Captive- Veiled Desires

by Cartharn, Clarissa

  He glanced at her sharply. Hadn’t he done that one too many times since he had met her?

  “I mean… I appreciate you saving me from the storm last night.” She coughed. “But surely there must be someone here who could take me to the nearest American base.”

  “I didn’t just save you from the storm,” he grumbled. “If I hadn’t got to you in time, you’d have been dead from the heat itself.”

  “And I am grateful. But please, you can’t take me back.”

  He sat the camel down and then looked at her. “Get on. You’re still in no condition to walk back.”

  She shook her head apprehensively. “No, you can’t do this. You let me go! You said I could!”

  He stepped towards her, but she turned and started running. He swore under his breath as he chased after her.

  Even in her weakened state, she managed to maintain a good distance from him. The loose desert sand didn’t help him either.

  Damn, she’s heading back to the plains. He increased his pace, slowly gaining on her. She would have to give up soon, he told himself. She’s still weak. She can’t keep this up.

  After holding her so close as he did last night, tasting her, kissing her, nipping at those pink luscious lips, he really was in mood to do this to her. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm. She tried to twist herself away from him, but he tripped her, dropping her to the sandy floor. He fell with her onto the sand, and after a little tussle, he managed to grab her wrists, pinning her arms above her head.

  “Let me go! Let me go!” she screamed angrily.

  “Stop it!” he growled back.

  “You can’t do this! You can’t! You can’t!”

  “Can’t do what?” he grit between his teeth. “Can’t do what?” he repeated angrily. “Save you?”

  She stopped writhing under him, staring at him instead. His eyes followed her shivering lips as she nipped at it with her teeth. He wanted so much to press his mouth against hers. But her eyes… he saw fear in them. And it angered him that she still didn’t trust him.

  “Don’t you think if I had to do something, I would have done it by now? I had so many chances for that back at the house. And then last night… last night…” He stopped, not knowing how to explain it to her that she was her safest when she was him. How could he make her trust him?

  He sighed tiredly and buried his head into her slim shoulders. He hadn’t expected this to be so gruelingly hard. Somehow, it had become the most strenuous task he had ever undertaken. Because now, it wasn’t just about watching his back. It was about her too. And somewhere since the day he had rescued her from that twisted bastard, Mateen, he had grown to care about her.

  She felt his breath grazing her shoulders, his chest rising and falling against her breasts. Instead of feeling burdened by his weight, his head felt remarkably comfortable and pleasant. She didn’t know what was happening to her. Despite her will, she was drawing towards him. She was scared she’d grow fond of him. She didn’t want to fall in love with her captor. She didn’t want to grow weak and submissive to the man responsible for taking away her freedom.

  She stared up at the clear blue sky of the vast arid Registan desert. “I want to go home,” she whispered.

  He lifted his head to look down on her and then rolled silently off to her side.

  “I just want to go home,” she repeated.

  HAPTER 11

  She wanted to go home. He sighed, swiping a tired hand over his face.

  He wanted her home too. His home. Never had he yearned more for a woman he could return home to. Who would love him back. Who would tend to him after a day with some of the worst scums he’d ever met. So he could once again believe the world wasn’t as cruel and heartless as he had discovered it was.

  He got up and gave out his hand to help her up. She looked at it sadly and then placed her hand into his.

  “I’ll help you return home. But you have to trust me,” he said.

  She glanced down and nodded.

  He clasped her hand and led her back towards the camel.

  He wrapped a shawl around her head. It was going to be another severely hot day and he didn’t want her suffering from more heat stress. She was also pregnant and that meant he had to take extra care of her health.

  Another man’s child… He let out a tired puff of air. He was falling for a woman carrying another man’s child. Could it get even worse?

  “Are you okay?” he asked her as she sat rigidly upright on the camel’s saddle.

  “Yes,” she muttered hesitantly. “What about you? Are you going to…?”

  “Ride with you?” he finished for her. “Would you like me to?”

  “I… I don’t know if there is enough room?” She blushed with embarrassment.

  “There was enough when we fled from the storm,” he reminded.

  Her fingers trembled as she pulled her shawl down further to cover her eyes. “Shall we go then?”

  “Aren’t you eager?” he teased.

  “I’m tired of the desert,” she replied tersely.

  He grinned. “Have you ridden one of these beasts before?”

  “Didn’t I yesterday?” she snapped back at him with annoyance.

  “Right.” He nodded. “Lean back. He’s going to stand on his rear legs first.”

  He watched her from the corner of his eyes as he led the camel by the reins back towards the house. Her body bobbed along with the movements of the animal. She had her eyes closed and a strained look on her face. Not everyone found camel riding easy and comfortable.

  “Do you want to walk?” he asked.

  “I’d rather that than this.”

  He halted the beast, getting it to rest on its knees. “You should have said something earlier,” he mumbled, offering his hand to help lift her up.

  She took it without hesitation and he pulled her up. She stumbled onto him and he steadied her quickly.

  She braced herself awkwardly against his chest. “When have you listened to me?” she grumbled.

