Captive- Veiled Desires

by Cartharn, Clarissa

  He turned and collected his wallet and keys quietly.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” she babbled, his silence incensing her anger even more.

  He strode towards the door.

  “So, this is how it is going to be?” she raged. “You’ve said what you needed and now you’re going to leave me here for your whore in Kabul. I wish you’d just stay with her, whoever she is and never come back here! I wish I wouldn’t have to see you ever again!”

  He hesitated near the door. “And maybe you won’t.”

  “What?” she asked, unsure of what he was trying to say but then brushed it aside. “Adam, please be reasonable-”

  “Nora, I might never come back,” he said, cutting her off. He braced his neck, taking in deep breaths as if he was struggling to contemplate something.

  “Adam?” she asked, fear creeping into her as she watched him. “What are you saying?”

  “If… if that happens,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “Two men will come for you. They will help you escape and take you back home. Don’t resist. But in case they don’t show-up, there is a four by four in the garage. The key is under the carpet of the rear passenger seat behind the driver seat. I’ve stocked it with enough water and food to last you the journey. Can you read a map?”

  “What… I,” she stammered, suddenly baffled by the turn in their argument.

  “Can you read a map, Nora?” he asked more severely.

  “Yes.” She licked her lips nervously. “Yes.”

  “Good.” He let out a sigh of relief. “You’ll find one in the glove box, inside an economics magazine. Follow the route marked in it. It’ll take you to a man called Ian Wright. He will help you out of Afghanistan and get you back to the U.S. Have you understood all that?”

  She stared at him in a daze.

  “Nora, did you understand everything I’ve told you?”

  She nodded profusely. “Yes.”

  “When you receive the news of my death, you’ll have a window of approximately eight hours to escape. Don’t hesitate. I don’t think anyone will stop you when that happens. Despite this, work as stealthily as possible. You never know. After eight hours, chaos will break out and I don’t want you here caught in the midst of it. You’ll be more harshly treated than the local women. And should Mateen get his hands on you,…” He paused, rubbing his brow.

  A shiver ran up her spine at the mere mention of the name. Mateen. She had prayed she would never see him again.

  “I’m sorry, Nora,” he whispered. “I wanted to protect you forever. Forgive me if you can.” He walked out the door, leaving her frozen at her feet and locked in a state of stupor.

  “What are you doing?” Jake asked as Amy ruffled through her cabinet.

  “Looking for an envelope,” she said. “I need to post a copy of this will.”

  “Have you certified it?”

  “I did. And from a notary public too in case they created another fuss.”

  “You might want to courier it so that it gets there faster. It would be safer too.”

  “It’s okay. He told me to deliver it personally at a local post office box at 2pm,” she said as slipped the paper into an envelope. “It’s only around the corner. It won’t take me long.”

  “What do you mean he said to deliver it personally?” He raised his brow. “Did you say local?”

  “Yeah, who knew they would have an office here in Chicago.” She shrugged. “I suppose there is a team in every state to deal with such matters.”

  “What’s the address?”

  She tossed over the envelope. “Can you drive me there? I’ll just change into a better tee shirt.”

  P.O. Box 81352, he read quietly as he nipped his lips.

  “Amy,” he said out aloud. “Don’t you think this entire scenario is suspicious?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, tugging her spaghetti strapped shirt down her breasts.

  “First of all, it’s a government department. Why would they have a regular post box?”

  “The City of Chicago has a regular mail box,” she said, trying to make sense of what he was saying. “A lot of government departments have regular post boxes.”

  “That is different,” he remarked. “The office itself has a government mailing address. Why would it have a private one here in Chicago then?”

  “What are you trying to say, Jake?” she asked curiously.

  “Come on, Amy, everything about this case spells suspicious. Right from the so-called robbery to Travis Mulholland’s phone number and now this presumably dead drop post box.”

  “A dead drop?”

  “Think about it, Amy. Mulholland has given a local mailing address. Why would he do that when his office is based in Washington? It doesn’t even state the office title. All it says is Travis Mulholland, P.O. Box 81352.”

  “He’s probably delegated someone here to help us.”

  “It’s got his name on the address. And why do you have to post it at a specific time? Besides, he said he would talk to a superior only after he has received and verified the authenticity of the will,” Jake argued. “Why would he delegate anybody prior to that?”

  “Well, I’ve got to do something,” she said tiredly. “You make sense, Jake. But it’s a risk I have to take. I have to mail this.”

  “Fine, let’s do it. But I have a plan.”

  Mateen strode into his rented room in Kashmir. The girl was already there, waiting for him. She wore a pair of jeans and a white shirt as he had instructed.

  “You’re a strange one,” the girl said. “Usually men want us in as little as possible. But whatever rocks your boat, man.”

  She began to unbutton her shirt.

  “Don’t,” he said. “I’ll do that for you.”

  She grinned and ambled sexily up to him. “Sure. But will you get to it quickly? Your mysteriousness is making me hot.”

  He smiled and turned to fill in a glass with water. “Drink,” he said, handing it over to her.

  “It’s just water,” she said curiously.

