Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

  And that she was thousands of miles away from the nearest terrorist.

  When his cell vibrated he grabbed it. The screen showed a text message from Luke. He’d made contact with his informant, Fahdi. Some sort of meeting was going to happen tonight between Tehrazzi and Masood.

  Dec shut the phone, hoping like hell Bryn wouldn’t need to be involved in whatever they had to do tonight. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure he could maintain his professional distance if she was in danger. If he let his control slip when things got critical, someone could pay for his mistake with their life.

  To distract himself, he set about working on one of the radio transmitters they’d be using. Before long Luke strode in, setting a new map onto the bed. “Meeting’s tonight at a club downtown. Twenty-one hundred.”

  Dec set aside the transmitter. “Your informant’s sure Tehrazzi’s going to be there?”

  “Him and a few of his deputies.”

  “And how the hell are we going to get in? Security will be tight. We setting up a diversion?”

  “Yep.” Luke gestured with a jerk of his head. “With Bryn.”

  She’d stirred at Luke’s entrance, and now her head snapped up from the pillow. “Me?”

  “Forget it.” Dec’s voice was clipped, cold as the glare he aimed at Luke. “Tehrazzi would recognize her in a second, and there’s no way—”

  “The only way we could get in on such short notice without raising too much suspicion is if we provided the…entertainment.”

  Bryn swallowed. “Entertainment?”

  Dec’s eyes flared. “What, you want to parade her in there and offer her up as a prize to the host?”

  “All we need to do is provide enough of a distraction so you can plant the tags and get the intel. Then we leave.”

  Dec folded his arms across his chest. “By asking her to pose as a whore.”

  Luke ignored him. “Setting off explosives isn’t going to get the job done tonight, Lieutenant. And I’m not asking her to be a whore.” His keen gaze sought hers. “Think you could put on a performance tonight?”

  “What sort of performance?” Dec demanded.

  “Belly dance,” Luke answered.

  “Belly dance?” Dec’s eyebrows flew upward as he cranked his head around to stare at her. “You belly dance?”

  She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Ah, yeah. I teach classes back home.”

  The idea of her dancing that way was insanely hot. “Think you can pull it off?” Belly dancers were not exactly respected in Middle Eastern culture. If she did this, she would practically be begging to be propositioned. Could she go through with it, knowing Tehrazzi was there, watching her? The idea of that slimeball’s eyes stripping her naked made his stomach turn.

  “We’d have to cover your scars somehow,” Luke mused. “With the right costume and makeup, Tehrazzi might not recognize you.”

  She chewed her bottom lip.

  “I wouldn’t have suggested it unless I thought it was feasible.”

  “If he did recognize me, what do you think he’d do?” she asked.

  “He’d know it was a trap,” Dec answered. “He might be a sorry piece of shit, but he’s not stupid. If he sees her, he’ll try to kill her. And even if he doesn’t, our cover’s blown and he’ll go to ground. We may never get another shot at him.”

  Luke grunted. “Got a better suggestion?”

  Dec’s silence answered for him.

  “Will you guys be inside with me?” Bryn asked.

  Luke nodded. “At least one of us will be with you the entire time, to make sure no one but the highest bidder gets to…sample your talents.”

  “What?” she quavered.

  “Christ,” Dec muttered, dragging his hands through his hair.

  “It’s all an illusion, Bryn. All you have to do is dance, and once Dec gets everything in position and gives the all clear, I hustle you out the back exit to the car.”

  “And you think I’ll be safe?”

  “You’ll be safe,” Luke promised.

  She regarded Dec.

  “You know what I think,” he said.

  “Well?” Luke prompted. “Are you up for this? Just one show, and then maybe you’ll be finished your part of this.”

  She let out a breath. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

  Dec bit back a curse and Luke looked at him. “So, which one of us is gonna take her shopping?”

