Page 17 of Steel Vengeance

She wasn’t looking at him with fear anymore—just curiosity. He’d lost his edge. That’s what happened when you went soft. The damsel-in-distress thing had gotten to him.

“I’ve been here before,” he said, not offering more. She didn’t need to know the details.

But what if she gave his number to her handler? They could track him.

Shit. He hadn’t thought that through. He blamed that gold nightgown and what was underneath it.

It was a burner phone, anyway. Easy to ditch if needed. No way it could be traced back to him.

On the plus side, if Omari or his goons figured her out, she’d let him know. Made sense to have a way to contact him.

But that wasn’t the real reason he’d done it.

She was alone. Totally alone. Her handler didn’t give a damn about her, that much was obvious. Her boss probably didn’t either. Hell, maybe not even herlover, whoever the hell that was. How could they send her out here on her own with no backup? No support. Just a damn email address.

A naive teacher plucked straight out of a school—or maybe seduced—given a crash course in weapons and surveillance, then dropped into a volatile part of Pakistan to follow a potential terrorist on a CIA watchlist.

No way in hell.

Something else was going on here. Something they hadn’t told her. And he was damn sure going to find out what it was.

The next day,Stitch watched as Sloane sat at a teahouse across the road from the restaurant Omari and his crew had disappeared into. Same place as yesterday. Same time. Noon.

He blended into a crowd of men by a fruit stall, but his eyes were locked on the restaurant. Something was about to go down.

The "Closed" sign was up on the restaurant door—he’d seen it earlier. Two of Omari’s men stood outside, hands behind their backs, probably gripping weapons. Their heads moved back and forth like radar, scanning for any incoming trouble.

He frowned when he spotted Sloane. She was right across the street, smack in the line of fire.

He didn’t want her to know he was watching her, but if things got ugly, he couldn’t let her get caught in the crossfire. So, he left the stall and headed to the teahouse.

Her eyes widened when she saw him.

“What are you doing here?”

“Mind if I join you?”

She shrugged. “Sure, but it’s my watch.”

“I know. Did you notice the ‘Closed’ sign and the guards?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I think they’re expecting someone.”

Almost certainly.

“Do you have your weapon with you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, I don’t carry it on surveillance. It’s just for protection at the apartment. Why?”

He glanced at the two men guarding the door.

“I think something’s about to go down.”

She stared at him. “What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. Call it a gut feeling.”

Just then, three black SUVs rolled down the street, windows tinted, and dust covered.