Alveus (ABC's Inc. Romance #1)

by Lara Earlman

  Deciding it best to turn her mind elsewhere, Lexi thumbed through the month-old magazine on her lap. Bingo – an article immediately grabbed her attention with its headline. Dane Wellesley announces his engagement as he angrily drags his fiancée away from admirer. The picture accompanying the piece showed Dane’s angry face looking over his shoulder, as he pushed her along in front of him. Lexi’s back was to the camera so the journalist went into speculation as to her true identity, calling her the mystery woman. A rather extensive list of female names were listed, and dissected to get to the answer. Lexi had been trying not to think about Dane, succeeding admirably – until now. Her stomach made its presence known again, this time twisting painfully. No! She was about to rise from her chair to go in and see if Salma needed help with food preparation, when Clare returned. She dropped onto the patio lounger next to Lexi with a smug look on her face.

  “Guess you’ll be entertaining your benefactor tonight,” Lexi presumed. Clare seemed so pleased that Lexi didn’t have the heart to be snide about it. The least she could do was be proud of her friend for winning the coveted honor. Clare nodded with a smile.

  “Oh, but you missed the performance put on by the heir apparent,” she said. “And it was for your benefit, too.” Clare shared that it was clear to her that both men had been on a reconnaissance mission to spy on Lexi. “They couldn’t keep their eyes from straying over to where you were sitting, and you were oblivious the whole time,” she laughed. “You sure have a way of getting under their skin. Life is so much more exciting since you’ve come along. Anyway,” she went on, “Junior was seeing red by your obvious shun, and I guess he thought he could make you jealous by taking one of his father’s girls to his bed tonight.”

  “Oh no, I’m sorry about that,” Lexi said. “Who’s the unlucky girl?”

  “Ginny, but it’s okay,” Clare assured her. “She doesn’t mind him being rough. I think she took a lot of worse abuse before she was brought here. She’s learned from experience how to please people.”

  “Still…” Lexi’s heart went out to the poor girl. She watched as her friend toyed with the ankle bracelet. “That’s a nice gift,” she conceded. It was made of platinum with diamonds spelling out her name. She was well aware of the message the sheikh was sending – slave bracelet! Then another thought occurred. “I’m gonna miss you tonight,” she shared.

  “Pfft,” Clare waved her hand, “I’ll return after a few hours, as soon as he falls asleep. You’ve heard of the walk of shame? Well, here’s where the saying was invented. You haven’t felt shame until you’ve been escorted from the suite by a guy who’s heard everything that’s gone on while standing guard outside the door.” She started laughing. “Sometimes I have to ignore the strange way he walks!”

  Lexi’s face turned red. After everything she’d gone through in the last couple of months, you’d think…

  The room was dark when Lexi’s eyes flew open. Someone was frantically shaking her awake!

  “Clare? Are you alright, Clare?”

  “Get up!” The words were spoken in Arabic. Not Clare – Salma?

  Lexi stood up and followed the figure out into the hallway. From the dimmed lighting, she noticed that her escort was pregnant – Ahmad’s wife. Why would he send his wife for her? Sure enough, she led Lexi into the royal section of the palace.

  “I should put on a robe,” Lexi said as she turned to retreat back to her room.

  The woman grasped her roughly by the arm, steering her forward again. Despite the warmth, Lexi shivered and it wasn’t because she was wearing a tiny pair of borrowed baby-doll pajamas, either. Something was off. Each step confirmed her suspicions as Lexi noticed that she hadn’t seen one guard, and they passed by the stairs leading to the royal bedroom suites. Ahmad’s wife led her to a door, opened it and quickly shoved her inside.

  The lights came on and Lexi recognized the sheikh’s office. The pregnant woman hastened to the desk, picked up the receiver of a phone, pressed a button and held it out to Lexi, gesturing for her to take it. Lexi was astonished and stood motionless, staring at the woman.

