Page 30 of Deadly Betrayal

Agha Ali popped his head through the doorwayto Khalid’s office. “My contact at the phone company called back.They were able to determine the last district in which the cellularphone was used.”

Every muscle in Khalid’s body tensed as heawaited the verdict. He hoped for the best—that Shahram was tellingthe truth and that he and Azita were safe in Herat—but he expectedthe worst. “Where was that?” he asked softly.

“Salang district in Parwan province.”

Khalid slammed his jaw shut to keep thetorrent of insults against his future brother-in-law from spewingout in front of the minister’s assistant. “Tashakor, AghaAli. I am in your debt.”

The man nodded before leaving Khalid alone toruminate. So Azita and her simpleton of a brother had decided topit their measly forces against those of Tariq and his men. He hadto admire her ingenuity and tenacity. Good traits in a doctor, poortraits in a wife. Their harebrained scheme to rescue Laila wouldget them both killed. Unless… unlesshestopped them.

He checked his watch. The meeting with hisboss was about to start. One hour should be enough to convince theminister to put Khalid in charge of mineral-rights allocations inthe eastern provinces. Once his authority was secured, he’d catchup with his impetuous fiancée and her brother. If she managed tosucceed—or if Tariq caught her—Tariq would end their deal, and thatwould signal the end of Khalid’s carefully drawn plans, the end ofhis effort to save his beloved Afghanistan from falling victim togreed and rampant government corruption.

Khalid saw what was happening, saw that theircountry was being murdered, one deal at a time, saw that she wasbeing raped, one truckload of precious metals after another. Sinceno one else seemed to care, clearly Khalid, and no one else, wasdestined to bring Afghanistan into the twenty-first century.

And if he managed to put a few afghanis inhis own pocket at the same time, so be it.

Alhamdulillah.Praise be to Allah.

Chapter 8

Kaden couldn’t believe the shit that had comeout of Shahram’s mouth. If the little prick thought he’d get awaywith his backstabbing, he had another thing coming. As soon asShahram hung up the call with Khalid, Kaden leaned forward andswatted Shahram in the head.

“Ow!” Shahram shouted, ducking his head andbatting ineffectually at Kaden’s arm.

Kaden hit him again. “What the fuck was that?We had a perfectly good plan. Why didn’t you just stick to it?”

Shahram gripped the steering wheel and kepthis eyes straight ahead. Kaden’s gaze flicked to Azita. What didshe think of all this? Her eyes were drilling a hole in herbrother’s skull, in the exact spot Kaden had smacked him. A smallfurrow between her brows deepened as her lips whitened, and sheclenched and unclenched the material of her tunic. When Shahramglanced at her in the rearview mirror, she folded her arms acrossher chest and returned his stare. He looked away.

“I-I couldn’t remember it.”

“Uh-huh.” And Kaden had some swampland inFlorida to sell to anyone who believed that. “You wanna know what Ithink?” Before Shahram could answer, Kaden dropped the bomb. “Ithink you did it on purpose.”

Shahram’s eyebrows shot up. “No! Iwanted—”

Kaden wasn’t having any of Shahram’s excuses.He narrowed his eyes and cut Shahram off. “Youcontacted me.Youinvited yourself along.Youcame up with theexcuse of a sick aunt in Herat and the million reasons why it wasbest if you came with us. Why? So you could know exactly where weare and tell Khalid.”

Azita pressed a hand to her chest. “Shahram.Please, tell me what Kaden says isn’t true.”

“Azitajan, I promise you. He iswrong. I just got tongue-tied. You know—”

Kaden interrupted him again. “What did Khalidoffer you? It had to be something good for you to turn on your ownsister.”

Shahram trembled under the onslaught ofKaden’s accusations. Azita’s eyes darted from one man to the other.“Shahram, why would you work with Agha Khalid? You know the mandetests you.”

“I’m not working for him!”

Kaden started to worry that the man’s shakinghands would drive them right off the road. “Pull over,” heordered.

The car stopped on the rut-ridden shoulder astraffic continued to whiz by. Shahram leaned against the headrestand let out a long sigh. “Both of you, please, believe me. I nevermeant to give Agha Khalid any indication of where we are.” Heflipped around in the driver’s seat and faced them. “Because ofhim, the woman I loved is dead. Why would you think I’d want himanywhere near my sister?”

“I don’t know.” Kaden shook his head. “Maybethis is your crazy way of trying to protect her.”

Azita scooted forward in her seat as thoughshe wanted to physically insert herself between him and herbrother. He had to admire her courage. Too bad Shahram hadn’tinherited any. “Kaden, my brother has always been afraid of AghaKhalid.”

Shahram jerked backward and his facedarkened. “I amnotafraid of him!”

“You are. Stop denying it. When Agha Faroukhwas alive, he played referee. Since his death, whenever you crosspaths with Agha Khalid, you hide.” Her voice softened and sheturned to Kaden. “I do not believe my brother was attempting tobetray us. His fear of Agha Khalid is quite justified—mybrother-in-law pushed to have him stoned along with Jamila. It wasonly our father’s money and my late husband’s fair-mindedness thatsaved him.”

Kaden pinched the bridge of his nose as heconsidered his options. Missions were always a toss-up when dealingwith civilians. Delta Force operators planned their work and workedtheir plans. They didn’t deviate, they didn’t fear. They justexecuted.