“Yes. But when were these blueprints from? Some of this looks different. They had an addition on the back that was where the people lived. I don’t see that here.”
“I’m not sure. I can ask though.”
“Nate, you really shouldn’t go there. I have a horrible feeling about it,” Ana said as she sat next to me.
Ana was still naked and glowing from our lovemaking, yet she was genuinely worried about my trip. I felt guilty. Suddenly, I felt like a big schmuck and like I had taken advantage of her.
I knew I would be leaving on a job that might take me weeks, or even a couple of months to complete. There was no real telling how long I would be gone. When I did protection assignments, it was usually just taking a celebrity or executive to a location and then back home. I could do my intel and the job all in one week. But this was an extended assignment; this wasn’t what I normally did and I really had no idea just how long we would have to be in Syria.
“It will be all right,” I said as I handed her a blanket to cover up.
“I don’t need a blanket,” she teased as she sat there with a huge grin on her face.
Ana looked happy. Everything about her appeared soft, glowing. It was a good look for her. Her blonde hair sat messed up around her shoulders and her cheeks were flushed red. She was by far one of the most beautiful women I knew and my gut felt twisted in knots at the idea that I would be leaving in just a couple days and I might not come back.
I trusted my abilities when I was on jobs, but the truth was that every job had the potential of me getting hurt or killed. I had always accepted that without a worry before, but now I was apprehensive. Now I wanted to be alive. I wanted to see what was going on between Ana and I and the promise of being around her more was very alluring.
“You’re naked,” I said as I handed her the blanket again.
“Do naked people make you nervous?” She laughed.
“Um, no. Not at all. You can be naked all day every day if you’d like.”
“Well, I doubt Chase and Jordan would appreciate that when I’m staying with them.”
“I think they’d be fine with it.” We both laughed.
Ana climbed on top of me and straddled me again. My hands couldn’t help but reach around and grab her delicious ass. Her petite body felt like it was pretty damn comfortable on my lap and I wished I hadn’t rushed to put my own clothing back on.
“Maybe I should just go with you on your trip. I could help you navigate while over there. I did live right there for a whole year. I was a teenager; I’m sure everything will come right back to me.”
I busted out laughing without a second thought. There was absolutely no way that I would be letting Ana come with me to Syria, one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The thought was absurd. To even imagine beautiful, delicate Ana running around such a hellish place was not even possible.
Even if she had once known Damascus, things were different now. The country was in an all out war and everything was more dangerous than when she was there. The rebels didn’t care about the rules of war. They took women and children and tortured them. The rebels made men kill their own families before they were shot themselves. Damascus, Syria was no place for anyone to be traveling to, and certainly not Ana who had just been through so much trauma.
“No.”
“That’s it? No discussion about what I have to offer? You know, I might be of actual help to you.”
“I’m sure I could use your skills there,” I teased her as my hands slid up and down her ass. “But there is no way I would put you into any kind of danger like that.”
“Okay, okay, I guess I’ll just go be a baby nurse at Jordan’s house.”
I loved the side of Ana I was seeing at that moment. She looked so confident and ready to take on the world. I wished I could stick around and continue to watch her evolve and change. She had overcome so much in the two weeks she had been at my house and in the six months at the treatment facility. It was amazing to see her progress.
“Do you think you could walk me through the street map and some of the possible routes to the airport?” I asked, totally willing to use her expertise while we were able to work together.
“Sure, let me see those maps.”
Ana leaned back and grabbed the maps before she started to go over them. She looked at them so intently that she ended up climbing off of me and putting them back on the table so she could kneel down and follow the roads.
“How’s it look? About how far is it from the housing area where the families will be?”
She turned and looked at me with a very bleak expression. Something was troubling her and I could see it all over her face. There was something wrong.
“You won’t be able to use this map, Nate. They demolished many of these roads even when I was there ten years ago. This map is from the 1950s. You need a better one first. Also, it’s ten miles to the airport, so how m
any families are you trying to get out? You’ll need a few vehicles to make it happen.”