Page 10 of Her Sensual Protector

“When confronted, he told Imans that they were trying to kill their wives and children. That they might as well be putting a gun to their heads, and that the prophet Muhammad would be ashamed of them.”

“He did not bring up the prophet. Tell me he did not bring up Muhammad.”

“Yep. He painted a neon yellow bullseye on his back. Right now we have Marine translators on the ground, and they’re trying to get intel from the Afghans or Taliban. Whoever they can, but they haven’t hit pay dirt yet. Their feeling on this is that Dr. Squires is going to be made some kind of example.”

“Beheading?”

“That’s their take. Again, they don’t have any intel yet. But yeah, most likely. The only thing stopping them is that our intel has the leader, Siraj Haqqani in Pakistan right now. They wouldn’t want to do this without him to witness.”

“But he’s associated with the Taliban, and they want the Taliban to appear clean these days. I don’t get it.” Leo was confused.

“They wouldn’t put Siraj on tape. He’d just be there for the joy of watching. Asshole.”

“Oh, got it. What’s keeping him in Pakistan?”

“Now that we do have good intel on. There have been some back-and-forths going on with the locals and the Haqqani. He’s leading it. As soon as it dies down, you can bet he’s hot-footing it to Afghanistan.”

“So we’ve got to find Squires before the execution.”

Great.

“Well, find him and rescue him.” Kane clarified.

Double great.

“You left the embassy an hour ago. Did you get much from the daughter?”

“She basically confirms everything that you just told me. Her father is an arrogant prick who will sidestep all cultural norms to do what his pride demands. Arrogant motherfucker. It’s going to end up getting him killed, and probably that reporter too.”

“Get your ass to Bagram. We need to get a plan together.”

“I’m still debriefing Ms. Squires.”

“Do you think you’re going to find anything else that will help us?”

Leo thought about it. “I might.” Leo rubbed the back of his neck. “Give me twenty. If I don’t get any more answers, then I’m on my way.”

“Fifteen,” Kane gave him.

“Fifteen,” Leo agreed.

4

Daisy watched Leo sit down and look forlornly at the empty dish of ice cream in front of her.

“It was melting. Don’t worry, I ordered another dish for you.”

“Did you eat that other thing too? The Oh-My-Gosh?” he asked.

She laughed. “I had them put the Gosh-e fil in a to-go box to take to my room for later.” The waiter placed another dish of ice cream in front of Leo.

When the waiter left, he smiled at Daisy. “Thank you. I would hate to miss out on orchid ice cream.” She watched his face as he took the first bite. He grinned.

“This is great. It isn’t something I’m going to order at Baskin-Robbins, because nothing beats Rocky Road, but this is pretty damn good for flowery ice cream.”

“You make me laugh a lot. Which is pretty amazing considering the circumstances.”

Leo gave her a quick glance before concentrating on his dessert. Daisy took another sip of her mineral water and waited for Leo to finish his ice cream. She had a gut feeling that whatever his call had been about, she wasn’t going to like it.