Huffing out his breaths, knuckles bleeding, he stopped wrangling. Wanted to spit something at the guy.
“Get out of here,” Pike bit out and got in his face. “Stay out of sight until they’re gone.”
Knuckling away the warmth slipping down his jaw, Range eyed the captain whose left eye was swollen shut, his nose and mouth bleeding, then slid his gaze to the chief before he started down the back steps. As he took to the stairs, he shifted from a walk to a jog, his irritation flaring. His anger baiting him.
Where is she? … Kasra.
Range stopped at the bottom of the stairs.“I saw you with her.”In the hall. Son of a … Range slumped back against the wall. That was it … Wasn’t it?
Kasra. She was Kasra, not Malala.
Why hadn’t he seen it?
“Whoa, dude.” At the bloody sight of Range, Tycho rolled aside. “What happened?”
Range kept walking, then pivoted back. “Do me a favor.”
“You do know I don’t work for you.”
“Never said you did.”
Stretching his jaw, Tycho nodded. “What?”
“Bring the interpreter to the interview room. Tell her I want to talk to Kasra.”
Tycho gave him a weird look. “Seriously?”
“Was I stuttering?”
“No, it’s just—Dude, she just asked to talk with you.”
Okay, he hadn’t expected that. “Interview room 1.” Once the guy left to retrieve her, Range diverted to the bathroom and cleaned the blood from his face. Red smeared his shirt but he didn’t have time to change. He needed to be in the room when she arrived.
He entered the room and flipped on the light, wincing at the telltale migraine brewing from the fight. Leaning against the wall, he mentally reviewed the facts. The ones that had been dangling in front of him the whole time. Some had even slipped off his tongue but the connections weren’t there.
Now they were.
Voices came from the hall, and he heard her.
Since when do you recognize her voice
The door creaked open and she entered, wariness thicker than that hijab. She glanced around and started when she saw him. Her eyes widened. “Your face! What happened!”
“Have a seat,” he said gruffly.
She frowned, glancing around. “I was told you wanted to talk to Kasra …?”
Gripping the back of the metal chair, he stared at her. “I do.”
A nervous laugh trickled up her throat. “It will be hard to without her here.”
Range cocked his head, noting for the first time her eyes were no longer brown. Rather, the left one was still brown. The right was hazel. “Isn’t she, though?”
Guilt slid off that gentle, pretty façade that had been Malala and revealed the harder-edge, coldhearted shrew who had sold girls and children for sex.
He was going to enjoy shredding her
* * *
