“Thanks,” she whispered. She stood there briefly, staring at him. They had spoken with so much ease, it felt weird. Hadn’t she wanted to escape from him only yesterday? Now, she was reluctant to step away from him. She wanted him to go to the room with her where she was sure she would be secure and protected. But how could she ask him that? He couldn’t linger about her forever.
“Do you want me to help you to the room?” he offered.
She blushed at the thought that he might have read her mind. “No… no. I will be fine.” She turned to walk away and then stopped. “Adam?”
He glanced up at her.
“Thank you for coming for me,” she said slowly.
He watched her make her way towards his bedroom.
He had never expected her to warm up to him so quickly. Certainly not after all the pain she had put him through the last few days. But here she was thanking him for going after her and getting her back.
An irresistible smile tugged the corners of his mouth as he continued to watch her until she disappeared into their room.
“I guess things worked out for you after all,” Basel teased. “And to think you didn’t want to go after her.”
“You know I would have,” he said, stripping the camel off his saddle and blankets.
“I know now,” Basel said with amusement. “I’ve just never seen you so besotted by a woman.”
“I’m not besotted.”
“You can deny it all you want. But you’re definitely taken.”
Adam smiled. “Well, she’s back now and so it’s back to business and the usual.”
“Yes… about that.” Basel hesitated.
Adam straightened up, aware of the creeping cautiousness in Basel’s voice. “What’s up, Basel?”
“It’s Mateen. He’s been pushing Jahandar about the Americans. Jahandar has warned us if Mateen visits him again, he will terminate any further negotiations between Darul-Ilhaam and the American military. Apparently, Mateen roughened him up slightly and the man is not at all amused with his tactics.”
Adam swore under his breath. He was so close to the end of this damned task. He couldn’t risk Mateen ruining this for him.
“Where is Mateen?” he asked sternly.
“Fortunately, Hassan was with him and dragged him away from Jahandar. He’s taken him back to Paktika.”
“Mateen must be restless. He needs new toys to play with and the Americans aren’t so willing to give them either,” Adam grumbled.
“What are you going to do?”
“Go to Kabul. Speak to Jahandar. I need to administer damage control before Jahandar backs out of any deal.”
“Mateen is getting out of control. Something needs to be done to keep him in check.”
Adam picked up his bags quietly. Although Basel was right, it was Jahandar he was more concerned about for now. Mateen, on the other hand, had always been a sick bastard. He needed more than a tongue lashing to keep him even mildly civil.
“Adam, I know your prime concerns are Jahandar and the Americans at the moment. But don’t underestimate the problems Mateen can create for us,” Basel warned.
Adam nodded. He didn’t underestimate Mateen. He only hoped he could finish with this project as soon as he could and then get himself and Nora home. Perhaps, when Basel succeeded him as leader of Darul-Ilhaam, he could deal with the likes of Mateen himself.
HAPTER 12
Nora pulled on a new and fresh dress over her. A bath had done wonders to her tired spirit. She felt rejuvenated and ready to take on a different set of challenges life had to offer her. Such as Adam Afridi.
She smiled as she imagined him coming up to their room. Their room. Our room, he had called it.
She reflected on why she had ever been afraid of him. He never had tried to hurt her. He had never even touched her without good reason. She gathered her wet hair in her towel and began drying it. Outside, stars lit up the dark evening sky. What would she say to him once he did come? Her heart mingled with both nerves and the eagerness to see him. Why? Because he was the only one she could really talk to, she reasoned. She was lonely and didn’t understand a word of what anyone spoke in this house.
The door flung open and she spun around keenly.
“I bring you dinner,” Husna announced as she walked hurriedly in with a tray of food. “You eat now?”
Nora looked disappointedly at her. “No, not yet,” she said hesitantly. She didn’t want to have her meal alone. She wished Adam would come to keep her company. But then again, she had no idea at all how long he would take to return to their room.
