Danger Signs (Delta Force Echo: An Iniquus Action Adventure Romance Book 1)

by Fiona Quinn

  “And the BBs?”

  “The curiosity of the monkeys, especially today. They will be drawn in by the bright colors of Miss Kira’s flowers. We do not wish to hurt the wild animals, simply to deter them from coming into the Range. Even with the rifles, it is the noise that scares them away. If the cats become a danger, then we get the preserve rangers to come and decide how to best handle the situation.”

  “What is usually done?” Ty asked curiously.

  “Sometimes the animals are sedated, given tracking collars, and moved to a preserve. Sometimes, the cats approach humans because the animal is unwell. You see, Tanzania gets most of its preservation budget from selling special hunts to those who have the money to pay for such things. Animals who become a danger to humans or others are marked for such a hunt. Many animal rights groups frown on such a model. I have seen with my own eyes a bull who killed three endangered cows because he was crazy in the head. Had the hunters killed this bull, they would have saved three. They would also have had about a hundred thousand dollars with which to pay anti-poachers’ salaries to save more animals of their kind. Luckily, I am not in the business of managing such things. We merely tell the rangers, and they take actions.”

  “Has your staff seen wild cats recently?”

  “Not in a fortnight. Things are calm here.”

  “Tell me about concerns in the area in general. You mentioned poachers.”

  “Poachers will stay away from the Range. They know that the owner is wealthy, and so the government would act harshly against them. In Congo, some groups have been gathering under the Islamic Extremist flags. We know that they have been creating issues along the Tanzanian borders as they move through the surrounding countries. This is particularly true since there was oil discovered under Lake Edward. There’s an anti-Western—if you will excuse me—sentiment.”

  “I’m looking for facts. I’m not concerned with my feelings.”

  “Yes, there is a lot of anti-Western anger. England is claiming that oil. Russia wishes to take control of the oil. This is African oil. It should benefit the African people, not those from a different continent. The militias have felt emboldened in the last year since the successful terror attack at Ngorongoro Crater.”

  “And Mr. Davidson is an oilman.”

  “This he is.” Moses chewed on his back teeth, making his jaw muscles bulge.

  “And is that a problem when the Davidson family is here?”

  “More so now than in the past. Mr. Davidson’s oil business and his buying such a large parcel of land as a foreigner has raised security concerns, most definitely. Once we learned of this meeting, and the people who would be attending, we have increased our normal security measures.”

  “Did you hire more guards?” Ty asked, worried that without proper vetting, they might have brought in a spy.

  “No, we prefer to depend on our own warriors. I have extended their hours of duty during this time. They carry more ammunition with them. Once the guests have arrived, our guards will wear bullet-resistant vests and helmets as part of their uniforms on the exterior of the retaining walls.”

  “So you have that kind of equipment?”

  “I will show you our storage room. Mr. Davidson wishes us to have what we deem necessary for securing his home.”

  Ty followed along beside Moses as they moved past a fully equipped gym to their supply room.

  “Mr. Davidson and I have discussed before that it is preferable for the family to drive to the Range. Everyone for miles around can see his jet coming in. They will know he is here.”

  “I see. And he decided not to pay attention to your counsel?”

  “It is an uncomfortable drive both in time and with the road conditions. Mr. Davidson will do as he sees best.” Moses bladed his hand toward the door with a “SUPPLY” sign.

  As they entered, Ty noticed the care and precision of the room. The guns and ammo were in a caged space with a padlock. Moses showed Ty that he carried the key on a cord around his neck.

  Ty took his time in that room. He made sure that every item was seen for his team to catalog. If Echo and Foxtrot dropped in, and security was aware, these bullets could be aimed at his team. They needed to know exactly what they were up against.

  “Come, let me show you our security plan. I can see we are of the same mindset. Perhaps if Mr. Davidson hears your own assessment, he might reconsider. All of our people would be involved should anyone grow interested in Mr. Davidson’s presence.”

