Lib Novel Page 72
Sayeda was a very good girl.
Trevor pointed at Hannah with an index finger that could wipe out a small country’s military. “True.”
“And two, I think Adrían just might be the perfect recruit. There’s light and dark, but the way he balances the two is outstanding. He might even balance them better than you do.”
Trevor glanced at her, nose wrinkled. “You sound smitten. You know he has a girl, right?”
She smacked Trevor’s right bicep, which was larger than all of North America. “Sayeda’s not his girl.”
“Guns aren’t legal in Morocco,” Adrían interrupted, actively shoving away images of Sayeda’s body wrapped around his while she slept. “Do you know if they carry any? The ones from Sayeda’s house had machetes, but they could have been bottom-tier pushers.”
“My best guess is that they might be a satellite group cooperating with the larger outfits in places like Marrakesh and Casablanca,” Trevor replied. “Because they’re so isolated, it’s been hard to find evidence of a tie, but they’re large enough to have access to firearms.”
He passed his fingers beneath his nose and regretfully whiffed nothing but hand soap. “And what’s your deal, again? You’re Special Ops?”
“Former Special Ops,” Trevor clarified. “I was targeted specifically to be the leader of this here unit. You could say I’m an emulsifier, known for getting oil to blend beautifully with water, and I know of only one person who might be better. But the thing is, mate, it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve always wanted to do more good, and when this opportunity fell into my lap, it seemed like the way to go.”
Adrían sized him up from the cab. “Are you married?”
“For someone who reveals so little about himself, you sure want to know a lot about me.”
“I wasn’t the one hiding in the darkness.”
Trevor nodded, head at a slight angle. “You’ve got me there. And no, I’m not married, but there is someone. Kind of.”
“‘Kind of’ means she has no idea he’s in love with her,” Hannah said.
“We went to school together. We were good friends. Then she left Australia to teach in Sweden, and according to her sister, it doesn’t look like she’s thinking about coming back. Her name’s Lilly. In my mind, she is and has always been Lilly Mason.”
“How old are you?” Adrían asked.
Trevor adjusted in his seat. “Thirty-one. Why? Do I look younger?”
“No.”
Trevor burst out laughing. “Fuck, mate. Protect a guy’s feelings, would you?”
“You’re wasting time,” Adrían continued. “Thirty-one seems too old to still be afraid to tell someone you’re in love with them.”
“And how would you know that, kid?”
He didn’t “know that.”
All he knew was that he’d never felt the way he felt about Sayeda with anyone. It wasn’t love, but he’d never experienced this particular phenomenon. Quite possibly, there wasn’t a word for it. If it continued to grow, it could get there—maybe.
Trevor wagged a finger from him to Hannah. “Has an ‘I love you’ exchange occurred between you two?”
Hannah grimaced. “Trev, stop. This isn’t middle school.”
“What’s middle school?” both he and Trevor asked.
Eventually, the wide-open desert gave way to a populous metropolitan area. Here, the roads were paved and lined, nestled between towering buildings with pink exteriors and shingled green roofs. Cars were parked along the street in front of restaurants that appeared to be on the higher end. There was also more greenery here, as if the desert was only a backyard concept reserved for the ancient and the poor.
They passed through the city until they entered another rural area, though it wasn’t as outback-like as where Sayeda lived.
Trevor stopped the truck and pointed to the roof of a tall, narrow structure. “That’s one of the Al-Kafan stash houses. Our last count was six targets on the inside.”
Adrían examined the stone building. A single window faced the street, but he couldn’t see any doors from their current angle. “Stash houses? And who’s ‘our’?”