“Ahhh, you want to wait for husband,” Husna teased. “You good wife. Very good, very good.”
Nora stared up at her. This had nothing to do with being a wife. She wanted company; that was all!
Husna took the towel from her and began drying her hair. “You have beautiful hair.”
“Thanks,” she muttered. Her comment on being a good wife still irked her. And as if to rebel against that opinion, she now had an urge to gobble down the food.
“Why do you run away?” Husna asked curiously. “You no like it here?”
Of course she didn’t like it here. That and the little fact she was being kept against her will.
“I… I was angry,” she stuttered. She didn’t want any further trouble from these people. She wasn’t sure if Husna could be trusted with everything she told her.
“Why you angry?” the woman asked. “Adam lala is good man.”
Yeah, he was. So why was he associated with the likes of evil men like Mateen? Would it make a difference to her if Adam was indeed a criminal?
“Husna, what business does Adam do?” she asked slowly.
The woman stopped drying her hair, contemplating her answer. “You not know?”
“No.”
Husna fiddled with the ends of the towel. “Maybe you ask Adam lala. Maybe he not tell you for good reason.”
Nora turned around and clasped the woman’s bony hands. “Husna, he didn’t tell me because I never asked. I only want to know. I swear, I won’t ever tell him you told me.”
“Nora khor…”
Khor… She had already picked-up that that was how women addressed each other here. Khor meant sister while lala meant brother.
“Nora khor, Adam lala help our people. He give us work and food. He look after our children.”
“Yes, yes, you already told me he is a good man.,” she muttered under her breath. “Then why does he hang about a scum like Mateen?”
“Mateen?” Husna let out. “Mateen bad man. Very very bad man. Kill our people. He…” She began to visibly tremble from her painful recollection of the man’s evil deeds. “He do bad things to my friend. Bad sex things.” She began to tear, sniveling slightly. “And then he kill her.”
Nora gasped. “Husna, I’m so sorry.”
The woman sat heavily into a chair, wiping her tears. “She was a beautiful person. Her heart, very beautiful. And face too. I miss her very much.”
She watched the woman’s ashen face with sympathy. Had Adam not saved her from that small prison in Paktika, would she have been killed too? Mateen had certainly come very close to raping her. A chill ran up her at the mere memory of him against her. She suddenly could feel his hands over her, his mouth running over her flesh. Her head began to spin and she clutched it, rubbing her temples to ease her pain.
“Nora khor, you must rest,” Husna said. “Desert heat not good for your health.”
“I’ll be fine, Husna.”
“No, please, I take you to bed,” she replied sternly, helping her up from her chair.
Nora sighed. Having left with no energy to protest, she abided willingly as the other woman led her to her bed.
She climbed into it quietly, her day’s adventure suddenly weighing heavily on her. She would only rest for a while and wait for Adam to return. She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the women’s murmurs outside the walls of her room.
&nb
sp; “Have you come to try and make up for Mateen?” Jahandar asked as he walked into his living room.
“I heard about what he had done. If I had any idea he was going to do that, I would have dealt with it,” said Adam.
“Have you done anything about it now?” Jahandar raised an eyebrow.
Adam turned away, tucking his hands into his pockets.
Jahandar smirked. “I don’t know which I find more offensive. That you as the leader of Darul-Ilhaam have absolutely no control over your mentally instable members or that you failed to discipline one.” He stepped closer, leaning his face forward. “Do you see this bruise on my face? And this here on my neck?” He pulled open his neckline. “It’s not how I like to present myself to my precious clients, Adam.”
“I know. And I am sorry about that. I can assure you it won’t happen again.”
Jahandar shook his head. “How disappointing, Adam? Is that all you can offer me after everything I’ve done for you?”
“What is it that you want, Jahandar?” Adam asked sternly. He didn’t like where this was heading. After all his efforts at trying to secure contacts with the Americans, he seemed he was reverting back to the initial stages of groveling again.
