It had been such a frantic few weeks, first in New York City and then the bombing, then this morning when she’d seen Santos after having assumed she’d never see him again. Her life had been one crisis after another over the past several weeks, so it was hard to nail down the exact date, but Talia knew that she needed to figure out when her last period had happened.
“Your Highness!” someone called out. She and Tarin turned, since both of them were members of the royal family.
Rachel rushed towards them, but stopped abruptly, her green eyes wide at Tarin’s presence. Quickly, Rachel pulled back, her mouth falling open as if…Talia had no idea what was going on.
Thankfully, her ever efficient assistant rallied at once and, focusing on Talia, tried again. “I’m sorry, Your Highness but…” she stammered, her eyes moving, again, to Tarin.
Suddenly, Talia understood. The blush, the hesitation and the darting eyes…? Rachel had fallen under Tarin’s spell!
Her brothers often had that effect on women, especially Tarin. He was tall and hugely muscular, with a fierce charisma that charmed all who met him. For some reason, the women flocked to him despite that fierceness. While Amit had an aura of power that came from years of ruling, and Gaelen looked like a rough bull that should avoid china shops, Tarin was different and Talia couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It wasn’t just his size. He was slightly taller than Amit and Gaelen, but as she watched Rachel’s hesitation, her eyes flitting up and away as if she were trying to mentally brace herself to come closer to such a dangerous animal, Talia glanced at her brother. He was older than her by about five years, handsome in an odd-weird-brother way. With his hands on his hips, he looked like a superhero.
As soon as the thought occurred to her, she snorted, shaking her head. Superhero! Right! This was the guy who had lit her dolls on fire! He was the guy who would pin her down, hold her nose closed so that she had to open her mouth – at which point, he’d stuff a dirty sock into her mouth. All that…just because Talia might have, maybe, perhaps…dyed all of his underwear pink the night before he’d gone off to boarding school! Sheesh!
As Talia watched, Rachel’s cheeks turned a darker shade of pink! Because of Tarin, no less! Talia couldn’t see it. Tarin was just an annoying brother to her. But it wasn’t the first time that women had fallen for her brother’s charms.
Deciding to save her assistant from Tarin’s dubious charms, Talia stepped in. “Um…why don’t you go help shift rubble, Tarin?” she suggested, needing to break the tension. It was too…weird. But even as she looked at Tarin, there was an expression in his eyes that Talia had never seen before. Was Tarin attracted to Rachel?
Ugh! That was just too gross to think about.
Still, he stood there, staring, his eyes doing…something that Talia definitely did not like!
Feeling like a third wheel, plus being too tired to be nice, Talia jabbed Tarin in the ribs with her elbow. She knew that she hadn’t hurt him. Not even slightly. But it gained his attention, startling him out of the staring match with Rachel.
A dark eyebrow lifted as Tarin frowned down at her. “Yes, Talia?” he asked, his voice low and harsh, warning her that he’d get her back later.
“Go…lift something…over there!” she demanded, pointing to the other side of the village where people were clearing debris so the investigators could get into the buildings.
His eyes narrowed and Talia simply lifted her eyebrows in response. He wouldn’t do anything here in the open. Their positions as members of the royal family dictated a certain level of decorum. It wouldn’t be until they were back at the palace that she’d be in trouble.
She smirked, feeling secure. But Tarin simply shook his head, his eyes conveying a warning that she wouldn’t get away with this. Still, he turned and headed for the damaged buildings, but not before he shot one more lingering glance at Rachel.
Talia refrained from groaning at the idea of her brother flirting with anyone, much less her wonderful, fabulous assistant. It was just too…wrong. Weird and wrong and just…icky. Besides, Tarin was a love-em-and-leave-em type. Rachel…wasn’t. Talia didn’t know her assistant as well as she’d like, since they’d only been working together for a short time, but Rachel seemed like a sweetheart.
