Unmasking the Mercenary by Jennifer Morey Page B

snoop around in my things,” he said, cutting her off.
    She decided not to mention that her gun didn’t belong to him. “I know she’s the reason you’re doing this.” She hesitated. “Now that you’re dragging me into your mess, I have a right to know who she is.”
    “Was.”
    Did that mean she was dead? Haley had to push back her sympathy. “Who was she?”
    His hand tightened on the wheel.
    “You must have loved her,” she pressed.
    “She was my sister.”
    Haley began to see the resemblance, except for the woman’s dark eyes. “What happened?”
    He didn’t respond and she didn’t make him. She could feel his anguish. See it in his profile. “Ammar killed her, didn’t he?”
    Still, no response.
    “Why?”
    “Enough questions, Haley.” He drove to a stop in front of a shack of a building.
    She didn’t force the issue. Little by little his puzzle was unraveling, and it contradicted his character. He seemed so trustworthy, yet his past was far from redeeming. And he clearly had something to hide. He didn’t pretend to deny that fact, either. He didn’t care who knew he wasn’t revealing everything. He wasn’t going to bend.
    Well, she wasn’t leaving his side until she uncovered whatever made him feel so threatened. She just hoped that when all was said and done he’d be standing on the right side. Her side. She didn’t think her gut was wrong about him, but then, why was he guarding his secrets so well?
    Getting out of the SUV, she looked closer at the run-down building. If one could call it a building. It didn’t even look like it could keep out the rain. “What’s this?”
    “Our new accommodations.” He turned a wry grin her way. “It’s a step down from the last one.”
    She took in the chipping blue paint and cracking concrete, and moved on up to the rusting metal roof. “Welcome to Liberia.” She stepped into the place behind him. “Why are we here? In Robertstown, I mean.”
    “Habib comes here to meet his diamond contact.”
    “So after he gets the diamonds we…what? Follow him?” She saw the two single beds and ramshackle chair and grimaced. “Is there running water?”
    “If I hadn’t met you, Haley, I’d have never believed a woman like you existed. No, there’s no running water, but we’ll only be here one night.”
    What did he mean by that? What kind of woman did he think she was? “In other words, yes.” Did he think she was smart for figuring out what he intended? Or was there something else about her that struck him?
    He sent her a questioning look.
    “We’re going to follow Habib?”
    Rem broke his gaze from hers and went back to the SUV. He returned with a box and put it on a counter in the open kitchen area. She leaned over the box. Lantern. Freeze-dried food. A bottle of booze.
    “Are you always this prepared?” She’d let him evade her questions for now.
    He pulled the bottle of whiskey from the box. She lifted one brow. Just like a true-to-form gunslinger, he removed the cap and swigged. Then slouched onto the only chair in the dirty place.
    The last of daylight had all but faded to darkness. Around here, only the stars and moon provided light. Removing the lantern from the box, she put it at the end of the counter and lit it, all the while feeling Rem watch her.
    She took out the freeze-dried food and began to prepare a package of beef stroganoff. Yuck.
    “At least we won’t starve,” she quipped.
    “Haven’t you ever eaten like that before?”
    She nodded. “Yes. In the Army.”
    He was quiet for a while.
    “Why’d you quit?” he finally asked.
    A little zap of a shock bit her. She never talked about this. She stopped opening the package and glanced at him. Was he asking because she’d questioned him about his sister? Did he feel he could now? That he was allowed? No one had ever asked her about Iraq. Not directly and not since she had to when Army officials questioned her.
    “What happened to you?” he asked. And when she still