  “Thank you,” she finally said, taking the proffered receiver when the woman shook it more frenzied. Ahmad’s wife wanted her gone and was helping her to call for rescue. Her motive didn’t matter to Lexi, she was grateful to the woman. She could hear an operator offering assistance and put the phone to her ear.

  “United States information, please,” she said. After a short wait, the American operator came on. “I need the number for Edward Bravanger Law offices in Kensington, Maryland. Thank you; can you ring that number for me, please?” Lexi had no idea what the time was in Kensington, but prayed that someone would be in the office. She had no one else she could call – certainly not Uncle Richard, nor Dane. She let out her breath when the receptionist answered.

  “This is Lexi Alberton; I need to speak to Ed.” She was immediately transferred to his office line.

  “Ms. Alberton, this is Gareth, Ed’s son,” a voice on the end of the line said. “Everyone’s looking for you. Where are you?”

  “I’m in Hejd.”

  “Where?”

  “The Empty Quarter – Hejd”

  “I’m sorry, you’re breaking up… Sahed?”

  Suddenly Lexi’s arm was grabbed, and the harsh voice of the sheikh commanded her attention.

  “Hang up the phone!”

  »ɞ»ɞ«ɞ«

  Chapter Ten

  “What?”

  “You said we have to get Aly home with her honor intact.” Gretchen pointed out. “We’re guessing you meant Lexi?”

  “I told you I didn’t know who she was,” Dane answered crossly. “Aly is the name she answered to, Aly Prost. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Aly is Pipsqueak.” Dane’s chest squeezed tight with mixed emotions – emotions he was inadequate to deal with. Unfamiliar sensations attacked him like a virus and he instinctively looked to Oma for help. Her eyes moistened with understanding and compassion; he was a child again, pleading for his grandmother to make everything right.

  “Why don’t we deal with the facts of her disappearance and what we can all do to find her,” Oma suggested. She turned to the Carstens, “What can you offer as help?”

  “Do you know anyone from a German based company called InfoTrain?” Greig asked, his eyes still glued to the computer monitor. When Dane hesitated, he looked up from the screen to make eye contact with his childhood friend.

  “Not that I can recall,” Dane said, his eyes focusing in space thoughtfully. “The name seems familiar, though. Can you find a list of board members?” He stepped around the desk to see the monitor over Greig’s shoulder.

  “Have it right here. I thought I might know someone, but none of the names ring a bell.” Greig leaned to the side to give Dane a better view.

  Dane shook his head. “No, not to me either,” he confessed. “What’s their connection to the human traffickers?”

  “Well, maybe a dead end,” Greig reluctantly admitted. “The company has what they call Info-Guard which allows people using the same InfoTrain email server to easily send each other encrypted email. The recipient is sent two messages: one with a web address for accessing the message, and another containing a one-time password for logging to the appropriate InfoTrain server. After logging in, the person must change the password. That way, if both the URL and the password are intercepted and a hacker reads the message, the intended recipient will know that the password has been changed and that the message has been compromised.”

  “So you’re saying that they probably never opened the communication I sent and there’s no way to trace them?”

  “Well, I’m not willing to say ‘no way,’ but it’s going to take time. If we could encourage some assistance from the designers of the system… well, then maybe we could cut that time in half.” Greig turned and lifted his eyebrows at Dane in an unspoken hint.

  “I’ll get right on it. See if I can find an influential friend
of a friend,” Dane said, grateful for a way in which to keep himself occupied, anything to keep his mind off of Lexi.

  As he watched Greig Carsten tap away at the keyboard, Dane recalled that as a kid his friend had been a sci-fi buff, always interested in the latest technology. He eagerly devoured all of the movies and television shows about outer space and the future, and was rarely seen without a science fiction novel in his back pocket. It was no surprise then that Greig graduated at the top of his class from Caltech and was instrumental in networking all of his father’s business acquisitions into the main headquarters server.