  Ty liked Moses. He was an intelligent, capable man.

  As they continued on the exhaustive tour, Ty learned that Moses had been part of security at Ikulu, the Tanzanian president’s White House. Moses said the same architect for Ikulu in 1922 had also designed Davidson Range. “Though of course, it had a different name in the past.”

  Security was probably as tightly enforced here at the Range as it was at Ikulu.

  Echo and Foxtrot didn’t have an easy job in front of them, that was for sure.

  Chapter Thirty

  Ty

  That evening, Ty, Kira, and the heads of staff ate at the large kitchen table.

  “Thank you, Nen,” Kira said to the chef as she spread her napkin across her lap. “I always describe my time here in Tanzania as a paradise with fruit.” She smiled. “Everything looks and smells amazing.”

  Ty noticed that their meal was traditional Tanzanian food and not a single dish that Bruce had sent over, for which he was glad. Plain, honest food was much more to Ty’s liking.

  They ate, then Ty accompanied Kira back to her room. “How are the plans coming?” Ty asked her.

  “The staff could not have been more ready. Everything was so easy, thanks to their help.” She looked pointedly at Ty. “I placed the photographs the way I had planned on William’s guests’ rooms but left them off of ours as you suggested.” She looked at her watch. “We’ll be gone again in thirty-two hours.” Kira looked impatient for the time to pass and to head back out again.

  “The flowers and food are all squared away?”

  “They are. And I wanted to ask you, as I imagine you travel long distances for short periods with your job. Do you have a best practice for being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed? I’ll admit, the flight left me exhausted, though I slept. Tomorrow I need to be on my toes.”

  She’d be meeting her “intended” tomorrow. White had said that exhaustion played a role in how we were perceived. If Kira was tired, she might let her guard down. Her face might shine the truth that London exhorted her to mask. Kira needed to be running on all cylinders.

  “I have some sleep medicine with me. If you take them now and curl up with a book, you should wake up in the morning feeling acclimated to this time zone.”

  They had reached their bedrooms. As Kira waited for him in the hallway, Ty dug through his bag for the pills found in every special forces’ operator kit. “These are going to knock you out,” he said as he emerged again into the hallway.

  “Thank you, that sounds perfect.”

  “May I have the key to your room, so I can check on you?”

  Kira looked up from the bottle in his hand and their eyes caught and held.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ty. Uhm. Tanzania. Already, placing your room next to mine is questionable. But the key might look concerning.”

  “I don’t really need a key to breach a lock.” He said it jokingly, but he was dead serious. There wasn’t a door that could keep Ty away if he thought Kira needed him.

  “You’d break down the door?” There was a laugh that twitched Kira’s lips.

  They stood across the hall from each other. Kira’s hands behind her back; Ty’s arms crossed over his chest. “Kira, do you think anything would stop me from protecting you?” He held out the pills. When she stepped forward to accept them, he whispered, “It’s going to be hard for me, knowing that you’re in a bed on the other side of the wall. When we get home to America, I’ll show you how much I missed holding you.”
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br />   She accepted the pills with downcast eyes and no response to what he’d said.

  Ty could already feel her trying to pull away from him as she transitioned to her new life. What she didn’t realize was that Omar’s time on this planet would either be spent in an American prison, or his life expectancy was counted in hours instead of days.

  Kira opened her door, turned to him, came to some conclusion, then handed Ty her key.

  That felt huge to Ty. Symbolic that she trusted him to think of the broader picture, not just his immediate needs.

  Ty and Rory went to his room next door. He laid down to power nap. At midnight, he was going on a recon to figure out how the security functioned after dark. How many were on duty? Where were they positioned? What weapons were they carrying? What communication systems? The last thing Ty wanted was for Moses or one of his guards to be injured in the operation Monday night as the Unit descended into the complex to capture or kill Omar Mohamed Imadi.

