Operation: Forbidden. Lindsay McKenna

rounding, Emma sat up. “Aren’t you afraid, Captain Shaheen? He’s already killed one person you loved. You could be next.” Suddenly, Emma wanted nothing to harm this man who had a vision for the girls of his country. She could see his sincerity and the heart that he wore openly on his sleeve. Khalid was priceless in her world because few men could be so in touch with their emotions and share them as he just had with her. Brody had never opened up like this. Not ever. And it threw Emma.

      Khalid said, “Rumi would say a real Sufi laughs at death. A Sufi is like an oyster—what strikes it does not harm the pearl within.”

      Considering the saying from the thirteenth century, Emma grimaced. “Sorry, but I’m not in agreement with Rumi. I don’t feel I could be at peace if someone raped and then murdered my fiancée.”

      “I understand,” Khalid said. “You have lived in our country where the threat to your life exists every day.” He opened his hand and gestured around the room. “Afghans have been at war with the Russians. Now, we have the Taliban. Do we want to live this way? No. Do we dream of a peaceful life? Yes. I don’t expect you, Captain Cantrell, to believe as we do. Najela was Sufi. I know in my heart of hearts that throughout her terrible last hours she felt compassion for Malik. He’s a man so filled with hatred and vengeance that I’m sure that her compassion only made him want to harm her even more.”

      Shaking her head, Emma muttered, “Well, I sure wouldn’t be thinking peaceful and loving thoughts if that dude was doing that to me. I’d be looking for any way to protect myself and kill the bastard.”

      Giving her a slight smile, Khalid nodded. “Sufis are misunderstood even by our other Muslim brethren. In fact, those who choose jihad and become terrorists hate us as much as they do the so-called infidels.”

      “Which is why Malik hates you?” Emma wondered.

      “He hates my family for many reasons and has sworn vengeance against each of us. In part, because we are Sufis and believe in tolerance and generosity toward others. The fact my father is worth billions of dollars makes Malik hate us because he was raised in poverty. He didn’t own a pair of shoes until he was eleven years old when the Taliban leader recruited him.”

      Suddenly, there was a deafening explosion outside. The sound and reverberation slammed into the room. Instantly, they both dove for the deck, hands over their heads. Emma hissed a curse. Tiles from the ceiling fell around them as a second explosion shook Ops.

      “It’s the Taliban,” she growled, getting to her feet. Automatically, she pulled the .45 pistol from her belt and ran to the door. Swinging it open, Ops looked like a beehive that had been overturned.

      Shaheen was at her side, looking down at her. Emma’s face was set and her gaze aimed at the windows outside. He saw one of the helicopters burning, the black smoke roiling and bubbling skyward. “Do you get attacks often?”

      Grimly, Emma moved toward the center of Ops. Pilots and crews were hurrying out the doors, armed and ready to fight. She knew from being here over a year that such attacks were sporadic. “No,” she snapped, moving with everyone else toward the doors. “Come on, we need to help the fire crews.”

      Khalid didn’t know Camp Bravo as she did. He trotted across Ops and found himself outside with her. Emma’s eyes were searching the end of the runway and she pointed in that direction. “That’s one of the places they hit us. They sit in the brush beyond the runway and lob RPGs, rocket propelled grenades, this way.”

      Khalid noted a squad of Special Forces speeding away in a Humvee, armed and ready for battle. He wanted to protect Emma. It was his natural reaction. Telling himself she was a warrior like him, he kept his thoughts and his hands to himself. She was all business now. Another crew rolled up in a fire engine and began spewing foam over the burning CH-47 transport helicopter, already a total loss.

      Emma turned. She was glad she had her Kevlar jacket on because gunshots were suddenly being traded at the end of the runway. “Come on, this is under control.

      No sense standing out here like targets.” She gestured toward Ops again.

      Shaheen wasn’t so sure, for a minute longer, he watched the Special Forces from the Humvee spraying the bushes where the Taliban had been hiding. “Do they get inside the camp?” he asked as he followed her into Ops.

      “Not so far, but we’re always watching.” Settling the .45 back into the holster on her waist, she added, “We’re never safe here. Let’s get back to discussing the mission, shall we?” Emma stopped and poured herself another cup of black coffee from the urn at the side of the Ops desk. Khalid did the same and they returned to the meeting room.

      There were several enlisted men in there. They’d already picked up the ceiling tiles that had dropped from the explosion, so Emma thanked them and, once more, she and Khalid were alone. They pulled their chairs to the table and sat down. Her heart pounded and she felt tense and on guard. As she sipped the coffee, she hoped it would soothe her jangled nerves.

      “Will they attack more than once in a day?” Khalid wondered. He found himself drowning in her dark, forest-green eyes, fraught with care and concern. If he read her correctly, it was concern for his welfare. That touched and warmed his wounded heart. There was something ethereal about Emma. Was it how her mussed red hair curled slightly at her temples? Was it her huge green eyes fraught with compassion? Or those lips that reminded Khalid of a rose in full bloom? His inspiration to cut the first red rose of the year from his family’s garden hadn’t gone as he’d hoped. “Well, let me lay out some information to you on Operation Book Worm,” he said, returning to business.

      Asad Malik crept away from the end of the runway with his men. Bullets were singing around them, but he knew from long experience that the Special Forces couldn’t see them and they were firing blindly into the thick brush. One day, when there was time, such brush would be cleaned away. He had ten men with him. They continued to work their way through the heavy brush, their AK-47s and grenade launchers in hand. Smiling to himself, he congratulated them in a whisper on destroying one of the helicopters. It was a good day!

      Dressed in baggy brown trousers, a crisscross of wide leather straps containing bullets across his chest, Malik did not think this attack was done. No. He would wait, skulk through the brush with his men and wait on the other side. Malik knew this forward base was vital to the war effort by the infidel Americans. Until lately, he’d not had enough money to buy more grenades and bullets. Now, he had a new donor from Saudi Arabia who had given him millions to support the Taliban effort.

      Grunting and breathing hard, Malik knelt, hidden. He waited for his ragtag group of nine other men to catch up with him. Most were barefoot, their clothes thin and threadbare. They were all skinny, their cheeks sunken, for coming here had been hard on them. Malik usually worked other areas, but this base was crucial to the American mission and he’d wanted to strike the head of the snake finally.

      “Everyone all right?” he demanded roughly as they sat in a semicircle around him. “No wounds?”

      “None, my lord,” one of the bearded men spoke up.

      Malik grinned. “Good. Now, let’s sneak around the other side of the runway. Knowing the infidels, they’ll think this attack is over.”

      There were soft, knowing chuckles from the men, all of whom nodded their accord to follow their charismatic and brave leader.

      “Come!” Malik whispered harshly, lifting his hand and moving forward. “I want another helicopter,” he snickered.

      Emma could see the burning intensity in Khalid’s blue eyes as they narrowed speculatively upon her. They’d just finished off their coffees and got down to the business at hand. She felt giddy and thrilled with his interest in her. Sure, he respected her as a professional, but she sensed something deeper. Sternly, she chided herself for thinking he was drawn to her.

      And then her heart contracted. Was Khalid interested in her or was she imagining things? That couldn’t be. Khalid was the head of the mission and held power over her. His comments would eventually go into her career