“What in hell do you think you’re doing!” He was breathing hard, too. He was furious. Memories of what Sadiq had done to Nahla swirled black and red and dangerous in his brain. The energy of it consumed him, powering a fierce and desperate need to protect through his blood.
“You want to get yourself killed, dammit! Do you know what they will do to you if they find you like this!”
She said nothing.
“You gonna stay put if I let you go?”
She made a small sound. He eased off her and she instantly squirmed out from under him and took off in a flat run. He lurched to his feet, dived and tackled her. They hit the ground hard. She spun her head around, bit him on the hand, breaking skin, drawing blood.
He cursed and covered her again with the full weight of his body. She flattened out onto the sand under him, suddenly limp, spent. So was he. He leaned heavily onto her, trying to catch his breath, his nose and mouth against her soft tangle of hair.
He lifted his head slowly, scanned the desert. He could see no telltale plume of sand. No one had come after them. Relief ebbed through him. He sat back. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, and turned to face him.
Her eyes were wild, glittering. Her hair was a tangled halo full of sand, her cheek red from where he’d pushed it against coarse grains and her chin was grazed. She was still breathing hard.
His heart squeezed and a ball of emotion lodged in his throat. “Damn, Paige.”
A shudder ran through her body and moisture filled her eyes. As he watched, one fat tear slipped down through the dust on her face.
He reached out, pulled her to him, held her gently against his chest, nestled his face in her hair. “Oh God, Paige, do you know what Sadiq does to the women who defy him? Do you understand how he hurts—kills—the people you love?”
She went still in his arms, listening.
“I won’t let him do it again. Ever. To anyone.” And the implications of what he’d just said hit him smack between the eyes. Because the only way to ensure Sadiq never hurt anyone ever again was to change the system. To get rid of him. To wrest control back from the evil that governed his country. Yes, his country!
This mission—this woman—had forced his hand. He knew what he had to do now. But first, he had to get Paige to safety.
She lifted her head, slowly raised her eyes to his. He could see the question in them.
He reached up, brushed sand off her cheek. “Why did you run, Paige?”
She wiped the back of her hand over her mouth, and he saw that it was shaking.
He took her hands in his. “Do you want to die? Because there’s no way you’ll make it out here. Not on your own.”
“I’m dead to the world anyway. I…can’t go back to the States. I have nothing left.”
He looked right into those clear silver-gray eyes. “But you left me the codes. You decided to trust me.”
“It’s all I had left to give. My trust.”
He closed his eyes for a second as feeling swam through him. She had no idea what her trust meant to him.
“I’m pathetic, Rafiq. A stupid fool for not seeing that I’ve been used all these years. I honestly never did anything with malicious intent.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “You’ll find what you’re looking for in Quadrant 3. I think that’s the bioweapons arm of Nexus. I…I discovered something, just before you kidnapped me. I stole a vial that had been shipped in from the Congo. It had human brain tissue, infected with my pathogen.” She sniffed, wiped her nose. “I…I didn’t know what I was looking at, couldn’t understand it, until now.”
He studied her eyes. And he believed her implicitly. She’d been used. Just like Nahla had been used. But this time he was going to get her home safe. He was going to do everything in his power to see that she walked free.
A dry sob shuddered suddenly through her body. “Oh, Paige.” He held her close, stroked her hair. “It’s okay. We’re going to get you through this. I’m going to get you through this. We’re going to stop these guys.”
She pulled back, sniffed again, wiped her sleeve over her nose. “Did…did you give your men the codes? Did they get into my computer?”
“We will give them the codes when we get back. Come.” He held out his hand.
Her eyes opened wide. “You mean you came after me first?”
He didn’t want to think about what that meant. “We must go, now. If your disguise holds, we might make it back into the city unnoticed.”
She just stared at him.
He took her face in his hands, brushed his lips lightly over hers before he could even think about what he was doing. “Hang in there, okay?”
Incredulity crossed her features, her eyes opened even wider. She nodded, a small movement, and tears once again began to flow over her cheeks.
“Come now, let’s find your turban and get you home.”
But as he turned to go, she placed her hand on his arm. He stilled.
“Who did Sadiq hurt, Rafiq? Who was she?”
Rafiq gritted his teeth.
“Did you love her?” she whispered.
He flinched. Her eyes were so honest, open and caring. She’d been stripped down to nothing, and he needed to give her some measure of the truth if he wanted to keep her trust. He could see that now. She’d already seen right through him. She knew he had history in Na’jif.
“Yes. I loved her.”
“So you are from Hamn.”
“I was Hamnian. Once.”
“What happened to her, Rafiq? Does it have something to do with that woman you saw yesterday?”
His chest went tight. He’d gone as far as he could. “That was her mother. But I did not come back for the past, Paige. I came only for the antidote. FDS sent me because I fit the local profile, and I speak the language. And that’s the truth.”
“But you didn’t want to come back?”
“No,” he said brusquely. “I wanted nothing more to do with this country.”
“You’re not going to tell me what happened here, are you?”
He sucked in his breath, blew it out sharply. “Let’s just say there are a lot of reasons to leave this country.”