  “I know.”

  She shrugged and downed it all. “Now, what?” she asked, wiping her lips.

  “I want you to protest,” he said.

  “Excuse me,” she asked with uncertainty.

  He slapped her hard across her face and she fell to the ground.

  “Protest, bitch,” he grit between his teeth.

  She glared at him, massaging the sting he had left on her cheek. “So, you got a rape fetish. Fine, I can handle that. But you don’t have to hit me so hard. I’ve got a living to make with this face.”

  She pretended to groan and plead for mercy. Something snapped inside him, her poor acting skills infuriating him.

  He grabbed her hair and dragged her across the room.

  “Stop! Let me go! Let me go! You’re hurting me!!”

  He threw her against the wall and smiled. “That’s more like it.” He punched her in the stomach and she cried, doubling in pain.

  “Fuck you! Fuck this!” she groaned. “You can have your money back. I’m getting out of here.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he minced, pulling her up against the wall.

  He choked her neck with one hand and ripped open her shirt with the other. Her breasts sprang free and he caught her nipples with his mouth, sucking violently onto them.

  “No, no! Let me go!” she gasped, trying to push him away.

  Her protests and screams hardened him to his brink and he desperately pulled down her pants to feel for her pussy.

  “Please, let me go,” she sobbed. “Please,…”

  His fingers dug into her hole, pumping them in and out of her.

  She cried in pain, trying to slide down the wall to get him out of her.

  “Stand, whore!” he warned, choking her harder.

  She stilled immediately, her lips trembling, her face covered with bruises and tears.

  He tore her panties and pulled his cock out
of his pants. This was when he got interrupted, he thought, his face darkening with rage.

  He pushed his cock into her and she screamed.

  This is how it should have been, he panted. Nora…

  “It’s only half- past one, Jake,” Amy whispered as she looked on towards the post office through a café window. “Maybe, we should wait until two o’clock.”

  “No, do it now,” he insisted. “We want to make sure we catch whoever comes to collect the mail from that box. It’s our only chance to find out what’s going on.”

  “Do you think he would suspect we’re on to something?”

  Jake shook his head. “So far you’ve complied with him. And you haven’t asked any questions that could raise any suspicions. We should be fine.”

  “I’m scared, Jake.” Amy trembled slightly.

  He put a comforting arm around her. “You have every right to be. But if they know you are, we might lose our only opportunity to find out who is after Nora.”

  She bit her trembling lip and nodded. She picked up her bag and the envelope.

  “I’ll be watching, Amy. You know I have a clear and direct view of the post box. Nothing is going to happen,” Jake assured. “I’ll be right here when you get back.”

  Nora’s legs wobbled beneath her. What had Adam said? He wasn’t returning? He wasn’t coming back.

  Everything he had told her whizzed through her repeatedly until she grew dizzy from her anxiety. Her escape… he had planned her an escape route. Why would he do that? After all his insistence that she should stay with him, he suddenly had an escape plan for her? It didn’t make any sense. What had he got himself involved in?

  She threw the door open and raced outside.

  “Where’s Adam?” she asked the first man she met.

  The man stepped back in shock.

  “I don’t need your cultural shock now!” she growled. “Where is Adam?!”

  He pointed towards a door in the corner of the building and she rushed over to it, her hair blowing wildly in the wind.

  “Adam… I’m looking for Adam,” she uttered rapidly when the man at the door stopped her from going through it.

  “No, no,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Please, let me see him,” she begged.

  “No, no.”

  “He is my husband!” she screamed at him, losing her patience. “Let me in now!”

  The man licked his lips nervously and then stepped aside.

  She burst through the door, and he looked up at her confusedly.

  “Nora?” he asked, his brow gathering into a frown.

  “What’s going on, Adam?” she demanded. “Why did you say you might not come back?”

  “This is not the time, Nora,” he said, nearing her.

  “Then when is? When are you ever going to tell me the truth about anything?”

  “Nora, go up to your room,” Adam said sternly.

  “No, I won’t. Not until you give me some honest answers.”

  He waved at a man, barking an order at him.

  “You’re going to throw me out? Is that what you were telling him?”

  “Nora,” he said tiredly, frustration seeping into his voice. “If you don’t leave, I would have to forcibly remove you from this room. And I don’t want to do that. So, please go.”

  “Then why did you tell me you weren’t going to come back?”

  “Because that is the truth!” he screamed. “You wanted to hear honesty, well there it is.”

  Her face paled. “What are you doing? What are you planning?”

  Husna scrambled into the room with another woman and Nora panicked. She clenched Adam’s shirt, shaking him.

  “No, Adam, don’t,” she begged. “Whatever it is, don’t do it. Please, don’t do it.”

  He unclenched her fingers and the woman dragged her out of the room.

  “Adam, no! Don’t go! Adam!”

  Her sobs echoed through the courtyard. He clasped his fingers around the bars on the window. There was nothing he could say to assure her he would be fine. In truth, he didn’t know if he would be.

  “She shouldn’t have come here,” one man grumbled. “This is no place for a woman.”