Talia made a mental note to warn Tarin away from Rachel. She loved her brothers, truly loved them. And she was happy that Amit had found someone like Harper, someone he could love and someone to laugh with. If Gaelen and Tarin could find someone like that, Talia would be happy. As long as it wasn’t Rachel!
And speaking of bad match ups…!
A sadness settled over her shoulders as she turned back to Rachel. Looking around, Talia saw the debris all around them, the angry and confused people. Talia couldn’t see a future with Santos. Not after this. How could she possibly have her happily ever after with a man that was literally “Enemy Number One” to her country?
It was impossible, she thought. “Okay, I guess we should…?” Talia looked around, wondering what was next on the never-ending list of things that needed to be fixed, repaired, cleaned, or examined in this unholy mess.
Rachel must have sensed Talia’s mood because she stepped forward, her tablet ready with her lists. “We should…” and she listed off three more issues that Talia knew were priorities.
“Excellent. Thank you,” she said to Rachel, nodding. “Let’s do that.”
Several hours later, she felt her phone vibrate with a text message. She read the message with a quiet smile. “You’re working too hard. Find something to eat and sit down for a few minutes. S.”
She knew that the S meant that the text had come from Santos. Then his words registered and she looked around, startled that he was watching her. How could he see her? How did he know that she hadn’t eaten breakfast?
She searched the horizon, but she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She texted back to him. “Where are you?”
“Far away,” he replied.
She bit her lip, turning away and ducking behind a tent. She didn’t like that he could see her when she couldn’t see him. Still, she needed answers. “Did Padar do this?” she texted, then held her breath as she waited for his reply.
“NO!” came the response almost immediately. “This was not us. I’m investigating. But we did NOT do this.”
It was probably naive, but Talia believed him. Clutching her phone to her chest, she sent up a silent prayer of thanksgiving.
When she opened her eyes, she frowned as another thought occurred to her. If Padar didn’t do it, then…who sent missiles?
For some reason, that thought was terrifying. If Padar had done this, then the motive as well as Izara’s response was simple and straightforward. If someone else had done this, then…who? And why? The village was not very strategic for anyone. It was just a small farming village, the people living here neither wealthy nor terribly poor.
So why send missiles here?
She stepped back and looked around. For the past two days, she’d been so overwhelmed with trying to help with basic needs like food, water and shelter, she hadn’t really seen the devastation. Talia looked now, seeing everything. And something occurred to her.
The damage was all on the northern facing walls. Padar was to the south. It was certainly possible that someone from Padar had driven the missiles over the border and into Izara, then fired them from inside Izara, but…why would they do that? Especially if the person who had done this wanted Padar to be blamed, which is exactly what happened.
And if they hadn’t wanted Padar to be blamed, the perpetrators would have taken credit for the attack by now. Wouldn’t they?
Seeing things from this angle, Talia considered other possibilities. Hurrying back to the tents, she peered around. The command tent was chaotic, nowhere near as organized as her public service tents. In her area, food and water were distributed in an efficient manner. But as she sifted through the maps and satellite images, Talia found what she was looking for: a series of ae
rial views.
Looking at the maps and the pictures, she compared the two, checking the terrain and the locations of various landmarks. Her fingernail, ragged now and the polish badly chipped, dragged over the maps, following a route.
“What’s going on?” Tarin asked as he stepped into the command tent.
Talia didn’t look up from the map. “Come look at this. I might be wrong, but what is this place right here,” she asked, her finger resting on a bump in the terrain about a hundred miles inside Izara’s boundaries.
Tarin leaned forward, frowning thoughtfully at the images. Two of Izara’s military leaders followed Tarin into the tent while discussing potential counter attacks. Talia tried to ignore them, but her heart ached at the thought of more damage, especially to Padar, where Santos might be.
Tarin hesitated, turning the picture slightly. “That…” he began, his own finger running along the same course hers had a moment ago. “Hell, I think that’s the ancient fort that was used as a…” He paused, looking at the map with fresh eyes.
