No Turning Back Read Online Free PDF Page B

location to check her phone again. Tomorrow, maybe.
    Since she'd just given them and the people holding Neveah the means to track her, Sam had to move. Immediately. No matter how exhausted she was, no matter how alone and afraid she was. Dragging herself to her swollen feet, she turned out of the alley and wound her way through the quiet market, moving south away from the river, wishing with every step she had Ben there to keep watch over her.
    Ben sat at his computer terminal at the Tactical Operations Center where Luke had set them up when they'd arrived in Baghdad a couple weeks ago. On either side of him, more computers monitored terrorist chatter and analyzed surveillance video they were keeping tabs on. He was good with computers and electronics, but nowhere near as talented as Sam. The irony didn't escape him that she would have been the most useful person in tracking herself.
    Ben shook his head. With the amount of technological equipment in the building, you'd think something about her would have turned up, but they hadn't found a single piece of data on her since she'd disappeared. They had no idea where the hell she was or if she was even alive. He had to face the facts. At the end of the day, all the technology in the world wasn't enough to find her if she'd chosen to cut herself off. Thing was, none of them knew if it was because she wanted it that way, or because she'd been murdered.
    The only thing they knew for certain was that her cousin Neveah had been kidnapped by a group attached to Tehrazzi outside Kabul. She and the rest of her Doctors Without Borders team were the first to re-enter the country since 2004, when their predecessors had been kidnapped and killed by the Taliban. Some Einstein in the Afghan government had decided that security had improved adequately since then, so they'd stupidly approved the humanitarian mission in Kabul. Well, guess what? Things hadn't improved. If anything, security had deteriorated over the past few months. The Taliban and other militias were gaining strength there and Ben had a real bad feeling history was about to repeat itself with this new group of American hostages. The proof was playing on the monitor in front of him.
    Security cameras in and outside the cinder block clinic had recorded the brazen daytime kidnapping. The first members to be taken were an orthopedic surgeon, a geriatric specialist and an oncologist, all men in their fifties. The pediatrician was next, a guy in his early thirties. But it was Neveah's capture that most interested Ben because she was Sam's cousin, plus it gave the best view of the attackers, and thus the best information to nail them with.
    He played the video back one more time. A camera mounted above the exterior door outside the examination room Neveah occupied showed a booted foot lashing out. After two solid kicks, the door flew open and crashed against the wall.
    Neveah and her half-naked female patient jumped as three men wearing black masks stormed into the room, armed with handguns, AK-47s and knives. The patient screamed and scrambled to cover her face and breasts while Neveah stood pressed against the wall. Women and children wailed in distress outside, cowering in the dust.
    The tallest of the men came at Neveah, his weapon aimed dead center in her chest. He seized her arm and whipped it behind her, shoving her face-first into the wall. Ben paused the tape to tighten the focus on the guy's face as she tried to fight out of his grip. Damn. Nothing, except that his eyes seemed to be a light brown.
    Ben hit play, determined to find something solid to go on.
    Pinning her against the wall, Neveah's attacker leaned around so he could see her face. The camera angle showed his light brown eyes, gleaming from behind the slits in his mask. Though Ben couldn't see the rest of his face, he knew the bastard was smiling. His hands itched to reach through the monitor and permanently remove that taunting smile from his face.
    On screen the