“There is something I want you to do for me,” the man said cunningly. “Consider it compensation for Mateen’s errors.”
“What is it, Jahandar?”
The man smiled. “Tomorrow, I will let you know.”
Adam ran a frustrated hand through his hair. That fat bastard! He was taking advantage of Mateen’s assault. Jahandar knew how he desperately wanted to extend his business with the Americans. The question now was whether he was prepared to do whatever it took to meet them.
He stood by the window of his rented room. He needed some air, the stresses of his day taking a toll on him. Jahandar wouldn’t tell why he needed Hazrat Zawahiri hurt. Instead, he had given him no option but to stay the night in Kabul. If Jahandar wanted to know how desperately he wanted to make contact with the Americans, then he had been successful. Otherwise, he would have kicked the offer back in that bastard’s face.
But Jahandar was not the only matter on his mind. There was Nora. He closed his eyes as he traced her face in his mind. Her beautiful green eyes, her full and luscious lips. He sighed. He hadn’t told her he was leaving for Kabul. Should he have? She would be well taken care of by Husna and the other women.
He leaned on the window sill and stared out into the stillness of the night. He had wanted to tell her about his trip to Kabul but he didn’t know how she would react to the news. Would she have laughed at him? He didn’t want to forcibly have a relationship with her. If there was one… if she came to him on her own accord… He shook his head. So much for wishful thinking. Just because she was being a little civil towards him, didn’t mean she was beginning to like him.
The men were standing before her again. They pointed their weapons at her and Adam, just as they had done in the desert. But they were in the desert again! They had escaped the men. They had left the desert! How can this be?
The leader gave a cruel smirk as he cocked his gun at Adam. She began to cry and beg him to let them free. His finger played with his trigger, taunting them with every move.
Adam stood before her, protecting her. “Go ahead, shoot!” he dared the leader.
“Don’t Adam,” she begged. “He will kill you.”
“Shoot! Shoot!” Adam screamed.
The gun fired, letting out at shrilling sound through the air. She smelled gun powder in the air. A limp Adam fell to the desert floor, blooding the sands. She let out a scream as she fell down to his side.
“Adam? Adam! No, no, no… You can’t die on me! Adam!”
Her eyes flew open, her heart was racing. She awoke to blind darkness. And for a moment she panicked that she was blindfolded and held captive in some dirty prison again. She gasped, touching her eyes desperately. But there was no cloth binding her eyes. Then why was it so dark?
She was in prison, she thought breathlessly. She jumped out of her bed and ran looking for a window. She bumped into a table, stabbing her toes against its legs. She let out a whimper and slumped down into a chair to massage the pain away from her injured toe.
Her temporary blindness began to fade away as her eyes adjusted to the darkness in the room. She made out the windows and the night sky between the gaps in the drapes. Why hadn’t she seen it before? Had she somehow hurt a nerve in her eyes that resulted in the blindness? She rubbed her temples, breathing in and out steadily as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart.
She glanced about the room, noticing the silence for the first time since her nightmare. She was completely alone in the room. She picked up the mantel clock and checked its fluorescent hands. It was almost two o’clock in the morning. So where was Adam?
She pushed back the curtains, looking towards the hall in which they were married only a few nights ago. Was he perhaps sleeping out again? She felt the urge to creep into the hall to check but then decided against it. Mingling with opposite genders was strictly taboo and she didn’t want to offend anyone on the property.
She would definitely meet him in the morning. And it was only a few hours until then. Maybe then she could tell him that she was willing to share the bedroom with him. He didn’t need to sleep in the hall anymore now. Her fear of him was slowly beginning to subside, replaced with an eagerness to see him at least at the end of each day. She felt protected when he was around. And nights was when she needed him most.
Knowing that she was alone in her bedroom left her awake and alert. She ached to close her eyes and sleep peacefully. But she needed Adam by her side to be able to do that. Why hadn’t he come to their room?
