She didn’t know how long they stayed that way—a couple of minutes perhaps—but gradually she came back to herself.
She drew away, wiped the tears from her face. “Thanks.”
“That soldier made these videos never thinking you would have them. He gave you the rope. Now, hang Naing with it.”
She drew a deep breath, exhaled. Her stomach wasn’t happy, and she still felt shaky, but she had a job to do. “Let’s get back to work.”
Connor stoodin the doorway to Shanti’s room, watching her work, unable to shake the thought of howgoodit had felt to hold her, as if she were precious, as if she belonged in his arms. He’d never felt that way with anyone, not even Mandy.
Dude, you’re losing it.
He tried to tell himself it was just hormones, that he needed to get laid. But as he stood there watching her, he knew that wasn’t true. He respected and admired her for her resilience and determination. This wasn’t just a job for her. She truly cared about people.
In her own way, she was tough. She hadn’t thrown up again. She hadn’t shed another tear. She’d stepped out of that bathroom, chin raised, and had dived headlong into murder and chaos.
She’d begun uploading the videos to the ICC’s cloud server and was now combing through the footage frame by frame with Shields’ help to identify villages, army units, and individuals. In return for Shields’ help and expertise, Shanti had agreed to share the footage with the CIA—provided they kept it top secret until an arrest warrant was issued for Naing.
“Oh, honey,” Shields had said. “The Agency’s job is keeping secrets. You could ask about the weather, and they would neither confirm nor deny that thereisweather.”
Jones came up beside Connor. “Why aren’t we going after that fucker?”
Word about the videos and what they contained had spread quickly through the team, leaving the men grim-faced and angry.
“Remember what Tower said.” Connor slapped him on the shoulder. “She’sgoing after him, and we’re helping her. So, wearegoing after him in a way.”
“I think I’d rather light him up than help send him to prison.”
Connor understood that. “You and me both.”
He stepped into his own room for a quick video conference with Tower and Corbray. He brought them up to date on the situation, and both men expressed the same concern that Connor had.
“If it were up to me, she’d be on her way home tomorrow,” Tower said.
Corbray agreed. “Until the bad guys know the videos are in ICC hands, they’re going to be looking for that phone and trying to neutralize everyone who saw it.”
But Corbray and Tower didn’t know Shanti.
Connor tried to explain. “She missed an interview today thanks to our early exfil, and she’s got three more days of interviews scheduled.”
“Does she still need these interviews when she’s got the videos?” Tower asked.
It was a reasonable question.
“She’s here to get testimony from people who saw Naing at the massacres, not to prove that the massacres happened. There’s a difference.”
“Shit.” Corbray rubbed his face with his hands. “Maybe someone else could come down to do those interviews while she heads back to the Netherlands.”
“Or maybe she should wait until the situation cools down and come back later to complete that mission,” Tower suggested. “One thing is sure—we can’t lose her, and we don’t want to lose any of you.”
“I hear that.”
“Does her boss, Mr. Meijer, know about this?” Tower asked.
“She called him on the way back from the camp, told him about the phone, tried to win his support for moving witnesses and her interpreter to the Netherlands. She’s been uploading the videos to their cloud server and shooting him emails, so he must have some idea what’s in them.”
“I’ll give him a call, see what he’s thinking,” Tower said. “Ultimately, it’s up to him whether Ms. Lahiri stays or goes. Any word on the two guys who fired the RPG?”
“Not yet. We’re waiting on the Bangladesh Police. Did you see Shields’ report?”