“Sam,” Azami finished for him. “I’m aware that the general was responsible for Sam’s education.”

“He gave me a home just as your father gave you one,” Sam clarified.

She pressed her lips together and ducked her head, her mind closing off to him abruptly. Sam glanced at her sharply. There was something wrong, something she wasn’t willing to share with him. Azami had been honest with him almost from the beginning.

“Our orders don’t work like that,” Ryland reaffirmed. “I pick my own team.”

“It is easy enough to wait and see just how the orders come in,” Azami murmured.

Ryland glanced around the table at his men. “Have any of you heard that Senator Freeman died? Or that his life support was pulled?”

“You’ll hear it soon,” Azami assured, her voice confident. “They’ll put a great spin on it, one sure to gain the grieving widow the most sympathy possible. If Whitney’s grooming her for the White House, you can bet he’ll use his friends and those who owe him to position her for election. That has to be his plan. He wants that kind of power.”

“He wants to continue his experiments in peace,” Ryland said. “He doesn’t give a damn about the White House.”

Kadan suddenly leaned back in his chair, the creaking of the chair drawing Ryland’s attention. He had remained quiet, as they all had throughout the interrogation. Kadan rarely spoke, but when he did, everyone—including Ryland—listened. “She’s right, Rye; we know he was grooming Senator Freeman for the presidency. He threw money and his friends behind the man and gave up one of his gifted women in order to control the man. He wants the military backing. In a way, it would be good for us, because whoever our enemy in the White House is at present—and remember, Violet had thrown in with them—wants us out. Whitney having a friend there ensures we don’t get sent on suicide missions.”

Azami stirred, but Sam gently tightened his fingers.

“Whitney has to be stopped,” Kadan added. “He’s out of control. Any man willing to do the kind of experiments he does on human beings is a butcher. He’s lost all contact with reality and humanity. If he pairs up with Violet, we’re in real trouble.”

“I think it’s happened,” Azami said. “According to my informant, she went into that hangar cold and distant and came out flirtatious and animated with Whitney. I’ve studied the woman. She despised Whitney and all he did. She saw Freeman as a way out of the GhostWalkers and she took it and protected her husband as best she could. She tried to move heaven and earth to keep him alive and find a way to bring him back. The last thing she would want to do was to crawl in bed with Whitney again, yet there’s no doubt, that’s exactly what happened.”

“Figuratively,” Ryland said. “I don’t think he likes females or males.”

“But he’d sleep with Violet if that cemented the relationship and gave him power over her,” Kadan pointed out. “Rye, as much as I hate to admit it, I think Azami is right about this. It’s what Whitney would do.”

Ryland rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Seriously, we had enough problems when Violet and Whitney were opposed to one another. If they get together, we’re in for a rough ride.”

“And what about the men who shot me?” Sam wanted to know. “Did Whitney send them after all?”

Kadan sighed. “That gets a little complicated, Sam. I don’t believe they were after you. I think, again, Azami was correct when she said they were after her brothers.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “The Iranian soldiers came in via Mexico. The word we got was they were led into the United States through the drug tunnels the cartel has. These tunnels are elaborate and even heated in places. The mercenaries acquired the helicopters and Jeeps. The soldiers were taken to small planes and we tracked them to a small private airport.”

“The cartel was used before,” Azami said, “in an assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador to the U. S. Is there some faction in Iran working with the cartel and now they’re making a grab for Daiki and Eiji?”

“I doubt if it’s some faction,” Kadan said. “But anything’s possible. At least we know how they got in to the country and how they got out again.”

“It isn’t the first time the cartel has been in bed with Iran,” Ryland said. “There are rumors that they’re training the cartel’s hit squads in terrorist tactics, but so far we don’t have anything concrete on that.”

Azami smiled. “A high-resolution satellite would change that for you. I’ve got pictures of camps.”

Ryland leaned toward her. “Have you shared that information with anyone?”

“Who would I share it with? I have a mission, and that’s to try to cut Whitney off from those who enable him in his brutal experiments.”

“How do you plan to go about doing that?” Ryland asked, his tone almost gentle.

Again, Sam tightened his fingers around Azami’s in warning, although he shouldn’t have worried. She shrugged her slender shoulders. “There is no clear path,” she said, her statement as much of an enigma as she appeared to be. “But I will find one.”

Kadan burst out laughing. “You’re not going to get anything out of that woman, Rye, so short of torturing her, you may as well throw in the towel. She beat you at your own game.”

Azami continued to look innocent as if she had no idea why all the men were smirking.

“If we’re finished here,” Sam said. “I have to go talk to Azami’s brothers.”

“Tonight?” Ryland asked. “Sam, you need rest.”

“That’s all I’ve been doing lately and I’m asking before she changes her mind.”

Ryland looked straight into Azami’s eyes. “Do you plan on changing your mind?”

“That is to be seen, isn’t it?” she said softly. “If we’re done here, I must return to my room and rest for a little while.”

“Will your brothers be awake?” Sam asked.