“And to stay.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“This country needs people like you. The more there are, the greater the chances for a successful revolution, because it’s going to happen. You know that.”
He studied her features. “You really mean that, don’t you? You really do care about these people.”
“I do.”
He nodded his head slowly. What kind of man did that make him? How could he have been gone like this for all these years? How could he have stopped caring?
He shook himself. He knew why. And he couldn’t change that. What was done was done. But he was going to make damn sure he set things right now.
“Come,” he said softly. “It’s time to move. We’ve got a long ride ahead.”
They rode back to Na’jif side by side, a team this time, linked by a tenuous bond and fragile understanding, a common mission and a rough road ahead of them.
10:38 Charlie, Nexus Lab Compound, Friday, October 3
He’d had a team of forensic techs working for more than five hours on the Nexus system. They’d started with her computer, and because they were looking so carefully, they’d seen something they might not have otherwise noticed—a whisper of an electronic trail that threaded into the heart of an entire system. They were working round the clock now to find out what it meant, and where it had been initiated.
He paced the corridor, impatient, edgy. Dr. Paige Sterling hadn’t been killed—she’d been kidnapped. He didn’t have proof yet, but the signs were there. It was just a matter of time before the techs found something he could use to hunt her down.
He stared out the compound window. The desert blazed with morning sun, bright light reflecting off sand. It made him wince. He spun away and stalked back to her office.
It had to
be in here. She’d been taken from this room, he felt it in his gut. And the answer had to start with her computer.
He crouched down under the desk and pulled out the hard drive.
Chapter 9
10:59 Charlie, Na’jif safe house, Friday, October 3
“I’m putting Dr. Sterling on the line. She’ll give you all the pass codes she has and she’ll walk you through her system protocol, but she says you will most likely find what you need in the Quadrant 3 computers. She suggests you focus technical time on that section.”
“Why?” Sauvage’s voice came through so clearly it felt as though he was in the room.
“Her work was being appropriated and weaponized without her knowledge and she has reason to believe it was done in Quadrant 3, which is where she hopes we’ll find information about antidote stocks. She says she did create an antidote for the Ishonga pathogen that has been tested on chimps but not humans. She also said her pathogen was not tested on humans, either, at least not to her knowledge.”
“It was tested—in Ishonga.”
“Like I said, not to her knowledge.”
“What about the president?”
“She has an idea which variation of the pathogen might have been used on him. But she has not developed an antidote for that one. Not yet.”
Silence hung in the air.
Rafiq glanced sideways at Paige. She looked less like a brilliant scientist than a dusty street urchin in her oversized men’s robes, and she’d never looked more endearing. “I believe her,” he said.
“Put her on, then.” If Rafiq believed her, so did they. “We have about five hours of download time left. As soon as we’re done, pack that equipment up and get out of Na’jif. The men will rendezvous with you on the Saudi side of the Asir as arranged. The device you installed will self-destruct within thirty minutes of download completion. There will be no way to trace us.”
“Affirmative.”
Rafiq stood, held out his arm, motioned for Paige to seat herself in front of his equipment. He handed her the headset. Her eyes met his, and their gazes meshed. He touched her face gently, smiled. “Knock ’em dead, Doctor.”
She returned his smile. A little wan, but brave, he thought. She’d had the stuffing knocked right out of her and she’d come up fighting. He had to admire that. In fact, he admired a hell of a lot about this woman. She was his kind of woman, someone who he could—
A soft rapping sounded on the door. Rafiq tensed, checked his watch, then relaxed. That would be the carpet dealer’s mother with the brunch he’d ordered. He snagged his headcloth from the back of a chair and swung it over his head and mouth.
He unlocked the door, opened it cautiously. The dealer’s mother stood there with the tray in her hands, but she was not alone. She was accompanied by three other women and a young girl of perhaps twelve. They’d been huddled in a group and whispering in hushed and excited tones as he opened the door, but they fell silent the instant they saw him.
They stared straight up at him in an openmouthed way that defied the current social and political climate. Rafiq’s pulse kicked up a notch. There were no nervous hands, pulling veils over mouths. And worse, excitement danced in their dark eyes. It vibrated through them in a way that was literally palpable.
His heart began to pound. Word had gotten out. He should never have stared at Nahla’s mother like that. He should never have gone down that road, back to that house. She must have said something. Rumors must be rustling through the city like a brush fire.
He drew his scarf higher, up over his nose. He and Paige had to leave town, or the sultan’s army would be here within hours. The borders would start shutting down. Houses would be searched. The people who had helped him get into the country would be murdered.
Paige would be killed.
Sadiq would do whatever it took to keep the throne.
His little walk down memory lane yesterday may just have launched the revolution.
Rafiq took the tray from the woman and kicked the door closed. He stood with the tray, oblivious to what was on it.
He had a choice to make.
His actions had forced him to this point. Maybe he’d even subconsciously wanted it to happen. He was going to fight this battle. He knew that now. He would stand up and face Sadiq, or die. But he could not allow it to cost this mission. He must finish that first.
He glanced up from the tray. Paige was still talking to Sauvage and his team. She’d put the headset on and was clicking away at his system.
