In the Likely Event(84)

“—and until we have that letter, our process is at a standstill, Ms. Astor.” The man’s superior tone lifted my hackles. “And we have thousands ahead of him who have their paperwork complete. Even if you could get the letter of recommendation submitted, moving him to the top of the list would be unfair, and given the shortage of interview appointments—”

“I can figure out the damned interview,” Izzy interrupted, color rising in her cheeks.

“If I can get that letter of recommendation over to you within the next few hours, can you process his file or not?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, but who am I talking to?” the man asked.

“Sergeant First Class Green,” I replied. “I’m with the Joint Special Operations Command.”

Izzy’s gaze jumped to mine.

“Could you process the file within twenty-four hours if you had the letter?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

“I’m sorry, are you implying you can even get a letter here within twenty-four hours?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “Because we’re a little overwhelmed here at the moment, and I don’t have time to keep a file on the back burner just waiting to see if a letter magically appears.”

“I can have it to you within—” I checked my watch and did the time-difference calculations. “Two hours. Can you process the file to interview status or not?”

“If it arrives.” If eye-rolling was verbal, that would have been one. “I’ll make a note in the file that you’re sending it. What unit did you say you were with?”

“Thirty-Third Logistics Group out of Bragg.”

Izzy’s mouth dropped open.

“Logistics, huh?” The sound of typing came through the speaker.

“Yeah, you know us. We’re always the ones getting shit done.”

“Right. And who can I expect this letter to be coming from?”

“Someone way above your pay grade,” I answered. “You get his email?” I asked Izzy.

She nodded.

“Good, then we’re done here.” I hit the button and ended the call.

“What are you going to do?” Izzy asked as I closed Barech’s file and picked it up.

“I’m going to solve the one problem I can.” I carried the file to the door and opened it, finding Graham, Parker, and Elston already waiting. “Get this to Apex,” I told Elston, referring to Webb’s call sign as I handed the redhead the file, “and tell him that we need him to wake up the general for a letter of recommend.”

“Will do.” He took the file and disappeared down the hallway.

“Sergeant Black.” I looked at our medic. “I need the status of every checkpoint between here and Mazar-i-Sharif, and which ones are going to let an American photojournalist through without needing . . . convincing.”

“On it.” He nodded once and took off in the same direction Elston had taken.

“Sergeant Gray, find someone who can get a dependable cell phone into Serena Astor’s hands.” It was worth a try.

“You got it.” He went the opposite direction, leaving the hallway empty despite the mayhem going on below us.

Awareness skittered up my arms as I backed into Izzy’s room and shut the door.

“What’s wrong?” Izzy asked, smoothing the lines of her wrap-style blouse as she stood. It was emerald green and brought out the depth in her eyes, but I kept that observation to myself.

“This five minutes?” We were on day nine. We were officially tied for the most consecutive days we’d spent together. “Nothing.”

“And that’s worrisome to you.” She walked barefoot to the kitchenette and pulled two bottles of water from the fridge, then threw one at me. I caught it. Had to admit, I kind of loved it that she always thought of me, even when she was pissed at me. “I can tell, because you have that pinched look right here.” She touched the spot between her brows. “It’s your tell.”

“I don’t have a tell. They beat it out of me years ago.” I twisted the top and took a drink to keep my eyes off the sight of her throat working. What was it about her neck that had me nearly feral?

“Hmm.” She set her bottle down on the counter. “Well, I guess I know you better than they do. Now what’s wrong? You know, besides the obvious.”

“You mean the fact that you seem to have chosen Kabul as your place of residence during a military overthrow of the government?” I put my own bottle down and walked into the center of the suite so I wouldn’t do something stupid like lift her to that counter and kiss her until she remembered that she’d loved me at one time.

“Yeah. Other than that.” She perched her ass on the arm of the sofa.

“I have a feeling.” I shrugged.

“Oh, we’ve moved on to discussing feelings? Look how much we’ve matured.” A smirk tugged at her lips.

The remark, though clearly teasing, hit a nerve. “From what I remember, I was the one completely open with my feelings the last time we met.”

“And from what I remember, you were the one who asked me to ignore our history so we could both get our jobs done here.” She stretched her legs out and crossed her ankles.

“Yeah, well, that’s getting more difficult by the hour,” I admitted, refusing to look at the way her pants hugged her hips, her thighs. “We’re in the calm before the storm,” I told her as I crossed the room to look through the windows into the courtyard below. There was nothing peaceful or artistic about it now. It had been turned into a corral, another waiting room, with a winding line of desperate people.