out. She was deluding herself if she thought there was nothing more to this, especially when being in his arms had felt so right.
A tick in Emir’s jaw was the only sign of the tension he was under. He flew the small plane with ease, as though flying over treacherous mountains through the dark that seemed to mock them was nothing. She clutched her seat belt and watched for lights, for some sort of indication of civilization, but since they’d entered the mountain range there was nothing. She knew this area of the Atlas Mountains was sparsely settled, mostly by Berber tribes, and that all were remote and distant from each other, including their destination: the village of Kaher.
Kate’s phone beeped and she looked at it, startled. “It’s a text from Zafir. He wants me to call him,” she said even as she punched in the number. They’d kept her phone and planned to drop it at Kaher as the mobile coverage was limited in the Sahara. To lighten what they carried and to limit the possibility of being tracked, they would take only a satellite phone.
The plane dipped slightly to the right as she gripped her seat belt with one hand.
“You’re on speaker,” she said.
“I didn’t know if I’d catch you—” Zafir began.
“What do you have?” Emir interrupted. “We’re close to landing.”
“I just came from the hospital. Ahmed didn’t make it.”
“Bloody—” Emir broke off as he slapped his open palm against the wheel of the plane. He reached over and took Kate’s free hand, squeezing it. His hand was large and warm, and she felt safe.
“It was tough. His family was there. His wife’s pretty torn up.”
“Make sure they have what they need,” Emir said. “Funeral arrangements...and we’ll talk monetary assistance later. Money is the last thing his wife needs to consider, ever.”
“The usual, retirement settlement, insurance...we can’t bring him back, but she’ll be very comfortable.”
Kate glanced at Emir, not realizing, or, she supposed, not having a need to know just how much support was available for the families of not only the home compound’s employees but agents, as well. She was impressed by both their compassion and their generosity.
“He said something else before he passed,” Zafir continued, breaking into her thoughts. “Ajeddig.”
“A name, but who?” Emir asked.
Kate frowned.
“It’s not much, I know,” Zafir said. “That’s it, Emir. I’ll use the satellite next time. I assume you’re ditching the cell.”
“Turning it off after this call and dumping it at Kaher,” Emir confirmed.
He looked over at Kate, who had opened the map and was running her finger over it.
“Another place name?” she muttered.
“Any luck?” Zafir chimed in as Emir looked at her with a question in his eyes.
“Nothing in Morocco by that name. So, if it’s not a place name, what is it?”
“It’s got no relevance, at least none that I can find that correlates to anything involving the case,” Zafir said. “I’m at the compound now. Got your phone in my hand. I drove in the gate just as you were taking off. That’s it, all I’ve got.”
“Thanks, man. I’ll touch base as soon as I can.”
Kate clicked off just as a strand of lights appeared below. “I thought there was no electricity?”
“In Kaher, no. There’s some solar power that’s generated and used in parts of the village...the landing strip and a few other buildings. Nothing more.”
As he arced the plane she found herself looking straight down at the ground for a few slightly disconcerting seconds and gripped the edge of the seat as if that would somehow prevent the plane from sliding into the abyss beneath them.
The plane leveled off and, as it descended, Kate could see shadowed buildings that seemed to rise from the ground. It was strange, for they weren’t skyscrapers or even remotely tall. Instead they were short and squat and crowded into a small space where the mountains ended and the desert began. As she watched, the buildings disappeared as the plane broke through the low-lying cloud cover.
“I’ve spoken to one of the leaders in the community. A man by the name of Yuften M’Hidi. He’ll meet us,” Emir said easily as if landing in the dark on the edge of a mountain range was something he did every day.
She laughed. “His parents must have been optimistic. Really? His name means ‘the chosen’?”
He smiled as he looked at her. “Firstborn son. It’s all about expectations, my dear,” he said in a bad imitation of a Southern accent. And he reached over and took her hand and squeezed it.
“Not funny,” she said with a smile. But it was a relief to have even a brief moment of levity. They both knew from experience that it did wonders to keep an agent fresh when, as they always did, a case got intense and became a marathon of tension.
The lights on the ground were now clear and the runway stretched beneath them.
“One other thing. We’ll be staying tonight at his house. He says he has extra mats for guests. Hopefully, it won’t be too grim.”
“We aren’t expecting luxury,” she replied. “If we can get some information, even better. A few hours of sleep would just be gravy,” she said with a smile.
“We’re going in,” he said, still holding her hand as if he knew, despite her silence, how uncomfortable flying in the night in a small plane made her.
She’d never said, but she wasn’t letting go of his hand, either. After that there was only the roar of the engine, the dark heaviness of the mountains as they seemed to close in, and the small river of lights that acted as landing lights.
“Despite how I first reacted when I picked you up at the airport,” Emir said glancing at her as the plane rolled to a stop, “I couldn’t have a calmer, more analytical thinker by my side.”
Kate’s hand dropped from the seat belt she’d been clutching as the plane rolled along the narrow runway, startled by the unexpected compliment. “Thank you,” she said softly.
“More beautiful, either,” he added as he brought the plane to a stop.
She wasn’t sure if he’d really said that or if she’d just imagined it, rather like the earlier kiss. None of it seemed like the in-charge man she knew, and yet, if she were to profile him...she wouldn’t. Instead she enjoyed the instinctive rush of pleasure the compliment gave her and, just as quickly, pulled her mind back to reality. There was no time for such thoughts. Instead, there was silence as they quickly disembarked.
A slight, dark-haired man, whose gray hair glinted in the lights, waved to them as he hurried down the runway.
“Right on time,” he said in heavily accented English.
“You’ve been waiting?” Emir asked.
The words, spoken in Berber, reminded Kate of what she had read about Emir. She knew Berber was a language he had learned as a boy. His father had ensured that he and his siblings were fluent in each of the languages of Morocco. As a result, Emir spoke Arabic, Berber, English and French. The English, he spoke flawlessly, with a hint of American colloquialism. She knew, too, that he’d gone to university in Wyoming where he’d been into all things American. Adam had told her that, along with the fact that Emir was comfortable straddling the Moroccan and American cultures, easily diving into one or the other and enjoying both depending on which country he was in. What nothing had told her was that he was a man she could not only admire but desire in a situation when all of that information was completely inappropriate.
“Good to meet you.” Emir reached out a hand to Yuften,