  He clenched his fist tightly and then walked on towards the central table. He couldn’t even defend his wife. If he did, he’d put both their lives at risk.

  “The woman is his wife,” Basel remarked sternly. “She has every right to be worried about her husband. If our wives gave half as much a damn as her, we’d probably never be in this business.”

  The man snorted. “You were always one to hide up a woman’s skirt, Basel.”

  “Respecting the female kind and shoving your head up their asses are two different things, Hayat. I don’t do the latter and I am more than happy to show you how I do the first.” Basel lifted his glance threateningly at the man.

  Hayat dropped his gaze nervously, turning to the only other man standing beside him.

  Adam rubbed his temples. “That’s enough. We have more important matters to deal with. Do you know why we are gathered here?” He looked about at the three perplexed men. “Tomorrow, we’re going to take a hit on Hazrat Zawahiri.”

  The men murmured amongst each other, the shock of his announcement clearly evident on their faces.

  “Is there any way to do this without messing with the Zawahiris?” Basel mumbled worriedly.

  “I wish there was.” Adam swiped his hand over his face. “But Jahandar won’t see it any other way.”

  “You want to kill Hazrat?” Hayat asked.

  “No, just roughen him up a bit and remind him who it is that run these lands. We’ve been more than just patient with him and his father these past months. But it seems they’re seeing our generosity as cowardice. If we let this go on, we’d be losing more than just opium. There will be no Darul-Ilhaam.”

  “I trust you, lala,” Tahir spoke up.

  Adam nodded. Tahir was a quiet man who rarely challenged authority. He had a lot to lose if he went on this mission. He had a wife and daughters of marriageable age.

  He glanced about at the rest of the men. And so did all of them. But if there was anyone he could entrust his life to, it was these four men. And he swore he would bring them back to their families alive as well.

  HAPTER 16

  Jake leaned against a pole sipping his steaming cup of coffee, his baseball cap pulled down to his face. His phone buzzed and he guessed it had to be Amy.

  “Hey,” he whispered into it.

  “Do you see him?” she asked.

  He glanced back up at the post box across him. “Not yet. But he will be here. In the meanwhile, you need to calm down. You’re gonna blow my cover.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m just nervous.”

  “I know you are, honey. But this staking out someone usually means patience.”

  “Ok,” she muttered. “But you will let me know as soon as something happens?”

  “I swear.”

  She terminated the call and he put the phone back into his pocket. He could understand how she was feeling. But Nora was his close friend also and he wanted to find her just as much as Amy did.

  He pulled in a deep breath, thankful that Amy hadn’t been her usual stubborn self and fought over his decision about her keeping an eye out on the box from the car. She was safer there.

  He narrowed his eyes as he watched the tall balding man in a beige trench coat and round spectacles approach the box. Jake straightened up and began walking swiftly towards him. The man opened the box and pulled out the envelope Amy had dropped in only a while ago. He slapped it against the palm of his hand and smirked.

  “Travis Mulholland?” Jake spoke up from behind him.

  The man jumped, swirling quickly to face him. “Who are you?”

  “Are you Travis Mulholland?” Jake asked again.

  The man glanced about him nervously. “No. You have me mistaken for someone else.”

  “You’re carrying an envelope my g
irlfriend had addressed to him,” Jake said, lifting his brow. “You didn’t just rob a post box, did you? Because that is a crime.” He pulled out his phone and pretended to dial for the cops.

  “Ok, stop,” the man said hurriedly. “We don’t need to do that.”

  “And why not?”

  “Let’s talk. Just not here.”

  Nora curled by her window again. Adam hadn’t returned. He had left without saying goodbye, without telling her what he was going to do.

  Her body shivered from a gust of cold wind blowing through her window, and she reluctantly got up to close it. It was perhaps not just the wind sending chills up her body. What if her husband was a terrorist? Could she still care about him like she had begun to?

  Her eyes blurred. She probably never could look at him the same way again. He would be a murderer of innocent lives. She could never give her heart to someone like him.

  She sighed and stared up at the sky, trying to rationalize why a man like Adam was doing in a bandit and barbarous land such as this. He definitely was educated and refined in his tastes. Books grazed his shelves ranging from Plato to Aristotle to Karl Marx and Hermann Hesse. His preference in music was just as eclectic. She had been surprised when she discovered albums by Bach and Tchaikovsky standing amongst those of Bob Dylan and Norah Jones.

  She covered her face with her palms. Who was her husband? He cared for the people around him and she knew they loved him back just as much. He was empathetic and kind and merciful. Why then did he pretend to be the ruthless brute he was not?

  Her head began to spin from the bafflement and frustration he was putting her through. She hung her head low and massaged her throbbing temples. Her mind drifted to the escape he had planned for her. The car in the garage… She nipped at her lips. Should she take her chance and make that escape now? Her heart hammered heavily inside her as she thought about Adam. Was he safe? He had to come back. He must.

  A knock rapped on her door and then opened slightly.

  “Nora khor?” Husna said.

  “I’m here, Husna,” she muttered almost inaudibly.