by Becky Harmon
Through the open door, she could see Chloe at her desk. She slowed to let Ellie enter first and to put some much needed space between them.
“How do you walk in those shoes?” she asked, making Ellie laugh and breaking the electrical current that connected them.
“You get used to it,” Ellie said, stopping at Chloe’s desk. “Any messages?”
“Just one. It’s on your desk.”
Ellie nodded. “Okay. Thanks. Why are you here on a Saturday anyway?”
Chloe shrugged. “I knew you would be.”
“I’m always here, but you don’t need to be.”
As if waiting for permission, Chloe stood. “Great. I’ll see you Monday.”
Ellie paused in the doorway, waiting for Angel to enter. The last thing Angel needed was to be alone behind a closed door with Ellie, but she stepped inside anyway. Her body tingled as she heard the click of the door closing behind them. She stood in front of Ellie’s desk as she watched her read the note Chloe had left. When their eyes met, she could still see the remnants of desire.
“Something for Sam to handle,” Ellie said, tossing the note on her desk and walking around it.
She held her breath as Ellie approached. She was a soldier and she could withstand any pressure put on her, but the desire she felt for Ellie was not something she was used to. How had things escalated so quickly? She held her position, her feet frozen to the floor, her posture rigid and tense. She found comfort in standing at attention. This she knew how to do.
At the last minute, Ellie turned away from her and took a seat on the couch. Releasing her breath, she watched Ellie drop her shoes to the floor and curl her feet under her.
“Join me?” Ellie asked.
She moved slowly to the couch, her heart racing. She had been braced—prepared almost—for Ellie’s touch. She was in forbidden territory. She sat, placing both hands on her knees and wishing she had the strength to leave but praying she wouldn’t. Ellie was beautiful. Her green eyes were smoldering.
“Is this your first time in Mauritania?” Ellie asked, handing her a cup of tea.
She nodded, hoping her voice wouldn’t come out in a croak. “Yes, but I’ve been in countries like this before.”
“What does that mean?”
Ellie’s defensive tone snapped Angel from her lingering haze of arousal, and she answered without thinking.
“Countries that restrict and violate their people’s rights.”
“That’s not how I would define Mauritania.”
She was puzzled. How had their morning taken such a terrible turn? She wasn’t trying to pick a fight, but she wasn’t going to let Ellie deny the truth either. There was no way Ellie moved around this country without seeing the reality of it. “How long have you been here?” she asked.
“Almost six months.”
“But you were here as a kid? Twice?”
Ellie’s fingers ran circles around the rim of her cup, a sign that she was contemplating her answer or their conversation. The tenseness of the muscles in her neck was also a sign that Angel was treading on thin ice.
“Yes, this was my father’s first assignment, and then he came back when I was a teenager,” Ellie answered.
“You were young the first time, but when you were older surely you could see how bad things were. Why would you want to come back now?” She wanted to bite her tongue, but she knew it was too late. She had asked the question that kept nagging at her, but she knew now wasn’t the right time.
“This is a beautiful country with a lot of great people. Why wouldn’t I want to come back?”
“The government is corrupt and treats women like they’re property. Your being here gives them approval to keep doing what they’re doing.”
Ellie’s face flushed with anger. Angel knew she had gone too far to stop now. It wasn’t any of her business why Ellie had made the choices she had, but she wanted to know.
Ellie’s voice quivered with emotion. “I draw attention to the corruption and stand up to anything that’s not right. I don’t cover it up or make excuses.”
“They take young women and force them to binge eat to make them fat and then sell them into marriage with men four times their age.” There were even worse acts performed on young women, but she couldn’t bring herself to put them into words. “And what about the twenty percent of the population that’s still in slavery.”
Ellie shook her head. “This country was built on tradition and it takes time to teach new ideas.”
“And in the meantime, children are being traumatized, not to mention the innocent people who are being held in prisons and starved to death.”
“Things aren’t always simply right or wrong,” Ellie said vehemently.
“Yes, they are.” She stood. “And the truth is you’re not safe here.”
Ellie stood too. “Your world is only black and white, but mine is gray. I can’t walk away when there are still things here that I can accomplish.”
Angel shook her head. “You’re risking your life to stay in a country that would kill you without a thought. Why?”
“Because I can make a difference.”
“I will never understand that.”
“Then maybe I should ask you to leave. Permanently.”
She was too angry to smooth Ellie’s ruffled feathers this time. She should leave before this conversation got her fired. If it wasn’t too late already. Her job was not to pass judgment on the country or on the job the ambassador was doing. Vince would not be happy with her.
They both froze at a knock on the door. Was this protocol? Shouldn’t Chloe have buzzed the phone line before someone approached the door? Then she remember Chloe had left for the day.
“Yes. Come in.” Ellie turned toward the door.
She quickly stepped in front of Ellie, placing her body between Ellie and the door.
