She strained her ears, listening in the silence of that room, silence that stretched beyond the mud-brick walls and small shuttered window into the cold Afghan night. There were no sounds of battle tonight, no voices raised in fear or anger, song or prayer, not even the cry of a night bird or barking of an abandoned dog. Again she listened for the rustling of clothing, the whisper of quickened breathing. And again, all she heard was her own heartbeat.
Anger came like a small hot whirlwind. She sucked it in and held it close as she threw back the heavy woven wool blankets, thankful once again for the years of experience that had taught her to sleep fully clothed in these remote outposts.
“What do you want?” The question came in a tumble of uneven breath as she stabbed the darkness with her feet, searching for her boots. “Damn you, at least tell me why you’re here. I think you owe me that much.”
The answer barely disturbed the silence. “You’re right. I do.” There was a quick, soft exhalation and then: “I need your help.”
And for Yancy, where there had been heat, now there was cold, a new chill that penetrated to the pit of her stomach. On a sharp gasp she asked, “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“No. Nothing like that.”
“For God’s sake, Hunt.” Still shaky, she pulled her coat from the foot of the cot and swung it around her shoulders. It wasn’t until she stood up that she realized how unreliable her legs were. She groped for the battery-powered lantern and swore under her breath when she kicked it in the near-darkness.
“No,” her visitor said harshly. “No light.”
Unformed notions swirled like swamp fog through her mind. Oh, God, he’s been wounded...horribly disfigured...doesn’t want me to see...
As if he’d read her thought, his voice held a touch of irony. “I need to open the door... Don’t want the light to show outside. Okay? Just...wait...”
She caught back questions and stood hugging her coat around her, trying not to shiver as she stared at the place where she remembered the outside door was. She listened to faint sounds, felt the movement of air as the door opened all but invisibly against the blackness of the night. After a moment, she heard the door close. The shadows in the room rearranged themselves.
Hunt spoke, barely a whisper. “You can put the light on now, if you need to.”
Yancy fumbled again for the lantern and this time found it and switched it on. Light flooded the room, a visual assault after such darkness.
She turned quickly, heart pounding, not knowing what to expect, afraid of what she would see. And went utterly still with shock. Whatever she’d expected, it wasn’t this.
Where the shadow had been that was Hunt Grainger, now there were two figures. A tall man wearing traditional Afghan clothing and a full beard, thick and dark. With him was a small Afghan child—a boy, judging from the way he was dressed, and no more than four or five years old.
“Not quite what you expected, I guess.” Hunt’s voice was still soft, but again with that hint of wry humor as he gave words to her thoughts.
“Not...quite,” she managed to murmur, still staring at the child clinging to Hunt’s leg with the fierce determination of a drowning cat. “Who is he?”
“She. It’s safer if...” There was a pause before he continued. “Her name’s Laila.”
Yancy lifted her eyes to look at him, understanding beginning to dawn. Could it possibly be...? How does he know what I...? Uneasiness tightened her chest.
“Why— How...?” She stopped, knowing it was useless to try to rush him.
“Her mother’s dead.” The statement came in a flat undertone. He tipped his turbaned head toward the child. “And if she stays in this country she might as well be. She needs to get out, and I know you can make that happen.”
Her small gasp of laughter was an automatic and, she knew, futile diversion. “Why would you think—”
He cut her off without raising his voice. “Yankee, I know. Okay? I know what you do, who you work for—besides WNN. I know your organization has the machine in place, the people—and I don’t mean them.” He jerked his head toward the door behind him, indicating the rest of the house and the rooms where the other members of the news crew were quartered. “You have the means to do this. You know how. You’ve done it before.”
Yancy hesitated a moment longer, then nodded. A cloak of calm came around her, and the ground steadied under her feet. She didn’t know how or why Hunt Grainger knew about INCBRO, but the fact that he did wasn’t a complete surprise. Hunt and the others like him seemed to know things no one else did.
“She’s a child bride, then?”
Hunt made a scoffing sound. “If that’s what you call it. They bartered a five-year-old child to a tribal leader, in exchange, I suppose, for a promise of protection.”
“They?” She had squatted down, balanced on one knee, and was gazing again at the child, who still had her face buried in Hunt’s long chapan.
She thought, My God, a bride? She’s so small...
“Her family.” His voice had an edge of steel. “Of course.”
Yancy glanced up at him, but all she could see of his face in the dim light and behind the dark curtain of beard was the glitter of his eyes. So familiar, and yet I’ve never seen him look like this...
Swallowing the knot of rage and sickness that had lodged in her throat, she spoke quietly. “Does she speak any English?”
“A little. Probably understands more than she speaks. When she speaks. Right now she’s not saying much of anything.”
She straightened up, letting out a breath. “Hunt, I don’t know what you know about the organization—INCBRO. We’re more about trying to intercede diplomatically—you know, educate and persuade family members, get them to understand they can do better for their daughters by letting them go to school instead of marrying them off as children. If they don’t have the money to do that, we try to help them. We don’t usually take a child out of the culture and environment they’re accustomed to. We don’t just...pick them up and carry them off—not that we don’t wish we could, sometimes...”
“But you’ve done just that, in certain cases. As a last resort? When the girl’s life was at stake. Haven’t you?”
“Well, I—”
“Her mother’s name was Zahra.”
She heard an edge of flint in his voice—and something else she couldn’t name. It stirred conflicting emotions and swirled them together in her mind like a wicked little dust devil—fear, compassion...a hint of jealousy—making her heart stutter and her breath catch. But for only a moment. The thoughts and emotions settled like leaves when the wind has passed.
“So you knew her?”
“Yes. I knew her.” His hand rested on the child’s turbaned head, so gentle in contrast to the cold rage in his eyes. “I thought I’d found a safe place for them, but they—” He broke off with a meaningful glance at the child and stepped away from her, turning his back to her before he continued speaking to Yancy in a low murmur. “The male members of her family killed her—killed Zahra. How they found them I don’t know. Thank God this one managed to hide. Look, I don’t have time for details. I just know if she stays here they’ll find her again sooner or later. In fact, the longer I stay here the more danger she’s in—and you, too. I know your crew is about to wrap up—pulling out tomorrow, right?”
She nodded and again didn’t bother to ask him how he knew.
“Okay. So take her with you.