you,” he implored quietly.
“No.” The word tore from her. “I don’t need your help and I can’t help you. I just want to forget this whole thing ever happened. I want to leave.” Her mutinous gaze slammed into his.
Kyle’s patience reached the breaking point. “You can’t pretend this didn’t happen. There’s a reason why they risked coming after you on a heavily guarded military base. You know something they don’t want made public. They can’t afford to let you live.”
Ella recoiled at his directness. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. He wasn’t trying to kill me, he was...” She’d said more than she intended.
“He was warning you,” Kyle guessed, and she turned away. “What do they want you to do?”
Ella stared at the wall. She had clammed up tight and wasn’t going to answer any more of his questions.
It took everything inside him to let the matter go for the moment. He was getting nowhere right now, and the last thing she needed was his irritation.
Kyle noticed her body silently quaking. Was she crying? He’d hurt her. Regret ripped through him.
She was hurting. She was like a wounded child. Whatever her true identity was, whoever she was protecting, she needed someone she could trust, and he’d give anything to be that person. The desire to take her in his arms and hold her while she cried was strong, but he still didn’t know for certain if she was a victim or the enemy.
“You should rest now,” he said in a voice rough with unexplored emotion. “I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep. I promise, we’re going to figure this out.”
Something in what he said must have gotten to her. She stared at him with what appeared to be minute hope. He’d give anything to understand the battle he saw raging in her, but if he ever wanted the chance to do so, he’d have to learn something he wasn’t good at, and quickly. Patience.
When he was satisfied she slept, he stepped out into the hall. If he couldn’t get answers from Ella, he’d check in with Liz in hopes that she had some positive news.
But Liz’s update could not have been more discouraging. She and Michael were on the ground along with the rest of the in-country team and taking an active part in the interrogations of the wounded prisoners.
“We had the location where we believed Alhasan’s men might have taken Sam’s team, but we were too late. They’d moved them.”
Not the news he wanted to hear. “Any sign of Hadir?” he asked. His gut told him too much time had passed for Hadir to still be alive.
Liz’s lengthy pause did little to ease his mind. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Kyle, but we found the body of a man some distance from the compound.” She hesitated for a second, and he knew Hadir was gone. “I was able to confirm it was Hadir. It appears he was shot in the head at close range. He’d been dead for a while.”
Hadir was dead. He couldn’t believe it. Grief made it hard to think clearly, much less get words to come forth.
Kyle thought back to the first time he’d met the man. He had been the one to talk Hadir into helping the team out with the promise that once he’d fulfilled his end of the bargain, he would be able to start a new life in the United States. Hadir had died because of his allegiance to Kyle and the Scorpions.
“He was planning a new life,” he muttered in disgust.
“I know. I’m sorry, Kyle. I know you two were close.”
A chilling thought occurred. If Hadir was dead, then who had sent the message? Had he been deliberately sent out to the desert to be ambushed?
Kyle struggled to keep back the emotions. “Thanks.” He could tell from Liz’s tone that more bad news followed. He closed his eyes. “What else?”
“Michael has been monitoring Alhasan’s recruiting website. He thought there might be some news on what happened today. Kyle, there’s a message there I think you should see.”
“Hang on.” Kyle brought up the website on the phone. What he saw chilled him to the bone and filled him with more doubts.
A photo showed Hadir slumped over and clearly dead from a gunshot wound to the head. A message taped to his chest read This Is What We Do to Traitors, Ella.
Alhasan mentioned Ella by name. What if Ella was actually one of them? Was their chance meeting deliberate? The thought was unsettling.
He returned to the call. “We need to find Sam now. If this is what Alhasan does to his own people, I can’t imagine what he’ll put Sam and his men through. Let me know the minute you have anything,” he told Liz and then disconnected the call.
With his friend’s life weighing on his conscience, Kyle slipped back into Ella’s room. She hadn’t budged. He sat quietly by her bed and opened the pocket Bible he kept with him always. He felt unsettled. He let the word of God comfort him.
Growing up and through most of his adult life, he hadn’t believed in anything beyond the job. Losing Lena had changed that. Her death had brought him to his knees. He’d hit rock bottom. There was nowhere else for him to turn except to God, and he was grateful every day of his life that he had.
He closed the Bible and stared at the sleeping woman. Why couldn’t he reach her? He was running out of time and options. There was a timetable on Sam’s and his men’s lives. Bringing them home safely depended on him figuring out what Ella was keeping from him.
I have to find him...
Alhasan’s message made it clear if she didn’t do as he asked, he’d kill her like he had Hadir. What was Alhasan expecting her to do? No matter what the truth was, he was positive it would destroy both her life and the lives of many others.
Was her refusal to cooperate with Kyle proof enough that she was planning to do what Alhasan wanted, either against her will or otherwise? She hadn’t said as much, but he was certain Alhasan was using someone she cared about to ensure Ella completed her task, and he obviously had men watching her. He’d certainly proven he could get to her any time he wanted, at least while she was here in Afghanistan.
He pulled out his phone and did a search on her name. He’d need to find out as much as he could about Ella Weiss. Was she real, or just an alias cooked up to fulfill a part in Alhasan’s deadly game?
“Ella! Help me!” Someone screamed her name and she turned. Joseph! Something was terribly wrong. Joseph was terrified.
She reached for the boy and drew him into her arms. She could feel him trembling. Before she could reassure him, ask what was wrong, someone jerked him from her arms.
Alhasan. “I told you what would happen if you didn’t do your part, Ella. It’s time for him to die and it’s all because of you.”
“No!” she screamed. Panic welled inside her. She had to save Joseph.
She could hear the boy’s desperate shrieks as Alhasan dragged him from the room.
Ella charged after them like a mother bear protecting her cub, but she was too late. The door slammed in her face. The lock slid in place. Joseph was gone and it was her fault.
Beyond the prison door, she heard Alhasan’s disgusting laugh. She’d lost Joseph, the one thing that had kept her going, and it amused him.
“No. Please, no. I’ll do what you want. Please don’t hurt him,” she screamed and slammed her clenched fists against the steel door. But as always, Alhasan was just out of her reach. If she could reach him, she would make him pay for hurting Joseph.
Someone grabbed her and held her tight. She couldn’t move. She struggled with all her strength to be free but it was useless. Yet unlike all