“Yes, sir, it is. They fired at us. I returned fire, taking out one of their tires, but we could use some help at least getting coverage back to the safe house.”

“Where are you now?”

She rattled off their exact location and prayed that he would act.

“We’ll send someone. Standard extraction protocol. Stay alert.”

She sighed. “Thank you.”

“Just for the record, I don’t think this means you’re innocent. In my mind, there could be a threat against you from the cartel, and you could be in with Al-Nidal. But if I’m wrong, the consequences for an operative of your caliber are far too high, and I’m not the reckless type.”

She wanted to correct him and say that she wasn’t technically an operative, but she let that one go. If he was going to help, then that was the biggest thing she needed, and there was no point in picking a stupid fight. “We’ll be standing by.”

The call ended, and she turned to Hunter, who was continually looking around.

“It’s going to be okay,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t I be the one telling you that?”

She smiled. Even in the midst of this danger, they complemented each other. “We’re a team, remember?”

“You’ve been the team leader today, Layla. MVP all the way.”

It was nice to hear that he had confidence in her, because sometimes she didn’t in herself. Everything today had been about training and pure instinct and, most importantly, God’s strong hand guiding her when she wasn’t sure what to do.

Hunter squeezed her hand. “How long do you think it’ll take them to get here?”

“If he puts in a priority call, we can have a team here in ten to fifteen minutes. There are a lot of internal Agency assets in this area. That plays in our favor. Stay alert, though.”

“Understood. How did Frank seem?”

“He doesn’t believe this means I’m innocent. He thinks I could be guilty and still have the cartel threat. I can’t really blame him. If I were in his shoes, evaluating the file, I’d probably think I was guilty too—or at least I’d have a strong suspicion that I’d want to run down completely before any exoneration could occur. Those pictures are unsettling.”

For the next fifteen minutes, they walked briskly but not so fast as to call attention to themselves.

Hunter nodded his head forward. “Those two guys at twelve o’clock. Do you think they’re yours?”

She looked to where he had indicated and saw two men dressed casually but walking with purpose. When one of them made eye contact with her, she knew it was their way out. “Yeah. That’s them. Let’s cross the street.”

“But why? Shouldn’t they come to us?”