Trouble With Mitch

by Myla Jackson

  The man stared around the room, his head jerking, his gaze shooting to each corner.

  Mitch laid a steady hand on his shoulder and untied the gag on his mouth. “There. Now let me get those ropes.”

  The black-robed man had dropped his knife when Mitch had attacked him. What was taking Amira so long? Five minutes must have passed already. Could she be in trouble?

  As Mitch grabbed for the knife, thunder rumbled inside the stone-walled room. He let go of the breath he’d been holding, looking forward to seeing Amira again. “I’m about to be gone.” He lashed out, cutting the bonds holding Kate’s father’s hands. Then he pressed the knife into the older man’s hands. “Gotta go.”

  White light eclipsed the room and Mitch found himself back in Amira’s vault.

  “Amira.”

  At the sound of her name, Amira quickly wished him visible again and flung her arms around his neck. “I’m so glad you’re back!”

  “What took so long?”

  “The men broke into the room right after you left. I fought them, but they got away with the last bottle.”

  Mitch gripped her arms and ran his glance over her body. “Are you all right?”

  She stared down at her finger, a tear trembling on her eyelash. “I broke a nail.”

  A grin spread across Mitch’s face. “If that’s all that’s wrong, I’m glad.”

  “Do you know how hard it is to get a good manicure these days?”

  He laughed and pulled her to him.

  A sob rose from her throat, and her arms wrapped around his neck. “I was so scared for you.” She squeezed him hard then pushed back to look up into his face. “What happened?”

  “Someone stole the bottles and the stone, Will, Kate and her father were all tied up and I attacked a mercenary.” He drew in a breath and let it out. “I think Will and Kate are in trouble.”

  “Why?”

  “Kate wished them to be anywhere else but here.”

  “Damn.” Amira grimaced. “I hope they get out okay.”

  Mitch’s arms tightened around Amira. “I didn’t like leaving you alone.”

  “Other than losing the bottle, I did fine on my own.”

  “Still, I guess you should come with me.”

  Amira rolled her eyes. “Pul-eaze. Don’t sound so excited.” Though her words dripped with sarcasm, a smile quirked the sides of her mouth. “Terrible that you’ll have to take me with you.”

  He frowned. “Stay close.”

  “Like a fly to fly paper.” Amira’s eyes narrowed. “With the bottle gone, will I even be able to wish us someplace?”

  Mitch slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “We won’t know until we try.”

  “I’m all about trying.” She ground her hips into his.

  A moan rose from Mitch’s throat. “You’re killing me, woman. We have a job to do.”

  “I’m not stopping you.”

  “It’s difficult to beat the bad guys with a hard-on.”

  She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Where to, hero?”

  “The tomb of Princess Vashti.”

  “I wish Mitch and I were outside the tomb of Princess Vashti.”

  Thunder rumbled, shaking the walls.

  “Guess the magic still works,” Amira slipped her hand into Mitch’s.

  “Oh yeah. It’s magic all right.” Amira’s hold on him was pure enchantment. Mitch hoped he could keep her alive long enough to explore their new relationship in more depth. He shifted his trousers to make room for his hardening cock and prepared for the ride as white light filled the vault and all grew quiet.

  One moment, he was standing in an air-conditioned room, the next sand stung Mitch’s cheeks, blasted by the wind on a stormy desert. When the bright lights faded, Mitch found they’d landed near the base of barren, rocky hills, similar to those he saw pictures of on the news. Hills like Osama Bin Laden hid in. In front of him was the entrance to a cave.

  Startled by engine noise behind him, Mitch spun in the sand and gravel.

  A large canvas-covered truck rumbled into view, followed by a motorcade of various vehicles.

  “Quick!” He grabbed Amira and shoved her behind a giant boulder. “Wish yourself somewhere safe, will ya?” Holding her in his arms, he pressed his lips to her hair. “Your dad would never forgive me if anything happened to you.”

  “I don’t care what my father thinks.” She turned in his arms. “Would you miss me if something happened?”

