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“Yeah. Some of them.”

“Great. We should get back.”

“This wasn’t very romantic,” she said.

I tilted my head as I stared at her. “Excuse me?”

“You called this a date yesterday, but it wasn’t very romantic.”

“I guess not,” I said, grinning. “I’ll have to make it up to you.”

“No worries. It was just an observation.”

I motioned toward the Humvee with my hand. “After you.”

She walked ahead of me and I watched her ass sway back and forth.

Why does this damn woman captivate me so much? I thought, somewhat exasperated. I tried to think of a logical answer on the ride back to the base but came up empty-handed.

CHAPTER 5

Rose

Once we arrived back at the base, I went directly to my sleeping quarters. They had given me an entire double-room dwelling because they didn’t want me bunking with the men.

I sat at a plain wooden desk in the room and stared at the blank page on the laptop screen, memories of the villagers running through my head.

What had Jahmir meant about showing Warren samples? Were the rumors about soldiers running a drug smuggling operation true?

They had to be, but I needed proof.

As I waited for inspiration to strike, I heard two men laughing outside. Reminded of the seriousness of my situation, I banged out a few words.

The questions on the page laughed at my ignorance, but I wasn’t ready to give up on solving the mystery. With only two weeks, I needed to make progress.

I sighed and dug my expensive satellite phone out of my messenger bag. The debate over whether to call my dad or my best friend Kim lasted about two seconds.

“Hello?” Kim answered.

I smiled, loving the sound of her voice. “Hey, you. It’s not too late, is it?”

“It’s early,” she said with a yawn.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, it’s like eight-thirty in the morning or some crazy shit.”

“That’s not early,” I said. “You need to get up and talk. Grab a coffee.”

“Nag, nag, nag. Even from halfway around the world, you’re nagging me.”

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“You love it.”

She sighed. “I do. Hold on.”

“I don’t have much time on this phone,” I said.