“Ma’am, a word,” the shorter of the two said, but what he lacked in height he made up for in muscular girth.
“Please, I...”
“Let her go,” Emir’s cool voice demanded beside her.
Andre stood just behind him, his silent and equally intimidating presence backing him up.
Everett slipped and she would have dropped him, but strong hands had him out of her arms and she was face-to-face with Talib.
“Yes, I’m sorry, Mr. Al-Nassar.”
The security team looked at the two brothers, who now flanked Sara. The men eased back, each gave a small bow and they moved away.
Everett took that moment to begin to snuffle, his face red and clearly ready to launch into something more epic. Talib put a finger on his lips and offered him a smile, which seemed to calm him.
“Are you all right?” Talib asked with a look of concern that made her want to sink into his arms. Her hands shook and her head ached and she looked up at him with relief. But that relief disappeared when she saw his face. He’d been banged up before but now he was much worse. One side of his face was entirely black and blue and he seemed to favor his left arm as if it was in pain. His hair was dull with what looked like dirt. All in all he was a mess, not the pulled-together man she knew. It was only the determined look in his eyes and the proud stance that was the same. Otherwise he looked like he’d been to hell and back.
“What happened?”
“It’s not important,” he growled.
“You were beat up,” she persisted. “What happened? Where have you been?” she asked, not meaning to sound accusatory.
“I was in a situation or two,” he said with a smile.
She couldn’t help herself, her finger ran along his cheek. There was something more, something he was hiding. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Let’s just say for now that I was broadsided, unexpectedly. I expect now, he looks worse than I do,” Talib replied.
“You’re sure? That you’re okay,” she said.
“I’m fine.” His left arm was around her waist as he held their son in the crook of his other arm.
“Talib?” Emir said. “I don’t mean to interrupt but we need to get some things sorted out.”
“Wait here with Andre,” he said to her and strode after his brother.
Sara sank down into a nearby chair, ignoring the big man by her side, her gaze following Talib as he walked away with Everett. The three were similar in so many ways, two men and a boy—family.
Something caught in her throat. Already, it had begun.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Where have you been?” Emir asked. “What happened?” he added before Talib could say anything to the first question. “Details this time.”
“I was broadsided. I can’t believe this, the second time...”
“Same unsub?”
“The one I’ve detained, yes. He’s not going anywhere.”
Emir nodded. “I didn’t get a chance between your call and Sara’s but I’ll get the authorities on it.”
“I was jumped from behind, thrown into a storage area that was hidden beneath the floorboards and left. I didn’t get a visual on that one but I’m assuming it’s the same guy. At some point, I heard him talking to another man. Don’t know who he was. But before that I found a name on a scrap of paper. Here’s where it gets strange. Like I told you earlier, I went to primary school with this guy. The guy whose name was on the paper. Like he was some kind of contact. I’m not sure what the connection was.”
“Son of a...” Emir shook his head. “I was worried, I never thought—”
“But you were going after me,” Talib interrupted as he eyed the bulletproof vest.
“Of course,” Emir said.
“I’ll get the other situation, your man in the cellar, cleaned up.” Emir looked over at Sara. “In the meantime, we need to get Sara out of here. As you said, the man behind all this knows she’s here. And you and me need to talk. I’ve got the office on alert, this case is moving to code red.”
They looked at each other, both of them knowing that a code red meant their agent needed backup. It was the most dangerous case, unlike white, which was the one least fraught with danger.
“I think it’s contained,” Talib said. “At least in the short term, if we can get Sara and the boy to the compound they’ll be safe. At least for now.”
* * *
FIVE MINUTES LATER the head of security shook Talib’s hand. “This breach in security is troubling. We’ve checked camera footage and it appears there was an intruder. He slipped in through a delivery entrance. This has never happened before.” He shook his head. “He’s left the building. We’ve verified that and we are in the process of beefing up the defective area. That doesn’t change what happened.” He looked at Sara. “I’m so sorry. We pride ourselves on the safety of our hotel. Can we offer you an upgraded suite or...”
She shook her head. “No, thank you.” She couldn’t imagine anything more luxurious than what she already had.
More effusive apologies went on before it was only the three of them.
“What happened, Sara?” Talib asked. “I know you told me the short version but I don’t understand, I mean I got how he came in, but you weren’t in the room. How did he know that? Was he watching?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know any of that. I’m just glad we weren’t there. I don’t think he expected us back so soon.” She looked at him. “He could have planned to hide in the suite and take Everett.”
He didn’t mention that there was no need to hide. He only needed to overpower Sara, not a difficult feat. A chill ran through him at the thought.
“Why did you leave the room, Sara?”
She shook her head. “Everett was bored. We were both going stir-crazy.”
“That’s no excuse. You could have taken Andre.”