He had to get her out of Hamn. Fast.
The weight of decision lay like a heavy mantle on his shoulders as he carried the tray into the room and set it on the small glass table.
She took the headset off and glanced up at him. A concerned expression crossed her face. “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
No, but the women at the door had. He was the bloody ghost, the one legend claimed was going to come back from the dead and save them.
She stood, came over to his side, touched his arm. “Are you okay, Rafiq?”
His eyes met hers, held. Okay? As okay as anyone who was about to officially come back from the dead and duel his half brother to the death.
Nervousness skittered through her features as she read his tension. “Did something just happen?”
“Nothing happened. Why don’t you clean yourself up, dress in the chador. Put the jewelry back on, and use the kohl. I’m going to go down to the stable to make sure the camels and provisions are ready.” He paused. “And eat some food.”
She frowned. “I thought we were only going to leave after dark. The download isn’t going to be complete until at least four.”
“I want you ready. I want to leave Na’jif the very second the download is finished.”
“In the daylight?”
“As soon as possible.”
“Okay,” she said studying him carefully. “But will you at least allow me to put some antibiotic ointment on that hand of yours. It’s swelling and—” she smiled sheepishly “—human bites can be worse than animal ones.”
He glanced at where she’d bitten him. He’d forgotten about it, and she was right; it was red and swelling, but there were more pressing things to worry about. “When I get back,” he said, his words clipped. “Get dressed.”
Paige was not going to put the chador on yet. It would be ludicrous to sit in the thing until four o’clock. She didn’t know what had suddenly gotten Rafiq all edgy, but whatever it was, she was not going to cover herself until it was time to leave the safe house.
She had put on all the jewelry, though, and she’d painted her eyes heavily with kohl. Bells tinkled with each step as she walked out onto the patio carrying the jar of ointment and a bowl of hot water and soap.
Rafiq was pacing along the parapet, his stride angry and purposeful. He’d tied his hair back off his face with a leather thong, and it accentuated the sharp angle of his brows and the severity of his high cheekbones. He already had his tunic on and his jambiya at his waist. Rafiq looked as if he meant business. He looked predaceous. And proud, almost regal.
Paige stilled, watched him for a while. There was something very different about him. Something had definitely happened. Not once through her ordeal had she detected this kind of anticipatory edge in him. It made her nervous. She hadn’t realized just how secure his powerful and calm confidence had made her feel, hadn’t realized she needed it.
“Rafiq?” she called out to him as she set the bowl and disinfectant on the table.
He spun round, and his dark eyes flashed.
She patted the brocade of the chaise lounge. “Come sit here beside me. I’ll fix that hand.”
He checked his watch, shot a look at the Halliburton case and equipment. “Two more hours to go,” he said. “Camels and supplies are waiting downstairs.”
“That’s plenty of time, Rafiq, come sit, I’ll be quick. Bites like that can be lethal, trust me. I saw a guy lose his arm in the Con
go because of a human bite that went septic.”
He stalked over to the chaise lounge and sat next to her. This close, his energy was even more powerful, tangible.
Paige avoided the hot intensity in his eyes, dipped a cloth into the hot water and wrung it out. She dabbed at his skin. His eyes shot to hers with such a sudden ferocity that she hesitated, held her breath. But he said nothing, just stared into her eyes.
She swallowed, wiped the cloth over his wound, cleaning it, then drying it. He didn’t move. He just skewered her with those eyes, and a muscle pulsed in his neck…at the same rate as her heart.
She looked away, moistened her lips, reached for the jar of ointment. She’d become overly conscious of her movements. She dipped her fingers into the slick ointment and began to smooth it over his skin, concentrating on avoiding his eyes. His skin was the color of rich coffee under her fingers. She could feel his pulse there, too, the rate matching hers. Her mouth went dry, and she found her hands lingering against his.
She cleared her throat. “There, that should do it.” She looked up into his eyes again. The mystery in them sucked her in deeper than ever.
He lowered his thick lashes smokily. Dangerously. “Thank you, Doctor,” he said, his voice thick.
She laughed lightly, a little too breathlessly. “I’m not that kind of doctor. And…I’m sorry I hurt you.” She paused. “Thank you for coming after me, Rafiq…for believing in me.”
His eyes flashed violently. He gripped her hands so fast and tightly she dropped the jar of ointment. It clattered to the tiles, rolled under the chair.
“Paige—” his voice was rough, low “—I will get you out. I promise you that. On my life.”
She swallowed, suddenly unable to speak. The passion and ferocity in his grip, the brilliance in his eyes, wrapped around her, flowed through her, sparked a hot thrill deep in her belly.
He pulled her into him, pressed his mouth down over hers, cupped the back of her head with one hand, the other slipping down her spine to the base of her back and drawing her even closer. Shock and heat rippled through her. His lips moved over hers, hard, hungry, possessive. Heat speared through her, and her mind went completely blank. Her lips opened under his and she leaned into him, her breasts pushing up against his chest, heat spilling through her thighs, making her yearn to open totally, fully. He groaned, his tongue thrusting deep, searching—
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