“How do you know this?”
“There is very little that goes on in Afghanistan that I don’t know about.”
“I would say that you should focus on W.A.N.T., and what they are doing here. Otherwise, I might start asking you a lot of questions about why you would show a grieving daughter video of her father being beaten and tortured.”
Rayi looked taken aback. “What are you talking about?”
“Why did you show her that? Why not just show her a picture of her father instead of the whole video? Are you a sadist, or what?”
“Mr. Perez, do you really think that woman would have been satisfied with just a picture? If you do, then you really don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“Tell me why in the hell you’re here,” Leo demanded, changing gears.
“Daisy Squires is of interest to many people. What she accomplishes will make a good article, and I intend to tell her story while she is here in Yemen.”
“How did you get your hands on that video?”
Rayi laughed. “Really, Mr. Perez, your interrogation techniques leave something to be desired. I am not going to reveal my sources. I promised Daisy’s stepfather that I would help her while she was in Afghanistan, and that’s what I did.”
“It sure seems like you have a source within the terrorist organization,” Leo accused.
“Tell me something, did you not get your hands on the exact same video?” Rayi watched Leo closely. But Leo gave nothing away.
“Rayi. Leo. It’s time for the tour,” Daisy called out.
18
“You’ve got bruises under your eyes, and you’ve lost at least ten pounds in the three weeks since I saw you. Fuck yeah, I had Doug railroad you,” Leo hissed under his breath so the others couldn’t hear him.
They made their way up to the front of the line, and Leo stepped back so Daisy could check herself in. Leo had been impressed with Effie’s efficiency. Not only had she arranged hotel rooms for the W.A.N.T. team, she’d gotten rooms for him and Rayi in this nice, downtown Aden hotel.
Leo laughed to himself. As much as Daisy bitched, he couldn’t help but notice that she waited for him to finish checking in before she headed for the elevators.
“You waited,” he smiled.
“I was waiting for the others,” she said haughtily.
He took a moment to look around, “they’ve all gone upstairs.”
She blushed. “Oh. I must be more tired than I realized.”
He took the opportunity to take her backpack and duffel from her.
“I can carry that,” she protested.
“So can I. This way we have a little bit of time to discuss why you’ve been ghosting all of my texts and calls for the last few weeks.”
“That’s easy. I was busy, didn’t you notice?”
Leo rolled his eyes and took her elbow. “Come on, let’s get you up to your room.”
She yawned.
He needed to get her to her room immediately so she could sleep twelve hours through. Hell, maybe even twenty-four hours.
He ushered her to the elevator. He took note of the fact that two businessmen chose not to share the elevator with them. He was happy that Daisy didn’t seem to notice. The woman needed a shower. When they got to her floor she was having trouble figuring out which way to go.
“Daisy, what’s your room number?”
“Huh?”
“Give me your key.”
She handed it to him.
“Come on, Honey, this way.” He put his arm around her waist, to make sure she made it. As soon as he opened the door to her room, she gave a muffled sigh.
“Want shower. But need sleep.” She looked at Leo, her eyes were filling with tears. “I’m so grungy.” She yawned.
He wasn’t so sure she could stay upright in the shower either.
“How about I stay here, to make sure you don’t fall over in the shower?” He almost offered to shower with her, but that would be crossing a line.
She nodded. “Yes, please.”
She swayed as she headed back toward the bathroom.
“Daisy, don’t lock the door, in case I need to come in and help you.”
“S’okay,” she nodded. She left the door wide open, proving that she was at the end of her rope. Leo swung it almost closed, so he could hear her if she needed him. Then he went about the business of unpacking her clothes. Talk about grungy. He could see one section of clothes that she had rinsed out at one point and she probably planned to wear tomorrow, but they could use a good cleaning.
He called down to the front desk and asked if they could send somebody up to gather her garments for a laundry service. They promised to send someone right up. In the meantime, he pulled out one of his black T-shirts for her to wear. He snuck into the bathroom and pulled her dirty clothes off the floor and left his T-shirt on the sink.
The shower seemed to be reviving her, since she wasn’t leaning against the wall of the shower.
Don’t stare, don’t stare, don’t stare.
He left with the dirty clothes and added them to the pile. There was a knock on the door. He opened it to a woman who held out a laundry bag so Leo could put all of the clothes inside.
“These will be returned tomorrow,” she promised in English.
“Thank you,” he said in Dari. She gave him a shy surprised smile.
Leo closed the door, then heard the water shut off in the bathroom. He waited what seemed like forever for more movement. When he didn’t hear the shower door open, he knocked.
“Daisy?”
“Yeah?” she said.
“You all right?”
Even from outside the bathroom he could hear her sigh. “Yeah. I think so.”
God, she sounded so fragile.
“Honey, do you need help?”
“Yeah. I think I do.”
Fuck.
He pushed open the door. She was
