Her eyes said no. They were, in fact, impressively murderous at the moment. “I’ll wear it out of the hotel and halfway to the compound, but then it’s coming off. I won’t have any of Demir’s people see me wearing the wrong damned clothes.”
He slid his jaw back and forth, trying to crack the tension he felt. “Fine.”
He shoved the dark fabric at her and stepped back, watching as she donned the Abaya and expertly wrapped the Hijab like she’d done it dozens of times before.
She caught him looking as she tucked it into place. “I’ve worn them before. It’s not the clothes I object to, Heath. And I respect you have to do your job, but I have to do mine. That means walking into this negotiation from a place of strength. Making sure Demir respects me. If I look like I don’t know what I’m doing, we might as well go home right now.”
He wanted to take her home. He’d been all in favor of letting her complete this mission and then getting her home safely, but today, he was all about getting her out of here. If it were up to him, he’d scoop her up and run like hell for home.
And then what? Then he’d never see her again. She’d go her way and he’d go his and she’d be out of his life again.
He rubbed at his chest. The thought gave him heartburn. At least, he’d tell himself that’s what it was. Because anything else, like the fact he was falling for this woman, was too fucking much for him to handle right now.
A knock on the door told them it was time. They’d be moving her down to a car without her people and leaving ahead of the others. He and Zip were going with her. The others would take her people over.
Heath opened the door and he and Zip ushered Eleanor out and into the stairwell where Merlin and Duff had cleared the way and were standing sentry.
They moved with practiced precision and were down in the parking garage in minutes and then Zip was behind the wheel and Eleanor and Heath were in the back as they pulled out.
Heath welcomed the steely calm that came over him when he was in his element. He’d spent the night worrying about this move, worrying that he couldn’t keep Eleanor safe. But now that they were under way, training and instinct took over as he scanned the area around them as they moved out into traffic.
Eleanor turned in her seat, looking behind them. “Where is my team? Where are the others?”
“Not coming,” Heath said, not moving his eyes to her. “They’ll come in half an hour with the rest of my team.”
“What?”
He had expected the anger in her tone. He knew without asking that she’d disapprove of being split from her team. Still, no one was gunning for her team.
“Eleanor, our job is to keep you safe. This is how we make sure that happens.”
She turned now, leaning toward him so he had no choice but to look her way.
“By making my team decoys? You’re sticking them out there, but hiding me away?”
He shot her a look. “We’re not making them decoys. They’ll go out a different way. No one’s going out there in the open as a target. We’re going to keep all of you safe. I promise.”
He looked back to their surroundings, checking for anything suspicious. “Look, Eleanor, we have a job to do and we’re going to do it. Thanks to someone in your office or on your team, people knew you were coming here for what’s supposed to be a black op. I’m not about to let you travel with the team now. I’m not going to let them know when and where you’ll be.”
He looked back her way and saw her pale.
“You moved me to another room last night because my team knew what room I was supposed to sleep in?”
“Yeah,” he said, not expanding on that. He knew she wouldn’t believe one of them could be the person who was leaking her whereabouts and her mission for this trip.
She’d never want to think one of them could be guilty of betraying her on such a heinous level.
But he had to believe that. He and his team anticipated the worst before it got them killed.
And in this case, before it got her killed.
Chapter 13
Eleanor was more than happy with where things had gone during the morning’s talks. They were sitting down to eat now, which in theory wasn’t meant to be part of the negotiations, but this was as much a part of it for her as her one-on-one talks with Demir.
She needed to see more of his people and his organization.
She saw her Delta team, as she’d come to think of them, spread out around the perimeter of the large dining room they’d just entered. They hadn’t admitted to her that they were Delta but she’d checked with her boss on a last-minute call before the meeting this morning and she confirmed it.
Heath and his team were good at being present but slipping into the background when needed.
Not that Heath was ever really part of the background for her. She was aware of his presence in a way she wasn’t with the others on the team. She’d seen him shadowing her throughout the compound, always within shouting distance as they moved. He wasn’t wearing his sling today and the bandage on his arm was covered by a long-sleeved shirt. The stitches on his temple only served to make him look all the more threatening and scary.
Now, he took up a position not far from her and stood guard as she and Onur walked side-by-side.
The building they were in was the largest on the compound and could easily be considered a mansion with its size. There were large columns in many of the rooms, including this one, and beautiful tile mosaics. She was particularly fond of the carved wood doors and the courtyard with tiled fountain.
Eleanor knew from their research that the land and home had been in his family for several generations, but he’d built the rest of the buildings around this one in the last few years for his army. What had once been the family estate was now a paramilitary compound of sorts.
“Ms. Bonham, may I introduce my brother, Farid?” Onur raised a hand, drawing his younger brother over. No one could mistake the men for strangers. They both had dark looks and nearly matching eyes.
But there was something about Onur that Farid didn’t possess. Onur Demir had a smoothness to him. A refined presence and charisma that would allow him entry into circles she would guess Farid would struggle in.
Farid had a scar that ran from his temple to the corner of his mouth. He came forward and greeted her politely, bowing his head in acknowledgment rather than shaking her hand.
She nodded her head back. “It’s a pleasure.”
She and her team were introduced to the others, all leaders in Demir’s army. She was surprised to see many women at the top of his hierarchy, all of whom looked like they could give her Deltas a run for their money.
She smiled as she thought of the Deltas as hers again. She wondered what the men would think of that.
As she kept up with the conversation around her, she went through the things she wanted to cover when she and Demir were back in private talks.
One of the things she wanted to assess was how Demir viewed Christian-Muslim relations. Under the current regime, Christians were often persecuted or at the very least discriminated against. She wanted to know if he would return that persecution ten-fold to the Muslims he and his followers would share this country with, or would he allow freedom of religion for all Kazarus citizens.