Sheik Defense

by Ryshia Kennie

  He tried not to look at Ava, but it was difficult. She was right there. Looking frightened and courageous all at the same time. He wanted to tell her it would be alright, but he didn’t know himself how this would turn out. There was still a good chance she could be injured or worse. He needed to play this right and play it well. And he didn’t have much time to do it. It was a tight situation. He’d never been in any quite like it, at least not with someone he knew, someone he cared about. He forced his attention from Ava and to her captor. It was the only way.

  Ben looked at Faisal in an odd way, the gun clenched in his hand, his grip on Ava’s neck every bit as tight. But the expression on his face had changed. He was assessing Faisal now, slotting him into a different category.

  Silence. Seconds ticked by.

  “You’re playing me,” the man snarled. He took a step back, again roughly yanking Ava by the neck with him.

  Ava bit her lip. A trickle of blood appeared, telling him how hard she was fighting for control. Her eyes met his as she tried to communicate with him. He could see fear and something else, something that told him that she was alright. They’d make it out of this, but he’d have to kill the bastard to do so. He just needed the opportunity. Her look told him everything he needed to know. She was in and on board. He had everything he needed except for a plan.

  “Ben.” It was time to get personal here. “The deal is brilliant.”

  “It is, isn’t it?” This time his voice was captivated not by anything Faisal had said but instead, he suspected, by his own words. A narcissist at his worst, Faisal analyzed.

  It was almost impossible not to look at Ava but he had to stay focused. He had an advantage; Ben’s gun hand was wavering. His face was flushed. These were all signs that he was weakening. He could take him out. It would be risky, but he only needed one chance and he’d kill the no-good son of a desert dog. He wasn’t sure if he could give Ava any kind of signal. He hoped she was following along, that she was on the same wavelength. He had to depend on that, on her wits.

  A dog barked outside, distant, maybe a block away. Then a horn sounded and Ava jumped. It was all he needed. He had to take the chance. Otherwise, he knew deep in his gut that the outcome would be bad. He’d seen Ben’s desperation. He knew the make-or-break of the situation and knew that with any more leeway, Ava was dead.

  He gave her the look—subtle, just a flick of his gaze to his right. It was a signal to move where he indicated. Instead she stood there. She seemed paralyzed in place before sinking her teeth into Ben’s hand. His grip loosened and she slipped away.

  Faisal shot—aiming with all the skill the hours at the range had given him. Yet, all the while he wondered how things had come to this. To Ava standing, half-dressed, seemingly in shock. Her face white, her black hair long and wild, only the towel wrapped around her. He registered all that as he watched the man fall, as blood ran onto the floor and it was clear that whatever danger he presented was over.

  Still, he needed to get her out of here. The dead man was too close to Ava. She’d survived the first trauma but the second was threatening to do her in. She was shaking. He pulled her tight against him, his arm over her shoulders, her head on his shoulder.

  “It’s over,” he whispered into the faint rose scent of her hair. He felt her quiver against him. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, and this time he meant they were taking the chopper and getting the hell out of Texas. Sheriff’s orders or not, they were out of here. He’d put in his report and then hit the road. The Lone Star state had offered enough challenge, for the time being anyway.

  She looked up at him as if finally realizing what had happened as she looked at the body and her lips tightened.

  “Is it over?”

  “He’s dead.”

  “He wanted to kill me,” she murmured as she wiped tears away with the back of one hand.

  “Ava...” he began, reaching to take her into his arms. To comfort her, to...

  She pushed him gently back. “It’s alright. I’m fine. I suppose we need to call the police—again.” She drawled out the last bit.

  “Again,” he agreed. “This time I lay odds we’ll be taken down to the station.”

  She smiled wanly at him. “It beats how I spent the last few minutes. I think we’ll both survive.”

  “Let’s get you away from this,” he said.

  “Let me get dressed,” she said.

  “I’ll get your clothes,” he said. There was no way he was letting her step around the body to get her things in the bathroom. Instead he did it for her and stood with his back to her and between her and the corpse as she dressed.

  A minute later she was dressed and ready to go. He had her hand and it felt like he would never let her go. And even while doing that, he was on the phone. The police needed to be informed.

  “Do you think we’ll ever know what happened to my father?” she asked softly.

  Faisal looked at her as they leaned against the rental, waiting for the authorities. “I don’t doubt it,” he replied.

  “I wish Dad had...” She choked, unable to finish her thoughts. And they both knew what that last word that she couldn’t say was. She wished that her father had lived.

  There was nothing he could say. He didn’t want to offer her false hope. There was still a chance that her father hadn’t survived. Everything was still too volatile. Chan was still on the loose and Dallas Tenorson might be dead but he was only one of a number of hit men Darrell Chan could have hired. This case wasn’t closed yet, not by a long shot. Danger still lurked.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  They had just finished giving their report at Tristan’s police office where two deputies from the county sheriff’s office had remained on site. Both Faisal and Ava had told the men what they knew. It was close to midnight before they were able to leave. Faisal opened the door of the SUV and Ava slipped in.

