Secret Identity by Graves Paula

Author:Graves, Paula [Graves, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2012-03-01T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Joining MacLear had been a whim, at first. A way to seek the sort of adventure his brother Jesse had found by joining the Marine Corps without actually walking in his brother’s footsteps. Jesse had been appalled—his opinion of mercs, as he called them, wasn’t positive.

But in his work as a MacLear operative, Rick had found the life he’d thought he wanted. Adventure, travel, enough danger to make life exciting and plenty of variety. He’d also come to believe in what he was doing, a job he saw as a vital support system for the increasingly overextended military units tasked with protecting the world from the constant and escalating threat of conflagration.

Learning MacLear was a high-priced facade for dangerous adventurism had been one hell of a blow to his sense of purpose. But it hadn’t been the first.

Losing Amahl Dubrov had been the beginning of the end of his association with MacLear.

“I was one of three MacLear agents given the job of protecting a Kaziri doctor,” he said aloud from his position near the window, where he’d fled to avoid looking into her pained blue eyes. “They told me his name was Amahl Dubrov. Kaziri mother, Russian father.”

“They never told me his name.” Her voice was faint and faraway. Was she reliving that time in captivity? Were his words dragging her back through her memories of captivity?

“I had the night shift. It should have been the easier shift—Dubrov usually slept like a baby, and the guard duty took place during the middle of summer, so nighttime was about the only bearable time of day.”

“Why were you guarding him?”

He slanted a quick look her way. She sat on the edge of the bed, looking not at him but at some invisible point on the far wall. He suspected she was back in Kaziristan in her mind, seeing and smelling and hearing all the things she’d probably spent the past three years running from.

“They never told me. Just said he was valuable to both the good guys and the bad guys, and it was our job to make sure the bad guys didn’t get him.”

“Did you speak to him?”

“Of course. But we were told not to ask questions, and he didn’t seem particularly eager to make friends.”

“What did he look like?”

Rick closed his eyes, trying to conjure the distant memory. “He was medium height—five-seven or -eight? Black, wavy hair. He wore it short, but you could tell that if it grew out, it would be wavy. Maybe even curly.”

“What color eyes?”

“Mismatched,” he remembered with a start, surprised he’d forgotten about that small fact until now. “One brown eye, one hazel-green eye. Very striking.”

He heard a soft puff of air escape her throat. Turning, he found her looking at him.

“Did he have a scar over his left eyebrow?”

“Yes.” He narrowed his eyes. “You know who he was.”

She nodded. “I’m almost certain the man you knew as The Doctor was Abbadi Kurash. Dubiq Kurash’s oldest son.”

Rick considered her theory. Except for the mismatched

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