  As Ty lay on his bed, waiting to fall asleep, he remembered on their mission to Uganda to steal the Russian helicopter that Nick of Time had brought up this place. D-Day had said she’d never been here. As adventurous and bold as D-Day was, it was hard for Ty to imagine her passing this up. It had to have something to do with family dynamics.

  It was mind-boggling to Ty that this was D-Day’s background. A more down to Earth, straight shooter he couldn’t imagine. That her background included this level of over-the-top decadent wealth? D-Day sounded like the opposite of Kira’s description of William and London.

  Ty listened to the herds of sheep and goats that the staff maintained in the south pasture. When Ty was on that fateful mission last year to save CIA’s John Grey, the mission that had bought Echo their ticket onto this Omar Mohamed Imadi-ride, D-Day had been their pilot.

  Forced to the ground by RPG fire, as the pilots worked to develop a way out of their dilemma, Ty was lying in front of them with his eye on his rifle scope. D-Day and Nick were spreading a camo net over their Little Bird to hide it in the landscape, hoping the enemy wouldn’t spot them.

  D-Day had been talking about the movie Benghazi—Thirteen Hours. She’d mentioned a scene where they were trying to decide what was going on with the sheep herd, was that the normal sheep behavior, or were terrorists using the sheep as cover?

  Benghazi was twenty-four hundred miles from here.

  But the unrest on this continent was palpable.

  Anything could happen at any time.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Kira

  Despite being designed by an Englishman, Davidson Range was in a country with many devotees of Islam. A minaret had been included in the exterior wall design. The imam for the tribe proclaimed the call to prayer as the sun set.

  Kira took her prayer rug to the women’s area in the courtyard and moved through the Maghrib with those at the Range of the Muslim faith.

  While she didn’t often perform the ritual prayers, on occasion, Kira took refuge in them.

  Tonight, she needed Allah’s help.

  Though the plane had been delayed getting to the Range, soon London and her guests would arrive, and amongst them would be Omar, her intended. And with her would be Ty, the man she loved.

  It seemed like an ugly joke that fate had worked out this way.

  Ty was…

  Everything.

  He was everything she respected with her mind. Everything she craved with her body. Everything her heart wanted.

  When Kira was with him, she felt valued and appreciated. She felt like she was enough just the way she was, that he didn’t want to change a single hair on her head. The connection was a belated miracle. And Kira knew…she just knew her loving Ty would be forever.

  If only he’d come a month ago before her uncle had offered her to Omar.

  Now, more than ever, if Kira refused her uncle, he would not only deny her access to her beloved family, but he would seek revenge. That was the kind of man he was. He would feel if he didn’t aggressively punish her, he would lose power in some eyes and be embarrassed in front of his colleague. Who knew the ramifications for that?

  For Kira, turning Omar away would mean a lifetime of looking over her shoulder, flinching at shadows.

  She was stuck. If only Allah would bring her peace. Even a tiny sliver of respite from her fear while she was here at the Range. She would deal with tomorrow when tomorrow arrived.

  But for London’s sake, she needed a serene face to provide a warm welcome.

  She couldn’t expose her friend to backlash for her help, warning her about Omar.

  Overhead, Kira could hear the jet approaching.

  With her ritual complete, Kira rose, rolled her prayer rug, and started back to the villa.

  Ty was in the shadows, watching over her, taking his duty seriously. That made her smile.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Ready.” She wished she could slip into his arms and walk together to the plane. But this was on her. She was about to meet her future husband.

  When they arrived at the jet, London was just disembarking. “Oh, look at the sunset,” she sighed out as Kira pressed up to kiss her cheek and the top of Archie’s head.

  Kira turned to look. The red sun was sinking behind the horizon. The last gasp of the day, then it disappeared. “Did you make a wish?” she asked London.

  “No need.” London smiled over at her husband. “My life is perfect.”

  As the guests arrived at their sides, Ty stood back out of the way. Close enough to help her if needed, far enough away that he wouldn’t cause her grief.

  “Uncle.” She smiled and touched her heart.