She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. She recollected her nightmare and shivered slightly. “Adam,” she whispered. What would she do if something happened to him? Her life depended on Adam. And until he was alive, she would be too.
Husna strolled in casually with a clean set of towels. “You eaten khor?”
“No.” Nora licked her lips. “Husna, it’s almost eight o’clock. And Adam isn’t here yet. Have you seen him at all?”
“No, me not see him.” Husna shook her head. “You want me to find out for you?”
“If you don’t mind, Husna,” Nora said.
Her mind was racing with worry. Where was he? Why did he not want to see me?
Husna picked up Nora’s dirty laundry and walked towards the door. “I be back soon. Don’t worry.”
Nora sat back in her chair and looked out of her window. The women walked to and fro, busily involved in their daily tasks. A few of the men gathered in the distance, talking. Her door wasn’t locked anymore. What stopped her from venturing outside and finding more about the life that lay outside her room? Perhaps, she was waiting for Adam to tell her that she would be safe wandering the compound of the property.
She lay her head down on the table, imagining she was looking at the sky through her window in her own apartment. She missed it. She missed Amy. But as the days continued to pass, her hopes of ever seeing her best friend was slowly beginning to fade. The possibility that this place could be her future seemed more and more imminent the longer she stared into that clear blue sky.
Adam massaged his throbbing temples. “You want me to what?” He wasn’t sure if he had heard Jahandar correctly.
He was standing back again in Jahandar’s living room, hoping he wouldn’t ask for too much. But now, it appeared he wasn’t going to get his wish any time soon. What the man wanted was plain ridiculous; not forgetting deadly.
“Teach Hazrat Zawahiri a lesson. One that he will remember for a long time,” Jahandar said.
“You’re crazy, Jahandar. Why would I want to do that? Hazrat Zawahiri is Saeed Zawahiri’s son. Or have you forgotten that? Saeed will never let it rest. In fact, any altercations with them won’t be taken lightly. They don’t just avenge an eye for an eye. They’ll get your tooth and anythi
ng else they can lay their fist on.”
Jahandar shook his head. “Isn’t it a pity to see the leader of Darul-Ilhaam cowering like a coward?”
“This is not about being a coward, Jahandar,” he replied sternly. The man irked him. But he needed him for now and he had to be careful not to lose him. “There is nothing we have against the Zawahiris. Why invite trouble?”
“Nothing against the Zawahiris?” Jahandar let out a mocking laughter. “Haven’t they been stealing your opium? Does it not matter to you that they’re harassing your farmers for their opium?” He leaned closer, arching his eyebrow. “Sometimes I wonder Adam, if you’re even in the right business.”
Adam tensed. This isn’t what he wanted to talk about. “Why do you want to hurt Hazrat Zawahiri?”
“Adam, Adam.” Jahandar clicked his tongue. “Isn’t that my private business? All you need to know is that Hazrat Zawahiri has to be warned to stay away from me and my dealings. I’ll leave you to decide how you are going to do it.”
Adam clenched his fist. He was never supposed to lead Darul-Ilhaam forever. But that didn’t mean he could be reckless. There were innocent lives involved. Some of the men in his organization were possibly the worst assholes he’d met. However, they had wives and children living on Darul-Ilhaam’s properties. And it was his duty to protect them.
“I need to know why, Jahandar,” he said. “Don’t think that just because I need you to contact the Americans, doesn’t mean I’ll bend to every whim of yours.”
“I always knew you were a wily one,” the other man said, arching his eyebrow. “But I am curious to know how you intend to get your arms from the Americans without me?”
“Let me make one thing clear, Jahandar,” Adam grit between his teeth. “The weapons are important but not as much as the people who are under my care. Don’t think you are the only middle-man in the country.”
“If you’re thinking to bypass me and use someone else, then I don’t think you’ll get too far. You know well enough that I am the best in this business.”
Captive- Veiled Desires Page 12