Nora picked up her basket of apples and began walking towards the farmhouse. Husna had been gone a while, promising to return with some water. But the heat was beginning to bear down on her and when finally she couldn’t take it anymore, she decided to get some water herself.
A sudden commotion caught her attention and she stopped, wondering what it could be. Gunshots rang through the air and she froze. Husna! She dropped her basket to race towards the farm when she found her beloved friend dashing out of the back gates and towards her.
“Khor, run!” the woman screamed at her.
Someone chased after her and whammed the butt of his rifle against her back. Husna fell with a cry to the ground. The man kicked her side with his boot and then turned towards her.
Mateen? Nora’s throat went dry. She stopped in her tracks, half her instincts urging her to stop and help Husna and the other…
“Run, khor! Dzghélem!” the woman cried again.
Nora swiveled on her heels and darted towards the fields of rapeseed. Her heart pounded inside her. Rapeseed? The word couldn’t be more jarring. It wouldn’t be fucking funny if the bastard did rape her in a field of rapeseed.
She let out an anxious cry when she realized the beat of his footsteps against the hard earth was growing closer. She increased her pace, but she was no match for his long legs. He finally clutched a fistful of her long hair and threw her backwards.
She tripped and fell on her back with a painful cry. She didn’t wait and scrambled up to her feet to run again. But he caught her arm and whirled her around to face him.
“Nora,” he rasped with a nasty grin. “Finally.”
She breathed heavily, her adrenaline clouding her brain, her mind darting on finding a way to escape him.
“You don’t know how much I missed you,” he said hoarsely as he clasped her arm to tug her towards him.
But she flailed her hands and struck him against his face. His mouth twisted with rage and he slapped her hard against her face, felling her to the ground.
“So you married Adam,” he minced between his teeth. “Tell me, did you fuck him? Did you spread your legs for him?”
He came down heavily on her and clutched her throat in a tight vice. She gulped for air, thrashing beneath him.
“You were mine!” he gritted between his teeth. “Why did he take you away from me?!” He hit her face again.
She groaned, the pain dashing through her body and numbing her senses. She felt her mouth beginning to swell and blood dripping from above her eye. She pushed against his chest, trying to get him off her. But this only angered him more and he began beating her face. I can’t… Stop!… I’m gonna die…
“I will have you! You can’t stop me. No one can! I will show you what it is like to be fucked by a real man!”
He tugged at her dress, ripping the top to bare her breasts. She grew limp, her mind drifting in and out of her consciousness. Stop… please, stop... no… no…
She made one last attempt to hold him back, but he merely slapped her wearied hands and captured her breasts with his mouth.
She felt someone drag the bastard off her. The two men dropped closed to her, scuffling- the clenching of their teeth, the pounding of their fists, filling the air.
She groaned, her soul urging her to get up and run, her body though too crippled to move.
She heard Mateen yelp as the other man rained down his fury onto him. She tried to blink her eyes open to see who it was, but her vision was growing blurry, only managing to catch the man hold the fuck against a tree, his huge hands wringing the bastard’s neck.
“I warned you Mateen, to never lay your hands on the women in this tribe! I warned you!” He hammered Mateen’s face repeatedly. “You-dared-touch-my wife! I’ll rip your fucking tongue out of your fucking mouth!”
Adam?
Mateen choked, dropping to his knees. But Adam wasn’t done with him as he kicked his side and then snagged him back up to his feet by the hair.
“Please, lala!” another man begged. “Forgive him. Mercy, please!”
“Not today, Parviz! Today, he dies!”
“I beg you, lala. He is my cousin. What will I tell his father?”
“Too late for that,” Adam minced as he pulled out his knife and stuck it against his throat.
“He’s got a wife and children! They depend on him,” the man begged.
Adam hesitated, his eyes flickering between rage and sensibility. He let the bastard drop to his feet as he stepped away. “I don’t want him anywhere near Darul-Ilhaam. And if he dares lift his eyes up to look at my wife, that would be his last fucking day of his fucking life!”
The man scrambled to get his battered cousin out of Adam’s course of fury, half-dragging him out of the property.
Adam fell beside Nora, urging her to stay awake.
“Adam?” she croaked.
“Yes, it’s me. Stay still.” He leaned forward to check her bruises and she thought she saw his eyes glinting from the tears welling in it.
“Adam?”
“Don’t talk,” he sniveled, brushing his eyes with the back of his sleeves. He unwove his turban and covered her breasts carefully. He then gathered her up in his arms, tugging her close to his chest. She groaned and he glanced down worriedly at her. “Just hang in there, Nora.”
“I thought you weren’t coming back for me,” she mumbled dizzily. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”
“Shhh,” he whispered, kissing her brow. He held on to her tightly and hastily walked back towards the farmhouse.
Everything was a blur. Her train of thoughts… reality… Adam…
“Sakina!” Adam shouted. “Sakina!”
“Get the healer!” one man screamed at a woman. “Get Sakina!”
“Husna,” Nora groaned.
“Husna is fine, honey,” Adam muttered as he carried her up the stairs to their bedroom. “We need to focus on you.”