  London announced everyone’s name as they greeted her, though Kira had memorized the names on the photos. She was glad, though, to have them pronounced for her.

  The last in line was Omar.

  In truth, he wasn’t a bad-looking man. Salt and pepper hair had been carefully styled, and he was wearing European labels instead of a traditional thobe. Maybe there was hope that he also embraced more western sentiments about women. She touched her heart and welcomed him with the exact same tone and facial expression as everyone else, she hoped.

  Her stomach churned with a hot greasy sensation.

  When Omar touched his hand to his heart in response, Kira noticed that his pinky had been amputated, and she wondered how that had happened.

  A blur of action at the corner of her eye pulled Kira’s head around.

  Rory raced forward and came to a halt in front of her, sitting on her toes and giving Omar a death stare.

  “This is your dog?” Omar asked. “He seems quite protective.”

  “This is Rory. And yes, he is very protective of me.” Kira felt no need to tell Omar that Rory was with Ty. “Shall we go in?” Kira gestured. “I have evening cocktails and hors d’oeuvres set out on the veranda while the staff delivers your luggage to your rooms. Dinner will be at eight-thirty. I hope everyone brought their appetites.”

  That was met with chuckles of anticipation as she started up the stairs.

  London was beside Kira leading the way for the guests. “Where is my princess?” London asked. “Is she afraid of this dog?”

  “Rory? Oh, no, Beatrice adores Rory. And Rory is very protective of Beatrice. As a matter of fact, some huge rottweiler tried to eat Beatrice, and Old Rory here leaped an eight-foot wall to get between the bad dog and Beatrice. I’m not sure what would have happened if he wasn’t such a good boy.”

  “You saved my precious?” London crooned to Rory. “Thank you. I’ll tell cook to find you a big bone to gnaw on.”

  Rory ignored London but slid his head under Kira’s hand, and Kira rubbed his ears. “Did you hear me tell London that you’re a good boy? You are. You’re a very good boy.” She turned her attention to London. “Beatrice is in your room in her crate. Some vultures were flying around earlier, and I was afraid that bitty Beatrice might get scooped up in their talons. Since I was running around getting every
thing set up, I thought it would be prudent to keep her safe.”

  London bumped her hip into Kira and raised her brows. Kira knew that London wanted some clue about what she thought of Omar. Kira pretended she didn’t understand and just kept walking.

  “Here we are.” Kira lifted her palms welcomingly and added a lilt to her voice to help create a festive mood. She had music playing. It was gorgeous, the food was light but delicious. As she watched, everyone unwound from the journey, drinks were tipped back, laughter rang out.

  London was off being London, and she didn’t seem to notice that Kira had shrunk into the shadows.

  Soon a staff member arrived at the veranda door with a little gong and mallet in his white-gloved hands. He struck the instrument, and everyone quieted to hear him announce, “Dinner is served.” He turned and left.

  “If you’ll follow me,” Kira said, glancing into the shadows where she saw Ty standing. Rory was still at her side. “Rory, go find Ty.”

  Rory ignored her.

  Kira raised her brows to Ty, but Ty did nothing to help.

  So off she and Rory went, leading the guests to the dining room.

  Archie was displeased with the change.

  As soon as he crossed into the villa, he began to scream. London sent a frown to William. “It’s near his bedtime.”

  “And?” William asked.

  Kira scooped Archie into her arms. “Why don’t I go give Archie his bath and get him ready for bed while you enjoy your guests? Is his formula in his diaper bag?”

  “But Kira, dinner,” London said, though she didn’t stop Kira from taking Archie, who shook little balled fists and projected his anger in a voice so loud that it was hard to believe it came from such a tiny frame.

  “I had plenty at cocktails. I’ll stay with him. You enjoy dinner.”

  Kira could feel Omar’s eyes on her watching her every move. She thought that he was pleased with her taking the baby. She wondered if he was annoyed by the screaming or if he imagined her holding his son. Nausea slicked up the back of her throat.