Love On Fire

Complete Novel

Chapter 1

The sun was already scorching, despite the early hour. Elizabeth Marlan absently looked out the window to the chaos below. Cars honked, music blared, and the unmistakable scent of jasmine and cumin filled the air. Elizabeth was used to it. It was her twenty sixth day in Iraq, and her tenth day in Baghdad. Elizabeth had been there so long that the dry desert air and the sounds of madness seemed almost normal.

Normal. Elizabeth chuckled to herself as she meticulously cleaned the lens of her camera with a dark felt cloth. There wasn’t really a normal in her life, only ritual. Wake up, wash her face, brush her teeth, throw on her boots, get the camera ready, and try not to get killed. Whether she was in Baghdad, Rwanda, Cairo or Haiti, the ritual was always the same. And the camera never left her side.

Her cell phone vibrated against the worn wooden dresser of her hotel room. Elizabeth picked up on the second buzz.

“Did you get the pictures?” She knew who was calling without checking her caller id.

“They just came through. These are amazing, Lizzie, really stunning. I’ve only just started going through them. You’re an artist with that camera, they’re gonna tear each other apart once I start shopping them around.”

Elizabeth smiled, knowing Fred loved this part best. He would dangle her pictures to various magazines, letting them each out bid one another for a chance to be the first to publish her prized photos. She didn’t have the patience for it – the politics, the schmoozing. She preferred to let Fred handle the logistics, leaving her unhindered to move onto the next assignment.

“I feel bad for them already.” She reached for a packof cigarettes and lit one in celebration of her completed assignment. While the files were in her possession, they were always in danger of being destroyed, whether by bullets, gunfire, or angry government officials. It was only when they reached Fred’s custody that she could finally relax.

“We can do a show. I know the perfect gallery – they’ve been begging me for a chance to showcase your photographs.”

“Sure, yeah, whatever works.” Elizabeth answered against the cigarette in her teeth, her hands busily packing up a duffle bag with the few belongings she had with her. A couple of pairs of underwear, some new t-shirts, her laptop and memory cards. It was safer to travel light. Easier to run when she had overstayed her welcome in a particular regime.

“You’ll need to be here. You’re part of the attraction.”

Elizabeth sighed, zipping up her duffle with a quick pull and then taking a big drag of her cigarette. She avoided her celebrity status like the plague. But it wasn’t easy. Her parents had been America’s tragic romance – the volatile artist and the stunning model who died too young in a fiery crash. The tabloids loved to write about her, and the fact that she was a renowned photojournalist only made her that much more intriguing to the public.

“Don’t have time for a public appearance, Freddie.” She blew out the smoke, momentarily obscuring the room in a white haze. “I'm planning to go to Libya.”

Fred stifled a curse. “It’s been two years Lizzie. Come home, shake the dust off your boots, spend a week or two without someone trying to kill you for a change. I’m an old man, my heart can’t take it.”

Elizabeth laughed. “You’re forty-seven, you're hardly an old man.”

“Thirty-nine!” Fred exclaimed. “I only look older because I spend every waking hour worrying about you. I can’t spend the next three months wondering if you’ll reappear again. Libya can wait.”

“What happened to the new boyfriend? Colin, Garth? I thought he was keeping you busy.”

Fred scoffed. “Lizzie, that new boyfriend became my ex-boyfriend a year and a half ago. Come home, kid. I’ll book you a ticket myself. First class all the way. Just cause Rosie’s gone doesn’t mean you--.”