The Colonel's Daughter

by Lili Tufel

  I can’t stop thinking about you, Dallas. Don’t let me be your weakness, draw strength from our love, as I do every day. You are my guardian angel. I know you will find me.

  I will try to write again as soon as I get more details on my location.

  I love you.

  Abby

  Dallas brushed his nose with his arm wiping a tear. He firmly placed both hands on the keyboard and immediately hit reply.

  Abby,

  With the help of God, I’m going to find you. I’m at headquarters now but will be on my way to Dubai. I think about you constantly. I ache for you. I won’t rest until you are safe in my arms.

  I love you Abby.

  I‘ll check again soon and see if you write back. Tell me about your surroundings. The color of the building, other neighboring landmarks, anything you can think of.

  See you soon,

  Dallas

  * * * * *

  Abby gazed out at the ocean of sand. She studied the panoramic view from the only window in her extravagant bedroom. She quickly turned an ear in the direction of the double doors where sounds of a woman wailing became more and more audible. She tiptoed towards the entrance and put her hand on the knob.

  Opening the door with just enough room for her eyes to peer out, she noticed the blond concubine running past her with a torn silk shirt revealing streaks of blood. The blond stopped to fidget with the doorknob and with a nearly swollen—shuteye caught sight of Abby’s stares before rushing into her room.

  Abby quietly closed her door and with a hand over her stomach, she hastened to her closet.

  “Is everything alright?” The young servant entered the lavish wardrobe.

  “I need to get dressed.” She looked around. “All I see are black gowns. Don’t I have a pair of jeans?”

  “Yes, I washed the jeans you were wearing when you arrived. But you must wear a black gown over anything else that you wear.”

  “So I can wear anything as long as it’s underneath that hideous cloak?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “Fine, please let me have my pants.”

  Abby tried to zip up her pressed jeans. “Did you shrink them?” She squinted.

  “No ma’am.”

  “These are my favorite jeans. They were never a tight fit.”

  Abby’s heightened sense of smell caught a trace of a familiar aroma. She quickly slipped on her shoes.

  “My darling, where are you going in such a hurry?”

  “Hello Maurice.” She placed her hands on her hips.

  “You’re looking more beautiful than ever.” He placed a hand under her chin then turned and snapped his fingers at his armed guards. “Leave us.”

  Abby’s servants followed the armed men out of the room.

  “What did you do to that poor woman, Maurice?”

  “That’s not anything of your concern my darling.”

  “I’m serious, what did you do to her?” Abby crossed her arms.

  “She spoke to me the way you are speaking to me right now.” Maurice grabbed Abby’s upper arm and shook it.

  “I don’t believe you.” Abby clenched her jaw and stared into his empty eyes.

  “She disgraced me with her drunken behavior. I will not put up with drunken whores in my household.”

  “Ha.” Abby shrugged her shoulders.

  Maurice raised his arm in a swooping motion as if to slap Abby’s face with the back of his hand but he came to a screeching halt. Instead, he caressed her cheek with his fingertips.

  Abby looked away with her jaw clenched and her lips shut tight.

  “So tell me, where are you going in such a hurry? Were you not sick?”

  Abby took a deep breath. “Yes, I have been sick.” Then she forced her face to feign animation. “But I also want to go shopping for our wedding ceremony.”

  “Very well, I am going to take you to a shopping mall unlike one you have ever seen.”

  “Really?” Abby pulled out a hanger with a black gown.

  “Ah, good girl.” Maurice eyed the black garment. “My Abigail is going to show me some respect and in public? Ah, you really are coming around.”

  “I have no other choice but to wear this gown and cover my head, Maurice. What is my other option? Get a beating? Now will you please wait for me outside while I put it on?”

  “No.” He bellowed. “You will put it on in front of me.” His fingertips were back to stroking her cheek. “Soon enough, you will be mine and I will take you to live with me in Iran. You will live as a queen there…my queen. You are not like the other girls. Haven’t you noticed how much I let you get away with?”

  “Then let me call my father, please, Maurice.” Abby clenched the gown bringing it to her chest.

  “Forget about your father. Forget about that world. Look around you. This is your world now. I have the capacity to give you anything you ask for but it doesn’t mean that I will give it to you.”

  “Fine, take me shopping, then.” I will find a way to contact Dallas out there, she thought.

  Maurice clapped then rubbed his hands together. “You’re making me a very happy man.”

  “So what is this mall like? You said it was unlike any mall I’ve ever seen.” Abby slipped on her black garment.

  “Well, let’s just say that after we’re done shopping, I can take you skiing inside the same mall.”

  “Skiing, in the desert?”

  “It’s a man made ski resort…inside the mall.” He rested his elbow on a closet shelf.

  “Can I take a rain check on the skiing? I’m still not feeling a hundred percent.”

  “What is this checking for rain?”

  “Rain check…it means I will take your offer another time.” Abby’s eyes widened.

  Maurice grabbed Abby by her shoulders, facing her with his dark eyebrows downward. “I can force you to surrender and make you kiss me.”

