling?”
“The headache is better, but I swear my brain has turned to mud.”
Derek caught her chin and turned her face so that he could see her cheek and temple. “That’s one hell of a black eye.”
“Don’t you know how to flatter a girl?”
Derek grinned. “Cookie tells me you went down to the kitchen and scrubbed some pans this morning. He said you did a good job.”
“I was trying to be productive and not worry about you.”
“I’d rather know you were resting.”
“There’s only so much resting a person can do in a day. Iama medical professional, you know. I can tell when I need to lie down.”
Derek took her hand, his touch soothing. “The next couple of days are going to be busy. I won’t be available most of the time. We’re going to move quickly now to get you out of the country. I need to stay focused, keep my head in the game. I can’t afford distractions.”
Was he saying thatshewas a distraction?