  He stared down into her eyes, the pain of the beating he’d taken fading as he melted into her brown-eyed gaze. “Yeah, I’d miss you.”

  “When this is all over, are you going to disappear on me again?”

  “Disappear?” Mitch’s brows drew together. “I tried to see you last time, but your bodyguards said you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  Amira’s eyes widened. “They did? Well, damn!” She reached up and kissed him hard. “I wanted to see you so badly, I could taste it.”

  “Then why did you send your thugs to beat me up? I tried twice to see you, both times I was met with bruises and contusions.”

  Amira’s eyes narrowed. “Daddy.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out. She’d kowtowed to him long enough. A grown woman shouldn’t let her father dictate her life. “I’ll have a talk with him when we get back to New York.”

  “You do that.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’d really like to see you again, when this is all over.” Brakes squealed and tires chewed on gravel. “In the meantime, company has arrived.” Mitch peered around the edge of the boulder to where the truck ground to a halt.

  A door slammed on the far side of the vehicle, out of Mitch’s view, and a woman’s voice called out, “Bring the sarcophagus into the cave. Ah, there’s Omar. Just in time with the bottles and the stone.”

  Mitch would recognize that voice anywhere. The woman had almost had him killed in an alley a couple of weeks earlier.

  “Danorah,” he said softly, his chest tightening, his muscles bunching, ready for a fight.

  That woman was the reason Mitch was trapped by the curse. If Danorah hadn’t tried to steal the Stone of Azhi, Mitch wouldn’t have grabbed it, setting off the chain of events that ultimately led him back to Amira. Okay, so maybe the events hadn’t been all bad, although Mitch was sure what happened next wasn’t going to be easy.

  * * * * *

  “Wait.” Harry pressed a hand to Edie’s mouth. “I know the area, maybe you should repeat after me.”

  “Okay, Harry. But make it quick. They’ll have this box open soon.”

  Another vehicle lumbered up behind the one they were in.

  “About time you got here.” Danorah’s muffled voice carried through the wooden walls of the crate.

  “I have the bottles and the stone, as ordered. Pay me and I’ll be on my way.”

  “Damned mercenaries,” Danorah muttered loud enough Harry could hear her. “Take your money and be gone.”

  The other vehicle cranked up and drove off.

  “We need to move now,” Harry said. Closing his eyes, he pictured the entrance to the cave where he’d found the tomb of Princes Vashti. Large boulders that had fallen from the bluffs made an effective hiding place close to the cave’s entrance. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.” The box shook as if it was being pulled off the back of the truck.

  “Say this: I wish we were hiding behind a big rock close to the entrance to the cave containing the tomb of Princess Vashti.” Harry gripped Edie’s hand and held his breath. Her wishes didn’t always turn out like she’d planned.

  “I wish we were hiding by the tomb of Princess Vashti.”

  “No, no. You forgot the part a about the rocks and outside the cave.”

  Too late. Thunder rumbled and white light blinded them.

  “I’m sorry, Harry. I’m just not good at this.”

  When the light faded, Harry and Edie lay in a dark place, the scent of dirt and old sto
ne filling their nostrils.

  “Where are we?” Edie whispered.

  “I think we’re inside the cave.” What he wouldn’t give for a torch. He climbed to his feet and tugged on Edie’s hand.

  “How do we get out without a flashlight?” She rose, slipping her arm around Harry’s waist. “I’m scared.”

  Voices echoed off the cave walls, headed in their direction.

  “We need to hide.”

  “But how, we can’t see anything?”

  “Hang on to me. I vaguely remember the layout.” Not that he knew where he was in that layout, but he had only one way to find out. Holding one of Edie’s hands, Harry held his other hand out in front of him and walked forward until his fingers bumped against stone. Inching his way quickly along the cool cave wall, he stumbled into the altar he remembered from his last visit there over eighty years ago.

  The people moving in their direction carried lights. The glow reached the chamber before the people did, giving Harry just enough light to see.

  “Quick, duck behind the altar.” Harry dragged Edie around the corner of the stone and crouched down, bringing her with him.

