Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Lahbab Desert safari had turned into something unexpected and, well, fun.
A forty-minute drive had transported them from the sophistication of Dubai, with its skyscrapers and fast cars, to a desert oasis of sorts.
It may have been nothing but sand and more sand, but the austere beauty held a peacefulness that was somehow calming to Finn.
And despite never losing sight of the fact that he, Julia, and A.J.
were technically working, Finn found himself enjoying the day’s activities.
Julia was clearly having a good time, and she seemed excited to be behind the lens of a camera again.
Seeing her in action, the way her eyes lit up when she discovered a new subject to capture, had his stomach doing those little flips, a sensation he’d only ever experienced with Julia.
She’d snuck in photo after photo of him as well, laughing when he shielded his face from the lens and shooed her off, encouraging her to photograph the ripples of sand instead.
Throughout the day, which had started with dune bashing—driving over the dunes at increasing and decreasing speeds—before driving deep into the desert, he’d been unable to forget what it’d felt like to sleep alongside her last night.
She’d snuggled herself inside his arms at some point while she was fast asleep, and he hadn’t resisted.
She’d felt warm and soft and amazing cradled against his chest, her face tucked beneath his chin.
Not wanting to wake her, he’d barely moved a muscle when she’d positioned herself that way sometime around three in the morning, which had roused him from sleep.
It’d taken forever to fall back asleep because he’d wanted to relish the feeling of her pinned to his body so intimately.
Finn couldn’t even pretend that Julia didn’t affect him physically.
But what was probably even more terrifying about holding her in his arms was the gamut of emotions it brought to life.
“You okay?” Had Julia sensed he’d let his thoughts wander the same way the sand rolled whenever there was a breeze?
“Thinking about sandboarding,” he lied, and then wanted to kick himself. White lies were okay, he supposed. White lies didn’t get people killed.
“Mm. You said you’d never do that in a million years.
Same as A.J.” She smiled as they walked beneath the setting sun and took a photo of their path as the light hit the sand in a unique way Finn lacked the words to describe.
He remembered this phenomenon from Iraq, but he’d been under heavy gunfire instead of walking alongside a beautiful woman with stunning blue eyes wearing a red scarf wrapped around her head to protect her face from the sun and the sand when needed.
Finn glanced back at A.J. trailing behind them, playing the role of dutiful bodyguard to a T.
Then he reset his focus ahead as they followed their tour guides from where the Land Cruisers were parked to the Bedouin-style camp for a late meal and show.
“When you’ve had sand in places where sand should never be, then you avoid it when possible. ”
“BUD/S?” Julia lowered the Nikon Finn had brought and peeked at him, and he nodded.
“You were a pro,” Finn told her. “Sandboarding like you were on snow.”
“Not a pro. But at least falling didn’t hurt as much as when I’ve tried snowboarding in the past. You did great.”
“Ha.” Finn laughed. “I just did my best not to fall, because sand.”
“At least we didn’t have to ride camels,” A.J. spoke up from behind.
“Or you’d be even grumpier?” Julia surprised Finn by teasing A.J. and shooting him a quick look over her shoulder.
“Darling, I am not grumpy. I’m just not a desert kind of guy.
Give me a Southern sunset and a horse, sure, but this heat and sand?
Nah, I’m good,” A.J. replied as they neared the campsite, trailing a few couples behind their targets.
When they’d booked the trip, Finn hadn’t realized this was an overnight adventure.
And now he’d be sharing a tent with Julia in one of the “desert chalets,” whatever those were.
Looking ahead, Finn saw the campsite coming into view like a mirage. Asher and Chris were out there somewhere with eyes on them as backup in case anything crazy went down with Tariq there.
He and Julia hadn’t yet had the chance to strike up a conversation with the Americans, and Tariq’s close eye on his sister made it impossible to speak to her. The way the man held Kaira’s elbow and pulled her tight to his side whenever she steered away by more than a few feet was a bad sign.
At this point, Tariq had to know the weapons he’d purchased in Pakistan had been destroyed, same as the drugs in Egypt, and yet, he opted to remain glued to his sister’s side for a weekend retreat.
It didn’t add up. Unless he had reason to fear her or something she might do.
Which raised the question of whether or not the Americans were there to help her.
The fundraiser they’d organized and the trip to Dubai were both scheduled within the last two weeks.
Events like that usually took months to set up.
Had Kaira phoned them for help of some kind, and Tariq spoiled her plans?
There were still so many questions they needed answered, including Tariq’s ultimate goals, but tonight, he and Julia had one mission: get an invite to the party tomorrow evening.
It was there they hoped to pin down Joan and Jack, find out what they knew and how deeply they were involved in whatever the hell was going on.
They couldn’t kidnap two Americans in Dubai, but now that they knew the couple changed their names and faces, Finn would leverage that to get them to talk.
The team agreed they had a better shot getting intel from the Americans than from Kaira, especially with Tariq as her shadow.
“Finally. Hot damn.” A.J. lowered the shemagh from his mouth as they closed in on the site, an elaborate setup nowhere near what Finn had in mind.
He’d heard of something referred to as “glamping,” a ridiculous blending of the words “glamorous” and “camping.” But this was a mini resort with ten “tents” that looked a hell of a lot sturdier than any tent he’d ever slept in.
Bigger, too. There were five tents on one side of a courtyard-like area and five on the other.
The courtyard was set up with six tables, sitting low to the ground, with pillows covered in red silk for seats. The tables were loaded with covered, silver platters placed down the middle, and the aroma of smoked meat wafted through the air, which seemed to catch the Bama boy’s attention.