Talia saw the moment when Tarin understood where her mind had gone. Carefully, she tapped her finger against the destruction, then slid her finger along the path, showing an exact line of sight to the ancient “fort”.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she whispered, not wanting the military leaders to hear. Not just yet. If she was wrong, they would belittle her idea and she couldn’t handle that right now. She was too tired and too frantic to clear Santos’ name.
“I don’t know,” he replied, just as quietly. Thankfully, he took her idea seriously and she loved him even more for it.
Talia straightened, shuffling the papers so that the military guys wouldn’t notice what they were looking at. To Tarin, she nodded towards the doorway. “Come with me,” she whispered. “I noticed something earlier that didn’t make sense.”
She took him by the wrist and towed him behind her, out into the field beside the village. “What do you see?” she asked, turning to her brother. The sun was bright in the sky right now, warming up the normally chilly air. It would get warmer by the middle of the afternoon, but right now, it was still pretty comfortable. She turned to face her brother, watching his face as he took in the devastation.
When he saw it, Talia’s shoulders relaxed. “I’m not crazy, am I?”
Tarin’s jaw clenched and he looked behind him, over the field, then towards the center of the village as understanding dawned. “We need to talk with Amit. Now!” he snapped, heading for the command tent.
For the next several hours, Talia, Tarin and the military leaders, a general and colonel, looked at the maps, then at the damage done to the houses and buildings. “Well, I’ll be damned,” the general muttered. He looked at Talia with renewed respect. “How did you…?”
Talia rolled her eyes, lifting her hand to stop the rest of his question. “Don’t let your sexist attitudes come out of hiding, General,” she teased. “Just accept that women can see things just as clearly as men. Sometimes, we see things differently. Which is exactly why you should allow women to serve in the Izara military.”
He huffed a bit and Talia sighed, accepting that while her country was making strides, they weren’t there just yet.
“We should…” the general started, already making plans. Plans that didn’t include her.
She shook her head. “I’m coming with you. I want to see that old fort myself. If we find what I think we will, then we have a completely different situation on our hands.”
The men nodded. As the group turned, Tarin stepped behind Talia, tugging playfully at her ponytail. “You might have just stopped a war, little sis,” he teased.
She playfully elbowed him in the ribs, and climbed into the big SUV that was waiting for her. The SUVs were specially equipped for driving in the desert sands, with bigger tires and a different ventilation system. Because of that, they were bigger and Talia literally had to climb inside. Tarin came up behind her and, because he was her big brother and had to annoy her at every possibility, he simply lifted her up by the belt and literally tossed her into the truck. She fell face first into the passenger seat and she twisted around to glare at him as he came around to the driver’s side.
“Payback, brother dear,” she sing-songed back to him as two of their guards slipped into the back seat and she fastened her seat belt. “It will be sweet, horrible, and you won’t see it coming.”
He snickered, twisting the steering wheel to head out of the camp.
An hour later, the four SUVs pulled up outside of what looked like a pile of sand and rocks. If they hadn’t been specifically looking for this fort, they would have missed it.
But as soon as they all piled out of the SUVs, the evidence was clear.
“Someone’s been here recently,” Talia noted, pointing to the sand that had been disturbed. “They tried to cover their tracks, but it’s almost impossible to do that in an alcove in the rocks. Without the wind to smooth over the sand, the evidence is still there.”
Tarin nodded, grim with the realization of what they were seeing. “Let’s go see if there’s anything inside that might tell us more about who was here and if this place was really where the missiles were fired from. This might just be evidence of kids coming here to smoke and get away from school, or lovers needing a trysting spot.”
He had a point, she thought as the group worked their way into the fort. “This is a mess!” she grumbled, climbing over the rocks to the hidden doorway.
The general agreed. “It’s the perfect place for people to hide out. It’s protected from the environment and hidden from view from the villages.”