  Greig’s father, Lee was the youngest of the ABC’s and discovered a talent for infrastructure while assisting Alexander Alberton and Henry Brighton in fulfilling their dreams. He could take the bare-bones of a fledgling or failing business and build up a solid, profitable company. His good friends then turned around and convinced him to make a career of it, aiding him in opening Carsten Enterprise. As his children grew into adulthood they were free to follow their own interests while still maintaining a career in the family business. Carsten Enterprise owns a diversified list of companies including: hotels, airlines, restaurants, fitness centers, malls, and department stores.

  A quick tap at the door brought Dane’s attention up in time to see the Carsten siblings being herded into the office by Ed Bravanger. Losing no time on pleasantries, Ed addressed them.

  “I just received a call from Gareth. He’s heard from Lexi,” he announced. Everyone alerted and began asking questions.

  “When?”

  “Is she all right?”

  “Where is she?”

  Ed held his hand up for silence. “The telephone connection was bad. All he could decipher was that she is in the Empty Quarter.”

  “Oh my God,” Fani cried. “They use foreign women as sex slaves in Saudi Arabia!” Her sister glared at her.

  “Not necessarily, that’s mostly propaganda,” Gretchen chastised. The guys exchanged worried looks.

  “The Empty Quarter is a huge area,” Dane said, trying not to think about Fani’s outburst. “Did she narrow it down a little?”

  “He said she tried, but like I already told you, the connection was bad.” The elderly attorney shook his head. “It sounded to him like Sahed. He checked before he called me – there’s no such place.”

  “The officials are useless,” Dane said. “We’ll have to find her ourselves.” He looked to Stefan, “Are you with me?”

  “Of course,” he nodded.

  “I’m going as well,” Fani spoke up, and continued when the men were about to protest, “She’ll need a friend and that is why I’m here, after all,” she insisted.

  “There’s no time to debate it,” Dane said. He could see by the look on her face that Gretchen was intent on joining the rescue party as well. Shit, all they needed was to introduce two more beautiful women into the mix! “We’ll need visas,” he told Ed.

  “Gareth is already on it, but I’ve got to warn you,” Bravanger replied, “It could take as long as a month. We’re going to try and pull in every favor we’re owed to get it expedited.”

  “I have some FBI friends at the Bethesda Athletics Club,” Stefan supplied. “I’ll give them a call. Maybe they can give us some back up.”

  “I’ll get in touch with our airlines,” Gretchen contributed. “Check to see where the closest airports are that we can get in and out of, with minimum fuss.”

  As the room began empting, Dane felt his determination rise – they were going to do this! Hang in there mein liebes, I’m coming for you.

  »ɞ»ɞ«ɞ«

  Lexi’s teeth were clattering. Lying on her side, she hugged her arms in an attempt to get warm. The sand under her was slowly losing its heat as it absorbed the cool desert night. She shuffled, trying to dig her body into the warmer sand below. Something moved beneath her shoulder and she jerked up with a sharp scream. A frightened lizard scurried away into the moonlight. Tears surfaced in Lexi’s eyes. The nights were the hardest.

  This was her third night in the pit. She guessed it to be a shallow abandoned well. There was an iron grate over the top, probably to keep animals from falling in. It did nothing to shade her from the burning sun during the day, although it did afford her a view of the clear night sky. She gazed up at the stars spotting Orion the hunter, her favorite constellation, and prayed for him to come to her rescue.

  Sheikh Saleh had been furious to find her in his private office, and on the phone! Wearing a robe that failed to cover his bare chest and legs, it was obvious that he had been pulled out of bed on her behalf. If he had shouted, threatened and ranted, Lexi would have found it easier to stand against him in defiance. But instead he stood red-faced with anger, and with a low steady voice commanded his men to throw her into the pit. They followed his instructions, literally, and her shoulder still hurt where it had hit the ground bearing the rest of her weight. She had not seen nor spoken with anyone since that evening, although the day before a plastic bottle of water had fallen through the grate followed by a hasty retreat of footsteps. Lexi was certain the gift had been from Princess Fatiha.

