“Thank you for coming.” Nick beckoned them forward.
Bash closed the door, then moved forward briskly. He and Sean settled into the chairs in front of Nick’s desk, and Bash apparently decided not to waste any time.
“What’s going on?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“There’s been a development in Akkadia,” Nick replied, then turned his attention to Sean. “I’m sorry to tell you there has been an attempt on your grandfather’s life. He was shot, and he’s in a coma.”
Sean went rigid with shock, unable to believe what he was hearing. “Someone shot him? They actually got past Mansur?”
“I’m afraid so. Although, to be fair to Mansur, the attack came from a long-range sniper. Your grandfather was inspecting a new oil refinery, and the sniper struck from over a mile away. He wasn’t caught, but they found where he’d been holed up, perhaps for days, waiting. The press corps in Akkadia is screaming that it was an attempted CIA hit.”
“But it wasn’t,” Bash said, his tone confident. “It would make no sense at all. Akkadia is a U.S. ally, and it’s one of the more stable countries in the area. Killing Faisal would wreak havoc.”
“Of course it would. Mansur is certain a traitor is behind this.”
Sean hesitated, but finally he spoke up and voiced the concern that had been worrying him since the beginning.
“What if Mansur himself is the traitor?”
“Always a possibility,” Nick replied with a small frown. “There are few people who cannot be flipped with sufficient motivation, and Mansur is not someone who was recruited. He offered his services after learning of our existence when one of our teams saved him and his family during a previous operation. But that alone gives me some faith in his loyalty, if not to Fortress, then to his country. Yet I wouldn’t stick my neck out to say I trust him implicitly.” He smiled slightly. “That is something I reserve for very few people.”
Bash started, his eyes flying wide with shock. “Fortress saved Mansur? I didn’t know that.”
Nick met Bash’s gaze steadily, seeming to read the growing outrage in Bash’s expression. “I didn’t think the information necessary for your mission. The fewer people who know about an asset, the more secure that asset is. Your own mission was supposed to be a simple extraction, and there was no reason to suspect you’d play Horatio at the bridge, Sebastian. As it is, things have worked out for the best, despite the setbacks. And your capture provided intelligence we couldn’t have gotten any other way.”
“It narrowed down the list of traitors, right?” Bash glanced at Sean and Sean could see his annoyance with Nick fade. Bash’s gaze was warm, and Sean felt himself melt inside.
Nick nodded, then turned his attention to Sean once more. “Mansur has made a request. He’d like for you to come back, Sean. Your grandfather might not recover, and if he dies with you out of the picture, the political situation in Akkadia will probably destabilize quickly — which is no doubt what the traitor wants. If Faisal had died, Mansur feels there would already be a war of succession going on and I agree with his assessment. As it is, Mansur’s report to me indicated the doctors believe a recovery to be unlikely, though Mansur is holding that information close and stalling for time. Because of the precarious political situation, he can’t go around arresting all the suspects. He needs to drag things out and hope the traitor makes a mistake. For that, he needs time. Time you can buy for him.”
Sean bit his lip as he considered the request. “Mansur is asking a lot,” he said.
“He’s out of his mind!” Bash growled, narrowing his eyes as his expression turned dangerous. “Mansur couldn’t protect Faisal, and now he wants to pull Sean into the same situation? With someone obviously prepared to kill him to get him out of the way? That’s insane!”
“Softly, Sebastian. Softly.” Nick raised a hand to Bash, and somewhat to Sean’s surprise, Bash subsided. Then Nick’s pale gaze was on Sean once again. “I realize Mansur’s request might seem outrageous, even offensive, but I ask that you consider it carefully before you refuse. Perhaps you feel you owe nothing to Akkadia or to Mansur, but you are a healer, a man who has made it his life’s work to alleviate pain and suffering among the most vulnerable of all people - the children. The reason you even agreed to go to Akkadia involved an opportunity to do something lasting in memory of your parents and for the benefit of the children of Akkadia, was it not? This is an opportunity for you to do something even larger to help those same children — to helpallthe children of the country.”
