Prologue
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan
November 29
Two years ago
Elizabeth Shields walked down the jet bridge to the plane that would carry her from Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, to Istanbul, Turkey, passport in hand, a white burka covering her from head to toe. Except that right now, she wasn’t Elizabeth Shields. She was a decoy pretending to be Jenna Hamilton, a Cobra client who’d become a target of Abdul Jawad Kazi, the warlord who governed Balkh Province.
She made her way to her seat, handbag slung over her shoulder, burka catching on the arms of the chairs as she passed. She sat, put on her seatbelt, and sent a text message to the operations room to let Quinn McManus and Alex Cross know that she was safely on board.
Quinn replied immediately.
Safe travels. See you in Istanbul.
The big Scot had a soft heart—and was super sexy. Ripped. Six-foot-four. Square jaw. Beard. Thick red hair. She enjoyed flirting with him, though, of course, nothing could come of it. Since that rat bastard Jason, she didn’t do workplace flings, and fraternization was against company rules.
She sat back, tension starting to leave her.
This had been a crazy mission. For starters, Derek Tower, one of the co-owners of Cobra International Security, had fallen head-over-heels in love with Jenna, their client. Derek and Jenna tried to deny it, but Jenna, a midwife, wasn’t good at hiding her emotions—at least not from someone with Elizabeth’s experience.
Elizabeth had worked for the CIA as a counterterrorism analyst, linguist, and interrogator, and had no problem reading every emotion that ran through Jenna’s mind. Tower was more closed, but he’d been off kilter this entire mission. The fact that they’d been sharing a room that held only one bed was also a pretty clear sign that they’d become lovers.
Derek Tower had a soft side. Who knew?
On top of that, someone had detonated a car bomb just outside Cobra’s compound, damaging their front gate and shaking the building.
They’d put this operation together to get Jenna safely beyond Kazi’s grasp. Elizabeth had never been a decoy before, but she wasn’t nervous. Three armored vehicles with Cobra agents sat outside the terminal, ready to act in case she needed them. It was exciting, really—a chance to get out of the office and do field work.
Turkish flight attendants helped people with luggage, passengers speaking mostly Dari with some tribal dialects thrown in for good measure. Slowly, everyone took their seats, and the aisles cleared.
The doors were closed, and the jet bridge started to retract.
Then it stopped and reversed, moving back toward the door.
Elizabeth’s pulse skipped. Through her window, she saw turbaned fighters with automatic weapons heading for the airplane.
Kazi’s men.
She tapped out a quick message.
I think they’ve come for Jenna. Kazi’s men boarding.
They might be here for someone else.
A flight attendant gave a shriek as the door to the cabin was forced open and armed men rushed on board.
“Jenna Hamilton,” said one, his accent heavy.
Heart thrumming, Elizabeth raised a hand. She needed to distract them only long enough for Derek and the others to take off on Cobra’s private jet.
The fighter made his way toward her, three others behind him.
“Passport.”
He took the passport, examined it, then compared it to an image on his smartphone.
Damn it!