  ****

  The nightclub was located in the heart of Damascus. Modern architecture warred with the minarets of ancient mosques, the call to prayer drowned by the traffic and thumping techno music. That must chafe the radical jihadists’ asses, Bryn thought as she stared out the bullet-resistant window of the limousine.

  She fought down the jitters in the pit of her stomach, wiped her hands on the robe covering her from head to ankle.

  She’d performed at restaurants before, filling in for dancer friends. But they’d been family restaurants full of children. Now Luke was asking her to perform for a group of men known to fund and engage in terrorist activities. The kind of dance he had in mind wouldn’t be her normal routine of flitting from table to table, making the coins on her skirt jingle for a delighted child or a couple celebrating a romantic evening.

  No, this would have to be sexually charged, something men would expect from a prostitute. A woman seducing a lover. She cringed.

  Beside her and also in disguise, Luke was silent. She’d have given anything to have Dec beside her instead. Luke made her feel safe, but Dec would have given her an extra dose of courage. After all, she was dancing for him tonight.

  She’d decided that would see her through the humiliation of every man in the room placing bids to see who would be the lucky one to spend the night with her. She had to be a siren, calling to her lover, and she had to make it believable. The only way to do that was to think of Dec while she performed.

  The limo pulled up beside a glitzy nightclub. She rubbed a hand over her bubbling stomach.

  “Ready?” Luke asked.

  She nodded. Although she wanted no part of this, she didn’t blame him for suggesting it. After all, she’d agreed to help them get Tehrazzi. If things went as planned tonight, her role in the mission would be over and she would be on her way home. Luke was Rayne’s dad, Emily’s beloved ex-husband. He wouldn’t do anything to deliberately put her in harm’s way, right?

  Yes he would.

  Deep down, Bryn knew Luke would do whatever he had to in order to snare Tehrazzi. Including offering her up like a human sacrifice, family ties be damned.

  When he let her out of the vehicle she stepped onto the curb in her high-heeled sandals, careful to keep her eyes downcast and the lower part of her face covered. Modesty was in the script tonight, a little something to pique the men’s interest. Something to add to her mystique.

  With a firm hand on her elbow Luke led her through the crowd, into the throng of expensive Italian suits and the cloying scents of cologne and tobacco smoke. She felt light-headed all of a sudden.

  “Keep breathing,” Luke murmured for her ears only. “You’re safe, I swear it. I’ve got half the team in here waiting for us. Ben’s here, too.”

  “Where’s Dec?”

  “Doing his job.”

  That didn’t ease the anxiety. This was just like those dreams you had when you were naked on stage and everyone was staring at you. Except this time, she would be almost naked and there really was going to be a crowd of men staring at her. Perspiration gathered under her arms.

  Luke ushered her into a back room where two beefy security types eyed her with interest. A nasally Arab voice came from behind her, and she turned to face a middle-aged, heavy-set man with a goatee and balding pate, dressed in a dark suit with a blue pinstripe shirt. Heavy gold rings adorned each hand and a gold chain nestled in the furry thatch of chest hair where the shirt lay open. He reminded her of a Mafioso gone bad.

  “Mr. Masood,” Luke greeted him in Arabic, clasping the man’s shoulders
and exchanging the customary greeting of kissing each cheek.

  “Welcome. My sources tell me I am about to experience pleasure like no other.”

  “Yes. My niece, Yasminah.” He indicated Bryn with a sweep of his hand.

  The Syrian reached out a pudgy hand and grasped her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. She resisted the impulse to jerk away from his touch, the overpowering cologne doing little to disguise his body odor.

  “Very beautiful.”

  Bryn struggled to find her voice and recite the practiced line. With just the right amount of coyness, she looked at him through lowered lashes. “I hope you will be pleased with me.” To her own ears her voice sounded husky, and she attributed it to her dry throat.

  Masood’s lips curved, and her skin crawled at the lust burning in his eyes. “Of that I have no doubt, little flower.”

  As he released her chin and dismissed her with a wave of his hand she forced her knees to stop trembling. Retreating to the shadows, she closed her eyes and conjured up an image of Dec.

