Page 1 of Forgiving His Past (Eagle’s Nest Securities #5)

Kandahar, Afghanistan

Kaamisha Dawari stood in the shadows across the street from the coffee shop she’d recently begun to frequent. She hid, not because she was afraid, but because she was busy hunting. Not an animal, but rather a group of highly trained men.

Though some might refer to the group of former American SEALs as animals, Kaamisha knew them for exactly what they really were. Trained killers their government once paid to take out those it deemed as the enemy.

My mother wasn’t their enemy. My mother was a kind and loving woman whose only crime was dreaming of a world filled with peace.

Unfortunately, it no longer mattered who or what her mother was. Only that she was dead.

So many lives had been wasted. So many innocent people had been slaughtered in the name of terroristic ideologies. And countless rules and laws that had been twisted and distorted in order to fit an unrecognizable doctrine brought forth by evil and greed.

It was that same evil that had stolen her home when Kaamisha was merely a child. Years later, that same need for power had forced her father to leave her and her mother behind to fight a war in which he held no claim.

And it was that same unrelenting force that sent an unknown man’s bullets flying into her mother’s unshielded body, ripping her from this world in a spray of violence that had solved nothing and saved no one.

Kaamisha’s gaze returned to the man sitting toward the back of the small shop. Her target appeared much like the picture she’d been given.

Tall. Fit. A black ball cap covering his short, almost black hair. His strong, masculine jaw painted dark by a matching, closely trimmed beard.

Donovan Braddock.

She’d spent hours learning everything she could about him and his four teammates, as well as the other four men’s wives.

Between the internet and what her contact had revealed, it seemed as if the remaining members of what used to be the most decorated SEAL team in activation were now equal partners in a private security firm.

Kaamisha’s lips twitched ever so slightly with the urge to lift in a smile. She’d had the same reaction the first time she’d read the company name, having found the unconventional nomenclature surprisingly charming.

The opposite of how she’d describe the man in the booth.

Stoic. Angry. Impatient.

Sexy.

Yes, from where she was standing, Donovan Braddock appeared to be all of those things. But as Kaamisha had learned, the former SEAL was also highly skilled and quite deadly .

According to the intel that had been shared with her, the fit brunette had specialized in hand-to-hand combat while serving his time in the military.

Following his team’s sudden—and from what she’d been told, unvoluntary—departure from the Navy, the lethal American had become the co-owner of a team whose office was located in the Pacific Northwest.

Five former SEALs who went from having their boots deep in the trenches to protecting those walking the streets of Seattle.

Kaamisha had read where the men of Eagle’s Nest worked as bodyguards and escorts to members of both the public and political arenas.

And they did so without fanfare or an obvious need for celebrity status or any other sort of notoriety.

These were the men who’d reportedly murdered her mother in cold blood three years before. All-American heroes who had risked their lives many times over for what seemed to be the side of good.

And yet, their names were the ones Kaamisha had been given regarding her mother’s untimely death.

It makes no sense. My mother detested the violence in this country. Why would these men orchestrate her murder?

War rarely made sense to her, however. And every piece of information she possessed told her the same thing…

Her eyes refocused on the American she could still see through the shop’s front windows. Even from here, it was clear to see he was growing impatient. Tired of waiting for her, no doubt.

Far be it from me to disappoint.

Kaamisha looked both ways before crossing the street, using both hands to lift the hem of her cream-colored dress as she walked.

A breeze blew past, sending the flowing material waving slightly with the wind.

The olive green hijab covering her long, dark hair kept all but a few strands securely in place.

The sun had already set, and the usual crowd was beginning to disperse. This worked in her favor, of course. Shadows tended to hide a multitude of sins.

Stepping up to the shop’s entrance, Kaamisha reached for the door. Pulling it open, she glanced casually around, not daring to turn directly in the man’s direction.

There was no need to look, as she already knew Donovan Braddock was still there. He’d started to stand, most likely having decided to give up for the night and leave.

But then…

He sees me.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed him slowly sitting back down. Like her, he’d been coming to this same coffee shop for the past three nights. He’d sit inside while she stood across the street, watching him as he waited for her.

Every night was the same. The former SEAL would wait until after dark, order a coffee he never actually drank, and sit alone at the table in the farthest back corner.

He’d remain there for a couple of hours, giving a very poor impersonation of a casual patron while trying his best to fit in. If Kaamisha didn’t understand how dire the situation truly was, she would have found his little performance rather amusing.

For most, Braddock probably appeared to be exactly what he wanted others to see. A man who liked to keep to himself while relaxing with a steaming cup of the best coffee Kandahar had to offer.

Lucky for her, Kaamisha wasn’t like most, and her eyes saw things beyond the average person’s. But even if that wasn’t the case, even if her parents hadn’t trained her to pick up on the slightest hints of deception, the man she’d been closely surveilling would stand out anywhere he went.

Large crowd or small, it wouldn’t matter. The American was extremely tall, impressively built, and far too attractive for his own good.

As he pulled down on the bill of his ball cap, Braddock also looked like he wanted nothing more than to kill. And as Kaamisha stood less than ten feet from where he sat, she became very aware that she was his target.

Not one to willingly put herself on the defensive, she decided to take matters into her own hands. What she had planned for the former SEAL was risky, but it was either this or tip off the outside forces she could feel watching her every move.

