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more, but Bryn couldn't grasp the words. The roughened fingers began to pull the gag back into place and Bryn fought her, twisting her head back and forth, crying out in denial.
    "Be still!" Qamar hissed, giving her a hard shake. "You will get us all killed."
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    Cover of Darkness
    by Kaylea Cross
    A desperate glance at her father showed him prone, unmoving. He wasn't going to be able to help. Defeated and too weak to do anything more, Bryn drooped against the wall and the gag was shoved into her mouth. Silent sobs wracked her, her body still too dehydrated to form tears.
    "I will come to you again when I can," Qamar promised, and peeked out of the trap door before reaching a hand up to the man waiting for her. "May Allah protect you."
    The heavy door fell shut again, leaving Bryn and her father alone in the pitch blackness.
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    43

    Cover of Darkness
    by Kaylea Cross

Chapter Four
    Day 3, Beirut
    Late Afternoon
    "We've got 'em."
    Declan and the rest of the team looked across the briefing room at Harris. "Where are they?"
    "In a village about fourteen miles from the coast. Our contacts were able to smuggle in some water for them, but they haven't eaten in almost two days, so they'll be dehydrated and weak."
    The big man grabbed the map from his desk and set it out on the table while everyone crowded around. Dec went over the logistics of the operation one last time. Once they freed the hostages, they'd have to hump it three miles to the extraction point, where a chopper would meet them. The contingency plan was to head out into the desert mountains to a series of caves and establish a secondary point. Just to be sure, he made them all go over it a third time.
    He checked his watch. "Okay, boys. Let's lock and load."
    The eight-man team hurried out to gather their gear.
    "Spence."
    The medic looked back at him questioningly.
    "Make sure we bring extra IV bags for the two of them. No telling what shape they'll be in when we find them."
    Day 3, Syrian village
    Evening
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    Cover of Darkness
    by Kaylea Cross
    All day Bryn had prayed Qamar would come back. Through the same exhausting, suffocating cycle of heat and sweat and dehydration, she clung to the hope the woman would return and give them water, maybe untie them this time. But night had fallen, and still no sign of her. The only sound was the whistling of the wind overhead, its high-pitched wail echoing the despair in her heart.
    Sometime during the previous night her father had roused for a while. He'd been able to utter a few words, so she knew he was not hampered by his gag, but then his speech would become slurred and he'd fall into unconsciousness. She suspected he must have suffered a head injury, possibly a skull fracture, at least a concussion. Whatever it was, he'd need medical attention.
    That is, if the dehydration didn't finish him off first.
    She imagined sucking on a lemon drop, but even the thought of the sour taste wasn't enough to squeeze any moisture from her mouth. Still weak and thirsty, she had revived a bit since drinking the water last night. The room didn't spin when she cared to open her eyes and look around her earthen prison. Her vision wasn't doubled anymore. And at least she was rid of the gag now, the wad of cotton long since drying to the point that she had been able to push it out with her thickened tongue. She was pretty sure she'd sweated out all the water she'd consumed, and she felt feverish. Could have been lack of fluids, or it could have been the dozens of cuts on her right side becoming infected. She quivered in the chilly darkness, the trap door rattling on its hinges occasionally as the wind howled. Sometimes fine streams of 45

    Cover of Darkness
    by Kaylea Cross
    sand spilled through the cracks around the edges, showering her in a dusty coating.
    In the corner, her father shifted. Hope surged at the even breaths he took. She grasped comfort from that, closing her eyes to better focus on the reassuring