  You’re doing this for Dec. Just imagine him watching you. Tell him everything you feel for him when you dance.

  “Yasminah.”

  Her head jerked up at Luke’s voice.

  “They’re waiting for you.”

  Show time. Her stomach did a back flip. Suck it up, lady. You’ve got a job to do. Raising her chin, she inhaled a steadying breath and went to take the stage.

  ****

  Somewhere in Damascus

  Tehrazzi folded his arms across his chest and leaned in the doorway, backlit by the hall light. The prisoner’s harsh breathing pleased him. He could smell the man’s terror as he sat bound to the chair, the whites of his eyes showing all around the irises.

  He held the frightened gaze. “You know what I will do to you if you have lied to me?”

  The man shook his head in a frantic motion. “I have not, I swear it—”

  Tehrazzi nodded to his bodyguard, who unsheathed a jeweled dagger from its scabbard with a hissing sound as steel slid against steel.

  “I am telling the truth!” the prisoner shrieked, jerking away from the blade as it pressed against his throat. A trickle of blood spilled down his neck, staining the sweaty collar of his white dress shirt.

  “And you say this tape will prove Masood is setting me up?” Tehrazzi asked.

  The prisoner had his eyes shut, was shaking so hard the wooden legs of the chair squeaked against the floor. “Yes, yes!”

  Tehrazzi crossed to the table next to him and played the recording. By the time it finished, his blood was boiling. The Americans were planning to trap him tonight. All because of Masood.

  The pain was sharp and terrible. Much worse than he would have expected.

  Traitor. How could he have admired such a man? To think he’d once idolized him as mentor and benefactor. In the end, their twenty-year friendship mattered no more to Masood than the no-doubt lucrative business deal the Americans had offered him. Handing him over to the infidels for money. An unforgivable sin. One he would pay the ultimate price for.

  His vision blurred as the rage took hold. The betrayal tasted bitter on his tongue.

  He looked over his shoulder at the prisoner, whose eyes held a tremulous hope now that his veracity had been confirmed.

  “Loyalty is a rare thing in today’s society. I will spare your life.” The man sagged in his seat with a quiet sob. Tehrazzi pinned him with merciless eyes. “But I cannot risk you playing one side against the other, as your boss has done.”

  The man went rigid.

  For a moment he almost changed his mind. This man had told him the truth. No. His suffering was necessary to prevent others from turning against him. “As I cannot ensure you will hold your tongue, I will have to take more…severe measures.” After tonight, no one would dare cross him again.

  Steeling his heart, he nodded to his guard.

  Assoud grasped the prisoner’s chin, blade ready. “Open wide.”

  The man jerked his head away, eyes wide with horror. “No,” he begged, “please, I swear I will not—”

  “When you’re finished,” Tehrazzi said to Assoud, “we will go take care of this latest problem.” He walked out without glancing back, agonized screams following him into the darkness.

  Chapter Thirteen

  On the street, a few doors down from the club, Dec heard the hush fall over the place and his guts clenched. Any moment now, Bryn would be starting her performance. She didn’t need to do it, either, because security hadn’t been as air tight as they’d expected and he’d already planted the bugs. But hauling her away before she’d done her show would tip everyone off that something was up.

  As the music floated down the alley to him, every cell in his body demanded he barge in there and hustle her away to the car. He hated the idea of any man leering at her while she was onstage wearing next to nothing.

  He imagined her dancing, her body gyrating in her skimpy costume. He’d seen the damn thing earlier when she and Luke had returned from shopping, so he had a vivid image of the gold-beaded bikini. And now a roomful of men with sex on their minds were ogling her. A growl of frustration locked in his throat.

  A few minutes ticked by, his muscles tightening to the point of pain. Christ, he hated this whole thing. He’d rather have taken on the entire club with his team than put Bryn through this. She had to be scared, even with Luke and Ben in there.

