Arrows of Allah is the second in the Christie Cole trilogy. Following her deep undercover investigation in Voices in the Fog, the Arrows of Allah follows the now-married Christie Cole-McCarren into the shadows of the Islamic terrorists’ war on infidels.
As a young child, Christie lost her parents in a tornado and was raised by her grandmother. Under her tutelage, Christie became an elementary school teacher. Nevertheless, her life-long goal was to become an FBI agent. Following her grandmother’s death, Christie fulfilled that dream. Upon graduation from the FBI Academy, she accepted assignment into the Bureau’s elite undercover operation, and later to the International Joint Terrorism Task Force.
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Moments later, they were clear of the infamous Bhutto International Airport and on the Islamabad Expressway driving toward the Kashmir Highway. Christie peered at the highway signs as they picked up speed. She turned to Hoover to speak, but noticed his wry expression as he interjected. “Normal procedures, Ms. Cole. We don’t dawdle outside the safety zone. Day or night, it doesn’t make any difference. Westerners are fair game, so we just, if you’ll excuse the terminology, shit and git.”
Christie comprehended the new realities of life in Pakistan. She smiled in reply and then turned to note the highway signs in English and Urdu, the official Pakistan language. Signs themselves could give a person a feeling of normalcy—right turn to the Rawal Dam and the Pakistan Sports Complex, left turn to the Christian Colony. They gave the appearance of life in any city in the world, but the Pakistan world was anything but normal.
She smelled Hoover’s musky cologne as he leaned closer and spoke over the roar of the engine, “About twenty minutes, then you’ll be as safe as you can be in this part of the world.” He smirked at his own comment. “It’s all relative.”
Christie leaned back and pulled the seat belt tighter across her lap and shoulders. She glanced at her white-knuckled fist grasping the door handle, and in a moment of comic relief laughed at herself.
“First time here?” he asked.