  A man entered the burial chamber carrying a flashlight. He was followed by six large men carrying the stone sarcophagus of Princess Vashti. Behind them was Danorah, wielding another flashlight and leading two other men carrying a smaller crate.

  “Set the sarcophagus in the center of the room and remove the lid,” Danorah demanded. “Lay the crate beside it.”

  The men complied, lifting the lid off the sarcophagus and setting it on the stone floor.

  Danorah opened the lid to the crate and reached inside. “I’ve waited for years to find the Stone of Azhi. She reached into the crate and removed a cloth bag. She set it aside and reached inside the crate a second time. She removed a bottle, the very bottle Edie had touched when she’d awakened Harry from his eighty-year sleep. Her hand rubbed down over the glass, the look on her face orgasmic. “The power will be mine. I wish you to come to me.” Thunder rumbled against the walls of the cave, white light filled the chamber.

  Edie gasped.

  Harry rose beside her and walked out into the middle of the chamber.

  The burly man closest to him yelled and pointed a gun at his chest.

  “No! Don’t shoot him!” Edie straightened from her hiding place and rushed toward Harry. “I wish Harry and I were back in New York City.” She waited for the thunder, welcomed the white light, but neither happened.

  Harsh laughter filled the cold interior of the burial chamber. “Fool! You no longer have the power.” Danorah held up the bottle. “It’s mine. All mine. Once I unlock the power to each of the bottles and the stone, I will be invincible.” She reached inside the crate and pulled out the next bottle and rubbed her hand along the glass. “Watch and see.”

  Edie pushed forward. “Harry, stop her!” A big man grasped her arms and held her back.

  Danorah shot Harry a narrowed look. “I wish you to obey me, and only me.”

  “Harry, please!” Edie cried.

  He glanced at her and shook his head, his expression sad. “I can’t. Danorah owns me now.”

  Edie fought against the hands holding her. If she could get to the bottle, she could take Harry back from Danorah. But the man holding her easily outweighed her three-to-one. “Let me go, you big dumbass!” She kicked his shin and stomped on his instep, but nothing she did could break his hold. “You won’t get away with this!” she shouted at Danorah.

  “Wanna bet?”

  Bright light flashed in the chamber. When the brilliance faded, Kate and Will fell to the stone floor at Danorah’s feet.

  “Ah, just in time.” Danorah held the second bottle up and rubbed the side. “I wish you to come to me, now.”

  Kate lunged for Danorah. “Bitch! You can’t have him.” A guard lifted her kicking and screaming off her feet.

  Will stood and walked toward Danorah. “I can’t stop myself, Kate.”

  “I wish you to obey my every command,” Danorah said in a cool, clear voice.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Danorah frowned. “And don’t call me ‘ma’am’. It makes me sound old.” She looked around the room. “Now all we have to do is to go collect the third bottle and I’ll have it all. All the power of an ancient princess.” She opened her mouth again, “I wish—”

  “Danorah, did Will tell you that he’s an expert in the art of pleasuring a woman?” Harry ran a hand over Danorah’s shoulder and down her arm to her hip. “He learned from a geisha in China.”

  “I don’t have time for sex.”

  “No? We have to wait for the men to bring the bottle. Don’t you think we could pass the time in a more pleasurable fashion?” Will eased forward, his hands reaching out to touch Danorah’s breasts.

  “Will Prater Moreland,” Kate growled, “don’t touch that filthy thief.”

  Will’s brows rose. “Ah, dear Kate, you forget that you don’t have control of me anymore. I don’t have to do as you say.” He turned to Danorah and stroked a finger down her breast, across her belly and lower still. “But I do have to please the woman who has the authority to wish for anything.”

  As Harry circled Danorah, Edie’s eyes filled with tears. She knew what he and Will were up to, but she didn’t have to like it. They were buying time. Time for Amira and Mitch to figure a way out of this mess. “Don’t do it, Harry,” she called out, knowing she couldn’t stop him and shouldn’t. Instead of concentrating on Harry’s hands slipping beneath Danorah’s shirt, she should be worrying about getting loose and finding Amira and Mitch. “I can’t stand it! Take me away from them. They’re nothing but man-whores!” She turned her face away from what Harry and Will were doing to Danorah and shot a glance at Kate. “Don’t watch, Kate.”