  They’d just received the news from Talib that Darrell Chan was still in Hong Kong. On a tip from the RCMP, he was detained by Chinese authorities on conspiracy to commit murder. As well as a possible second-degree-murder charge. If everything went as planned, he’d be facing justice in either a Canadian or an American court. The authorities from the countries involved would be negotiating that. Whichever country’s court he landed in, the odds were that he wouldn’t be a free man for a very long time, if ever.

  “It’s odd... Darrell Chan was rather a silent criminal,” Ava mused. “Not someone you’d fear on the street, but don’t cross him. Dad would have appreciated...” She couldn’t say any more; tears threatened.

  He took her in his arms. “Ava,” he murmured against the soft fragrance of her hair. There was nothing more to say, no certain news that would bring her comfort.

  “Dad was taken advantage of,” Ava said. “He was so mild-mannered.”

  “Which is what Ben counted on. He had a plane ticket for Thailand leaving in the next week. One way.”

  “Then why did he want my father...”

  “He needed to convince his last client. Your father has a reputation of being aboveboard and honest. That information is easy to learn. He’s a local celeb.”

  She considered that for a moment. “I never quite thought of it that way.”

  “If the deal with Chan had gone through, Ben would have had enough money to end his illicit career. This part of it is only a guess, but from what I’m getting from my Thai source, he’d already rented a property in northern Thailand for the next month using his grandmother’s maiden name. What he planned to do after that is anyone’s guess.”

  “What’s yours?” Ava asked softly.

  “He was going off the grid. Disappearing and living out his life. We more than likely wouldn’t have heard from Ben Whyte again. But I don’t think that means he’d stop. Con artists are a strange bunch.”


  “They’re proud of what they do.”

  He looked at her with a smile. “Exactly. It’s not just a way to make money, but an art.”

  “Rather a twisted way to look at things,” she said with a smile.

  “There are more twisted things in this world than either of us can dream of,” he said, the look on his face serious.

  “Crazed things,” she said with a sad look on her face. “This has been the vacation from hell. I can’t believe we ended up in a little town in the bottom end of Texas.”

  “Tristan was the perfect place to hatch such a scheme. Small town surrounded by scrub brush and ranch land. The kind of place where the town’s kids just want to escape. I’ve never seen such a down-and-out place. Ben had spent enough time there growing up that what he described to the buyer, the pictures, all of it was real. What wasn’t real was the actual sale.”

  * * *

  JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT, Talib called. “How are you holding up?”

  “Fine. It’s Ava I’m worried about,” he said.

  “What I remember of Ava, she’ll be fine. She’s strong.”

  “What’s up?”

  “I have some news. The autopsy report on Kelsey Willows, the woman who took Ava’s hospital bed,” he clarified. “The report is back and strongly hinting at foul play. One of the cleaners saw a man he’s confirmed is Ben Whyte from a picture enter the room just before her death. It’s looking like murder.”

  “I suppose there’ll be no resolution on that. Too bad.”

  “In a way,” Talib said. “But Ben Whyte’s dead and that can’t be anything but a good thing.”

  “True,” Faisal replied.

  “This went all the way to the heart of Texas,” Talib said. There was a hint of a smile in his voice. “There’s other news, Faisal, and that’s why I’m calling. They’ve identified the survivor I mentioned earlier. The Coast Guard just notified me. It’s Dan Adams.”

  Minutes later, Faisal was giving the joyful news to Ava.

  “Your father is alive,” Faisal said. “He’s weak but he’s going to make it. He’s en route to Miami now.”

  “Alive,” Ava whispered. She could barely fathom the words. It was everything she had hoped for and nothing that she’d expected. “How?” She shook her head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter, what matters is that he’s alive.”

  “And I heard he asked for you,” Faisal said.

  “He’s conscious?”

  “Amazingly, yes,” Faisal said. “Your father’s a survivor. I don’t know anyone else who would have survived an attack and then over four days at sea. He was very lucky,” he said seriously. “The yacht was reported by a container ship when it finally drifted into shipping lanes.”

  Ava reached for Faisal’s hand, her palm grazing his. The heat of his skin on hers offered her the strength she needed. But still the questions remained. Her father was alive but was this nightmare truly over?

  * * *

  Mercy Hospital, Miami

  Wednesday, June 15—2:00 p.m.

  FAISAL STOOD BEHIND Ava in the doorway of the hospital room. Her father had been airlifted off the container ship that had found him. Faisal and Ava had left Tristan early this morning by helicopter.

  They’d landed on a nearby private airstrip and he’d hired a driver to bring them here. He wouldn’t leave her alone. It was too emotional for her. And that aside, he was invested too. This man was important to the family but, more important, he had to be here for Ava. The possibility that she might lose her father had been devastating for her. Now she hesitated in the doorway of his room as if she couldn’t imagine after everything she had been through that this could be real.

  He put an arm around her waist, giving her support even as he urged her forward. They slipped by the unsmiling security. Faisal’s unconcealed handgun emphasized the seriousness of all that had transpired. Whether this was over or not, Faisal wasn’t taking any chances.

