Close Quarters by Lucy Monroe Page A

He liked Tanya Ruston, in a very different way than he did Fleur Andikan, but no less significant for a man who was used to solitude and trusting almost no one.
    â€œI don’t want her disappearing.”
    Neither did Ben. “I’ll do my best to head off that possibility.”
    â€œSee that you do.”
    â€œDisclosure may have to come sooner than later, sir.”
    â€œFollow your instincts. They haven’t steered you wrong yet.”
    â€œWill do. Out.”
    He disconnected the satellite transmission and carefully made his way back toward his room.
    As he passed behind Fleur and Tanya’s hut, he noticed a movement. The shadows resolved themselves into the shape of Fleur sitting on a board swing hanging from the baobab tree behind her hut. The gentle sway back and forth ruffled her sari skirt.
    He came out of the shadows before he’d made any conscious decision to do so. “Dr. Andikan. It’s a lovely night to gaze at the stars.”
    She turned her head slowly, as if his presence did not surprise her at all. The kind of trauma she’d experienced in the Rawandan genocide of the Tutsi often left survivors with a heightened sense of their surroundings, coupled with varying levels of paranoia that never went away completely. “Mr. Vincent, are you finding it difficult to adjust to the time change?”
    â€œBen, please.” Drawn by an invisible, but irresistible force, he stepped closer. “I was in the mood for a walk.”
    â€œWithout your guards?”
    â€œYes.”
    Her lovely face creased in a frown. “This compound is secure, but you are here for reasons that will not make you popular with those in power. You should consider asking for company on your evening strolls.”
    â€œThey were all sleeping, except the guard with night duty.”
    â€œNot all. One of them, that big one, was patrolling the grounds not too long ago.”
    Ben filed that information away with his other knowledge of his security detail. “Perhaps Kadin found it as difficult to sleep as I did.”
    â€œPerhaps.”
    â€œWhat about you? I would think you would be exhausted after the kind of days you put in.”
    â€œSleep is sometimes an elusive guest.”
    More likely she was haunted by past ghosts, but he did not call her on it. “I am sorry.”
    â€œDo not be. I find the quiet soothing and there is too little of that during the day.”
    â€œI am interrupting your solitude. I should go.” There was no question whether he wanted to; he didn’t.
    â€œPeaceful company is not an interruption.”
    â€œAnd you are so sure mine is peaceful?” He didn’t feel peaceful. At thirty-five, he was long past the time when his hormones controlled him, but around Fleur, Ben’s libido became youthful, overwhelming again.
    She looked at him for several moments before answering. “Yes, I think you know how to be peaceful. I think you also know how to make war, which does not fit your role here.”
    â€œI look dangerous to you?” Now that was a first. Part of the continued success of Ben’s cover was how innocuous he appeared—the mild-mannered accountant, who was neither an accountant, nor mild mannered.
    â€œYou look like you could be dangerous.”
    â€œI can be,” he found himself admitting. “But you never have to fear that.”
    â€œSo, tonight, you are not dangerous.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen you are welcome to share my view of the night sky.”
    Her acceptance shocked him, but he wasn’t about to reject it.
    He settled against the tree trunk. “There are the same number of stars in the sky wherever you are in the world, but our ability to see them is limited by our environment. Here you can see millions.”
    â€œTheir beauty reminds us that life is not all sorrow.”
    â€œJohari reminds you of that as well, doesn’t she?”
    â€œYes. She reminds me