"You're thinking pretty hard over there."

The sound of his deep, husky voice made her look at him. His eyes were caressing her face with that look that made her knees weak. She had no barrier to those eyes and what he held for her in them.

"I'm sorry," he rasped out, and that was suddenly there, too, in his eyes, his big body turning toward hers, a flinch on his face when he moved.

"No." She covered his mouth with the tips of two fingers. "Please, don't regret this. I don't. I wanted you. I needed you and you didn't let me down, again."

He swallowed and pushed her hair off her face. "You are a piece of work, lady. If it's any consolation, I was blindsided by you, your beauty, and I've wanted you almost from the moment I saw you."

She had to smile at that because he looked so contrite. "I don't need consolation, Dex. Not with you."

He took a deep breath. "This was about us only being able to rely on each other. Adrenaline, attraction...it's the danger, Piper. Right? We just lost control."

He was giving her a way out and she took it, because even though she realized that she'd been hiding and running for the last eighteen months, she still didn't have the courage to let go. Her fear of loss was much too embedded.

"Of course. You're right. But I don't regret it."

"I want you to know I haven't been with anyone for a year and at my last checkup I was clean. I never go commando when it comes to sex and protection of my partner. I don't have any excuse."

"I haven't been with anyone since my husband, and I can't get pregnant, Dex, so it's all right. We don't really need to worry about it or condoms. You're clean. I'm clean, and I can't conceive."

He nodded and let out a breath. "We'd better get going. It wouldn't do for Blessing to find us like this."

"Let me take care of your bandage before we get dressed. Afsana laid out some of Raffi's clothing for you and her son's for me."

"No more burka?"

"No, thank you. I'd rather dress like a man, and the suit I came here in is completely ruined."

"I'm partial to what you're wearing right now, if I'm being honest."

She tipped his chin, bringing his sexy gaze up to hers and his focus off her legs beneath the tunic.

He grinned in a knee-melting, oh-so-sexy male way, his eyes a warm, liquid blue. "Someone is feeling better," she said, removing the bandage and inspecting the cluster of wounds. "They look really good. Barely red at all and healing."

She smoothed antibiotic cream carefully over the injuries, trying to stay detached and focused, but it wasn't easy. "The only easy day was yesterday." Her brother said that enough for her to pick it up.

"Hoo-rah," he murmured as if he was picking up on exactly what she was thinking. "You put a whole new spin on that, lady."

She smiled and rose. "Thanks. I think."

"Oh, it was a compliment," he said, sitting there looking delicious with just the covering across his lap. Now that she knew what he was packing under that wrap, she did wish she was home and in a private, safe place with him.

"Get dressed, Lieutenant."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied in a deep, sexy voice.

She left the room where Dex was recovering and headed to Afsana's room, brought Dex his set of clothes and went back to wash up. Donning the garments on the bed, she made a mental note to figure out how she could repay this family who had risked so much to shelter them and had helped her to save Dex. For that she would be eternally grateful.

As she wrapped the head scarf around her neck, a hand came around her mouth and something hard pressed into her spine. A voice whispered in her ear. "Hello, Senator. You are a resourceful woman."

It was Markam's voice.

Oh, God. She was dead.

Bagram Airfield,

Parwan Province, Afghanistan

Austin was at his computer again, running another search for any information on Lieutenant Kaczewski.

He sent sidelong glances in Derrick's direction. He knew the language. That only added to the mounting evidence in Austin's book that he'd pegged the reserved special agent and colleague correctly. He had been a spook.

CIA.

As in black ops, the deep state, experienced at assassination, blackmail, instigating coups, torture and even brainwashing. Something about Afghanistan was getting under Derrick's skin and it wasn't just the sand. Had something happened to Derrick here, something that had him quitting the company? Sending him to NCIS? Austin was convinced Derrick had been here before. His gut was never wrong.

"You keep looking at me," Derrick said without taking his eyes from his own computer. "You have something on your mind?"

"You know the language."

Derrick sighed. "So? A lot of people know Pashto. What's your point?"

"That's not the only language you've mastered. You know my point. There are other tells, too."

"My sports car with the machine guns in the tailpipes?"

Did that sleek car Derrick drove have...? Damn the man. He sounded completely sincere as usual. "You're always playing your radio at work, and screw it, but you look like the kind of guy who would fit right in."

"You know for a guy who's so good at hacking, I don't see much result, surfer boy," Derrick said.

"Go ahead and try to change the subject by taking potshots at my ego." Austin smiled when Derrick gave him one of his intense looks. But Austin was sure he liked to keep him off balance. It annoyed Derrick that his attempts never seemed to affect Austin. Surfing was all about balance, and Austin paid his dues and then some.

"Why don't you tell me about the marines, especially about that embassy takeover? Weren't you the hero of the day? Saved the ambassador's very pretty wife after three days barricaded with her and fighting for your lives. Didn't they pin a medal on your chest for that?"

"Shut up, Gunn," Austin growled. Damn him. He'd been rummaging around in Austin's record. Maybe he wasn't the only primo hacker here. "How do you know that?"

"You talk in your sleep, Beck."

Austin's phone rang and he answered. "Beck."

"Hey, this is Amber. I've been going through Lieutenant Kaczewski's file and I found a commendation he received for helping out an Afghani man sort out a case of mistaken identity."