  Abby locked her jaw and clenched her fists.

  He exhaled on her face, “I have plans for our wedding night. You will give yourself to me, and I will have you forever.”

  * * * * *

  Abby sat next to Maurice on the back seat of the Rolls Royce. Maurice wore a crease free, long white garment and headscarf.

  “I thought the British woman would be coming with us?”

  “You mean your interpreter?”

  “Yeah, the redhead.” Abby fidgeted with the black silk covering her hair.

  “I fired her. She was a very nosy woman.”

  “You fired her or you killed her, Maurice?” Abby looked at him from head to toe.

  Maurice laughed. “My father thinks I’m crazy for wanting to take you as my wife but he forgets how much you are like my mother.”

  “Your mother…really? Does your mother know about half the things your father has done?”

  “My father has done many wonderful things for his community.”

  “Um…he’s an opium drug dealer. Are you not aware of the damage that drug does to people, Maurice?”

  “Don’t look at me with that face…like you are disgusted. I did not choose to be born into the opium world…and…the money has been very good to my family. I would not have these luxuries without my father and my uncle. I don’t ever want to hear you speak badly of them.”

  “I will never forgive your father for torturing my dad.” Abby’s eyes welled with tears.

  “Enough. Stop this emotional drama. I will not put up with it Abigail.”

  * * * * *

  A bony woman waved her long arms in the air. “Welcome Maurice, we have been expecting you. I am Samira, the owner of this Boutique. My staff and I are here to pamper you and make this a stress free experience for the both of you.” She examined Abby’s body. “I have a professional in house tailor that will give you a perfect fitting.”

  “Excuse me, Samira.” Abby gave a fake smile. “I thought the groom was not allowed to see the wedding dress?”

  Samira’s sunken eyes
widened. “By all means, Maurice can do anything he wants. I’m sure he will want to give his opinion.”

  “But…Maurice,” Abby falsely batted her eyelashes. “Don’t you want to be surprised?”

  Maurice rubbed the palms of his hands and gave the boutique women his winning smile. “I would love to be surprised. I’m sure you ladies will take good care of my Abigail.”

  Abby gave an excruciating attempt at smiling.

  He turned to her and waved his index finger, “You be a good girl and behave,” then winked, “I cannot wait to see my beautiful bride.”

  Abby stared into the mirror wearing the first designer gown.

  “You look marvelous. You have very nice curves.” Samira laced Abby’s back.

  “I really don’t like this one. It’s a beautiful gown don’t get me wrong, it’s just that…I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right.”

  Samira grabbed the pencil tucked behind her ear and brought it to her thin lips. “Hmm…How about we try this other one?”

  Abby took one look at the rhinestones and thought, I’m gonna puke.

  “Do you have pictures or maybe a catalog that I can look at?”

  “Of course we do. We have an entire website. I can create a profile for you and with your own password.”

  “That would be great, thank you.”

  Abby’s breath shortened and her palms moistened as she placed her fingers on Samira’s keyboard. The boutique computer was logged onto the internet.

  “I’m sure you will adore this designer. Look, we have an entire catalog. Why don’t you browse a little and tell me what you prefer.”

  “There are so many. I don’t know where to begin.” Abby placed a hand on the mouse.

  “No, no, no, no, no.” Samira began to speak in Arabic scolding one of the young workers who placed several dresses on the wrong rack.

  Abby looked over her shoulder and found she had been left alone. She could faintly hear Samira shouting in Arabic. She quickly opened a new browser, logged into her email and clicked compose message. She never typed so fast in her life. She logged out of her email, clicked on delete browsing history and closed the browser.

  “Ah, so you like that one.” Samira cocked her head to one side.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re still looking at the same dress.”

  “Oh.” Abby’s eyes widened. She swallowed. “Yes, I really do. Do you have this one?”

  “Of course we do.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Nine

  Dallas stood inside the mud-walled operations center. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and clenched the satellite phone.

  “General, I know where Abby is. She wrote me an email.”

  “Look son, this situation has spilled over and fallen into the hands of other government agencies. It’s beyond my control now. I can’t send you anywhere without a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit.”

  “Yes sir.” Dallas’s voice was toneless.

  “Here’s what I can do for you, Dallas. I’m going to grant you an emergency leave. Go and do whatever you need to do. But you’re on your own son.”

  “Thank you sir.” Dallas’s chin quivered.

  * * * * *

  Dinner was served in the blue dining room surrounded by walls framed in gold. Abby looked around the long table that was positioned low to the ground. She was surrounded by strangers speaking in Arabic. She examined the shimmering crystals on the chandelier. What if the Indian ladies are right? What if I’m pregnant? She thought.

  “My darling, tell me what’s on your mind. It’s not becoming of a lady to just stare blankly.” Maurice took a bite of his steak.

  Abby clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes. She thought about Dallas. She yearned for his email. She faked an animated face. “Maurice, I was thinking about our wedding. I really want the three ladies that are assigned to my living quarters, to be there.”

  “Of course they will be there. They will help dress you. They’re your servants. You forget you will be living like royalty.”