  “Other than your wish to send you home, when have I not?” He corrected her shawl. And as he straightened it about her face, his fingers grazed her face.

  She stilled, her eyes frozen to his. The woman did something to him every time she looked at him like that. She bewitched him like no other woman he’d known.

  His thumb traced down the contours of her face, resting finally at the corners of her lips. He gulped, finding the courage to take her mouth with his. Would she resist? He didn’t want to scare her. She had only just begun to loosen her barriers.

  “Adam…,” she whispered.

  He loved the way she spoke his name. He stared at her mouth, his body hardening with his desire to have her.

  “Adam,” she said again, her voice trembling slightly. “What is that?”

  He frowned, turning to find out what had caught her attention and broken their moment.

  A cloud of dust hovered in the distance, masking the small group of camel riders within it. In this desolate place, where locals only traveled its path paved by the sole knowledge of their ancestors, these riders would have to be the radical extremists who monitored the land. And they searched madly for anyone who dared contravene their religious laws.

  He instinctively moved in front of her, protecting her as they drew closer. The camels brayed, penetrating the silence of the desert. There were four in total. Four camels, four riders. Each carried guns, their Pashtun clothes dusted by the sands they had unsettled on their way. His heart raced as he rapidly drafted a plan in his mind. He could handle three of these men at most. But four men with weapons was going to be a tough call for any ordinary person.

  “Salaam,” said one in Pashto. “Where are you going?”

  Adam glanced at the others. “That way.” He pointed. He was darned if he was going to tell them anything more.

  “To Kandahar?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Who is the woman?”

  His temples pulsated rapi
dly. He placed his hands on his hips, pretending to be at ease, but secretly feeling for his pistol tucked securely in its holster at his hips. He didn’t like the question. He didn’t like how they tried to look at her. “My wife.”

  “Tell her to come out from behind you. We want to see.”

  “See what?” he asked, his eyes narrowing. “I told you she’s my wife.”

  “We want to see if she’s dressed appropriately.”

  “I’m her husband and only I will dictate how she dresses.”

  “This is Afghan land and she will abide by the laws of our religion. You…” He pointed at Nora. “Come out.”

  “Ta… Dalta raasha,” the leader of the camel riders said. His eyes were cold and brutal. When he pointed his finger at her, indicating her to step forward, a chill ran up her. What could he possibly want?

  “Adam,” she whispered.

  “Stay behind me, Nora,” he whispered back sternly.

  “Amirika…Amirika!” was all Nora could pick up from the man’s sudden tirade at hearing them speak in English. The other men panicked as well, pointing their guns wildly at them.

  Adam spoke rapidly in Pashto, trying to calm them down.

  “Dalta raasha! Dalta raasha!” the man yelled again at her.

  “Step out slowly, Nora,” Adam said quietly. “Zama meerman… zama meerman…,” he told the man. “My wife.”

  His wife… I am Adam’s wife, Nora repeated. And as long as he was by her side, she felt safe and protected. She couldn’t help shivering slightly though as the man hopped off his camel and came towards her.

  He pointed at her feet and barked something at her. She stepped back nervously, wondering what it was he was offended with.

  “It’s your ankles,” Adam breathed out softly. He was surprisingly calm and composed. He stepped in front of her again, blocking her from the man.

  Nora crouched behind Adam. Her pants were short of her ankles. The man was clearly offended by her naked ankles. She had read of people who were killed for even less in Afghanistan. Was the man going to drag her out from Adam and behead her? Would he kill Adam so he could kill her? A vision of Adam lying dead in these desolate sands struck a strange fear inside her.

  Suddenly, she didn’t want him to talk to the man. Suddenly, she wanted to be sure Adam would not rile the man to the point of angering him and shoot him. Suddenly… Please let nothing happen to Adam, she prayed silently.

  She slipped her hand into Adam’s and he clutched it tightly. They were going to be fine, he was indicating quietly. But it was not herself she was worried about when the man raised his voice even louder than before.

  The men cocked their guns, pointing it at them determinedly, and ready to kill them on instructions from their leader.

  “If she is your wife, tell her to speak Pashto!” the man demanded. “But you lie! She is an American spy!”

  “She is not a spy. She is my wife,” Adam tried to explain, forcibly keeping his voice as calm as he could. If there was anything he had learned in all his years in Afghanistan, is that people reacted accordingly to voice tones. And he certainly didn’t want to aggravate the man any further with an angry tone, no matter how infuriated he felt inside.

  “Why does she not speak Pashto?! Why does she only speak in the language of the enemy?!”

  “Because she lived in America,” Adam said. He could feel Nora brace her head against his back. He could feel her body trembling. She was scared. “She’s simply forgotten to speak Pashto.”

  “Traitors such as her family needs to die!”

  “Maybe so. But she came back to her land,” he lied. “She is with me now, isn’t she? And I’m doing my best to teach her our ways again.”

  The man watched him carefully. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Which part?”

  “All of it.” He raised his gun. “Are you a spy too? Are you American?”

