Unmasking the Mercenary Read Online Free PDF

between Hezbollah and al Qaeda.”
    “Al Qaeda with Iranian government backing. Now there’s a scary concept.”
    “Hezbollah does have strong Iranian support. The government considers them a legitimate resistance movement.” She sipped her wine and put the glass down on the table. “Now you know what I know.” She waited expectantly for him to tell her what he knew.
    “You don’t belong here,” he said instead.
    So, he was going to take the same angle as everyone else. He saw her frailty and wasn’t going to bother to look deeper. “Who is Ammar Farid Salloum?”
    “Tell McQueen there’s no need to send in a rescue squad. I’ll take you to the airport in the morning.”
    Anger rose up in her. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what you know.”
    “My cause is nowhere near as noble as yours. Go home. Tell McQueen if Ammar is behind the merger, it will never happen.”
    “Oh? And why is that?”
    “Because once I have what I need from him, I’m going to kill him.”
    “Killing Ammar will stop the merger?”
    He didn’t answer, but a deadly gleam darkened his eyes.
    “What do you need from Ammar?”
    “You should find a job that’s not so dangerous.”
    “What I do is none of your business. What do you need from Ammar?” she repeated.
    “Why do you do it?”
    “Answer me.”
    “Why does someone as fragile as you come to dangerous countries and chase terrorists?”
    “Is Ammar a terrorist?”
    He just looked at her.
    “Is he Hezbollah?” she asked.
    “What do you think?”
    So Ammar was a Hezbollah terrorist. Nothing surprising there.
    “I’m not fragile,” she told him.
    He pushed his chair back and stood. Moving with deliberate slowness, he came to stand beside her chair. She strained her neck to look up at him.
    “No?” He reached to brush some hair behind her shoulder.
    Haley tensed. Her heart flew.
    He slid his hand around her arm and above her elbow, and coaxed her to stand. She hesitated. Another tug, and she gave in and stood. Taking her hands in his, he pulled her closer.
    What was he doing?
    She could feel the heat of him. That same insecurity swarmed her, the way it always did when she was too close to men who threatened her. A sense of helplessness. Lack of control. But there was something else pushing through the heaviness of her anxiety. Desire.
    Seeing the way he watched her, she eased away from him. He let her hands go and she went into the open room and faced him.
    He moved toward her, stopping an inch or two from her. Looking down into her eyes, he tore through layers with that strong gaze.
    She struggled to keep from shrinking away.
    “There’s no room for fear against men like Ammar,” he said. “What kind of fool lets you do it?”
    “My job is to gather intelligence.”
    “And it almost got you killed.”
    He thought she was weak. Afraid. It grated on her. She worked hard to rise above what the insurgents had done to her. She’d trained hard. Built up her defenses, her self-confidence. But mostly she worked hard to never feel helpless or vulnerable.
    The fact that this man considered her exactly that made her want to fight back. She wanted to show him she wasn’t weak.
    Knowing she’d catch him unprepared, she gripped his arm as she turned her back to him. With a move she’d practiced over and over, she sent him flying over her shoulder. His body crashed to the tile floor. As big as he was, he weighed a ton, but all she’d needed was skill and momentum. She grinned down at his surprised face.
    “You don’t scare me that much,” she quipped.
    He moved up onto his elbows. “I should.”
    And he swiped his feet so fast she couldn’t jump out of the way fast enough. She fell and he sprang his powerful body onto her. With her legs clamped by his, she couldn’t kick free. Snatching her wrists, he dragged them over her head as his full weight pressed her down on the cool floor. In an instant she realized the folly of trying to prove she wasn’t