Tarin looked around, assessing the fort from the top, looking out at the views. “There are three villages nearby, correct? And they’re bigger than Lutence?”
“Significantly bigger,” General Connaught confirmed. “We considered using this old fort for training exercises several years ago, but decided it was too close to the populations. Other than that, it’s a pretty good site.”
They trudged inside the old stone fort, looking around with flashlights.
The whole time, Talia’s heart pounded and she wished she could send a message to Santos, letting him know about their discovery. She wanted to assure him that he wasn’t at fault, although she remembered the text message earlier where he’d already asserted that Padar wasn’t to blame.
Or maybe it was simply that she wanted to see him again, to feel his arms around her and hear his assurance that there wouldn’t be any repercussions about their activity last night. Because for the life of her, she couldn’t remember when she’d had her period last. Which meant that it had been a while. That made it safer for her, but not impossible. Her little egg might be nestled into her uterus right now, having a dancing party with his sperm and laughing at the idea of the lining of her uterus flowing away.
Darn it, she’d been so thoughtless and irresponsible last night! Or this morning, she thought as she tried to add a bit of accuracy to her world. So far, accuracy had been in sharp decline, hence their presence here in this dusty old fort.
“Someone was definitely here,” Tarin announced, moving towards the back of the fort, his flashlight beaming off of the wall. “And I think Talia is right. This must be the place where the missiles were launched.” He shined his flashlight on the floor where several cigarette butts lay scattered. In addition, there were footprints in the dust. No one had bothered to try to hide the evidence inside this area.
Talia didn’t feel any spurt of happiness at being right, although she definitely felt a strong sense of relief.
“That doesn’t mean that Padar didn’t launch the missiles from here,” General Connaught grumbled.
Talia swung around, staring incredulously at the man. But she instinctively fought back her righteous outrage on Santos’ behalf, trying to think clearly.
“That’s definitely true,” she agreed, turning to shine her flashlight into a small closet-type room. “But ask yourself why th
ey would come here to fire off missiles when they could just as easily attack from the border.” She paused, then lifted her hand when the general started to answer. “Yes, it’s possible that Padar wanted someone else, for some nefarious purpose, to be blamed, but then the question is why? Why would they attack and not want to be blamed?” She paused, looking at each of the men, praying that they didn’t dismiss her simply because she was a female. She hated that! When she realized that she had their attention, she continued, her heart thumping against her ribs as anxiety for Santos’ safety echoed in her mind. “What’s the motivation? And why would they attack in the first place?”
“She’s right,” Tarin agreed with a sharp nod. He sighed, rubbing his forehead as he went on. “This wasn’t public knowledge, but Gaelen was in New York working out a peace agreement.” He didn’t see Talia’s startled expression. His eyebrows lowered over his eyes as his mind obviously tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. “From what I’ve learned, the negotiations were going extremely well. Why would Padar’s leadership spend so much time working on a peace agreement and then, in the middle of the negotiations, attack Izara? It doesn’t make sense.”
The general glared, rising to his full height as he looked towards Tarin. “Peace negotiations? When did they start?”
Yeah, Talia thought, that was an excellent question! When had they started? Why hadn’t Gaelen told her? And then a better question popped into her mind; why hadn’t Santos?
Talia stifled the hurt that two very important men in her life didn’t think she needed to know about something as momentous as peace negotiations. Granted, Santos probably didn’t know that she’d care about those negotiations. But still…! The hurt might be irrational, but it still festered.
Tarin continued, unaware of the wounded stated of her heart as well as the million questions tumbling through her head. “Their leadership and ours were negotiating in secret in order to keep all other factions unaware of the talks. We’d tried talking to the Padar government before, but because of conservative members in our own government, the effort was usually struck down before any real progress was made. Some people,” Tarin turned and eyed the general meaningfully, “especially you, sir, had argued vehemently against any sort of peace talks.”
The Sheik's Scandal (The Raminar Family Book 3) Page 8