  “I am Pashtun, just like you. My name is Adam Afridi. Have you heard of Darul-Ilhaam?”

  “What about it?”

  “Well, I hate to boast like this, but I lead them.”

  Adam noticed the man gulp nervously. He let out a quiet breath of relief. Finally, he was gaining an upper-hand

  “What are you doing here all by yourself then? Where are the rest of your men?” the man demanded.

  “I’ve just married my wife. And I was showing her the vast beauty of the Registan Desert when you interrupted.”

  “I think all you say are lies.”

  Adam wanted to roll his eyes. He didn’t know how he could convince the idiot anymore. What he was certain about though, was that if he continued to point his gun at him, between the two of them, one wouldn’t be alive by evening twilight.

  But there was Nora to think about. What he could have done on his own was something he couldn’t do now if that meant risking her life.

  “Listen.” He sighed. “If you’ll only come with me…

  “I’m not going anywhere. Tell me the truth! Who are you?!”

  Gun shots fired in the distance, immediately catching their attention. Another group of riders shadowed in the sun. A single bullet fired into the sand between Adam and the man, warning the latter to step back.

  Adam smiled. “Now, do you believe me?”

  Adam watched the men scramble onto their animals and gallop away as fast they could, leaving a trail of dust in the air.

  “Are you sure they won’t come back?” Nora looked over at the disappearing figures in the horizon.

  “I doubt they will. Not when they know we’ve got them to back us up.” He pointed at the emerging group of six camel riders.

  “Are they your men?” she asked, afraid it was just going to be another group of outlaws seeking to terrorize them.

  Adam smiled and clasped her hand as they neared them.

  “Didn’t I arrive on time?” Basel grinned. “Who were they?”

  “Just extremists,” Adam brushed off. “What are you doing here?”

  “No ‘thank you’ or ‘so glad to see you’? That’s a little inappreciative of you,” Basel teased. “You said you’d be back by sunset. And when you didn’t show up, we assumed you might have met with some trouble.”

  “Thanks. We faced a bit of storm last night and then those men today delayed us more.”

  Basel glanced over at Nora who was clutching tightly onto Adam’s arm.

  “Does she know any Pashto at all?” he asked.

  Adam didn’t answer, leading Nora to her camel instead.

  “Well, you should teach her or she would find it hard to assimilate. It wouldn’t make her seem so much a foreigner,” Basel continued.

  A muscle tensed in Adam’s jaw. Basel was right. Why had he not thought of that before?

  Someone knocked on her door and Amy jerked. She shook her head, trying to calm herself down. I’m being silly. Nothing’s going to happen to me.

  But no matter how many times she told herself that, it didn’t seem to ease her at all. She walked apprehensively towards her door, fearing the worst.

  “Amy,” he called out, his knocking growing slightly anxious.

  “Jake,” she let out with relief. She hurriedly opened the door and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

  “Are you okay? What’s going on? It took you forever to answer,” he said.

  “I think you’re right, Jake,” she muttered as she walked over to her liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of wine. “

  “What about?”

  “Nora’s got herself involved in something.” She poured herself a glass and then offered him one.

  He shook his head. “Give me a beer.”

  She turned to the fridge and pulled a can out of it. “I found a will, Jake.” Her hands trembled as she clutched onto the cold can of beer. She ran the pad of her thumb along its smooth aluminum, trying to stabilize her nerves. “She… she left everything to me.”

  He covered his hand over hers and gently unclenched the poor beer
can from her fingers.

  She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears. “What do I do, Jake? What has happened to Nora? She isn’t just my friend. She’s like a sister. Please… please, help me get her back.”

  She fell into his arms and sobbed against his chest. He stroked her hair, kissing her lightly on her temples.

  “We’ll do all we can. I promise you,” he whispered.

  All we can? Did that mean that she might never see Nora again?

  Nora hadn’t protested this time when Adam hopped onto the saddle with her. And as they made their way towards the house, she had begun to drift into a sleep. Her head bobbed limply, jerking her awake occasionally. Finally, when she did succumb to her urge to sleep, he tugged her back gently so she could lean into his chest.

  He loved how she wiggled herself against him, trying to find a more comfortable spot to nap. Was she at last beginning to trust him now? In the security of his home, he wondered if she would become restless again. For the moment, he needed her beside him. It was the only place he knew where she would be safe.

  “We’re here,” he said, awakening her from her deep slumber.

  She fluttered her eyes open and discovered she was back in the yard which she had escaped from yesterday. But unlike then, she was beginning to appreciate the security it evoked inside her. For now, she wanted nothing more than to fall into Adam’s bed and sleep. Suddenly she felt that everything she had experienced since yesterday had taken a toll on her body. There was a heaviness inside her which could only be released by some much needed rest and comfort.

  Adam lowered the camel down and then hopped off first before helping her up to her feet.

  “I’ll call someone to take you up to our room,” he said.

  “That’s okay.” She shook her head. “I know the way. I need a bath though. It would be great if you could arrange for one.”

  “I’ll let Husna know.”