Chapter 187

LUKE GRABBED A COUPLE hot pastries off the baking sheet and pressed a kiss to Salma's head. For as long as he'd worked at Aegis, Salma had kept house for them in his part of the world. This morning she was manning the ovens, churning out enough food for those still there. He could only speak a few words to her, but her smiles and laughter were all the communication he needed.

"You're up early." Marco leaned against the door, his hair sticking up on one side.

"Not for long." Luke grabbed some bottles of water from the fridge and glanced around for anything he could snag.

"Where's your girl? How's her rib?"

"She's fine. Asleep. How's Zain coming with the passport?"

"Should be ready this afternoon." Marco made a face.

"What?"

"The Jordan authorities contacted us this morning."

"Yeah?" Luke's fingers went cold.

"They cremated Ethan's body last night."

"What? Why?"

"Something about their beliefs or whatever."

"That can't be right." Luke shook his head.