My Desert Rose

by Kalia Lewis

  The door behind Hassan slowly opened and Tariq could make out the form of Murad sneaking in. Without focusing on him fully, Murad gave him a sign with his two fingers, showing him when to drop to the floor. All he needed was a few more seconds of time. "Tell me Hassan, what's Amira's part in all of this?" he asked as calmly as he could, although he felt like grabbing his brother and beating the living daylights out of him.

  Hassan scoffed. "I knew you were an idiot when you turned her down, so I consoled her and she turned to me. Her business skills surpass even yours and together we'll have it all. We'll have el-Tayeb and Saud's wells and own a huge chunk of the world's oil. Do you know how powerful that would make me?"

  Tariq knew there and then that his brother didn't have the mental capacity to scheme this big. He'd only been a pawn in Amira's game and now he knew who was responsible for the deaths of his men. Disgust turned his stomach. "You're a fool brother, you've been had."

  Hassan went almost purple in the face. "Don't bother signing the fucking papers!" he yelled in rage. "It's better that you're completely out of the picture." But before he could fire the gun, the sound of another one cocking against Hassan's back echoed around the room and Murad gave the sign to Tariq.

  Tariq immediately dropped to the floor, away from Hassan's firing range, should he have a reactional pull of the trigger.

  "Put down the gun Hassan."

  In all the years he'd known Murad, he'd never heard him sound so cold. He knew the guy was a martial arts expert, but he'd always seemed so gentle and unassuming. Something in his voice reminded Tariq of street fighters.

  Hassan's gun fell to the floor and Murad kicked it over to Tariq. "On your knees and put your hands behind your head."

  Hassan dropped to his knees and began to cry like a baby.

  Tariq stood up and kicked the gun into the corner. He didn't want to touch it. If it hadn't been for Murad sneaking up behind Hassan, he would have possibly been dead within the next few minutes. The higher powers that be had obviously decided that this moment was not his time of death and Tariq was relieved beyond measure.

  The office door swung open again and his father, Prince Saud and Rob walked in. The shock on his father's face was indescribable. Once he knew the full story, there would be no way out for Hassan and they all knew it. Before this day was over, he'd be on his way to a Yemeni prison, escorted by the police. The fact that Amira had thought up the whole plan to shred Tariq's reputation to pieces and bring his business to a grinding stop made him shudder.

  The real hurt of their deception was the lives that had been lost. Hassan only needed to have approached him about the company's shares and Tariq would have gladly made the changes. Tariq knew that if he were dead, Hassan would own nearly three-quarters of the business. This is what had driven Amira into her scheming, that and her anger at being rejected by him.

  Amira was still out there. According to Hassan's babblings while on his knees and faced with their father, she'd had a helicopter ready for her flight into Somalia, where there was a holding area for the storage of stolen oil. Rob was already on his phone, directing a small military team over there. Amira would be next and by the look on Saud's face, it wouldn't be long before she was found. Tariq shuddered again at the implication of her punishment. Prisons were one thing. Powerful, wealthy, royal Sheikhs were a law unto themselves.

  Tariq pulled Saud to one side. All he needed now was to find Katie.

  Chapter Twelve

  Miriam had been sitting in the tiny cubbyhole for hours now. The small space had required her to sit on her legs on a shelf. It was some sort of linen store. On the one hand, she was so frightened of being found, but on the other hand she was livid.

  Earlier, she’d followed Amira’s limo to the docks using Tariq’s little red car. Five years ago, Tariq had taught her how to drive around the grounds of their house, but this was the first time she'd ventured out onto the road. Not wanting to be seen, she'd even driven without turning any lights on and that had scared the living daylights out of her, especially while driving around those bends.

