Desert Jewels & Rising Stars

by Sharon Kendrick

  First step was to stay alive.

  She grabbed for the steering wheel as Karim twisted in his seat and returned fire.

  Wow. Okay, guns were deafeningly loud when going off next to one’s ear. You learned new things every day, she thought. Except all this, including how to evade armed pursuit, was stuff she didn’t want to learn.

  Insane. She really, really shouldn’t have come here. This was another world. She didn’t belong. She might not even survive it. Anger welled inside her, at her own stupidity for having come, and at the man next to her who could have let her go the night before, but hadn’t. She could be back in Baltimore by now. At that moment, she hated Karim with the same fierceness that she hated the situation she was in.

  “You know, if you didn’t go around kidnapping people and bullying them into doing whatever you want, maybe everyone wouldn’t be trying to kill you!” She might have been yelling a little. She was a smidgen on the stressed side.

  He squeezed off another shot. “Everyone isn’t trying to kill me. These are probably the same people who put the bomb in the car yesterday.”

  “That’s comforting. I take it all back then,” she snapped. “Could you please turn back to the road?”

  She glanced nervously at the stick shift. As long as he kept the speed steady, they were fine. But if they had to slow for anything, she had no idea what to do with it.

  Not that slowing seemed to be in his immediate plans. He was pushing the gas pedal nearly to the bottom, making maneuvering difficult to the extreme. He’d almost flipped them a few minutes ago, and she had a feeling he might succeed yet. Another experience she would have preferred to leave out if it was all the same to the gun-happy sheik next to her.

  He shot another round, then—miracle of miracles—did as she asked and took back the wheel. He floored the gas and was able to gain a little more distance between them and the car that followed.

  “You could drop me off here. Anywhere.”

  He didn’t bother with a response.

  They zoomed by the entrance of the boulevard that his palace was on.

  “Obviously, you have some problem areas in your life.” She looked behind them pointedly. The attackers were now three cars behind. “Maybe if you dealt with those, you’d have less time to meddle in the lives of others.”

  “I don’t meddle. Stop nagging.” He executed another maneuver.

  “I don’t nag. Where are we going?”

  He frowned as if he hadn’t considered that. Okay, to be fair, he’d been kept pretty busy with getting shot and all.

  “They’ll expect me to go back home and might head us off,” he said.

  “MMPOIL?” There was security at the company. She’d seen a number of guards while asking around for Aziz.

  “I don’t want to bring this fight to a building full of my employees. They—” he jerked his head to indicate the men who followed them “—might expect that, too. They’ve probably been following me long enough to know any place I could go. Wherever I go, someone might be there waiting.”

  Death was waiting for them all around. Not a happy thought. Don’t panic. Breathe.

  Her gaze fell on her purse in her lap, settling on the magnetic room cards visible in the front pocket. “We could go to my hotel.” An idea was forming slowly in her mind. She needed to get away, and not just from the men who were shooting at them, but away from it all. Her brain worked furiously at one possible solution.

  He seemed to be considering her suggestion, looking in the rearview mirror. “The Hilton downtown.” He nodded.

  So he knew where she’d been staying. Obviously, he had checked her out. What else had he found? It didn’t matter. The important thing was that he was going along with her idea.

  He took the next exit and was there in minutes. They had been closer than she’d thought, not knowing the city. The sparkling high-rises, all glass and steel, were testaments to modern architecture, mixed in with ancient mosques and minarets. The sight was breathtaking but foreign, and she got disoriented too easily. The day before, after careful instruction from the concierge, she’d only been able to find MMPOIL after three tries, going around in circles for over half an hour.

  In hindsight, it would have been better if she hadn’t found the place and Sheik Karim Abdullah at all.

  “Do you have a card for the underground parking?” He cast a sideways glance at her as he pulled up to the gate.

  She fished out her parking pass and handed it over to him. The gate opened. They were in. Her plan might work yet. Her number-one objective was to keep her baby safe. To achieve that, she would do whatever was necessary. And since being around Karim was the opposite of safe, what she needed was to get away from him.

  Keep cool. Keep thinking. Give nothing away.

  He glanced into the rearview mirror one more time before shutting off the motor and tugging off his blood-soaked jacket. His tie came next. He tried to wrap it around the wound. She got out and walked around to help him, doing her best not to look at all the blood as she pulled the silk tight.

  Another scar, she thought, and was beginning to wonder just exactly what sort of life the Dark Sheik lived. She had a feeling she didn’t want to know. Had Aziz been like this when he was at home? Somehow she couldn’t picture it. She tied off the length of silk.

  Karim didn’t wince. “Thank you.”

  She stepped back. “It doesn’t mean I forgive you. I just don’t want to have to explain to my baby later why I let his uncle bleed to death.” He was lucky that family was so important to her.

  The corner of his mouth twitched, which annoyed her. She hadn’t been trying to be funny. She meant every word she’d said.

  He pulled the jacket back on, its dark fabric hiding most of the bloodstains. Not that it mattered in the end. They were lucky enough to make it to her room without running in to anyone, although the elevator ride was a tad tense on the way up.