After waiting for her turn to put in her order, she let her lips curve into a friendly smile. Kaamisha greeted the young woman behind the counter and then rattled off her usual order as if it were any other day.

The second she was handed the sleeved cup of coffee she’d ordered to go, Kaamisha thanked the barista with the same smile as before and then turned and walked out the door.

She counted the steps needed to bring her body out of the man’s line of sight. Once she reached the point where he could no longer see her, she hurriedly picked up the pace.

Her pulse quickened with each new step as she followed the same path she’d taken numerous times before. Practice made perfect, or at least that’s what her mother had always said. This time was no exception.

Quickly vanishing around the corner, Kaamisha entered an alley with only a sliver of moonlight present in its otherwise darkened path. Because she’d taken these same steps multiple times before, she knew the perfect place to hide while she waited for her prey to arrive.

As she approached the foul-smelling dumpster to her right, Kaamisha tossed her untouched coffee into the dark abyss without missing a beat of her step. Moving even faster now, she jogged to the next one positioned a few yards further down. And just beyond that…

Kaamisha took a hard right turn straight toward the building’ s brick wall. A small inlet had been built into the sturdy structure for a door that had long ago been sealed.

Thanks to her previous assessment of the area, she was also familiar with the hidden niche that had been built into the narrow entrance. She didn’t care about its unknown purpose, only that her body fit perfectly within its shadows, and that the space was invisible to anyone passing by.

With a seamless move, Kaamisha slid her body into the small hiding place. Her heart felt as though it would pound straight out of her chest.

Taking a moment to calm her nerves, she forced her lungs to follow the same breathing exercises she’d learned as a child. She willed her pulse to steady, bending over to reach beneath the layers of her ankle-length dress.

The tips of her fingers came into contact with the large hunting knife strapped securely at her thigh. With the sound of traffic from the nearby street murmuring in the background, she unsnapped the leather strap keeping it in place and carefully pulled it from its sheath.

Kaamisha stood upright once more as the skin on the back of her neck stood on end. In her gut, she knew the shivers racing down her spine had nothing to do with the cool evening air.

Her grip tightened as her fingers curled around the long blade’s leather-bound handle. The former SEAL was close. She could feel it in her bones. All she had to do now was wait.

There was an odd sound coming from the same sidewalk she’d recently escaped. A long string of deep, male curses reached her ears just before she heard a man’s loud, frustrated voice.

“ Fuck! I don’t see her.”

It was him. Braddock. And he was most definitely looking for her.

Calm and steady, Kam. Calm and steady.

She pressed her back against the wall, making herself as small as she possibly could. Relying on her sense of sound, Kaamisha tuned out all the other outside noise and focused solely on the sounds coming only from him.

Several long, quick footfalls occupied her attention. She listened closely, needing the timing to be just right. Because this man was, without a doubt, a highly trained killer.

There were no plans in her near future that involved her own death. And if these men were who she believed them to be, Braddock nor his teammates would end her life without at least offering up a warning.

Not if things went according to plan, that is. But that was, of course, a very, very big if.

The American’s booted steps grew closer and closer. Kaamisha’s palms grew sweaty, but she ignored the nervous sensation and remained focused on the plan.

Braddock passed by the spot where she was hidden, his movements slowing slightly as he continued searching for her. She closed her eyes, sending up a hastened prayer to Allah, and then Kaamisha slowly and cautiously stepped back out into the alley.

Her eyes zeroed in on his back as he walked slowly in the center of the rough and dirty path. The former SEAL appeared even taller than he’d seemed from afar, and there was visible tension in his broad, leather clad shoulders.

She moved with slow, careful steps as he looked around at the part of the alley that lay before him. It was clear to her that he was listening intently to whoever was on the other end of the call.

His mistake.

With his focus split between the conversation and his search, Kaamisha was given the perfect opportunity to gain the element of surprise. After another rushed prayer and her sweet mother’s smiling face filling her mind’s eye, she held her breaths still and the knife tightly within her fist.

The sound of an approaching vehicle came from the end of the alley both she and Braddock were facing. This was it. Her one and only chance to finally make things right. So with nothing more to lose, other than her own life, she put the next stage of her plan into motion.

Kaamisha closed the distance between them and raised the knife high in the air. The man was so distracted by both the call and his unyielding search, he didn’t notice her until it was too late.

Her left arm wrapped around the front of his chest as she pressed the blade of the knife against his throat with her other hand. The front of her body became flush with his back, and he froze beneath her threatening hold.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Donovan Braddock.” Kaamisha kept her voice low as her lips moved just shy of touching the skin at the side of his neck.

The man froze beneath her threatening touch, his deep rumble reverberating from his body into hers. “Guess I found you… Kaamisha. ”

Her heart kicked against her ribs at the sound of her name falling from his scruff-lined lips as his spicy male scent consumed her sense of smell.

Kaamisha’s lower belly clenched with a sudden, unexplained tingle, but she ignored her body’s inexplicable response to this man and released a feathery laugh.

With carefully added pressure placed behind the knife’s sharp blade, she whispered back, “You and your team may have been looking for me, Navy SEAL. But guess what? I have been looking for you, too.”