Surrender in Silk Read Free Page B

respect. That night she’d cut her hair. In the past few years, she’d let it grow back.
    Zach. It was always about him.
    Rick slowed down. Up ahead was an outcropping of rocks.
    He parked in their shadow and climbed out. Jamie followed. She checked the sun, her watch, then pulled out her compass.
    “Two miles that way,” she said, pointing northeast. “Try not to get lost this time.”
    Rick grinned. “Are you ever going to let me forget that one?”
    “Never.”
    They walked together in silence. Thirty minutes later, they parted company. Jamie could see the compound in the distance. High fences should have shielded the inside from curious eyes, but most of them had recently been blown away. There were several buildings, trucks and dozens of armed men. Her heart started pounding in her chest. Dammit, they didn’t have a prayer of making this work.
    Then she forced herself to slow her breathing. Gradually her muscles relaxed.
    The terrorists had chosen this spot specifically. There weren’t a lot of trees or plants, so it was difficult to approachthe compound without being seen. She found a shallow depression in the warm earth and again breathed a prayer of thanks that it wasn’t summer.
    Her camouflage uniform was the color of sand and dirt. With her cap and smudged face, she would be difficult to spot unless she did something stupid. She slid off her backpack, then reached for a bottle of water. After taking a sip, she settled down to wait. An hour and fifteen minutes until Rick blew the depot. If he blew it.
    “Don’t think like that,” she told herself. “Everything is going to be fine.”
    She grabbed her binoculars and rolled onto her belly. She could just make out the details of the buildings. She focused on the section to the left. A low, one-story structure with small windows. According to their intelligence information, Zach was in there. Possibly chained. She had small but strong cutters in her backpack. If he was there, she was going to get him out.
    “Just an hour and twelve minutes now, Zach,” she said softly, scanning the area around her. No one had seen them arrive. All they needed was a little luck. “Hang on. Just hang on.”
    She lowered the binoculars and took another sip of water. Her shoulder began to ache. She shifted, remembering the first time she’d lain flat on her belly to scan the enemy’s position. It hadn’t been the desert then. Seven years ago, she’d gone to the Central American jungle. She’d been as green and soft as a ripe avocado, and just as effective. She would have died in that jungle if it hadn’t been for Zach Jones.
    That’s why she was here today. To pay that debt. And maybe, just maybe, to get a few questions answered.

Chapter 2

    Seven years ago

    J amie sucked in a breath. She could feel the snake crawling over the backs of her thighs. Zach had already glanced at it and dismissed it as harmless. Her entire life experience with crawly things had been seeing one dead rattler at the end of the block the summer she’d been ten. Even then, the sight of the squashed, dead reptile had been enough to make her shudder. Being this close to a live snake made her stomach churn.
    I’m not going to throw up, she told herself firmly, ignoring the clamminess of her skin. The prickly feeling of heat and dampness had nothing to do with her nerves and everything to do with the temperature and humidity of the jungle. She’d spent the first twenty-one years of her life in Arizona. This was like visiting another planet.
    Slowly, trying to move without making a sound, she raised the binoculars to her eyes and peered into the darkness. Itwasn’t night, but the thick, lush foliage and tall trees didn’t let in a lot of sunlight. She studied the path twenty feet in front of them, and the clumps of greenery. She lowered the binoculars and shook her head.
    Zach stared at her. His dark brown eyes bored into hers, until she felt as if he were digging down to her soul. A muscle