  It wasn’t that she was being defiant, she was just angry with Amira for not letting her come and be with Katie and Tariq. Amira was always bossing her around and spoiling things, but not this time. After parking the car across the road, she’d watched Amira and Katie board the ship. When the driver had left, she’d sneaked aboard, past the great big mean looking bouncer guarding the door. Just as she’d made it to the top of the stairs, she’d seen the back-end of a fight between Amira and Katie and she’d hid in the cubbyhole opposite.

  There was a vent on the door and she could see Amira with her to back to her saying something to Katie and giving her that awful witchy laugh. The last thing she saw was Katie fainting and Amira leaving, locking the door behind her. Miriam was about to come out when the big bouncer guy from downstairs came up carrying a chair and parked himself in front of Katie’s door. Panicking, she didn’t know what to do, so she had to think what Tariq would say to her if he were here. He would tell her to be quiet and to remain still. Remembering her mobile phone, she reached into her pocket, wrapped it up in a towel and switched it off, hoping that the beep didn’t alert the guard, but luckily he now had his eyes closed.

  Keeping her breath steady, as even a little cough would alert him, she tried not to move a muscle, waiting for when he would leave. A few hours later, it was the rattling of the handle and the banging on Katie’s door that had her looking through the vent again.

  The guard jumped to his feet and banged back on the door in warning. "If you know what's good for you bitch, you'll be quiet. The Captain's going to be real happy to see you!" Then he turned and hastily made his way down the metal stairs.

  Miriam sneaked out of her hiding place and made her way over to the door opposite.

  ****

  Katie had never been so furious in all of her life. Wanting to throttle someone slowly and watch the life seep out of them was not a great mental space to be in. What Amira had done was despicable. Katie had woken from her drug-induced haze about ten minutes ago. It had taken her a few moments to remember what had happened. Not only was her mouth dry, but her whole body ached like hell. Standing up and looking out of the small window gave her the biggest shock of all. No port lights, just endless black night and ocean. They were at sea. It was this reality that frightened her the most. That sense of being out of control of her situation. Within a five-day period, she’d been kidnapped twice, but this scenario felt very serious. Tariq had never given her any reason to feel as though her life was in danger, but this was peril at its highest level.

  Picking up the phone on the desk, she found a tone. Who could she call? She didn’t have Tariq’s mobile number, house number or even his office number. Annabelle was on her honeymoon and was letting all calls go to her messaging service. Her aunt and uncle were possibly on a flight home from the wedding in Texas and Wade had just started at his new offices. His new numbers were on her mobile, which was still in a guest room in Texas! Suddenly, the tone went dead and a voice spoke in heavy English.

  "Who is calling from the Captain’s quarters?"

  Katie sighed in relief. "Help me, please. I’ve been duped into boarding this ship and we need to go back to Socotra."

  The line went silent and then the voice laughed. "Ahhh, so Mrs el-Tayeb is awake. The Captain will be along to see you shortly." With that, the line went dead.

  Slamming down the phone, Katie tried the door handle and found it to be locked. She pounded on the door only to be told to be quiet by another heavy accent from the other side and that the Captain was on his way. What that meant turned her stomach. Knowing how they were capable of raping and murdering men, she shivered at the thought of what they'd do to a woman. She was contemplating her next move when she caught a small voice and a tapping from the other side of the door.

  "Katie, it's me Miriam!"

  Katie's heart leapt. "Miriam? Is that really you?"

  "Yes, the
guard has left and I don’t how long we have before he comes back and my phone has no signal."

  Shock and then elation fired through her. "Listen, Miriam, the Captain is on his way to see me and I don’t want him to catch you too. I’m going to have a better look around for something to pick the lock with, so stay out of sight until I call your name, okay?"

  "Okay, but this is very bad Katie, I think we're now at sea and Amira is a really mean person."

  "It’s okay Miriam, we’re going to get out of this and then we’ll tell Tariq everything. Now, go and hide until you hear me call you."

  About five seconds later Katie heard footsteps on the metal stairwell. This was it. Live or die she wasn’t going down without a fight. There had not been enough time to find something to pick the lock with or even arm herself with a weapon, so hand combat it would have to be.