The door opened and a Mauritanian embassy employee stuck his head through the opening and began talking immediately. “Madam Ambassador, I need to talk with you urgently.”
“What is it, Farook?”
His gaze froze on Angel. “I should speak only with you.”
Angel studied the man’s face, placing him as responsible for the embassy vehicles. She wanted to hear what he had to say and she was prepared for a fight. Ellie was ready to have her removed from this detail, and she was confident she was about to be asked to leave the room.
“This is Agent McTaggart, my head of security. She should be present for any discussions concerning the security of our vehicles.”
She quickly hid her surprise, sticking her hand out to help ease some of the harshness in Ellie’s words.
He shook her hand and then turned his back to her, pulling on his jacket sleeves nervously. “Madam Ambassador, two of the vehicles are in need of repairs and must be taken out of the embassy.”
“That’s fine. Please secure two replacement vehicles for us to use until they’re repaired.”
He nodded and hurried out the door. She watched him leave and then turned to Ellie.
“What was so confidential about that?”
Ellie shrugged. “Nothing. It was a hierarchy struggle play.”
“What would he have gained by making me leave the room?”
“Again, probably nothing.”
Ellie walked around her desk and took a seat in her chair.
“I expected you to ask me to leave,” she said hesitantly.
“Because of our conversation?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I wanted to, but I couldn’t let him gain the upper hand.”
She nodded and turned to go. Ellie was still upset and saying the wrong thing now might make things worse. They both needed time to cool off and the best thing she could do was leave. So she did.
Chapter Fourteen
Ellie dropped her head in her hands. It was Monday morning and she was still agonizing over pushing Angel into a controversial discussion. She had wanted to know her thoughts, but how coul
d she expect an outsider to understand what she saw in this beautiful country? She was aware of the truth underlying the statistics, but instead of agreeing with Angel she had become defensive. She didn’t want Angel to look down on a nation with so much potential. Yes, things were still being done wrong, but she had to believe there were others besides her that wanted to make things better.
She had taken Angel’s attack personally. Was Angel implying that the country wasn’t worth saving or that Ellie couldn’t save it? She felt nauseous. She didn’t need Angel to believe she could do this job, she reminded herself. Others believed in her ability and supported her work.
As if on cue, Sam stepped through her open door. Ellie gave him a big smile.
“What did I do?” he asked.
“You believe in the work we’re doing here, right?”
“I do.” Sam narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” She picked up the note Chloe had left on her desk on Saturday. “Inspector Asker returned your call. He’s willing to come for a meeting. Schedule it and I can sit in or not, whichever you think would be best.”
Sam nodded and took the note from her hand as he stood. “I’ll call him right now.”
At the door he turned back. “I see the solar panel visit is still on your schedule for next Monday. Have you set that up with your new security? Maybe I should go instead.”
“No. We fought hard for that visit and you’ve been there twice. I want to see it.”
“And your security?”
“They’ll have to deal with it.”
Sam’s chuckle echoed through her office. She turned her chair to the window. The crowd was still out there. She always hoped each time she looked that maybe they wouldn’t be there. Sam was right. Angel was not going to be happy with her. She would need to check with Farook and make sure he had vehicles for the trip.
As it had all day yesterday, her mind was still spinning on Saturday’s lunch conversation and what had happened afterward. The way it felt to be held in Angel’s arms and the almost-kiss had left her wanting so much more. She spun back to her desk. What had started as something very pleasant had turned sour and left her unsettled. Focusing on work would carry her through another day. If only she could concentrate.
* * *
Angel fought the urge to return to her room, but hiding was not her way of dealing with disasters. The after-lunch conversation on Saturday had been exactly that. A disaster. Once again, Ellie was upset with her. She had spent most of Sunday hidden away in the Communications Center and here she was again. This had become her new home. She liked the quiet, and maybe the subdued lighting, more than she wanted to admit. The marines assigned to this room were used to her coming and going and they only spoke if she prompted them first. Otherwise they left her to her own thoughts.
She pulled up the tracking app on her tablet and watched Ellie’s light blink in her office a floor below. She liked to think she was only doing her job, but after the almost-kiss on Saturday it felt a little like stalking so she pushed the tablet to the side and concentrated on the cameras. She flipped through each one, studying the faces that were displayed and putting a name and whatever other details she could remember with each face.
She tried to review Ellie’s upcoming schedule too, but all she could see was Ellie’s angry face. She had never before let her personal feelings interfere with an assignment, and she couldn’t now. She would make peace with her tonight at the briefing. No matter what she thought about the human rights violations in this country, it wasn’t Ellie’s fault and she didn’t deserve to be criticized.
Ellie was intelligent and she wanted to know more about her. Arguing was not the way to gain that information, though. If she wanted to figure out why Ellie would come to a country where she was not considered an equal, she had to listen to the words she wasn’t saying. Angel had traveled all over the Middle East and through many countries in Africa. She had earned the respect of men who considered women inferior, but most times it was through a form of violence—firing a weapon or hand-to-hand combat.
