Nadia studied her for a long moment. Then sighed. "You're the boss. But for the record, I think this is a bad idea."
"Noted."
Mara walked back outside into the pre-dawn darkness. The safe house sat quiet behind her. Amira and Karim were settled. Safe. The mission was complete.
But her mind kept pulling her back to that overturned SUV. To the moment she'd grabbed his vest and he'd looked at her with those eyes that saw too much. Eyes that had held hers for three seconds that felt like hours. Eyes that had assessed and calculated and somehow understood exactly what she was thinking before she'd made the decision to leave.
She didn't even know his name. Just the sound of his voice telling her to go. Just the feel of his vest under her hands when she'd pulled him close. Just the way something had shifted in her chest when he'd said that kid doesn't get a second chance, I do.
Like he'd already accepted what was about to happen. Like he'd made peace with dying so a seven-year-old could live. Like he'd looked at her and decided she was worth that sacrifice.
Mara's hands clenched into fists. This wasn't about attraction. Wasn't about the way her pulse had kicked up when their eyes met. Wasn't about the completely inappropriate thought that had flashed through her mind in the middle of a firefight about what his face looked like without the tactical mask.
This was about debt. About honor. About the fact that he'd bought them time and she'd left him to pay for it.
That's what she told herself. That's what she needed it to be.
Because the alternative was admitting that she'd felt something in that moment behind the SUV. Something that had nothing to do with tactics and everything to do with the man bleeding out in front of her. Something she didn't have words for and definitely didn't have time to process.
She pulled out her phone. Stared at the blank screen. Quinn was working on identification. His team was at Erbil planning their next move. And somewhere in Mosul, he was either alive or dead. Either waiting for rescue or already beyond saving.
Either way, she was going back.
Not because it was smart. Not because it was tactical. Not even because it was the right thing to do.
Because she couldn't stop seeing his eyes. Couldn't stop hearing his voice. Couldn't shake the feeling that something had started in that compound that wouldn't end until she saw him again.
She turned and headed back inside. There was work to do. Plans to make. Intelligence to gather. A rescue operation to coordinate that would either save a life or destroy everything Shadow Veil had built.
But first she needed to figure out why the thought of never seeing those eyes again felt like losing something she'd only just found.
Twelve Kilometers Outside Mosul
Steele woke up to pain and darkness.
His head pounded where they'd hit him. His leg was on fire. His hands were zip-tied behind his back and he was lying on concrete that smelled like oil and old blood.
He kept his breathing steady. Didn't open his eyes yet. Listened first. Footsteps. Two, maybe three men. Voices in Arabic. Agitated. Arguing about something.
He tested the zip ties. Tight. Professional. Not getting out of these without tools.
His tactical vest was gone. Weapons gone. Radio gone. Medical kit gone. They'd stripped him down to his base layer and cargo pants. Standard procedure for captured personnel. Remove anything useful. Leave them vulnerable.
His leg throbbed with each heartbeat. Arterial bleed. He'd lost a lot of blood. Was probably still losing it. Without medical attention, he had hours at best.
The footsteps approached. Someone kicked his boot. Hard.
"Wake up," a voice said in accented English.
Steele opened his eyes. The room resolved slowly. Basement. Concrete walls. Single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. Three men standing over him. One held an AK-47. The other two had side arms.
"American soldier," the man said. It wasn't a question.
Steele didn't respond.
The man kicked him again. "Who are you? Why are you here?"
Name, rank, serial number. That's all they were getting. But even that was problematic because technically he wasn't supposed to be here. Delta Force didn't officially operate in Iraq without Iraqi government approval.