“I thought it was safe. It’s not Andre’s fault,” she said quickly. “I slipped out, it was stupid.”
“Beyond foolhardy,” he said darkly. “Promise me you won’t do anything like that again.”
“I promise.”
He put his palms on either side of her face and leaned down and kissed her. “If something had happened to you...” He looked over at Everett. “Or him. I don’t know what I would have done.” He pulled her down onto one of the lobby couches. “Tell me what happened.”
“When I realized that there was someone there and that they might come after us, I knew I had to do something. So I pulled the alarm when it looked like he had seen us. We were going to head down the emergency exit and he—he...” She stopped as if to catch her breath, gather her thoughts. “He was headed toward us. All things considered...”
“You’re out of here.” He hadn’t meant to present the idea so bluntly. That was how he spoke to his brothers but this was Sara, the woman he... His thoughts broke off.
“What do you mean?”
He could see the panic run through her in the way her face went from pale to white.
“You’re walking?” she asked in a small voice.
“Walking? What are you talking about?”
“I know we’re in trouble and...”
“You think I’m washing my hands of you?”
She nodded.
“Are you out of your mind? I didn’t say I was out of here,” he said with disbelief. “I said you’re out of here. And I meant you’ll be going with me.” Leaving her was the last thing on his mind. Leaving his son, never. “There’s no choice now, you need to go to the family compound, where we can control access. I don’t want—”
“You’re getting no arguments from me,” she interrupted in a voice filled with relief. “Let’s go.” And with a frown that seemed as much pained as determin
ed.
“We’ll end this,” he said with gritted teeth, conscious of the boy in his arms.
“Let’s go,” Sara repeated as she slipped her hand tentatively into his.
And it was with that simple gesture that his decision was made. It was time to play hard ball.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The elevator door opened on the ninth floor.
Sara looked up at Talib. He could see the relief in her eyes. They both knew that after all that had happened she couldn’t stay here another night.
“You can’t stay here. The Nassar family compound isn’t so bad,” he said as he followed her out into the spacious hall.
“Just get us to safety,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “I won’t argue. And with any luck I won’t be running...”
“You won’t have to run from anyone ever again,” he interrupted.
“I knew this was no life to live even before I got on that plane.”
“You should have got on that plane a lot sooner than you did,” he said.
“I know,” she whispered.
“You’ll be safer at the compound. Until we get this thing sorted out.” He looked down and pushed a curl of hair off his son’s face. “I planned to move you there first thing in the morning. Now I don’t have to convince you.”
“I know there’s no choice,” she said. “I wish there was...”
“The game has shifted players and the last thing I need to be doing is worrying about you,” Talib said.
She looked at him with a frown.
There were so many things unspoken in that sentence. For by refusing to go to the compound, he knew that she blamed herself for his attack. She’d said as much.
He went to put his arm around her shoulders and winced as pain shot through his injured arm.
“I’m so sorry, Talib. It’s my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, you did what you thought was best.”
She shook her head. “No. Going there, to your family’s compound. It wffas like a line in the sand. I couldn’t do it. I thought I’d lose Everett to you and going there sealed the deal.”
“Me?”
“The Al-Nassars.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I should have realized sooner that none of that mattered as long as he’s safe.”
“He’s safe and no one is taking him from you, Sara. You’re his mother. You’ll always be his mother.”
She looked up at him with gratitude and something else shining in her eyes. He didn’t want to acknowledge what that might be for it frightened him and she looked away so quickly he thought he might have imagined it. It was a look that said that he was still her everything. Maybe that was only what he wanted to see. He pushed the thoughts away.
Instead, he thought of telling her about Tad. That he was dead and she didn’t have to worry about him, but something stopped him. It was a time crunch and Tad’s death didn’t eliminate the threat to her. He needed to get moving, put a stop to this. And the other reason was he didn’t want her to let down her guard. He’d rather have her vigilant and worried than... He couldn’t think of the alternative.
“Damn,” he said as he swung around. He needed to tell her. It wasn’t fair otherwise.
“What’s going on, Talib?” Sara asked, reading the look on his face like she seemed to do so easily. “Whatever it is, I need to know,” she said softly.
She was right. She was strong enough to handle anything. She’d handled months on the run, raised a baby by herself and kept the two of them from starving. She’d done a lot before she’d come to him.
“Sit down,” he said softly, directing her to a set of chairs in an alcove near her room. He’d held this news to himself for too long. It was time that she knew that the originator of this horror was no longer a threat.
“That bad?” she asked, but she sat.
“Tad Rossi was arrested in the States on assault charges. He ripped off an elderly lady at an ATM.”
She put her hand to her mouth, her eyes horrified.
“I don’t know how to put this. There’s no way to soften it.”
“Just say it,” she said.