"Okay, how is that relevant?"

"He lives in a village about ten miles from Bagram. Safid Darreh. His name is Raffi Jamal."

Austin sat up straighter. "Hey, Gunn, Kaczewski saved some villager by the name of Jamal. He lives about ten klicks from here. Safid Darreh."

"First name?"

"Raffi."

If Austin didn't know Derrick as well as he did, he might have missed the imperceptible tightening of his fellow agent's mouth and the narrowing of his eyes. "Let's check it out." He sounded apprehensive, which was another red flag in Austin's book. Derrick never sounded anxious.

Safid Darreh,

Parwan Province, Afghanistan

Dexter braced himself against the wall, watching as the guy led with the barrel of an M9. As soon as it sufficiently cleared the doorway and was no longer a threat to his body, Dex grabbed it and swung the guy inside. His mind was on subduing this bad guy tango, but he'd compartmentalized the fact that Piper might already be dead.

The tango fought and Dex pushed him against the wall, shoving his arm into the air. A suppressed shot went harmlessly into the ceiling.

The guy struggled, but Dex countered his moves and knocked the weapon out of his grasp, already prepared to use both hands to capture his attacker's hand as he stabbed toward Dex's abdomen with a knife. Deflecting the blade away from his body, he jerked the guy forward and shoved his body into the tango's back, twisting his arm until he heard it snap. The man cried out in agony, then Dex stripped the blade out of his hand and dragged the man's back against his chest, setting the knife against his throat.

Just then Raoul Markam dragged Piper into the doorway across from where Dex restrained the man he'd just fought and now held prisoner with the knife at his throat.

"Kaczewski," Markam said, his voice low and menacing. "Drop the knife and let him go or I'll put a bullet in her head."

"You're going to kill her, anyway, Markam. Believe me, if she dies, I'm going to take you apart and make sure that you die very slowly."

Markam did exactly what Dex hoped he would. Dex watched Markam's eyes and he knew the millisecond he was going to pull the trigger. Dex dropped and with a flick of his wrist released the knife.

The bullet went into the tango's heart, but Dex wasn't watching him as he fell dead in front of him. Markam's head jerked back and he stumbled against the wall, the knife protruding from his eye. He took her with him and, as he slid down the wall, he knocked Piper to her knees. She scrambled away and Dex rushed over.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No." She pushed his arm down and snatched up the gun on the floor at her feet and brought it up, the barrel right along his ear. The gun discharged twice and Dex spun to find another man crumpling to the floor.

Piper sat there for a second, a shocked look on her face, her hand tightening around the weapon. "Not Dex. Not today, buddy," she said fiercely. Then she closed her eyes, snarling through clenched teeth, "I am really getting sick of these guys."

Dex chuckled. "Hoo-rah, Senator. Locked and loaded, ba-by. I'm going to start calling you Double Tap."

She gave him a grim smile. "Stay here," Dex said. "I guess I don't have to tell you to shoot to kill."

She nodded and Dex moved through the house, the gun at the ready, peeking around doors and into closets. There were no other baddies.

He started back for Piper when the back door squeaked and started to open. Dex waited with his finger on the trigger.

"Mon Dieu," Blessing said, pulling up short and gasping, her hand to her chest. She glanced down the hall where Markam sat. She crossed herself. "Looks like you've had some uninvited guests."

"Piper," he called softly, and she came out from the living area into the kitchen with their backpack. They all headed for the back door.

"My Jeep is parked just outside the gate," Blessing said, hugging them both. "I'd say it's time to leave."

"It damn well is," Dex replied, and preceded both women out the door, checking thoroughly around before he motioned them out. They rushed through the backyard and slipped out the gate. "Sit in the front," he instructed Piper as he climbed into the back.

Blessing jumped into the driver's seat and as soon as she closed the door, she gunned the engine and peeled off.

Piper turned around and wedged herself through the small opening in the seats, then threw herself at Dex. "I don't want to sit in the front. I want to be close to you," she said, her voice firm. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as the Jeep wobbled and jostled them against each other until they hit the main paved road.

"There was a man parked at the gate. That's why I went on a circuitous route to get us to the main road. I don't think he saw me."

"Probably another one of Markam's lackeys." He looked behind them and the way was clear. "Looks like we got away clean. Your timing is impeccable, my friend."

"What about the mess we made?" Piper said, looking up at Dex, the gratitude in her eyes shining in their tawny depths.

"Don't worry. Afsana and Raffi will handle it."

"I'm worried about that man. What happens when they get home and he's still there?"

"There's no way to warn them, Piper. We're just going to have to hope for the best."

She looked distressed, her eyes filling. "I don't like this, Dex."

"We can't go back, sweetheart. I know they'll handle it. We have to have faith in them."

She nodded, clearly understanding the need to keep going, but not liking it one bit. Dex didn't blame her.

"We're going to get you home. Pretty soon you'll be back at your mansion with your gardens and your pool."

"I don't use the pool," she said, wiping at her eyes.

"Why not?"

Her head came up as if she'd blurted out something she hadn't meant to say. "I, um, don't like the water."

He narrowed his eyes. "Really? Are you sure that's it or can't you swim?"

"All right. I can't swim. I never learned."

He smiled and brushed at her cheek with his thumb. "Well, if it's one thing I know how to do, it's swim. I'll teach you."