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Searching for any other possible tools a litany in hopes good guys were on the other side of that nano spy bug "If somebody doesn’t send soh for you to ranso rate is for students"
Ra, she pocketed the preserved jaw of some small animal to use like spiked brass knuckles The tip of a tusk went in her sock
Too bad they hadn’t stashed her in the ancient war tools rooathering artifacts to sell on the black roup, headed by a radical warlord The saroup that had recently blown up the A unrest
But they were planning so Maybe for when the vice president’s wife caht of wouards by pretending to be a student syrown suspicious or been tipped off
Years ago her mother had tried to help the sae Talk about irony And she was still no closer to figuring outdetails froain Her sto, just in case they caught sight of the bulge in her sock The scariest of her captors--not the sneering bastard, but the man who showed no expression at all, a short lean man who should have appeared harmless but reminded her of a cheetah rather than a lion Just as fast, strong, and lethal
Wordlessly, he grabbed her arrip and hauled her fro follow her? Was she on her o close was help? She had to operate on the assu watched and that help was on the way
If she could just stay alive long enough
"Where are we going?" Down a dank hallway, past the two dead Ae, not even a hint of dignity given to the lifeless hulls that once housed a hu in her power to ot their bodies back "You really don’t have to do this I’ll tell you whatever you want to know"
She looked up at the camera in the hall The eneone for the older ones first, assuent, low-level status, whichfish first
Or maybe they hoped the sounds of torture would soften her up, make her break faster
She couldn’t weaken Too many people in the field depended on her silence Nahed her down She’d been selfish to coenda She’d accepted the assign o--distracting enough Then she’d met Jose and her focus drifted even further
Her eyes shot back to the dead bodies--an innocent student and a CIA operative Had a lapse on her part cost them their lives? She’d been so damn sure their cover was rock solid Even when the separatists had taken the group of students hostage, she’d prayed that was their only agenda That they didn’t know they’d also landed four undercover operatives as well
And there was still hope they didn’t know about her How ironic that she’d come here to retrace herin her footsteps in a more literal way Her mother’s battered body sent home in a box, the cause of death labeled a car accident And Stella never had the chance to say good-bye, to apologize for sending herhow rets
And her est? The way she’d broken things off with Jose, the ht about him, she would cry, but then maybe that would seem ht her ti
She envisioned Jose’s shoulders sagging when he realized she was serious about ending their relationship
Tears filled her eyes in a flash Using the euard She let the tears roll down her cheeks, allowed all her anguish to show for once
"Please, call et me back"
Her cover story would hold under scrutiny Her passport traced back to a concocted profile of her life as a pampered rich kid fro to enroll in college to avoid getting a job She’d slid right into the group of students For the she never would have done had she been the only one taken But for the students and for whatever plan these ruthless bastards were cooking up, she had to think like an agent
Not like a woman whose heart still ached for a man she couldn’t have
Her captor jerked her to a stop at the end of the hall The doorway loo on the corner of the fra little fly
She stared up into what she prayed was help and one last tiates
Stella’s voice echoed in the earpiece of Jose’s coo plane Wind roared through the open portal Parched earth and thirsty frankincense trees sprawled far, far below The rebel canal to go and he would ju into the co The best way to slip in unnoticed No tipping anyone off by bringing a helicopter too close The cargo plane would drop theen mask into a free fall He would wait until the very last possible second to pop the parachute