  “I’m going to wash this off so I can see the damage.” He lifted his left arm and headed for the bathroom as soon as they were inside the room and the door locked behind them.

  The hotel was furnished and decorated in Middle Eastern style, rich fabrics and colors, copper tables, a multitude of pillows everywhere. The room looked as if it had been decked out with the treasures of old-time caravans. She’d been dazzled when she had arrived, but barely noticed the exotic interior now. Of course, a hotel room was never going to impress her again after having seen Karim’s palace.

  She sank onto her bed, which had been made since she’d left it the morning before, the starch going out of her all of a sudden. God, that car chase had been petrifying. She folded her hands over her abdomen and breathed deeply for a few seconds, gathered herself as best she could, until she felt a little better. She had not, in fact, come to harm so far, and neither had her baby. That was the most important thing.

  With Karim being out of the room, even if he did leave the bathroom door open, she could almost pretend that everything was back to normal, like before she’d started out on her ill-fated trip the previous day. Except she wasn’t big on pretending.

  Her mother had pretended all her life and look where that got them. She’d pretended that she didn’t have a drinking problem. She’d pretended that her marriage was just fine, up until the day her husband had walked away. Then she pretended that she could start over if she just got rid of her daughters, abandoning them to foster care.

  You didn’t face reality, your life fell apart real fast. It was a lesson Julia learned early on. She was a firm believer in confronting problems head-on. Which was why she had come to Beharrain in the first place. To face down her issues with Aziz, gain some sort of a resolution, then go home.

  Instead, she’d been kidnapped by an overbearing sheik, held against her will overnight and nearly killed. Twice.

  But Karim hadn’t hurt her, had made sure she and her baby were okay. He had paid for a full checkup and an ultrasound. With video. She almost regretted that she would be l
eaving him before that came in. At least she had the pictures in her purse.

  Time to make her move.

  She pulled the nightstand door open and lifted out her travel kit, found the leaf of small, white sleeping pills. She kept them in the kit because she never slept well when traveling, but she hadn’t dared take them on this trip. She didn’t want to do anything that might harm the baby.

  She popped a pill into her palm, then after some thought, popped a second, then a third. He was large and strong. She didn’t want to make the mistake of underestimating him. She put the kit away, grabbed a glass and filled it from the bottle of bubbly mineral water on the table, then broke the tablets up, sprinkling them into the water. When she was done, she swirled the water around. The bubbles hid the rapidly dissolving chunks.

  “I don’t think the bullet hit anything serious. It went through muscle.” Karim was coming from the bathroom.

  He startled her so badly that she almost spilled his drink.

  “Here. You lost blood. You should have some fluids.” She handed him the glass, feeling only a twinge of guilt. None of this would really harm him. He’d have a good sleep, which would help him heal. He’d be upset when he woke and found her gone, but he would just have to get over it. “Let me tighten the bandage.”

  He’d used the tie again, but it looked loose, the best he could manage with one hand.

  “Thank you.” He drained his glass while she fiddled with the length of dark silk and held her breath.

  “What are we going to do next?” It was a miracle that she wasn’t trembling with nerves. As soon as he passed out, she was out of here. Her rental car was still at MMPOIL, so she would call a cab to take her to the airport. She was determined to be on the next flight out of the country. He’d taken her passport the night before, but she’d seen him put it into his wallet, which had to be in his suit jacket. She shouldn’t have any trouble getting it back.

  “The baby looked good,” he said out of the blue. “You were satisfied with the doctors? If not, I can ask for others.”

  “They were fine.” The medical personnel all kowtowed to them. They barely dared to look Karim in the eye. “I’m sure they’ll do their best. They’re all scared to death of you,” she said pointedly.

  “Aren’t you?” He held her gaze.

  “No.” At least not in the physical sense. “I must be stupid,” she mumbled to herself as she turned away.

  “Don’t say that.”

  “I came here.” Case in point.

  “You did the honorable thing. I respect that.”

  “Enough to let me go?” She felt another pang of guilt for drugging him.

  He smiled. “No.”

  The moment passed.

  He walked to the window and looked out, flipped open his cell phone and talked at length with someone in Arabic.

  “Who was that?” she asked when he hung up and walked over to sit in the armchair by the desk.

  He looked mellow. So far she’d seen him with his usual controlling expression, angry and scowling. Mellow was definitely new. Actually, it didn’t look all that bad on him.

  “My security.” He closed his eyes for a second. “I told them to look out for anyone suspicious both at work and at home. I gave them a description of the car that followed us.”

  She didn’t have time to ponder his looks. “Tired?”

  He shrugged it off. “Tell me how you met my brother.”

  God, she so did not want to get into this now. But she had to do something while she waited for the drug to work. Maybe talking him to sleep wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “He was at a fund-raiser dinner I organized.”

  He nodded. “My brother lived a busy social life when abroad. Fund-raiser for what?”