“He died in police custody.”
Silence sat heavily between them. Her lips were parted and her wide gray eyes were shocked. She didn’t move, it was almost as if she couldn’t breathe.
He hugged her with his free arm. The embrace was brief.
“It’s not over, remember that,” he said. “I need you to be vigilant. Promise me.”
“I promise,” she whispered, but there was the first hint of a real smile on her face.
“We’ll get your luggage collected and delivered to the compound.” He put his free hand on her shoulder. She felt so small, so fragile. And then she looked up at him and concern was in her eyes and the way she ran her finger gently down one bruised cheek.
“You got this protecting us.”
There was no answer to that statement. It was true and he knew he would do it again. “If they breach those defenses, it’ll be the last thing they breach,” he said ominously. “No worries. There isn’t a safer place in the city, or even the country.”
“I know,” she said softly. “It’s why I’m here. I was just afraid.”
He looked at her as Everett ran his thumb along his earlobe as if that was normal, as if he’d done it forever. The soft feel of that tentative touch as if the boy was making sure he was real made it hard to focus on what was important.
She stood up.
He followed.
He looked at Sara and saw tears in her eyes.
His hand was on her waist. “You’re okay?” he asked.
She backed up.
“You’re afraid? No one will hurt you. You know that.”
She shook her head. “I do know that. I’m sorry, Talib I’m just...”
Shock ran through him. “You’re afraid of me. Is that it?” He couldn’t believe it. “You’re his mother, Sara. Nothing will change that. I just want a chance to know him and be his father.”
She smiled but the smile didn’t quite meet her eyes.
“Wait here. I’ll make sure the room is clear.”
A few minutes later he emerged from the suite. “It’s safe. Get what you need and let’s get out of here.”
She headed into the suite, looking back once, and he gave her a smile of encouragement but turned almost immediately to his phone. There was work that needed to be done and he was learning to do it one-handed with his son in his other arm. He needed to put the pieces in place that would keep them safe. Whether she knew it or not, this was no longer her game. It never had been—it was his.
* * *
“THIS HAS NEVER been anything but personal,” Talib said with a low growl in his throat. “He wants money and he wants to bring our family down.”
“He’s become more resourceful over the years,” Emir said. “From two-bit crime to possible kidnapping—”
“Never going to happen,” Talib interrupted.
“We know that,” Emir said impatiently. “As I was saying he’s evolved to kidnapping and blackmail.”
“On our side he may be more desperate,” Talib said. “From what we’ve discovered when he was contacted by Sara’s ex, he saw a cash cow.”
“The ex is gone and Habib has lost many of his men. Poor planning on Habib’s part, it seems everything was just dashed together. So now we have a desperate man ready to do anything. Is he still in Marrakech?”
“There’s no guarantees. The only thing we know for sure is that he didn’t take any kind of public transport out of the city. I’ll get Sara settled in Tara’s suite at the compound.”
“He’s smart enough not to rent anything in his own name.”
“You’re ri
ght about that,” Talib agreed. “I’ll get research to run some aliases.”
“That’s not enough.”
“I know,” Talib agreed. “I’ve put in an order to get a paper trail that takes Sara and the boy back to the States. With any luck, he follows that and the police can make an arrest.”
“And if not,” Emir said, “Kate and I are out of town on the weekend. There’s no getting around it. A friend of Kate’s from Montreal is getting married here in Morocco. They’re both geologists and are fascinated by the Sahara. Anyway,” he said with a look of concern, “we’re the only witnesses. But I think we have time. And our new hire, Khalid, is just off his first assignment. Don’t hesitate to use him.”
“I’ll be fine, Emir. I’m a professional.”
“Watch your back T, and don’t get cocky.”
Talib rubbed the back of his neck. “I think I learned that lesson a few hours ago.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Talib was on his phone again when Sara returned, his other arm holding their son, who was smiling and pulling his father’s earlobe.
He disconnected and asked what had been taken.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m packed and ready to go.” The clothes she had were all new, purchased and delivered in the hours when she’d first arrived at the hotel by someone in Talib’s office. Like Everett’s toys, everything had arrived without her mentioning the need.
He looked at his phone as if considering what he should or should not reveal.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“The police arrested the suspect two blocks from the hotel. Looks like he slipped in while a delivery was being made. Hotel security is all over that breach.”
“Who was it?”
“Not who I expected,” he said bluntly.
She stopped and turned to face him. “Who did you expect?”
“I know who is behind this,” he said. “It wasn’t him, but we’ll stop him before this happens again.”
Everett was clinging to Talib’s pant leg and chortling as Talib shook his leg slightly, making his son cling harder and laugh.
“You’re not telling me everything,” she said. “Including what really happened to you.” She was quiet for a moment. “You’ll tell me when this is all over?”
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