  “I’m going to watch and I’m going to get my revenge for everything they do to her.” Kate spat on the floor at Danorah’s feet.

  Danorah had the gall to laugh. “You think that bothers me?” She raised a hand and cupped Will’s cheek. Her other hand reached low and caressed his crotch. “Tie them up. I want an audience for when their men make love to me.”

  As the guards bound Edie’s and Kate’s hands and feet, Danorah’s laughter filled the chamber. “Come, Will, is it? I could show you things the geishas never heard of.”

  Chapter Nine

  When the first scream blasted out of the entrance to the cave, Amira hurled herself forward. If not for Mitch holding her around the waist, she’d have exposed them both. “Let me go. They have the others,” she hissed.

  His face grim, Mitch held her firm, refusing to let her go. “We’re no good to them if we’re caught. There has to be another way to help.”

  Amira chewed on her lower lip. “What about turning invisible? We could sneak in and—”

  “And get you killed?” Mitch shook his head. “No way.”

  “Then you go and I’ll stay here.”

  Mitch snorted. “And I’m supposed to think you’d just wait here quietly? Fat chance.”

  “Then you come up with an idea.”

  “Danorah has to be the one behind the theft of the bottles and the stone. She won’t be satisfied until she has it all.”

  Amira’s eyes widened. “She’ll want the other bottle. My bottle.”

  “Right.” Mitch nodded.

  A smile lit her face. “We could trade the bottle for the lives of the others.”

  “That’s the idea.”

  As quickly as the smile appeared, it disappeared. “But we don’t have the bottle. Those goons stole it from me.”

  Mitch scratched his chin and peered around the corner of the boulder. “They can’t wish it here, so they have to wait for someone to fly it by airplane.”

  Amira grabbed Mitch’s arm. “We could find that airplane and get it back.”

  “Sounds too dangerous to me.”

  “I could make you invisible, you sneak on board, grab the bottle and I’ll wish you back.”
>
  “It might work.”

  Amira tapped a finger to her lip. “Timing will be key. I can’t wish you back until you have the bottle. On second thoughts, maybe I should sneak in and get the bottle. You stay here.”

  “Fuck no!” Mitch said, a little louder than Amira cared for.

  She stuck her head around the side of the boulder. The guards at the cave’s entrance lounged against the rocks, unaware of the debate taking place only yards from them. “Not so loud, genius. Like you said, we can’t get caught or we’ll be of no help. For this to work, I have to go too. You’re the muscle, I’m the wish.”

  “It’s never as easy as you think. And what would your father—”

  “I can make my own decisions. I’m here, aren’t I?” She puffed out her chest, faking her confidence. For the first time in her life, people needed her, it felt good and she’d be damned if she failed them. “Are you ready?”

  Mitch sighed. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Amira peeked once more at the guards half asleep on the job. “We’d better hurry. No telling what’s happening in there.”

  “For once, I agree with you.” Mitch stood and held out his hand. “Make your wish.”

  Amira closed her eyes and concentrated on making the wish count. “I wish Mitch and I would disappear.”

  The requisite thunder rumbled and the light blinded her. When she could see again, she looked down at where she could feel Mitch holding her hand. She gasped when all she could see was the ground beneath them. “It worked,” she said, her voice a feathery whisper. For several seconds, she fought to breathe.

  “Good job, Princess,” Mitch said softly.

  The reassuring sound of his voice made Amira straightened her back. “Next wish, coming right up.” She breathed in past the lump in her throat. “I wish us to where the bottle is.”

  Thunder exploded and lighting flashed, as usual. Amira blinked and she was standing inside a private luxury jet at the rear of the cabin. Five large men sat in leather seats, drinking from champagne glasses and cradling automatic weapons. One raised his glass and said something Amira didn’t recognize. The others raised glasses toward the box sitting on the floor in front of them.