Nori's Delta (Delta Team Three #1) - Lori Ryan Page 0,33
immaterial to that end goal.
He smiled. “Let us discuss the hostages after lunch. For now, let’s talk about this military might you speak of.”
She smiled and shut him down. “If we’re going to talk about the hostages after lunch, I believe I’ll take an early lunch. My assistant and I had no time for breakfast this morning, so this works out well. We’ll go back to our hotel and return later to continue this discussion.” She stood and Beth did the same.
She didn’t care that they’d only been in the room thirty minutes. She wasn’t playing his game. She didn’t expect him to call her bluff and he didn’t.
And that was fine with her. She’d return after lunch. If he wasn’t ready to talk about the hostages then, she would end the talks for the day. She had time. She could take control of the talks and keep it.
She could and would. She had learned a long time ago not to let people walk all over her. She didn’t care if he was the head of one of the world’s largest guerrilla armies. She was only moving forward with these negotiations on her terms.
Chapter 15
“You hear Nan and Ris are planning to go private when they finish their tours this month?” Heath asked as he and Duff stood outside the room where the talks were taking place. They’d cleared the small room when Eleanor entered. There were no other exits and the room was an interior room of the palace-like building so it didn’t have any windows.
He didn’t like being posted outside, but he was coping. Barely.
Duff grunted a response.
“HALO Security. It’s out of Austin. Bunch of former SEALs and Deltas,” he said, not at all put off by Duff’s lack of spoken reply. The man mostly communicated in grunts and hard stares.
Heath was surprised when the door opened and Eleanor and Beth walked out. They’d only been in the room for a half hour.
Heath and Duff went on alert and he saw Zip and Merlin do the same down the hall.
Eleanor gave him a small shake of her head, signaling to him that all was well, as she and Beth walked toward the exit to the building.
He and Duff fell in behind them while Zip and Merlin cleared the way ahead of them.
When they’d exited the building, Eleanor spoke to him. “We’re heading back to the hotel until after lunch.” She lowered her voice. “Can you have someone watch the camp and see if Demir leaves? He’s not willing to discuss the hostages at all and since we know he went to the bunker yesterday I want to know if he goes over there again today.”
“You don’t think he’ll give in and call you back to the table?” Beth asked.
Eleanor shook her head. “No. He’s not going to capitulate. In fact, I’m not sure he’ll give in after lunch. I need to be ready to completely walk away from here if he doesn’t. He won’t respect me if I don’t and we’ll get nowhere on this fast. We’d be better off walking away and coming back to him down the road.”
They met up with the rest of Eleanor’s team and were in the SUV and moving toward the exit of the compound when Beth answered. “I’ve never known you to walk away from a negotiation without getting what you wanted. You’d really leave if he won’t deal?”
Eleanor didn’t answer but Heath could see the struggle in her eyes. She wanted to get those hostages out and wanted to cut the deal her boss had sent her here to make.
She’d been like that in high school, too. Always wanting to be the best at everything she put her mind to. She’d put so much pressure on herself to succeed, her nose stuck in her books studying all the time.
He’d been the exact opposite. And he convinced her to loosen up and have fun with him for the short time they’d been together.
His gaze roved over the landscape as they drove through the sparse fir trees that dotted the landscape around Demir’s compound. They were driving on what could really only be described as a sandy path, but it was wide enough for the SUV. They would hit a larger dirt road soon that would take them out to the main highway and back to the populated region where the hotel was.
As they approached the intersection with the dirt road, he couldn’t miss the truck barreling toward them. He pushed Eleanor