  The door burst open and a huge African man entered wearing army pants and a khaki T-shirt. His head was bald and his neck was so thick it was almost an extension of his head. Big bad eyes stared at her. They were brown, but not of the chocolate variety like Tariq's. These were more like pits of sewage. Wearing army boots and a gun holster, his militant training was obvious and she began to feel hope slipping away.

  "I am Captain Cecil," he bellowed in a heavy English accent. It was the same guy who’d spoken down the phone and he had a slight lisp.

  Katie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his name. Seriously, here was a duplicate of Mr T from the A-team with the name of Cecil. It just didn’t fit with the physique. "Well, Captain Cecil. You're holding me against my will," she replied, as she stood with her hands on her hips.

  "Yes, I am." A leering smile broke out on his face. "And now I have a woman spitting fire at me in my room." He nodded at her. "Cecil likes a woman with fire. They are much more fun to break."

  A cold sweat broke out down her spine. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded.

  "Because I get a lot of money to make you disappear. But first, we play a few games with you. Like a cat and a mouse, no?"

  "Who paid you to do this?" She wanted to kick his nuts to the other side of the universe, but first she needed a few answers.

  "I will tell you because you're never going to escape me to repeat it, but it was your very own brother-in-law, Master Hassan and that booty wife of his." He greedily licked his lips. "Amira is a fine woman, makes Cecil a very happy man, just like you’re going to do. I have some excellent plans for you."

  Ugh, she couldn’t think of anything more vile than his great big hands pawing at her body. Not moving an inch, she planned to allow him to get in close before elbowing him in the gut and grabbing that gun. The only other issue she had was the bruiser guard behind him, who was standing in the doorway.

  Cecil loomed closer and reached out to grab at her breast, tweaking it hard. Rage so stark threatened to burst forth from her lungs. What was it that made a man think he could just disempower a woman and touch her against her will?

  "Nice titties for Cecil," he murmured, as pure evil ran over his face.

  Not moving to repulse him, she needed him to take at least another step forward, which he did in his greed for the other breast. Katie nearly vomited at the impact, and she had to fight her impulse to knock his hands away and jump on him to scratch out his eyeballs. The size of this guy meant that timing was crucial. If she was off by a millimetre in her attempt to wind him, then she would lose the whole war.

  Just when he was licking his lips again in his malicious greed and pressuring his fingers around her breasts, she watched over his shoulder as the guard behind Cecil crumpled to the floor. It took her a moment to register him falling. Had he just fainted?

  The sound of his body as it hit the carpet caused Cecil to let go and turn around. Katie took that moment to kick him hard between the legs, right in his ugly bulge. Cecil howled and she clearly heard his neck click as he swung his head in her direction to lunge for her. His great big paws were aiming for her neck when she heard a crack and his eyes suddenly glazed over. Katie wondered what the hell was going on. Cecil began to sway on the spot and then he staggered towards her. Moving out of his way, she watched in disbelief as he toppled head first over the desk and landed in an unconscious heap on the floor.

  "What the -" Katie whipped her head back to the door to find Miriam standing there with a great big black metal iron in her hands.

  "I erm...found it in the linen closet and I used it as they were being really nasty to you."

  Katie’s mouth fell open. "Shit Miriam! Way to go!" The shock at what could've happened was now registering and she rubbed at her sore breasts. There would definitely be bruises there. Going around the desk, she bent over Cecil and took the small handgun from its holster, checking to see if it was loaded. It was. Having only ever pulled a trigger during clay-pigeon shooting, she'd never had to aim a gun at something living before. She hesitated for a moment, but then logic held sway. If his men were anything like their Captain, they’d be animals, so if it came down to life or death, she’d pull the trigger. Checking his pockets for keys, she murmured to Miriam, "Get the door keys from the guard." Happy that he had nothing else in his pockets, she checked the phone again, dead, so she unplugged the lead from the wall just in case. Turning to look at a white-faced Miriam, she handed her the phone and spoke softly. "Now, just a few pictures of our Cecil and then let’s get out of here." Taking out her camera, she took some shots of the perpetrator, who was possibly responsible for the deaths of Tariq's men.

