Page 111 of Deadly Betrayal

The American grinned as his gaze flicked toKhalid, then back to Tariq. “With both of your deaths.”

Help had arrived. Kaden’s heart was beating abattle hymn in his chest. He didn’t know who it was, but he’d besure to thank them once this was all over and the women were freeof danger.Christ, let them still be safely tucked out of theway behind the rocks.

With his peripheral vision, he kept an eye onKhalid while he kept a gun on Tariq. He’d left Azita behind to comeget this piece of shit, who’d allied himself with a dirty scumbagof a warlord against the most selfless woman Kaden had everknown.

Tariq stepped out of the sightline of thewindow, placing himself directly behind Khalid. Kaden could now seethem both without moving his eyes.

Khalid blinked rapidly.

What the hell?Kaden pretended not tohave noticed. The blinking continued. Was the man trying tocommunicate with him? Kaden could do sign language. Charades wereout.

Tariq continued to stare at Kaden, but he’drun out of questions. Thank God. Kaden needed quiet to figure outhow to get out of this room. Alive. Under the table, Khalid’s handsmoved. Kaden watched surreptitiously as the fingers formed anEnglish “A.”

Alarm caused his breath to catch. Tariqlooked at him sharply, a deep groove forming between his thick darkbrows. Kaden forced his body into a relaxed pose, as though he hadall the time in the world for this situation to work itself out.Khalid’s fingers formed a “Z.” This time, Kaden was prepared andthe only catch was a silent one as his heart skipped a beat.

Had Khalid seen her outside the window? Heshook himself mentally. That couldn’t be. She was safe behind therocks outside the fence. Where he’d left her.

Fucking shit. What was he supposed to do now?Khalid could be lying as a way to get Kaden to drop his guard soTariq could finish him off. On the other hand, Azita might havegotten into some trouble, and Khalid was trying to tell Kaden sohe’d go help her. Kaden hadn’t moved since entering the room atgunpoint, but he did now. Keeping his weapon on Tariq, he shiftedhis feet in the direction of the door.

When Kaden was within a yard of his target,Tariq smiled. “Going somewhere?”

Before Kaden could answer, there was a blastof gunfire from the window. Kaden dove for the door, swung it open,and rolled into the hall. He came up on his knees, gun at theready. As fast as he could, he made for the exit. Hopefully, Hassanhad found the old man. Kaden wasn’t about to go looking for himwhen Azita could be alone in all this chaos. This was one time whenhe really hoped he’d been lied to.

Moving swiftly, he navigated the maze ofhallways to the back entrance. The sounds of warfare weren’t asloud here. With his back to the wall, he cracked the door andchecked that the way was clear before slipping outside. Withinseconds, he was one corner away from the outer wall of Khalid’sroom. If Azita was here, Kaden would find her. But he had to becareful. The gunfire into Khalid’s window had come from thisdirection.

Kaden’s vision went dark as he imagined whatcould have happened to Azita if she’d unwittingly ventured into thecrossfire, and he almost stumbled.

All this shit they’d gone through couldn’thave been for nothing. His fingers dug into the wall, gouging holesin the mud bricks. He forced air into his locked lungs, trying tosteady himself. He didn’t have time for weakness. But the imagesjust kept coming. A muzzle flash, the thud of a bullet smackinginto flesh. Blood splattering. And Azita’s body falling to theground.

It didn’t take a degree in psychiatry to knowhe was reliving the ambush, reliving getting shot. Except all thesethings were happening to Azita instead of him. It felt so goddamnreal. There was a searing pain in his side, a crushing weight onhis chest. His legs buckled.

Fuck, pull yourself together.

Kaden fought the drag of the flashback. Azitaneeded him. She was out there in the middle of the fighting, and hehad no idea whether the attackers were friendlies or foes.

One plodding step after the other, Kadenpushed himself around the corner.

And tripped over a body.

Chapter 26

Spats of gunfire erupted all around her.Azita crouched as close as she could to the main building, the samebuilding Laila had directed her to, when suddenly she was knockedover and sent tumbling onto her stomach. Something fell on herback, winding her.

Amid all the shouting and shooting, not tomention her airless lungs, Azita was disoriented and terrified.Despite spending most of her childhood in a war zone, she’d neverseen the brutal clash of men so close.

The weight lifted. Once again able to breath,she pushed up onto her elbows and found herself staring down thebarrel of a rifle. It filled her entire vision, obliterating thechaos that virtually surrounded her.

So this is it. The end has come.

Resigned to her death, she lowered her eyesand snarled in Pashto, “Do it. Do it now, you bastard.” Inside, sheprayed the man holding the gun would be quick about it and not takeher back to camp to pleasure the men. Death was a far betteralternative to rape.

The bastard chuckled.

Another shot of adrenaline flooded hersystem. She thrummed with energy and renewed strength, yet herfocus narrowed in much the same way it did during a delivery. Herfingers curled as she prepared to launch herself at the man andclaw out his eyes.

Big hands gripped her shoulders. “Whoa! Holdon, honey. It’s me.”

Like a switch being flipped, all her angerevaporated. She threw herself into Kaden’s arms and hugged him withmore than a little relief.