Martial arts. How to gather data, to shoot, to kill people. Considering the precise shot she’d made only days before, Nabeelah had learned well.
“I was there when Nicole made the trade a few weeks ago,” Nabeelah added.
“Bryson caught that on video.” Those words came low and hoarse from Jonathan.
Tension now radiated from him.
“Sergeant Jonathan, when you began investigating, I knew you were in danger,” Nabeelah continued. “Especially when you stole the drive with the Athena file on it. Frisco’s job became one of protecting you. We knew Nicole planned to kill you with potassium to make it look like a heart attack. That’s why I sent you those messages, to warn you off enough to leave early. Only it wasn’t enough.”
Frisco said, “My job then became to get you out of danger. That’s why I freed you and had you punch me.”
A terse nod answered.
Nabeelah’s phone chirped. She rose and stepped to the edge of the patio as she spoke in a hushed tone.
Abigail faced Frisco. “I thought Jonathan said you were a former Spanish army mechanic.”
Frisco smiled. “No, no. That was my cover story. Yes, my family is from Spain, but I grew up in the DC area. I enlisted and joined the Defense Intelligence Agency.”
Abigail glanced at David. Questions filled his dark eyes, ones that most likely would never get answered.
Nabeelah rejoined them. “So sorry, but we must go.” She approached Jonathan and knelt in front of him. “Sergeant Jonathan, thank you for saving me all those years ago. Allah was gracious enough to let me do the same with you.”
“Thanks.” That came out as a whisper as Jonathan remained rooted to his seat.
“And Nabeelah, thank you for protecting us. And for trusting me that we would get Nicole,” Abigail said. “May I return the favor of protecting you one day.”
“May you be blessed, Abigail.” Nabeelah turned to David. She approached him and took his hands. “Sergeant David, thank you for teaching me what you did. Had it not been for you, they would have returned me to the village where I would have surely died.”
“Will we see you again?” David asked.
“I don’t know.” She reached up and touched his cheek. “Allah go with you.”
She stepped into the darkness with Frisco following.
“Oh, wow.” Abigail sank onto the chair again.
“Uncle David, who was that?” Little Bit asked.
“A friend,” he responded. His big hand absently tousled his niece’s hair. “Let’s get you to the restaurant so that Mommy doesn’t have to come all the way down here.”
It wasn’t that far, not even a quarter of a mile to Kyra Lane Cafe and Restaurant, but Abigail figured David just wanted some time alone.
“Hey, Abigail, I’m going to head to bed.” Jonathan rose. Even in the dimness, she didn’t miss the tightness around his mouth or the furrows that had appeared on his brow. Memory hooded his eyes as well. She knew he relived that battle so many years before.
“Well, okay, then,” she muttered as David took Little Bit’s hand and headed toward the restaurant.
Jonathan slipped inside the bungalow. From somewhere nearby, a door shut, most likely to that of his bedroom where he could brood alone.
“I guess I’ll hang out by myself,” she whispered to the air as she sank onto the couch. She closed her eyes. The mood of the night had swung from mellow to tense.
Nabeelah had a history with David, one that stretched several years into the past. She’d impacted David, and he’d impacted her as well. She knew David better than Abigail did, and the realization made her jealous. But it was best that she stash that green-eyed monster far into the darkest depths of her soul because it had no grounds.
She rested her head against the soft cushions of the chair and quietly prayed. Gradually, her mind calmed. The combination of the river murmuring over rocks, the heat of the flames on her face, and the wine relaxed her. She drifted.
Soon, she became aware of someone stroking her face. Something trickled down her chin. Drool? Oh, great. She opened her eyes. David crouched in front of her.
“Sorry,” she muttered as she straightened and wiped at the corner of her mouth. “I guess I fell asleep.”
He shifted to sitting beside her. For a moment, they remained silent.
“I was jealous,” she confessed.
“Of what?” He wrapped a lock of her hair around his finger.
“She knew you so many years before. Matter of fact, she knows you better than I.”
“I want that to change,” he whispered.
Her heart began hammering.
“I love you. I know it’s early for us, yet I can’t deny it. When you disappeared last Saturday night…” A shudder coursed through him. “I was so scared for you.”
Her heart rejoiced at his admission. “I love you, too. I meant that a few days ago when I blurted it to Nabeelah, and I do now.”
“Bear with me, then?”
“Absolutely.” She smiled and snuggled closer to him. “I’ve already told Sal that I’m taking my remaining two weeks of leave when you come to the East Coast. When’s your start date again?”
“July first,” he replied after the barest of hesitations.
She pretended it was because he had to think about it.
“And this is to keep you until then.” He kissed her.
As she wrapped her arms around him, she began making plans to see him whenever she could.
41
Burning Tree, Utah
Late the next morning, Abigail leaned against the front porch column of Kyra’s house and peered down the highway that would soon convey Jonathan and her toward Salt Lake City. And away from David. The two weeks they’d be apart seemed like an eternity, as if leaving him would permanently sever their bond.
I’m being silly. Really. Two weeks is nothing unless you’re a kid waiting for Christmas. A sigh escaped her, and she tuned her ear toward the inside of the house.
Through the screened door, she heard Kyra talking. Jonathan answered. She said something else, and her brother actually laughed.
That brought a smile to Abigail’s face, especially considering the fact that last night, she’d heard him quietly weeping, most likely as he remembered losing ten of his friends and nearly losing his best friend. It had been good to see him smile that morning over breakfast, good to hear him laugh too.
The screened door bumped shut, and David joined her. “I was wondering what happened to you.”