  Another day went by with still no word from the sheikh. Lexi was beginning to think that it was intended for her to die a slow death in this pit. On the first day she had searched for a way out of the well, finding footholds up the wall, but they disappeared a quarter of the way up. Being almost four days without food, Lexi knew her strength would probably fail another attempt. Besides, she would still have to deal with the heavy grate, and even then where would she go? She didn’t want hopelessness to turn her back into the hollowed out shell she’d been, starting when her mother had taken ill, and ending with her uncle’s betrayal. Grief from her parents’ deaths had been the catalyst that took away her resolve. She still missed them, but that wound was healing. No, Lexi Alberton has always been a fighter and she sure as heck was going to go down fighting! She moved another six inches to follow the shade. Soon it would be high noon, and she had to decide which part of her body would take the brunt of the sun’s fury today.

  Lexi stood flush against the wall of the well, trying to squeeze out of the direct sunlight. She turned her body as on a spit, each bit of bare skin crying out for cover. The baby-doll pajamas she still wore barely covered her mid-section. She flipped it up over her shoulders to protect them for a while. The top of the water bottle she had buried in the sand taunted her to partake of the last two swallows she’d been saving. How nice the liquid would feel sliding down her parched throat!

  Lexi heard a noise and suddenly it became dark where she was standing. Her legs buckled in relief and she landed on her knees. Looking up she saw a tarp covering two thirds of the grate and a familiar friendly face.

  “Fatiha!” Lexi’s voice came out in a dry squeak.

  “I am sorry,” the princess said, “I am forbidden to come here and the men have just now left for the day.”

  “Then you must not take the risk, sweet girl.”

  “No, no, it is alright.” The young girl lowered a rope down to Lexi. “The servants will not say anything to Father.”

  Lexi took the rope and untied the cloth sack with trembling hands. She pulled out two bottles of water, some crackers and dried meat. Grateful tears sprung to her eyes.

  “Thank you,” she cried. Taking a bite of the jerky, her dry throat rebelled, refusing to swallow. After a coughing fit, she heard the princess tell her to drink the water. Lexi took three large gulps of the cool liquid and tried another bite of the meat.

  “Sit and eat, I wish to speak with you,” Fatiha said. Lexi sat under the protection of the tarp and managed to coax the food down her protesting throat. She kept her eyes on the water bottles as if fearful that they would disappear.

  “Am I meant to die here, Fatiha?” she asked. “Please tell me the truth. Why have they left me here?”

  “Father does not want you to die; he only wishes to teach you obedience. I heard him arguing with Ahmad. Father desires for his
heir to learn to take proper care of his possessions. Three fine stallions have died under my brother’s mistreatment. Our father had hoped that Ahmad would value you enough to change his ways. Ahmad is being stubborn; he thinks that now that he is the crown prince he should no longer be treated as a child by Father. If he was aware that my brother has not come to check on you, the sheikh would be very upset.”

  “So you’re saying that the sheikh is punishing me for my disobedience, although Ahmad is meant to use this opportunity to bend me to his will?” Lexi shook her head, getting her thoughts in order. “But your brother is ignoring me to spite his father. He would rather allow me to die, than bend to his father’s will. I find it ironic that Ahmad cannot see the similarities we share in that matter.”

  “I am sorry I must ask, but what possessed you to be in my father’s private office? How were you not spotted by the guards?”

  “I was woken by Ahmad’s wife. I thought she was taking me to see him.”

  “Rasha took you to Father’s office?” surprise crossed Fatiha’s face. “She is the one that alerted Father’s guard that she saw a light under the door and heard noises coming from the room, that night!”

  “She set me up,” Lexi groaned.

  “I will tell Father,” the princess declared. “It was not your fault. Rasha should be punished for what she has done!”

  “No, no you can’t do that. Ahmad may harm the baby she’s carrying.”

  “He will not harm his firstborn,” Fatiha insisted. “He will simply take away the privileges she receives as his first wife.”

  “No, I don’t want you to say anything… please,” Lexi begged. “Your brother has a temper which rules him. He won’t think until it’s too late, and the damage will already be done. I won’t be responsible for the harm of an innocent child. Besides, it won’t really change anything for me – you know that’s the truth.”