Page 55 of Her Tempting Protector

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“Carys, I’m going to go out and make another call. I need to check in with my lieutenant. I don’t want to disturb our charges.”

“Why not make it here?” she asked.

“You know these satellite phones—usually you have to talk loudly or sometimes even yell to be heard.”

“There is that. Can you ask again for the names of who was killed and who’s missing? Please.”

“I can, but I’m betting that it will be the same answer. If Max didn’t have the answer last time, they probably aren’t likely to have released any names since then.”

He saw her open her mouth to protest.

“I promise to ask, I just don’t want you to get your hopes up is all.”

She bent her head. “I know. It’s just when I call, I’ve only been able to get ahold of Jamal and Hans, and they don’t know anything.”

He reached out and covered her hand with his. “We’ll be in Khartoum soon. Then you’ll know,” he assured her.

“Go make your call,” she said as she made a shooing motion. He gave a grin and hopped over the side of the truck. That woman was something else. He jogged out a good ways where he thought his voice would at least be muffled. He wanted a good idea of what they would be running into when they got to the capital city and he didn’t want to worry Carys unnecessarily.

He called Kane, knowing he’d know exactly what the hell was going on.

“Take this,” it was Leo’s voice.

“Sato here.”

There was a massive roar from a crowd. Kane could barely hear his teammate. “Raiden, it’s Cullen. I’m checking in. I’m going to be coming into Khartoum early tomorrow morning. I’ve got to get Shada to a hospital.”

Cullen continued to hear people yelling, but Raiden wasn’t saying anything.

“Raiden. Talk to me.”

“The main highway into the city is closed off. They’re rioting in the streets. There are hospitals open. There have to be with all of the wounded civilians, but I’m trying to think of how to get you to one of them.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Cullen demanded. “This is not some kind of movie. Khartoum is a city of five million.”

“With basically one way for you to get into the city from where you’re at,” Raiden ground out.

“Who the hell has the highway blocked off? The Rapid Support Forces?”

“Civilians. It’s a goatfuck.”

Cullen dropped down into a crouch and dropped his head onto his knees. How could they be this close, and end up having it all fall to shit? He took a deep breath and tried to get his tired brain to think. It wasn’t working. It wasn’t working at all.

“Look, Cullen, I’ll talk to Kane. He’s over at the airport right now. Midnight Delta has been brought in to help. He’s coordinating with them right now. When was the last time you’ve slept?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Cullen bit out.

“Yes, it does. You’re not worth two shits if you can’t think straight. Rely on your team right now. You need to get some rest. When are you planning on getting on the road?”

Cullen looked down at his watch. “I wanted to be on the highway at O-three-hundred hours.”

“Okay, sleep for the next five hours, then call me back up. We’ll have a plan.”

Cullen was silent.

“You’ve got to trust your team. Haven’t we always had your back?”