  “I didn’t forget.” She stuttered. “I want them to be like my bridesmaids.”

  “You want servants to be your bridesmaids?”

  “They’re my friends.”

  “You don’t make friends with the help, absolutely not.”

  “Then who will be my bridesmaids?”

  “Sabrina and Simone.”

  “Your lovers? That is so tacky Maurice, really.”

  “You will not speak to me that way at the dinner table.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s just that I really loved that boutique and I wanted to go back to pick out some bridesmaid dresses.”

  “Very well you can go tomorrow and take Sabrina and Simone with you.”

  “Will you be going with us?”

  “I will be busy planning our desert safari. We are going to have a traditional Bedouin style dinner by moonlight in celebration of our engagement.”

  “We’re going out to the desert?”

  “We are going to take an overnight trip and you can experience the sunset with me from the camp. I can be a romantic guy you know.”

  “But Maurice you know that I haven’t been feeling well. What if I get sick out there in the sand? Can’t you postpone the trip a little longer? Please Maurice.”

  “No. This is a special trip for us. Plus I’m looking forward to the sand surfing and the belly dancers.” He spoke to the men at the table in Arabic and they all laughed and grunted and laughed some more.

  “If I may be excused, I want to go and tell Sabrina and Simone about our trip to the Boutique.”

  Maurice gripped Abby’s wrist. “You may be excused. You may go to your Boutique tomorrow but if you so dare as to attempt an escape.” He exhaled. “It will break my heart but I will kill you. I have people watching closely. You will not get far from me in this city. Is that understood?”

  Abby averted her eyes and nodded.

  * * * * *

  The lights dimmed in first class and a flight attendant handed Dallas an extra pillow. He reclined his seat and refreshed the page on his laptop. While massaging his forehead with his fingertips he noticed an incoming message. It was from a good friend from the department of Information Technology. He had traced Abby’s email to an IP address coming from a store in Dubai Mall. He thanked his contact and gave his eyes a rest.

  Suddenly his satellite phone buzzed. Keeping his eyes closed, he switched on the headset.

  “Yeah?” Dallas’s voice was monotone.

  Javi’s voice echoed. “I’m in NY already. I’ll be on the next flight out to Dubai.”

  “Javi, I just got a location for the IP address on the email.”

  “You sound like you’re half asleep man. We can talk later.”

  “I haven’t slept in three days bro.” Dallas yawned.

  “Yeah, I hear ya.”

  “How are Jasmine and the kid doing?”

  “I put all their stuff in a U Haul and drove it down to Miami. Jasmine was too scared to stay in Tampa. I’m buying her a house on the beach. Hey remember Sgt. Louie?”

  “Yeah, I remember the Sarge. He was always bragging about how you saved his life.”

  “When I was stuck in that spider hole with Louie, he’s not much of a talker but he was shitting bricks…and he said if I got us out of there alive, he would give me his house in Miami Beach. I wasn’t gonna take his house, bro. But he kept saying, even a lifer needs a place to getaway. So I called him up yesterday and offered to pay him cash and he gave me a good deal.”

  “I thought Louie lived in Boston?”

  “He does. He had the Miami Beach house up for rent so I moved Jasmine and Samantha in there.”

  “Listen to you…Captain Santos is settling down?” Dallas chuckled.

  * * * * *

  The boutique was filled with women dressed in black gowns. Samira escorted Abby and her two companions towards to the large fitting area in the back.

  Abby fi
dgeted with her fingernails. “Samira, first I would like to take a look at the selection you have on the computer.”

  “Absolutely Abigail, I will be right back.”

  Simone grabbed Sabrina by the hand and they both trotted over to a glass display of twenty-four karat gold jewelry.

  “Abby, why don’t you come over here? This is what we want.”

  Abby approached Sabrina and helped her tuck a strand of her blonde hair into her head covering.

  “How do you continue to stay with Maurice after he hurt you that way? I saw your face the other night, Sabrina.”

  “That is none of your business. You’re only saying that because you want Maurice to yourself. Well you’re the one that needs to get out of the picture.” Her squinted eyes traveled up and down Abby. “Simone and I have no idea what he sees in you.”

  A skeletal Samira set up her laptop at the coffee table, in front of the lounging chairs, in the fitting room.

  “Samira,” Abby motioned, “My bridesmaids would like to pick out some jewelry. They can get whatever they want. I’m sure Maurice won’t mind.”

  “Of course, let me show you two our most exquisite collection.”

  Abby quickly logged into her email and gasped. Dallas had responded. Her pulse accelerated and she drew short breaths. She clicked on the reply button.

  Tomorrow we are going on a desert safari. We are going to have a traditional Bedouin style dinner by moonlight and we’ll camp over night in the tents. Maurice also mentioned sand surfing. There is a company that holds this type of tour.

  He keeps propositioning me. If I don’t sleep with him, he’s going to kill me. I’m scared Dallas.

  She quickly closed the browser and deleted browsing history.

  “I found the dresses.” Abby enlarged the picture of the first bridesmaid model she saw.