Nick’s jaw tightened, and again Sean was struck by the similarities between the two men. He thought Nick might protest, but then Nick nodded curtly.
“Very well. You’ll receive everything you want. Can you be ready to depart in six hours?”
Sean drew in a breath; things were going to move more quickly than he’d imagined, but he knew it was for the best. If he thought too much about what he was about to do, about the risk he was taking — and, more than that, the risk to which he was exposing the man who was quickly coming to matter a great deal to him — he might change his mind.
15
Bash stared out of the window of the plane, watching the unearthly blue waters of the Mediterranean passing below. If there were any sanity in the universe, he and Sean would be headed east, toward England or America, and a well-deserved vacation. Instead, against his better judgment and every survival instinct, they were traveling west, back to Akkadia and into the jaws of the lion.
To say he didn’t want to go back to Akkadia was an understatement of epic proportions. He knew how lucky he and Sean had been to escape the first time, and then he’d had the advantages of surprise and relative anonymity on his side, as well as Mansur’s unexpected help. This time, he was going back as the bodyguard of the Crown Prince of Akkadia. There would be no way to pass unnoticed or escape scrutiny, not with the entire palace on lockdown after the attempted assassination of the king. If they had to escape, Bash was going to have to rely on Nick’s resources and the ingenuity of the members of Fortress. As much as he trusted his cadre, he didn’t like not being able to count on his own wits for whatever plan would be necessary.
At least they had plans. Bash had pulled up every scenario he could think of from the Fortress computers and asked Greg to analyze them in light of the situation in Akkadia. With a sigh, Bash turned his attention to his laptop, mulling over the ops plans and trying to decide which ones would be most likely to occur. He tried to think of what was happening as just another mission, but it was hard. Never had a mission revolved around the life of anyone who mattered to him as much as Sean did. Never had the possibility of failure been so terrifying.
It wasn’t a feeling Bash was used to dealing with, and he didn’t have any outlet for his frustration. He caught himself grinding his teeth and forced himself to stop before he shattered a tooth.
He’d never expected to fall in love. He especially hadn’t expected to fall so hard and fast. Sean was so different from everyone else Bash knew, and he was Bash’s opposite in more ways than one. But somehow Sean fit with him, like a puzzle piece sliding into place. Bash felt complete for the first time in his life, and he hadn’t even realized a part of himself was missing until Sean stepped into the hole and filled it. Bash still believed in his job, believed passionately in the difference Fortress made for the people they helped, but now he felt a real connection to the people he’d rescued or assisted over the years, because he knew what it meant to have someone who mattered more to him than his own life. More than a friend, more than a lover, Sean was now a part of Bash’s world — a part he couldn’t bear to lose.
He didn’t want to go to Akkadia, but he understood, at least intellectually, why Sean felt he must return. Bash didn’t like it, but he would be by Sean’s side every step of the way, and he’d keep Sean alive, no matter what it cost him.
A hand touched his shoulder, and Bash glanced to his left to find Sean looking at him in concern. “Are you all right?”
“No,” Bash replied, then softened the curt word with a wry half-smile. “Sorry. I get a little intense when I’m about to head into a shitstorm.”
“I remember.” Sean returned the smile, and Bash could see the worry in his eyes. “It’s not easy, is it? I admit to second thoughts. And third, and fourth…”
Bash took Sean’s hand and squeezed it. “It’s not too late to turn the plane around, you know.” Not that he thought Sean would do that. If there was one thing he’d learned from their time together in the desert, it was that Sean was no coward, even in the face of deadly danger.
“Yes, but…” Sean shrugged, twining his fingers with Bash’s and giving a squeeze in return. “I don’t think I could live with myself if Akkadia fell apart in a civil war, and I could have stopped it.”
“You wouldn’t be the man you are if you’d made any other decision,” Bash agreed. “I understand, I do. It doesn’t mean I’m happy about it, but I understand.”
Sean searched his face as though trying to determine if Bash really meant it. Apparently, he found the reassurance he was seeking, because he relaxed slightly, the tension in his body easing, and Bash had to remind himself that Sean had just as much to lose as he did.
“I’m glad you do.” Sean glanced at Bash’s computer screen. “So we haven’t had time to go over your scenarios. What do you think are the most likely things that could happen?”
“That’s the big question.” Bash sighed. “We’ve basically got three factions, from what I can tell. There’s Mansur and the loyalists to the house of Rasheed, who are the ones who control the army — or most of it, at least as far as we can tell. Then there’s your typical anarchists and republicans who want a democratically run government. They’re a minority, but they do have followers in key posts in a few of the ministries. Then we have your cousins, and that’s a big unknown. The tribal chieftains all followed Faisal, but some of them might back a different faction if it was to their benefit to do so. So they could possibly be bought if a traitor was willing to offer them the right price.”
“What about the traitor?” Sean asked, frowning. “Whose side are they on?”
“Well, obviously not Faisal’s,” Bash replied dryly. “I doubt it would be the republicans, but I could be wrong about that. It could be someone among your cousins, or it could be someone else who wants to destabilize the government for some ideological reason. Or maybe even just for the hell of it. The problem here is that we don’t know if we’re dealing with a rational actor or someone who wants to cause a meltdown. He could be internal or backed by a rival government. I wouldn’t be surprised if a big boy like Iran or Iraq or even the Saudis or Turks thought that if Akkadia melted down, they could step in and annex it. Never underestimate the greed of governments.”
Sean bit his lip. “If I understand you correctly, everyone is a suspect.”
Bash didn’t know of any way to soften the news. “I told you I might be the only person you can trust to be totally on your side. Unfortunately, I wasn’t joking.”
“Having seen what you can do, I don’t feel too bad about it,” Sean replied. His tone was light, but Bash wasn’t fooled. “We’ll get through it. We just have to figure out who the traitor is, right? When things are stabilized, I can leave, and we can go back to our own lives.”
“Do you really think so?” It was Bash’s turn to feel pensive. He didn’t want to voice his concerns to Sean and add more to the weight of what Sean already had to deal with, but Bash wasn’t certain that coming back out of the rabbit hole was going to be nearly as easy as dropping into it. If they survived it at all, of course.
Sean nodded firmly. “I can’t be king of Akkadia, so once we’ve done what needs to be done, I’ll step aside in favor of Mansur or whoever is next in line.”
“I hope it’s that easy.” Bash closed his computer. He would have plenty of time to worry things to death once they reached Akkadia and very little time to spend enjoying Sean. “Did you know this jet has a small but serviceable bedroom? And have you ever heard of the mile high club?”
Sean’s eyes widened, then narrowed, taking on a heated gleam that Bash cherished. “Do you have some suggestions about how we can make use of it before we reach our destination?”
“I certainly do.” Bash dumped his laptop into the seat across the aisle and unfastened his seatbelt. “I want to spend the time showing you what we’ll both be missing for the foreseeable future. Just as an incentive to get this over with and get back to where we can be open.”
“I think a reminder is an excellent thing,” Sean replied. He rose as well and took Bash’s hand, and Bash led him to the rear of the plane.