  Once she'd finished, between them they pulled the guard further into the room as he was blocking the doorway. After closing the door, they locked it and put the iron and phone in the linen cupboard. Katie knew that hiding the phone and locking the brutes in the room wouldn't give them much time. Someone would eventually come looking for Cecil, but it meant that they could work out what to do next.

  "So, what now?" asked Miriam, as her big brown eyes looked worriedly into Katie’s.

  "Do you have your mobile phone?"

  "Yes, but the last time I checked there was no signal."

  "But you have Tariq’s number, right?"

  Miriam nodded. "I know it off by heart and I have his office number programmed into my mobile."

  "Okay, so we need a phone to ring Tariq on and also a hiding place."

  Katie headed for the stairs.

  Miriam followed her mumbling. "I wish Tariq was here, he'd know where to hide."

  Katie didn’t know what she was mumbling about, but her gut instinct told her that the phone to use would be the one in the Captain's bridge and she remembered the glass room at the top of the ship. Once they'd made contact with Tariq, the best place to hide would be in the lower part of the ship. Going down the stairs to the bottom, she looked out of the glass in the top part of the door. This was the door that Amira had brought her through, but men were milling about outside. The ship was well lit, so if they left, they would be seen.

  Thinking beck to Cecil, she remembered that it had taken the guard only a few minutes to bring him to the room, so the entrance to the bridge couldn't be far away. Another corridor led off past this exit. "Come on, looks like there's another set of stairs at the end."

  Just before they reached the stairs, they heard men's voices and footsteps on the metal treads. "They're coming down the stairs," she whispered to Miriam. "We'll have to back-track."

  "What about in here?"

  Miriam had found yet another cupboard. This time it was a janitorial store. They quickly jumped in before the men rounded the corner of the stairs. Hardly breathing as they passed by the door, Katie realised just how much she was shaking. In the musty air of the dark space, she grabbed hold of Miriam's cold fingers and gave them a quick squeeze. "I think the coast is clear now."

  The stairwell not only led to an upper floor, but it also went down to the lower bowels of the ship. There was a sign written in Arabic on the wall. Katie could speak it well, but she hadn't read or written Arabic since she was si
x years old. "What does the sign say, Miriam?" she asked quietly.

  "Down leads to the engine room and store and up leads to the bridge."

  Katie sighed with relief. All they had to do was go up to the bridge, make the call, and then follow the stairs down and hide in the store. "Okay, first we go up." Both of them had Van sneakers on. Katie wanted to laugh at the image they presented. Miriam was dressed in black linen bottoms, a white overshirt and a black hijab scarf. Katie had changed before meeting Amira in the car into her jeans and a light, pale blue jumper. They were an odd combination of total opposites, as in east meets west, yet they were on a mission as one team.

  Quietly climbing the stairs several floors high, they met two doors at the top. One led to the roof and the other led to the bridge room. Looking through the window in the top half, Katie could see a man sitting with his back to them looking at the dials and screens in front of him. Scanning further around the room, she made out a pile of rope on the floor in the corner.

  Taking the gun out of her pocket, she released the safety catch and slowly turned the handle of the door, silently stepping inside. Coming up at the rear of the man, she placed the gun to the side of his temple.

  The man stilled his hand over what he was doing and just blinked.

  "Move and I will pull the trigger." She nodded to Miriam and indicated to the rope with her other hand. "Very slowly, I want you to get out of the chair and kneel on the floor with your hands behind your back." For a few seconds he didn't move and Katie was worried that either he didn't understand English or that she wasn't convincing enough, so she cocked the trigger. The seriousness of the sound caused the man to move quickly to his knees. Obviously, he understood English very well.