Page 41 of Deadly Betrayal

“Azita was hit in the head by some debris andlost consciousness for a few minutes. Scared the shit out of me.She’s okay now, but it could have been so much worse.” He couldhave lost her. “You and Nic wearing body armor?”

“Helmets too. We’ve got the same transportteam as before, so unless we get hit by an RPG, we should get therein one piece.”

Kaden’s chest tightened. “Don’t even jokeabout that.”

Jake’s voice turned serious. “We’re as safeas we can be. Nothing’s going to happen to Nic if I can helpit.”

“Good. When are you scheduled to arrive atCamp Kunduz?”

“Sergeant McAlister said sometime during thenight. We’re driving straight through.”

“And the show’s still planned for 1400hours?”

“Yep. You gonna be there?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Kaden meantthat sincerely. The twenty-four hours since he’d last seen hisfriends had felt like an eternity. “I’m bringing Azita, too. Canyou advise McAlister and the base security?”

“Will do. By the way, I ran into Hoffman atBagram. He had some interesting things to say.”

Kaden tensed. Hoffman had been one of themore senior members of their Delta Force team, and had, in fact,been promoted into Kaden’s position after the ambush. “Anything youcan share over the phone?”

“Captain Hainey continues to swear that hehad nothing to do with the ambush.”

Kaden didn’t doubt that it was true. Afterall, that night had stripped the man of a very lucrative operationand landed his ass in a military prison for many years to come.Still, the only way that could be true was if someone from the teamhad leaked the information about the exchange. Whether by accidentor for profit remained to be determined. “So there was someone elseinvolved.” He pressed a hand to the pulse pounding in his forehead.“I knew it was a strong possibility. The only one really. I justdidn’t want to believe it.”

“Think it was one of the ANA?”

Kaden thought of Hassan and the sincerity inhis eyes when Kaden had paid him for the car. “I hope not. But menwill turn on blood to protect someone or something they love.”

Jake snorted. “Not me. I’d never turn on you,man.”

“Never is a long time. What if you had a wifeor a kid, and the Taliban got their claws into her? What if they’dkill her if you didn’t tell them where to find me? You’d give me upthen, wouldn’t you?”

“Fuck, Kaden.”

The silence stretched. Kaden let Jake come tohis own inevitable conclusions.

“I’d like to say no.”

“But you would,” Kaden told him gently. “Weall would.”

“Doesn’t make it right.”

“Nope, it doesn’t. We don’t know who did thisor why. I’m not making any excuses for anyone. Everyone on the teamis a suspect. Keep digging. We’ll figure it out, and when we do,the bastard will pay.”

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, hermedical bag open and handy, Azita slowly unrolled the compressionbandage off her head. She smiled. Kaden had done an admirable jobof dressing and bandaging her wound. Scalp injuries often bledatrociously, as this one had, leading people to believe them moreserious than they were. Her unconsciousness must have frightenedboth him and Shahram.

Had Shahram made it safely back to Kabul? Ifonly he’d stuck to their plan, he’d be here with her now.

Azita peered into the small mirror andfrowned as she considered the size of her pupils. They wereslightly enlarged—she passed a hand in front of them—but theyresponded to changes in light. Conclusion: she had a mildconcussion. Nothing to worry about.

She removed the sterile pad and got her firstlook at the wound. With a great deal of caution and grimacing, shepalpated the surrounding area. The flesh was tender, but she feltconfident there was no skull fracture. A little blood seeped fromthe wound, but no pus.

Using a small flashlight she kept in hermedical bag, she angled her head to see inside the cut. It appearedfairly shallow and clean. She’d feared to find embedded bits ofmetal or paint. Kaden must have flushed it at the scene. It wasimportant to clean it every four hours or so to reduce the risk ofinfection. She diluted some hydrogen peroxide in a bottle of watershe would use to irrigate it.

After stripping down, she entered the smallshower stall, feeling extremely fortunate that they’d found aguesthouse with fairly modern facilities. The water tank was quitesmall and the water warm rather than hot, but it was heavenly. Asefficiently as she could, Azita worked the blood out of her mattedand tangled hair.

When the water ran mostly clear, she turnedoff the flow and quickly scrubbed the caked blood off her neck andears. After rinsing, she bent forward and applied the hydrogenperoxide solution to the injury. Although her body had grown usedto Afghanistan’s water supply in the past two years, she had noillusions as to its purity. Until the wound healed, it would berequiring the bottled water treatment.