“I could get used to this,” A.J. drawled and slapped his hands together.
“Maybe we should change before dinner? I think that’s what everyone’s going to do. Which tent is ours?” Julia asked.
A.J. reached into his pocket for the itinerary. “You’re in the one at the end. Five. I’m in number four next to you. No-key entry, which I’m not crazy about, but we’ve got overwatch, so I guess we’re okay.”
“Overwatch?” Julia blinked. “Right. Never mind.”
Finn set a hand to Julia’s back as her “husband” probably would and escorted her to their tent.
He found the split at the center of the “door” and unzipped it.
This wasn’t ideal. No door. No lock. But when they entered the tent and he sealed the flimsy door, he turned and was pleasantly surprised by the inside.
Red silk draped the wall behind the bed, which was low to the ground and covered in colorful linens.
There was real hardwood flooring beneath their feet and a small bathroom off to the side.
Hell, the lanterns by the bed were most likely for effect because there was plumbing and electricity.
“An A/C unit.” He pointed to the wall, then removed his shemagh and quickly pulled off his damp white tee that had clung to his frame.
“This is quite the tent. Not that I did much tent camping while growing up, my parents were too urban for that, but this is great. Minus the not-having-a-real-door thing.”
Julia turned to face him, and her eyes widened, obviously taken by surprise to see him shirtless. He used his tee like a towel and dabbed at his bare chest to try and clean up like he’d have done if he were in Iraq. This was a step up from those days. A big-ass step up.
“I used to go camping a lot,” she said a moment later, and Finn tried not to smile as he watched her effort to look anywhere but his chest with little success.
Finally forcing her eyes away, she placed her hand on the column of her throat and took a deep breath before removing the headscarf she wore.
“I love it. The fresh air. The blanket of stars overhead. A fire to keep you warm.”
“You paint a pretty picture. I’ll have to go sometime.” With you, maybe? But he left that question unspoken. “You can change in the bathroom.” He looked around and found their one small travel bag had already been placed in the tent by one of the tour guides.
Not packing a weapon had made Finn uneasy, but he reminded himself Asher and Chris were out there, and they’d be carrying if Tariq became a threat.
“Sure.” Julia reached into their bag and pulled out something pretty and pink.
She disappeared behind the door. At least the bathroom had a door. He’d prefer the tent had one, too, instead of an insubstantial zipper.
While she was getting dressed, he did the same.
More linen, this time a bright blue shirt and khaki pants similar to last night’s, courtesy of Harper’s mall purchases.
He left the top two buttons undone, rolled the sleeves to his elbows, and was in the middle of swapping his shoes for loafers when Julia exited the tiny bathroom in a pale pink wrap dress with nude-colored sandals.
She was also wearing the necklace he’d given her, and it gave him pause.
“This okay? Angles shouldn’t be a problem with the sun setting, right?” A smirk cut across her lips.
“Maybe you should spin around for me just in case.” Finn winked at their shared joke, hoping it came off as silly rather than suggestive, and twirled his finger. But damn, he wanted to peel the dress off her and have a nice hard look at those “angles” of hers.
Her cheeks flushed a bit before she gave him a quick twirl, and fuuuck was that a terrible suggestion on his part.
The material of her skirt lifted as she spun, exposing those deliciously toned legs that he knew would be silky smooth to the touch.
Did they really have to go to dinner, or could he find a way to lock the zipper of their tent and finally get a taste of Julia?
“You’re good,” he managed to work the words free from his parched throat, knowing the dryness had nothing to do with the desert heat and everything to do with his unquenched desire. “You ready?”
“To try and win this couple over and earn ourselves a ticket to the event? Yes. But what’s the backup plan? We going to abduct them?” She squeezed her eyes closed as if the memory of her own abduction had hit her thoughts like a two-by-four to the head.
He reached for her waist, not sure what possessed him to put his hand there, but it had her lids parting. “We’re most likely going to need to corner them either way, but if we can earn their trust and get them alone that way before we, uh, pounce with the questions, that’d make things easier.”
“And you think they’ll have the answers we need?” she whispered as if his hand on her hip somehow affected her vocal cords.
“Tariq won’t let Kaira out of his sight from the looks of it, which means she’s probably a threat to whatever he’s doing one way or another. But I do think this couple knows something, so we have to take it one day at a time.”
“Oliver doesn’t have much time.”
He released her and took a step back at the reminder of what, more like who was on the line if he failed.
“We’re not allowed to touch Tariq. Or his sister. We have orders. But maybe we can create a distraction to pull him away from her so that we can talk to her. But we can’t take her.”
“Because of her royal connections?”
He nodded. “One day at a time. I promise it won’t take too many days.
I know our sands of time hourglass has already flipped over, and we have yet to figure out what’s going on.
But you have Jessica and the others going back over the case file and the reports about Oliver’s arrest.” The walls were thick enough, but he kept his voice low.
“Hopefully a fresh set of eyes will help.”
“Not to mention they’ll access the reports not provided to Uncle Sam,” he said with a small knowing smile, letting her know they’d hack the records to get to the bottom of things.
“Oh.” She peered down at the floor. “But you also have to stop Tariq from whatever he’s planning, not just save my friend. I understand that.”
“It’s going to be okay.” He set a fist beneath her chin to guide her eyes up to his face. “I won’t disappoint you.”
“I don’t think you could ever disappoint me.” She brought her hand between them to hold on to her necklace. “I can’t stop thinking about that woman’s words to me in Egypt, though.”
He shook his head. “You are not going to die. I won’t let that happen.”
“But she said a storm is coming, and why do I get the feeling she’s right?”