Beside him, Sean could feel Bash tense up, and a glance at his lover’s face showed Bash was glaring at Nick. But Bash remained silent, possibly waiting to see what else Nick had to say before exploding. Sean understood the logic of Nick’s argument — and even the emotional appeal — but he couldn’t help but feel pressure Nick didn’t have the right to put on him. There was a vast difference between being a qualified doctor and trying to pass himself off as a ruler.
Then there was the matter of Bash. Perhaps it was the intensity of what they’d been through together and the power of the physical attraction they shared, but Sean had never been so drawn to a lover before. It was undoubtedly selfish of him not to want to return to Akkadia because he didn’t want to be separated from Bash, but he couldn’t deny that part of his reluctance had to do with leaving Bash when they’d had so little time together. Something in Sean’s expression must have given away his train of thought, because Nick closed his eyes for a moment, then his gaze strayed to Bash for one betraying second before returning to Sean.
“Before you say no, let me offer something else. I can tell what Bash wants by the way he’s glaring at me. If you go, I will send Bash with you as your personal bodyguard. I’m not sure how Mansur will explain it to his security team, but that will be his problem.” Nick smiled crookedly. “Will you feel safer if Bash is guarding you?”
Sean felt warmth creeping into his cheeks, but it wasn’t because of Nick’s acknowledgement of their relationship and how much it meant to Sean. Instead, he felt guilty for thinking of Nick as having no right to ask him to risk himself; if Nick was willing to risk Bash, his only son, to protect him, then Nick was putting almost as much on the line as Sean would be. Sean wasn’t certain he could live with himself if he refused and the situation deteriorated and spread terror throughout a region already torn by conflict. The Middle East was a ticking time bomb, and Akkadia was one small, relatively safe eye in the middle of a massive storm. If Sean could help it remain so, perhaps that might make a difference in the long term in how long it took to bring peace to millions of people.
It was, he thought with a pang, what his father would expect him to do. And it was also what he would expect of himself.
He looked at Bash again, who was still frowning at Nick, unaware of just how much sending Bash was probably tearing Nick up inside. He sent Bash into danger regularly, but those situations were carefully picked and planned and had the full resources of Fortress behind them. This situation was different, and Sean didn’t need to understand military operations to know it — especially since Nick had to know Bash was going to put Sean’s safety ahead of his own survival.
Yet Sean couldn’t deny hewantedBash with him. It was selfish of him, but he knew he would have a better chance of success with Bash at his side, guarding his back. At least with Bash there, Sean would have one person he could trust.
“Would you be willing?” Sean asked softly.
Bash turned to look at him, gray eyes widening in surprise. “You’re not considering this crazy idea, are you?” he asked in disbelief. “Sean… even with me there, you’d be in incredible danger. We wouldn’t be able to trust anyone except each other. You don’t owe Mansur or Faisal or the people of that country anything — not your pity and especially not your life! You’re not responsible for what has happened there, so why should you have to step in and save them from their own mess?”
Sean could see Bash’s words stemmed from worry for him, and it touched him more than he could say, but he knew what he had to do. Reaching out, he took one of Bash’s hands in his. “But isn’t that exactly what you do every time you go on a mission?” he asked quietly. “Put yourself in harm’s way for people to whom you owe nothing, risking your life to save them from things they’ve gotten themselves into?” He smiled softly, squeezing Bash’s fingers. “Isn’t that exactly what you did for me — and so what I, as a member of Fortress, should do for others?”
He could see Bash’s inner struggle as Bash tried to come up with an argument to counter Sean’s logic, but after several moments, Bash seemed to realize the futility of it. He had been hoisted by his own petard, and from his expression, he knew it.
“Fine.” Bash’s voice was a deep growl, and his fingers tightened on Sean’s. “We’ll go.” He looked at Nick once more. “But I want access to everything you have about Akkadia, Faisal, Mansur, the traitor, and anything else that might be relevant. If it’s happened within the borders of that country or within a hundred miles of it in the last twenty years, I want to know about it. And I want multiple extraction plans. If it gets too hairy, Sean gets out, no matter what. I want that understood up front, Nick. Sean comes first.”