She smiled her mysterious smile. “Of course, they would not sleep while I am being asked questions by Captain Miller. They are as protective of me as I am them.”

Sam’s head came up. They’ve been listening this entire time?

Do you think they would leave me unprotected? Had your captain deemed me dangerous and attempted to arrest me, we would have fought our way to freedom, or died trying. Her eyes met his. Be very certain I am the kind of woman you wish to spend your life with.

Sam looked into those dark, liquid eyes. She possessed a kind of magic no other woman held for him. You’re exactly the kind of woman I want. Don’t think you’re getting out of this by trying to warn me off.

Her mouth turned up at the corners, a soft smile meant only for him, and then she very gracefully rose from the table, gave a slight bow to Ryland and the others, and slipped from the war room without a whisper of movement.

“Holy cow, Sam.” Gator fanned himself. “You’re goin’ to be in more trouble than I am if you marry that girl.”

“Do you have any idea what you’re getting yourself into?” Ryland demanded. “She gives nothing away. She doesn’t show emotion at all. How can you know she feels the same way about you? Feels anything at all for you? Because I didn’t see it.”

“Public displays of affection are against her nature,” Sam said. “Believe me, she feels.”

“What’s not to like, Rye?” Kyle demanded. “She’s beautiful, exotic, and wealthy.”

“How’s it going to work, Knight?” Ryland asked Sam, ignoring Kyle. “She owns a company in Japan. Her family is there. You’re a soldier, sworn to protect your country. You’re a GhostWalker, and you damn well belong here—with us. Do you really think she’ll be happy living up in the mountains? It snows here and we can barely make it out. We have money to make life a little easier, yes, but she’s used to a different way of life altogether.”

“Is she?” Sam asked. He pushed himself to his feet, wanting to end the discussion. He’d already considered everything Ryland was telling him and he didn’t want to go over it again. What did a soldier have to give a woman like Azami? Why had she even looked at him twice?

“I’m not finished. Do me the courtesy of listening, since you can’t obey a damn order,” Ryland snapped.

Sam tightened his jaw, but dropped back into his chair. He’d been lucky that Ryland had backed off from the order. He rubbed his jaw, regarding his friend carefully. “I’m in love with her, Rye. I know all the objections. Do you think I haven’t thought of all of them myself? Yes, it happened too fast. I’ve been in her mind. I know what she’s like … ”

“You know what she wants you to know. All of us have the ability to open up or close off and without a doubt, she’s that good.” Ryland sighed and got up to pace across the floor, picked up a mug, and poured hot coffee into it. “You and I both know she took Whitney’s pipeline out. She assassinated three people.”

Sam shrugged, careful now, on shifting, dangerous ground. “Maybe. I’ve assassinated a hell of a lot more than that. I don’t exactly have room to throw stones. None of us do.”

He studied Ryland’s face. They were more than friends. They’d gone to battle together and watched each other’s back. They had complete trust in each other. Ryland was concerned for him, that much was obvious, and Sam couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t that Ryland didn’t want to see him happy; hell, he hadn’t known he was unhappy. He’d been just fine until Azami had come along. No wonder Rye thought he was crazy.

Sam looked around the table at his silent companions. Normally they were all heckling one another and playing juvenile pranks on each other. They were all just as concerned as Ryland. He didn’t know what to say to reassure them. There wasn’t a single part of him that had a doubt that Azami was the woman for him—yet what could he give her? He couldn’t argue with Ryland, not because he wasn’t certain of his choice, but he wasn’t certain how he could be her choice.

“You aren’t going to be reasonable about this, are you?” Ryland asked.

“No. I made up my mind. I’m asking her brothers for permission. I don’t want to wait. I want her with me. She knows I’m a soldier and that I belong here. I know I can help her in her work just as she’ll be an asset in mine.”

Ryland’s frown deepened. “She isn’t part of this team.”

“Not any more than the other women, Rye, but she’s a GhostWalker and she belongs with us. She fits with me.”

“Are we going to talk about what she said? About the orders coming down to us?”

Again Sam shrugged. “It won’t be the first or last time one of us has been targeted. If she’s right, we’ll handle it.”

“Sam … ” Ryland started to say something and abruptly cut himself short.

“Say it.” Anger welled up. He looked around the room. “I know exactly what you’re thinking. I knew it the moment Azami mentioned those orders and you made such a big deal out of telling her you pick your own team. This isn’t the first time anyone’s implicated the general in wrongdoing. Yes, he was Colonel Higgens’s friend. He knew Whitney. He knows a lot of people. He wouldn’t sell me down the river because a madman asked him to. Even if he specifically names me to go, Rye, that doesn’t mean the orders come from him.”

“I’m not saying you should suspect the general of being in league with Whitney,” Ryland hedged. “It just makes good sense to watch your back. People aren’t always what they seem, Sam. The people we can trust are the ones in this room, not out there.” He pointed out the window. “And just for good measure, the general is the one person we shared Lily’s work on second-generation Zenith with.”