  “I can’t believe it, I hoped...” She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

  “It’s him, Ava. I promise you. He lived.”

  She leaned for a second against him. It was as if she were gathering strength. She reached up to gently run her fingers down his cheek before taking a step away from him.

  The man had his back to them. He was emaciated and his hair was grayer than Faisal remembered. Dan turned the wheelchair around. The distinctive features, the piercing brown eyes were exactly as he remembered.

  “Dad!” Ava’s voice was weak and seemed to break, even on that single-syllable word. But Faisal knew the word meant so much. She’d told him less than twenty-four hours ago that she thought she’d never be able to say it to him again. It had been her worst fear and her worst nightmare.

  Faisal watched the two of them embrace and marveled at the fact that Dan Adams had lived. The yacht had drifted into the shipping lane and that appeared to be the only thing that had saved him. It had made him visible, or at least more visible for he’d still needed a passing ship to rescue him. But luck had held and somehow the yacht’s trajectory had missed the worst of the hurricane. The Florida coast too had also missed the brunt of it. All in all, considering what had happened to get him in the situation, Dan Adams had been lucky. He’d survived the injuries that Ben Whyte had inflicted on him. In a nightmare of days and nights he’d still managed to survive.

  For a minute there was silence as Ava hugged the man she’d called father for more than half of her life.

  “I thought you were...” She couldn’t say it. She choked on the word.

  “Gone,” he said with a half smile.

  “Yes.” She smiled, relieved at how things had turned out. “I thought I’d never see you again. What happened? Are you alright?”

  Dan looked at her sadly and Faisal stepped in to put a hand on Ava’s shoulder as she knelt by her father. “Give your father some time.”

  “No,” Dan said firmly as he looked at both of them. “I’m fine.” He reached out, his arm bare and thin, the dark hair standing out against the pink and blistered skin.

  “Why isn’t this wrapped?” Ava said, her attention drawn to the arm as Faisal’s had been.

  “They’re leaving it for now. Don’t worry, honey.” Dan’s laugh was hardly a laugh at all but instead a dry sound that seemed to scrape from somewhere deep inside him. “I’ll live and that’s the main thing.”

  Ava made a small choking sound and wiped her eyes with the back of one hand. She stood and Faisal’s arm went around her waist. She looked up at him.

  “I’m okay,” she reassured him.

  “How did you ever get involved in anything so shady?” She looked at Faisal. It was a question that had remained unasked between them, for her father had always been a law-abiding upright man and to be involved with someone like Ben was incomprehensible. “An error in judgment?” she asked.

  “It’s over,” Dan said with a weak smile. “Ben was a man who needed a helping hand, or so I thought. He took my intentions all wrong. That night on the yacht was desperation on his part.” He shook his head. “It was my fault. Like a fool I told him that I couldn’t go along with his scheme. It wasn’t just men like Chan who were getting fleeced, he was taking hard-earned money from people who had little savings. Either way you looked at it, Chan or no Chan, rich or poor, it was criminal. But I should never have told him I was going to report him.” He shook his head. “I can only say my anger got the best of me. It was an incredibly stupid move.”

  “How’d you find out what he was doing?” Ava asked.

  “It was when Darrell Chan contacted me. It was clear then that something was up. He was the one that told me that he’d purchased land and had a deed with my signature on it completing the transfer. But it was his doubts about that second piece of land that had him contacting me in the first place and reve
aled this whole mess.”

  “Land was being sold by Ben Whyte that wasn’t owned by him. Using your name on land you had no claim to or no knowledge of,” Ava added. “Land he had no right to sell. Unbelievable.”

  “Forged deeds,” Dan said. “I discovered that he was using my reputation to validate his scheme and selling tracts of land that he didn’t own, and forged my signature on two transfers. It was at that point that I knew that I had to do something. But I still thought that I could talk sense into Ben.” He shook his head.

  “You set up a meeting with me to have it investigated,” Faisal said.

  “Exactly. I wanted to make sure my suspicions were right. I’d always planned to notify the authorities,” her father said softly. “I just waited too long to do it.”

  “Ben took out the navigation and computer system. There was no way to track you,” Faisal said. “How did you survive getting shot and then knocked overboard?”

  “I was lucky enough to grab a rope on the way down. Although I still ended up treading water for a bit. And Ava—” he looked at her with a slow smile “—had left her window open. I finally managed to crawl in there. I found her phone and called for help, but I wasn’t connected long enough to trace.” He shrugged. “I suppose it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, the yacht was drifting. I can’t tell you what happened immediately after that. It was the last thing I remembered for hours. When I came to, I crawled to the upper deck. Literally crawled,” he said as his hand brushed against the bandages on his thigh and he glanced at his right leg, which was in a cast. “And again that was the last thing I remember for a long while. I was in and out after that. I was just lucky they found me when they did.”

  “Oh, Dad.” Ava put her arms around him. “We were both lucky. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.”

  She let him go and took a step back.

  “But there’s more?”