Honey… that sounds nice. You never called me that. I like it. Can I call you that too?
He laid her gently as he could onto their bed and yet her body ached. Pain pierced through her spine and she sobbed.
“Nora,” he wept as he caressed her head.
No… honey. Call me honey again. You make me feel special when you call me that. It feels like… I mean something special to you.
“Sakina!” he shouted again.
An elderly woman stumbled through the doorway in a hurry. “I’m here. Quiet down. You must have deafened the poor child.”
“Is she okay?”
“Steady on, Adam,” the woman said. “Let me have a look at her first.”
The woman touched her face gently, observing her bruises and then lifted her top, searching for injuries on her sides.
“She seems in-tact. The bruises are severe, but they will heal,” she said.
“And the baby?” he asked anxiously.
I’m not pregnant, you idiot! Nora wanted to scream. But the words came out like a bubble of air. She tried to open her eyes to glare at him, but they were thick and heavy now from her wounds, refusing to open despite her commands.
“She’s pregnant?” the woman gasped.
Finally. Nora caught the woman’s look of horror between the tight swollen slits in her eyes.
“God have mercy,” the woman prayed. “Untie her tunbaan.”
Adam moved to pull down her pants, but she held his hands.
“Not you,” she ordered. She indicated at her female assistant standing loyally by her side.
No…no… I’m not pregnant, Nora protested. But she could only spurt out groans.
Adam kissed her brow again. “Stay still, honey.”
Honey… you called me honey again. She wanted to smile. When had they taken her pants off? Why are you spreading my legs? Don’t prod my vagina, you idiots!
“There is some bleeding,” the healer muttered. “The clotting is thick and it could have been a fetus. There is no telling. If she was pregnant, she could h
ave been two weeks old, no more.”
I was pregnant? I was carrying a baby? She began to shiver, her tears rolling out of her eyes. Her lips trembled as she choked on her sobs. My baby… my baby…
Adam grew pale. “Only two weeks old?” He glanced down at Nora, his face devoid of color. “He was my ba… baby.”
“I’m sorry, Adam,” Sakina said, giving him a small gentle squeeze on his shoulders.
The women left, closing the door softly behind them, allowing them to grieve privately.
Adam squeezed Nora’s hand and nuzzled it with his face. His tears poured down her hand as he trembled from his sobs. “What have I done? What have I done?”
Nora sobbed with him. It was their baby. A life they had created together. But then she let out a cry of pain as her cramping in her vagina intensified, her body continuing to reject the life she had once carried in her womb.
She dazed in and out. Someone undressed her. I can dress myself, she tried to protest. But her body wouldn’t move. She was sore all over. She ached. Her spine hurt, her vagina cramped… she sobbed again.
Someone was washing her, cleaning her body, washing the blood between her thighs, the remnants of her baby… My baby, my baby… no… no… she cried.
Adam… His voice drifted towards her. He was furious. He was angry as he shouted at the other person over the phone.
Phone? Are we back home? Adam?
There was laughter coming from the kitchen and she eagerly moved towards it like a moth attracted to the light.
“Nora, did we wake you up?”
“Mommy?” She was six years old. What happened? “I had a bad dream.”
“Awww… honey.” Her mother leaned down to carry her up into her arms. “Come, I’ll take you to bed.”
Honey… Nora smiled, caressing her mother’s face… her lips…
“Nora, it’s just the sedative, honey. It’ll help you sleep better.”
Her mother morphed into a man and he was smiling at her, kissing her, loving her.
“I’m so happy, Nora,” her mother was standing across from them now, sobbing. “You look so beautiful. I thought I would never get to see you married.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, honey.”
“Isn’t Gary just perfect for you?” Amy said excitedly.
“Gary?” Nora turned around in shock to look at the man but then smiled. “This isn’t Gary. This is Adam… my Adam.”
The man gathered her in his arms and kissed her, tasting her lips, tasting her tongue, exploring her mouth. She groaned, wishing he would move lower down to caress her breasts. Her clitoris throbbed to feel his touch, to have his length caress it, to thrust into her, to make love to her.
A baby’s cry interrupted them and she turned curiously at the baby cot standing in the corner of the nursery. The kitchen was now a nursery?
Her mother picked up the crying baby and cradled it in her arms. “Nora, have you fed him?”
“I… I don’t understand, Mom,” she stuttered, fear gripping her belly.
“Did you feed your baby?”
“My baby?”
“I keep telling you to clean your room. When will you start listening, Nora?” her mother growled. “I’m taking your baby until you learn to behave more responsibly.”
“Mom, please,” she wailed. “Not my baby! Please, Mom… please, don’t take him. Adam! Help! She’s taking our child! Adam!”
“Shhh, now. Rest, child. You will have another,” Sakina whispered.
“I’ll keep him safe.” Her mother smiled, holding the baby tenderly against her. “He will be here with me. Don’t you worry, honey. And when you and Adam are ready, I’ll send him over to you.”
“Bye, Mom!” She was back in her college years, waving at her by the side of the street.
“Where’s our baby?” Adam was growling at her.
