Hot & Bothered (A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 8) by Lynn Raye Harris

the captain and his officers, and they mistrust the rest of us enough to keep the information a secret in case one of us wanted to inform her.”
    Emily reeled from what he’d just said. It was more information than Mustafa had ever imparted at once, but Emily could only focus on one part: she. He’d said the supreme leader was a woman. Her heart began to pound. She was pretty sure this was information Ian and HOT didn’t have. After the capture of Al Ahmad, the brotherhood had undergone a massive shake-up as the factions battled for control. Zaran had once been a candidate for the supreme leadership, and he’d wanted it pretty badly.
    But the Freedom Force was much diminished from the days of Al Ahmad, and nothing happened fast. Zaran and a few other lieutenants had been locked in a battle for dominion. Zaran had been winning when she’d stabbed him with his own knife.
    Emily’s fingers shook as she reached for her water. There was finally a new leader if what Mustafa said was true. And she was a woman. It was nothing short of extraordinary.
    And deeply, disturbingly frightening.
    “Do you know who the supreme leader is?”
    His eyes flashed as if he realized he’d revealed something he’d meant to keep secret. “No. She is called Raja. That is all.”
    Raja… Hope.
    “If taking them was not sanctioned, why do they continue to hold them?”
    His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “There are some who believe the Americans might trade Al Ahmad for these people’s lives.”
    Emily’s throat went utterly dry. “That is unlikely. America doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.”
    “And yet here you are.”
    It was said without irony.
    “I’m here because my government wants to save them, yes. But if the Freedom Force makes this public, if they start to threaten the US directly, there will be no negotiation. Right now there’s a chance—a chance for you to get all the money you desire to leave the organization and a chance to save the hostages with a minimum of bloodshed.”
    His dark eyes had sharpened. “How much money?”
    Emily swallowed. She wasn’t authorized to do this, but she had to take a chance. She was as tired of the game as he was. “One hundred thousand dollars.”
    Ian would burst a blood vessel, but if it got them the information, he could figure out how to explain the expense to his superiors later.
    “Five hundred,” Mustafa said coolly. “What you ask is risky.”
    Emily sat up straighter. Five hundred thousand? God, did they even have that much? Did she care? “I’ll need proof. There’ll be no payment without it.”
    “Two days,” he said, standing. “You will come here with the money, and I will come with proof of the hostages’ location.”
    “I can’t come alone with that kind of cash.”
    He snorted. “As if you ever come alone, Light of Zaran. Yes, I know you have people watching us, and they will be watching us in two days as well.” He leaned toward her. “If you do not deliver on your promise, you will have signed both our death warrants—because I will not go down alone.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

    EMILY WAITED FOR MUSTAFA TO LEAVE. She sat and sipped her water for a good fifteen minutes, her mind boiling with all she’d learned. Had she really just promised him half a million dollars for information?
    She had, and Ian was going to kill her. But, dammit, the thought of Linda Cooper and her unborn child suffering at the hands of the Freedom Force was just too much to bear. Ian had an arsenal of expensive equipment, he never lacked for money or supplies, and for once he was working with the US government on this particular op.
    So, yeah, he could get the money. He had to get the money.  
    But could Mustafa deliver? Was he merely jerking her around, or was he really going to find out where the hostages were being held?
    Then again, maybe he’d known all along and he’d been waiting for just such a moment—her desperation to know where the hostages were. Had she played