  The music changed from a pounding rhythm of drums to a slow, sensual beat. His feet shifted in agitation as he stood there, watching for the all-clear signal. He wished they’d stationed him in the club with her. At least he would have been able to see for himself whether she was okay or not.

  But of course, that was why he was standing out in the fucking alley all by himself, wasn’t it? He didn’t think straight when it came to Bryn, and Luke knew it. The only reason he was on this mission was because of the white-knight complex he had developed toward her. Add the instability of the sexual attraction between them, and it equaled an explosion waiting to happen.

  Footsteps had him swinging his head around. They grew louder as they approached to his left on the sidewalk. Dec’s fingers tightened on the Glock concealed inside his jacket.

  Pressing close against the brick wall, he peered out at the main street. Ben came into view, hands smoothing his necktie as he passed under a streetlamp. The all-clear signal.

  With a breath of relief, Dec made his way to the sidewalk and turned the corner just as Ben disappeared into the club. Keeping with the plan, he took up his position close to the fire exit while Ben pushed through the crowd to get close to Bryn.

  But when Dec moved into place with his back to the wall, he caught sight of her out on the stage and his spine jerked. His field of vision narrowed until she was the only thing in it. The crowd in front of him seemed to vanish, the room closing in.

  The erotic throb of the drums echoed in his empty head, the sight of her hypnotizing him. He forgot about staying alert for Tehrazzi and his lieutenants, or the man who funded their operations. Everything in him was riveted on Bryn.

  Luke had wanted a diversion, and that’s sure as hell what she was.

  She glowed under the lights, the golden bra pushing her breasts high, the low-slung skirt leaving her toned midriff bare. As she undulated, the jewels dangling from her navel glinted, drawing his eyes to her abs, rippling with her movements. Bangles decorated her arms, her hair trailing halfway down her sleek back in a dark waterfall as she twirled on the balls of her bare feet. She moved in a graceful rhythm, her hips dipping and circling in blatant invitation, the beaded fringe on her skirt swaying.

  Her eyes, outlined with heavy makeup, paralyzed him with their sultry heat. In a trance, he watched her lift her arms above her head, her hips gliding up on one side and down on the other in a move worthy of the highest-paid stripper, then she threw her head back as her entire body shimmied and every piece of jewelry and bead on her quivered, like…

  Jesus,
almost like she was having an orgasm. The jolt of lust that surged through him made his head spin. Were his eyes bleeding?

  Dear Christ in Heaven, she was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life.

  His jaw nearly fell open when she followed that amazing move by sinking to her knees and then to her back, her legs tucked underneath her at an impossible angle. From that position she somehow lifted her torso off the floor without using her arms and did some more of those mind-melting undulations, abs rolling, her arms and hands making snakelike motions in the air above her.

  She had every man in the room mesmerized. She was sex personified, a woman writhing in abandonment beneath her lover. Dec could barely breathe.

  When the performance ended and the music faded, the audience fell into an awed silence, then erupted into a cacophony of applause and yells.

  Jerked back to reality, Dec stood by the exit while Luke escorted her into the back room with a heavy-set Arab man. His eyes cut around the club, settling on Ben in the opposite corner, who was watching him with rigid features.

  Dec’s pulse thudded. Something wasn’t right. He thrust his chin towards Ben. What’s going on?

  Ben lifted four fingers.

  Shit. Only one man was supposed to be back there with them—that heavy-set guy was supposed to have won the bidding war for Bryn. And now she had four men with her, expecting her to…

  A primitive, dominant rage roiled through him. If anyone laid a hand on her, he’d…

  He’d what? He was on the other side of the damn building.

  He took a deep breath, forced it out, then another. Through the haze of anger he maintained his gaze on Ben, who straightened his tie and started toward the door that led to the back room. Dec moved through the crowd after him, Glock in his grip.

  ****

  Bryn’s heart pounded as the hoots and applause filled the room. The spotlights shut off, leaving her breathing out a sigh of relief. It was over. She’d done it, despite her wobbly knees and tense muscles.