“Mom took him. He will be safe with her, Adam.”
“No, he won’t! She’s going to die! She’s not safe here!”
“I’ve given you the best years of my life,” Adam barked into the phone. “The least you can do for me is to make sure my wife is safe.”
“We’re almost tying up the mission, Adam,” the man argued back through the phone. “If we pull her out now, it’s gonna draw suspicion. We’ve worked too fucking hard to get this far.”
“Do I sound like I give a fuck about the mission anymore?” Adam gritted between his teeth. “She’s my wife goddamnit, and I will do anything to protect her! Get her the fuck out of Afghanistan and back home, Carter. I mean it. I won’t accept another deal until you figure out how. I don’t give a damn how you’re going to do it; I just want her out of this fucking place. You hear me?”
“Very well,” the man relented begrudgingly. “Just don’t do anything stupid, and I’ll see what I can do.”
Nora tried opening her highly sedated eyelids and caught Adam by the window. The night breeze drifted through, ruffling his thick mane. His face was dark and shadowed by the havoc Mateen had created in their lives. Mateen. The mere thought of the man brought shivers up her spine, numbing her body. She grimaced from the pain and Adam immediately turned towards her, his frown etched high on his brow.
“Nora?” he said, coming quickly towards her.
She closed her eyes. Who had he been talking to? A phone? He had a phone? What mission? Something sharp pricked her arm and she let out a small wince. But then it was gone and she was feeling sleepy all over again. She was dreaming. It was all a dream.
HAPTER 20
“How is she?” Adam asked worriedly.
“She is doing better,” the older man replied, looking at the woman sleeping on the bed a few paces away. He scratched his beard with curiosity. “Are you married for real?”
Adam sighed. “It was the only way. The people at Darul-Ilhaam would have been suspicious if it wasn’t. I had to let them arrange it themselves in order to convince them.”
“Jesus, Adam, but you didn’t have to impregnate her. You consummated the marriage and now do you even have a chance of annulling it back home?”
“I’ll give her a divorce if she wants one.”
The man shook his head. “A fucking mess, this is. I’m sorry about the baby, though. That Mateen is one fucked up sonofabitch. It’s a wonder why you kept him around Darul-Ilhaam this long.”
Adam sat at the table and filled another glass of whisky. Damn, had he been dying for one. Thank goodness, Ian had the good sense of bringing a bottle with him when he had called for him.
“I needed Mateen for authenticity,” Adam replied with a little regret in his voice. “He was a certified maniac and it drove fear where it was needed. But I also thought that if I had him under my wing, I’d be able to maintain some control on his madness.”
“And you did.” Ian nodded. “I can’t imagine what he would have done if he had teamed up with people like the Zawahiris.”
Adam swiped a tired hand over his face. “I can only pray that that is the last we hear of him.”
“I hope so. Mateen is a sick bastard. He didn’t like you taking away his new toy. And to make matters worse, you used it before he had a chance to try it out. He’d always envied your position as leader of Darul-Ilhaam, so when you married Nora, he went ballistic.”
“I hope I didn’t make a mistake in letting him live another day.”
“You’re regretting it,” Ian said, watching him carefully.
“A little.”
The two men grew quiet for a while, each dissolved in the haunting memories of Mateen. The stars lit up the clear night sky, the moon throwing shadows over the trees on the hills beyond them. Outside his bedroom, the crickets continued to chirp as if trying to goad them into a spell to fall asleep.
“What are you going to do about Carter?” Ian said, breaking their silence with a yawn.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“You’re not giving up on the mission, right? It’s not gonna go too w
ell down with big brother. After the incident with the Zawahiris, you’re already in danger of getting a burn notice, Adam.”
Adam swallowed his drink. “There was no choice. It was either that or wreck up almost ten years of work. But people wearing a suit and sitting in a security box is never going to understand that.”
“It’s the mission, they care about. Not the casualties of it.”
“And how does that sit with you as a doctor?” Adam asked drily. “I care about the mission too. I gave my life for this cause. I was ready to never accommodate love. But the fact is there she is. She marched in and I could do nada about it.” He let out an air of frustration. “Everything is susceptible to change and I am no different. I still care about the mission, Ian, but I have to protect her too.”
Ian shook his head. “Sometimes I think Carter needs a shove up his ass to see things from our point of view.”
“He needs to breathe in some Afghan dust is what it is,” Adam remarked grimly. He braced his neck with his hands in frustration. He had had enough of Carter and his egocentric decisions. And he needed to change the subject to relieve some of the anger accruing inside of him. “How are things at the hospital?”
“As always. Busy.”
“Sorry I pulled you away.”
“Nah, I needed it. Besides, I had always been a little curious about this new wife of yours. Although, this isn’t exactly how I pictured meeting her.” He shifted a little uncomfortably in his chair. “What will the household think of my visit?”
“They know with the injuries Nora suffered, she needed a proper doctor. Sakina wouldn’t have sufficed in such case. Anyway, I was at the point where I didn’t really care what anyone thought about you attending to Nora. I just wanted to be sure she was okay.”
Captive- Veiled Desires Page 19