Ellie was anything but violent. She had a strong but generous demeanor. One more thing about her that Angel found intriguing. Understanding what made her tick was going to be harder than she had thought. During her time here, she had watched Ellie meet with Mauritanian men and never once had she seen her back down. She spoke her mind with a quiet strength that clearly had earned her respect. Maybe Ellie could make a difference in this country.
* * *
Angel emerged from the communications room in time to grab a quick sandwich before the café closed for the night. Her body was stiff from sitting all day, and she worked out the kinks while she made her rounds, checking in with her agents on duty. When she arrived in Ellie’s office, she was relieved and disappointed when she didn’t see the teapot on the coffee table. It was clear that, the same as yesterday, there would be no invitation to sit.
She offered a short briefing as not much had changed since the morning. She remained silent, standing in front of Ellie’s desk when she finished. Ellie’s attention returned to the paperwork in front of her.
She should leave. Just turn around and walk out. She took a deep breath instead. “I’m sorry about my comments on Saturday.”
“Did you speak your true feelings?”
“I did.”
“Then you shouldn’t be sorry.” Ellie finally met her eyes. “I’m sorry I threatened your job. I was out of line.”
She nodded and turned to leave. The tension was still there between them, but at least she had apologized.
“One more thing.” Ellie’s voice was soft.
Angel stopped at the door and turned back to face her.
“I will show you what I see in Mauritania before you leave.”
She did like this woman.
* * *
Ellie watched on her tablet as Angel made her nightly rounds. Occasionally she would run the cursor over Angel’s light only to see her name displayed there. Agent McTaggart. When Angel left the main gate and headed back inside, she stepped to the window. As she had every night, Angel paused and glanced up.
She had been surprised at how easily Angel’s words had made her lose her cool. She prided herself on being able to listen and not get angry. For some reason, the words had hurt more coming from Angel. She still felt a niggling of annoyance that Angel could condemn the entire country. Outsiders were quick to make assumptions, but she knew there were a lot of good people here. She worked with them every day.
She wasn’t blind to the injustices, but she could already see the progress she had made in only a short time. There were two Mauritania government-approved organizations now in place that were working to stop child slavery and abuse. Each month, she met with several women’s groups, and last month a few husbands had attended. She was opening up dialogue between the government and several southern-based ethnic groups. Changing traditional views about slavery and providing work opportunities for former slaves would make the country stronger. She was nowhere near ready to admit defeat.
Chapter Fifteen
Ellie paced the length of her office. She now had three days to convince Angel that the solar panel farm visit was something she couldn’t postpone. Sam had made a point of reminding her about it every morning for the last week. It wasn’t that she had forgotten. Her mind had been continually playing the ways she could approach the topic with Angel, but in all of them Angel’s response wasn’t in agreement with her. She was surprised Angel hadn’t brought it up yet, but most likely she assumed that it would be postponed like every other excursion on Ellie’s schedule had been.
“That’s your third cup of coffee today,” Chloe announced as Ellie passed her desk.
Everyone close to her knew she was insistent about her one-cup rule. Tea was okay in the afternoon, but she stayed away from the coffeepot.
“I didn’t know you were counting?” She smiled to soften her words. It wasn’t Chloe’s
fault that she was stressed. She honestly hadn’t realized that she was on her third cup.
“Anything I can help you with?” Chloe asked.
She leaned against the doorframe and cradled her cup in her hands. “I’m looking for the words that will convince Agent McTaggart that the solar panel visit is essential.”
“Oh, that’s Monday, right?”
She nodded.
“I assumed that would be changed,” Chloe said with chagrin. “I almost scheduled something over it.”
“Please don’t. I’m still hoping to make the trip.”
“So, let’s hear your argument. Convince me.”
“Okay.” She took a seat on the couch across from Chloe’s desk. “The private company doing the construction is US-based so it’s vital that we monitor them. Lately they’ve been very secretive. None of the recent updates they’ve provided include an estimated date of completion. According to the initial documents, it should have been finished already.”
“Can’t someone from the Mauritanian government do the site inspection?” Chloe asked.
“Not really. Under the contract their involvement is limited until after completion. Then the entire farm is turned over to their electric company.”
“Hasn’t Deputy Pantone already visited the site?”
She raised an eyebrow and Chloe laughed.
“I’m channeling your new security angel. That’s what she’d ask right?”
“Okay, yes, he has been there. Twice, in fact. Once before I was assigned here and then a month into my tour. But I’m the ambassador and Mauritania needs this plant. It would power at least half of Nouakchott and all of the surrounding villages. It’s only a couple hours’ drive—”
“Really?”
Ellie chuckled. “Okay, it’s about a five-hour drive. Akjoujt is about three and the plant is an hour or so beyond that. Almost to Atar. However, it’s right along a developed road, so travel would be quick and easy.”
