Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
“See? Pretty sure she’s firing live rounds.”
“She doesn’t scare me,” I lied, a corner of my mouth lifting. “Get the others up here. We’re still on Astor duty,” I ordered.
“On it.” He took off.
I took a deep breath and walked into the suite. Izzy had dragged the landline telephone over to where she sat on the couch, files spread out on the table in front of her.
“And I’m telling you that form was submitted, so look again,” Izzy snapped, not even bothering to look up at me. “Taj. T-A-J Barech. He submitted his application in April.”
Serena’s interpreter.
I sat back on the windowsill to her left, where I could see both her and anyone coming for her through the door.
“Yes, I know you have eighteen thousand applicants in the pipeline.” Izzy white-knuckled the receiver with a still-ringless hand and yanked on her hair, dragging it over one shoulder to get it out of the way.
That little strip of skin she’d just revealed on her neck had my instant attention.
She’d loved it when I’d kissed her neck.
What the hell had happened between her and Dickface that he’d flown off without his fiancée? Or did that term no longer apply to them? I’d promised myself I wouldn’t ask, wouldn’t pry into shit that wasn’t my business, but this was Izzy.
“And I understand that,” she continued, drumming the fingers of her right hand on the edge of the couch. “But as difficult as it is for you to process these as quickly as possible, I can promise you it’s infinitely more difficult to be an interpreter who publicly worked with US forces sitting in Afghanistan right now, praying your visa gets processed in time to evacuate.”
Damn, she was beautiful when she was angry. I was just glad the anger wasn’t directed at me. Yet.
“No, I will not relax, and I’m not calling you from my cushy office in DC. I’m in the embassy in Kabul.” She yanked the receiver away from her ear and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply.
“Need me to take over?” I offered. “I’m the trained killer in the room, remember? Not that you’re not doing an admirable job of slaughtering the State Department.”
She shot me a glare and put the phone back to her head. “Oh, you found it. Good. Can you tell me what the holdup is? Because I’m holding his completed file.” Her eyes flew wide. “You’re missing what?” She thumbed through the file on the table. “His record of military service is here. Twelve years translating for various units—” Her shoulders fell.
I pushed off the windowsill and moved to her side, reading the file over her shoulder.
“His letter of recommendation.” She sighed, searching the papers again. “It’s not here either. How hard can it be to get one of those?”
My stomach twisted. Hard enough.
“You’re going to want to put that call on speakerphone,” I said softly.
“Because you think you can—”
“You need a general or a flag officer,” I replied. “Know any of those?”
Her mouth snapped shut, and she poked the speakerphone button, setting the receiver down.
“—and until we have that letter, our process is at a standstill, Ms. Astor.” The man’s superior tone lifted my hackles. “And we have thousands ahead of him who have their paperwork complete. Even if you could get the letter of recommendation submitted, moving him to the top of the list would be unfair, and given the shortage of interview appointments—”
“I can figure out the damned interview,” Izzy interrupted, color rising in her cheeks.
“If I can get that letter of recommendation over to you within the next few hours, can you process his file or not?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, but who am I talking to?” the man asked.
“Sergeant First Class Green,” I replied. “I’m with the Joint Special Operations Command.”
Izzy’s gaze jumped to mine.
“Could you process the file within twenty-four hours if you had the letter?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest.
“I’m sorry, are you implying you can even get a letter here within twenty-four hours?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “Because we’re a little overwhelmed here at the moment, and I don’t have time to keep a file on the back burner just waiting to see if a letter magically appears.”
“I can have it to you within—” I checked my watch and did the time-difference calculations. “Two hours. Can you process the file to interview status or not?”
“If it arrives.” If eye-rolling was verbal, that would have been one. “I’ll make a note in the file that you’re sending it. What unit did you say you were with?”
“Thirty-Third Logistics Group out of Bragg.”
Izzy’s mouth dropped open.
“Logistics, huh?” The sound of typing came through the speaker.
“Yeah, you know us. We’re always the ones getting shit done.”
“Right. And who can I expect this letter to be coming from?”
“Someone way above your pay grade,” I answered. “You get his email?” I asked Izzy.