He rubbed her shoulders, and she purred deep in her throat like Sylvester. “Sorry. I had to have a little time to myself.” She leaned into him. “I was thinking how two weeks suddenly feels like forever.”
He chuckled as she turned and faced him. “I promise I’ll call every day, starting tonight when you get to Salt Lake City.” He ran his hands down her arms and entwined his fingers with hers. “At least now, we have technology to keep us connected.”
“But that’s no substitution for the real thing.”
He nuzzled her and kissed her on the forehead.
“I already told Sal that I’m taking a couple of more weeks when you get to the East Coast.” Her CO had teased that she’d forgotten how to relax. Well, maybe she had. Now she had David to help her relearn. “Have you told Little Bit yet?”
He hesitated, and she chalked it up to breaking the news to small children. “Kyra said it was best to wait a few days, to maybe leave when they were in school so it wouldn’t be so hard.”
At the back of the house, an engine started. A moment later, Jonathan’s silver Toyota Camry rental car pulled to a stop. He climbed from behind the wheel. “Hey, Abigail, I hate to break up your good-bye, but we probably need to hit the road.”
David cupped her face in his hands and kissed her long and slow. Oh, if she could just make that last forever. He smiled as he pulled back and ran his hand down her hair. “That was to keep you for a couple of weeks.”
�
��For 336 hours and some change?”
“Something like that. I’ll call you tonight. Be safe, okay?”
“We will be.” Abigail shouldered her purse and headed to the passenger’s side.
“’Bye, bro. See you soon.” Jonathan leaned out the window for one last, parting handshake. “Just be sure to bring Ranger. We need an office dog.”
“Ranger and I are a team,” David said.
Something like fear radiated from his eyes before he hid it with an easy smile. “I love you, Abigail. See you soon.”
What was that worry she’d noticed all about? Making a cross-country move? Or something else?
“I love you, too.” Abigail climbed into the passenger’s seat and buckled her belt. Two weeks was going to be a long time.
“It’s only for a few days,” Jonathan murmured.
“I know. You’re right.” She glanced in the rear view mirror at David.
Little Bit had run outside, and he stooped and picked her up. Both waved good-bye.
Abigail turned forward. She’d left as a woman scared for her brother and uncertain of God’s provision. And now her brother sat beside her. God had more than answered her prayers by bringing David into her life. And for that, she couldn’t be more thankful.
From Abigail: “David, Jonathan, and I are glad that we could share our story with you and some of the struggles that we endured both many years ago and recently. I have to say that it’s been a hard ride learning to trust again with my heart, but it’s been worth it. If you found yourself somewhere in these pages, then all the better. I hope that you’ll head over to www.jenniferhaynie.com/the-athena-file. From there, click on the link to your distributor (e.g., Amazon), and you can leave a review. Anything you write, be it a paragraph or a sentence, will help.
Jennifer Haynie began her writing career in high school by winning a local writing competition. Since then, she has continued to write in the suspense genre in addition to working for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. She currently resides outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and basenji dog.
For more information, visit www.jenniferhaynie.com.
I want to thank all of you who chose to purchase this book and read it. Reading novels is an investment, both of money and of time, and I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate it. I can promise you that writing about Abigail and David helped me learn a lot about the struggle that those who have served can and do endure.
Book Two of The Athena Trilogy is now out. Here’s a taste of what No Options offers.
What’s the best cure for a broken heart? Work. Lots of it. At least Army CID Major Abigail Ward thinks so. Until she discovers her commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sal Torres, lied to her the year before while she searched for her kidnapped brother. With his star rising in the power corridors of the Army, Sal has much to hide. And to lose.
Abigail’s ex-boyfriend, David Shepherd, had thought returning to his hometown of Burning Tree, Utah, would have brought him the peace he so badly needed. That peace is destroyed as he helps Abigail’s brother, Jonathan, investigate an ambush of a SecureLink convoy on a deserted Utah highway. Each discovery they make points back to the place where eight years before, they lost ten friends during a Taliban attack in Afghanistan.
A riddle. A badly burned body. A glass house on a cliff. The darkness deepens as Abigail uncovers the long-ago betrayal that changed Jonathan’s and David’s lives forever. She’ll stop at nothing to find the perpetrator and the truth about what really happened. Even if it means sacrificing everything.
Have I caught your attention? If so, head to my website (www.jenniferhaynie.com) and sign up for my newsletter. To do so, enter your e-mail address in the sidebar. MailChimp will walk you through the authentication steps.
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May God bless you all.
Novels are never an individual effort but instead require a team to pull them together. First off, I want to thank those fans who volunteered to be beta readers for The Athena File. Robin Barrows, Steve Booth, and Steve Humphrey, your help made the novel stronger. I especially want to thank Rich Bullock for supplying valuable input and wisdom where I needed it most. I also want to thank Gayle Tzumach Lemmon for her writing of Ashley’s War. This nonfiction book about women Combat Support Teams in Afghanistan helped to put the last piece of the puzzle in place. I also want to thank Linda Yezak, whose copy edits made the novel what it is. Linda, I know how difficult things were during your work, and I thank you for your effort. Also, again, many thanks to Dafeenah Jameel for her work on a knockout cover. Dafeenah, your God-given talents never cease to amaze me. I also want to thank Steve, my husband for his encouragement. Also, many thanks to my family and close friends who put up with my burying my head in the computer to get this book from manuscript to final product. Without your support and encouragement, this would not have been possible. Finally, thank You to God for this talent.
The Athena File Page 32