  “Summer camp for kids in foster care. For siblings. For the most, the system tries to place siblings together, but it can’t always be done. I worked for an organization that tries to make sure that these brothers and sisters stay in touch. This way, when they get out of the system, there’s a relative out there that they had contact with over the years. Sometimes the older ones can help the younger ones. We try to give them that sense of family.”

  She thought of her two sisters whose memory was faded and spotty. She could recall specific incidents and conversations, but the faces were becoming blurry. Finding them had been the first thing she’d tried to do when she had left foster care at eighteen. She had failed so far. Back then, records hadn’t been computerized. The agency that had placed her family had been flooded out several times, many of their files destroyed.

  She had managed to find her mother, but she had passed on by that time.

  “You still work there?” he asked. His eyes were becoming hazy, but his gaze on her face was unwavering.

  She looked away. “You lost blood. Do you want me to call an ambulance?” Suddenly she was worried that three pills might have been too much. Maybe he did need help. She could call and be gone by the time they got here. He did have that handy-dandy company ambulance at the ready, after all.

  “I’ll go in later and have the wound cleaned and sewn up. I want to get you someplace safe first.”

  Protecting her seemed to be a reflex with him. She wondered if he was like this with everyone.

  “I’m safe here.” They weren’t going anywhere together.

  He closed his eyes for another moment. “I asked for some of the security staff to come over. They should be here soon enough. Maybe I’ll have them take you to Tariq’s place, my other brother. His wife is American. Did Aziz tell you that?”

  She shook her head. Oh, God, his security was coming?

  “That’s right.” He looked increasingly absentminded. “Aziz hadn’t met Sara.” His face darkened. He leaned back in the chair. “I think I lost more blood than I thought.” He pulled his gun and laid it across his lap.

  “That’s okay. Take a minute to rest.”

  She’d given him the pills ten minutes ago. They usually worked on her in about that time. And she’d given him a triple dose.

  “So your organization doesn’t miss you while you’re here?” He didn’t seem to be easily distracted.

  “I’m no longer with them. They had to cut back. Some of our top corporate sponsors left. With the economic downturn, our donors haven’t been able to support us like before, either. Aziz was brought by a friend of a friend.” God, he probably thought that she’d just latched on to his brother for the money. “He was really interested. He thought the summer camps were a great idea. I didn’t—”

  “Take advantage of him?” He finished the sentence for her.

  “If you’re going to imply that I only slept with him to get more money…” She glared at him, knowing that her hormones made her more emotional these days, but not caring. So she was touchy lately, so what? She’d spent the last three months nauseous and tired to death, feeling as if she’d been beaten over the head.

  “Did you?” he asked without emotion.

  “No!”

  He simply nodded. Blinked. “My brother supported a dozen charities, both Beharrainian and international.”

  He had to pass out before his security got here. It was her only chance. Please, please, please, she prayed silently, watching him for signs of fatigue without being too obvious about it.

  He shook his head as if to shake himself up. “So you are currently unemployed.”

  She didn’t bother denying it, just nodded.

  “I take it you are here for money.” He didn’t look angry, just resigned. Yet another new look for him.

  “I didn’t come for money.”

  He arched a dark eyebrow.

  “Not just that. It’s not like that. I wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to tell him.”

  “But you would have been content going back without telling me?”

  She should have. She should have run the moment she’d laid eyes on Karim. “I was afraid of how you would react. I didn’t want anyone to assert any kind of claim over
my child. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of possibly getting kidnapped and held against my will.” She glared at him.

  His lips twitched. “Think of it as being my honored guest.”

  “Think of it as illegal,” she retorted, wishing that he would pass out already. She was about ready to jump out of her skin.

  “You could enjoy it. It could be a few months of vacation and pampering. It’s not like you have anything to go back to.”

  Ouch. He was right, but she didn’t have to like it. His assessment of her life sounded dismayingly pitiful. “You could let it go,” she said. “What if I have a new boyfriend back home?”

  He leaned forward, somewhat unsteady, and narrowed his dark gaze. He looked decidedly unhappy about the possibility. “Do you?”

  She shook her head, didn’t see any point in lying.

  Her admission seemed to relax him. He leaned back into the chair again. His hands hung by his sides, his suit coat falling open. She shouldn’t have any trouble getting into his inner pocket and fishing out his wallet. She would get her passport and borrow enough money so she could get to the airport. She so wasn’t going to feel guilty about that. He had confiscated her purse. If she was driven to desperate measures, he had only himself to blame.

  Oh, God, please, let him fall asleep. “Listen, I—” She fell silent when somebody knocked on the door. Despair surrounded her. How could they be here already?

  He came to his feet, lurching forward unsteadily.

  “Julia—” Then understanding flashed across his ragged face. “Julia?” This time he growled her name. The mellow phase was clearly over. He gave her a fierce scowl. Then he folded back into the chair, and finally passed out.

  Oh, God. There would be hell to pay for this if they ever met again, which she would do her best to avoid. His security was here. The scene would just have to be played out. She could stay right by the door when his men came in. With luck, they’d be focused on what was going on with their precious sheik and she would have a second or two to dart out.