Page 69 of Deadly Betrayal

“Are you saying that as my boss?”

Snarling, Nic swore. “Stop fucking bringingthat up. You’re gonna make me self-conscious.”

“God knows we wouldn’t wantthat, bossman,” Jake teased.

Kaden chuckled at their bantering and decidedto join in. The ease in tension would help him think more clearly.“Come on, Nic. Focus. I know that’s hard when it’s not aboutyou.”

“Fuck you, man. Just fuck you.” Nic threw thepillow at his head, the corner of his mouth curved into a snarkygrin.

Walking to the window, Kaden pressed hisforehead against the cool glass. Night was falling, and lightspilled from buildings up and down the street. Was Azita out therestill, or was she already on the road back to Kabul? He had to getmoving, but first, he had to be prepared for what could happen whenthis was all over. “Azita has her passport. She’s been keeping itin her medical bag.” He hit his fist on the glass as an idea tookshape. “That’s it!”

“What?” Nic asked, stretching his back.

“There’s a conference coming up in Montréal.Maternal health in developing countries. I saw the ad when we wentinto the city last week,” he said to Jake.

Jake rose and dropped into a chair at thetable. “It’s in January. But so what?”

“We get her invited as a guest speaker. She’scertainly qualified.”

“Okay, I can see that they’d be interested tohave her present. But how do we organize that from here?”

Nic hefted himself off the floor. “Meg, mypublicist. I can have her call the director of the clinic whereAzita works, or even better the shelter. She’s already given me thewoman’s contact information. Once the documents and the formalinvitation are ready, Azita could go to the Canadian embassy andrequest a visa.”

“The embassy.” Kaden frowned. The one inKabul didn’t handle visas. A friend had learned that the hard way.“We’d have to get her into Pakistan, to the embassy in Islamabad.But how? The Khyber Pass is pretty much run by the Taliban thesedays.”

Jake cleared his throat. “I might know aguy.”

Kaden’s brows rose. The kid never stoppedsurprising him.

“It’ll cost you, though.”

“Not a problem,” Nic chimed in. “Go rescueyour woman. Jake and I will take care of the rest.”

Kaden wanted to share Nic’s confidence, butwhat if Azita insisted on staying behind to help Laila? “We mightneed visas for Laila and her mother too.”

“That might be harder to do.” Jake rubbed hisneck, then he jerked his head up. “Do they have passports?”

Many people in Afghanistan didn’t even havebirth certificates, although the government was trying to rectifythat with national identification cards.

“I doubt either one has ever left thecountry.”

“Where can we get passports for two peoplewho don’t even have basic ID like a birth certificate, or whateverpasses as one in this country?” Nic asked.

Jake grinned. “Gwen.”

Kaden refused to let the buoyancy in hischest mean anything, though the thought crept in anyway: This mightactually fucking work.

“I’ll ask her. She did get the ID cards andmarriage certificate without too much trouble.” Jake lookedaltogether too happy.

“What?” Kaden arched a brow.

Jake schooled his features, but his eyesgleamed.

“You like her?” Kaden had thought theirrelationship was in the past.

“Nah, man. That’s over. She’s still a lot offun to look at though. You know she carries knives strapped to herthighs?”

Nic coughed and turned away, while Kadensmothered a chuckle. “TMI, my friend.”