Close Quarters by Lucy Monroe Page B

that life is precious and surviving violence is a blessing, not the curse it sometimes feels like.”
    â€œDoes she have nightmares?”
    â€œNo. She smiles. She laughs. She lives.” The satisfaction Fleur felt at that was clear in her voice.
    â€œAnd you? Do you do those things?”
    â€œSometimes.”
    â€œShe helps.”
    â€œYes, she does.”
    â€œAnd Tanna, does she help you?”
    â€œShe is so pure of heart. Innocent in ways I will never be again. She’s lived on this violence-ridden continent for eight of the last ten years, but she remains optimistic and trusting of the nature of others.”
    â€œYou are not.”
    â€œNo.”
    He wasn’t offended. “I am not either.”
    â€œWe need people like Tanna in our lives to remind us.”
    â€œYes, we do.”
    â€œDo you have someone like that, back in the States?”
    Ben thought of the other TGP agents and the cynicism that came with their job. “No,” he said with regret.
    â€œI am sorry.”
    â€œMe too.”
    Silence reigned while she swung for a few long minutes before she asked, “Are you really going to report human rights violations?”
    â€œIf I find evidence of them, yes.”
    She nodded. “The pity is, you probably won’t. The mine you are auditing is run by the government and they are mindful of regulations, but other human rights atrocities happen all around us. Young boys stolen from their villages and sold to work farms in South Africa, only to be turned in as illegal immigrants a couple of years later and sent back with no hope of finding a job to support themselves, much less a family.”
    â€œBut none of the mine workers are slaves?”
    â€œNot that I am aware of, though the possibility cannot be dismissed entirely. And how does one define slavery? Being forced to work long days under dangerous conditions for no more than a place to sleep and one, maybe two meals a day?”
    â€œThat’s what I’m here to look into.” And he would. It wouldn’t be the first time Ben had needed to fulfill the requirement of his cover while resolving his assignment for TGP at the same time.
    The fact that he now had three objectives did not escape him. He needed to audit the mine labor practices, find the source of the technology leakage and shut it down, and possibly protect Tanya from an assassination team.
    No problem.
    Â 
    The jeep carrying Bennet Vincent, the two Marine privates and Face to the first meeting with the mine directors had become a distant rumble when Roman turned to find both Neil and Kadin waiting to talk to him.
    He opened his mouth to ask Neil for a status report from the night before, but Kadin didn’t give him a chance. “Our State Department official has some pretty strange nocturnal habits.”
    Roman jerked, not expecting that conversational direction at all. “Don’t be cryptic, Trigger. It only pisses me off.”
    â€œYeah, maybe I like pissing you off.”
    Roman just shook his head. “Maybe you do. Now tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”
    â€œHe left quarters last night.”
    â€œThe latrine is fifty feet behind the chalet.”
    â€œHe wasn’t using it and he was alone.” Kadin’s brows rose. “At least in the beginning.”
    â€œWho did he meet?”
    â€œDr. Andikan, but it wasn’t planned.”
    â€œYou’re sure about that, are you?”
    â€œI eavesdropped.”
    â€œGood man.”
    â€œI live for your approval, chief.”
    â€œYou know Geronimo wasn’t a chief.”
    â€œMight as well have been.”
    â€œYou’re a smart ass, Kadin.”
    â€œSo?”
    Neil gave his fellow Atrati team member a mild frown. “He got out of his room without waking his guard?”
    â€œOh, yeah.” Kadin’s eyes gleamed with undisguised approval. “He got to the other side of the compound