by Dana Marton
HE HELD HER through the contraction, drawing soothing circles on her belly. He wanted to stay with her until she felt better, but knew she wouldn’t truly feel better until his son was born, and things would get a lot more difficult between now and then. He didn’t want his heir to be born in this shack. So after staying with her for a few more contractions, and after he had a chance to rest a little, he returned to work in the tunnel.
“You know, I have assisted at birthing several times,” he called back as he picked up the screwdriver.
“You have?” Hope rang in her voice.
“Certainly.” He felt much better for having thought of that. “From an early age. I’ve helped with the birthing of my father’s prize Arabian horses at the royal stables.”
She grunted and mumbled something that sounded like “Thanks for nothing.” But he must have misunderstood that. His knowledge of the mechanics was a good thing.
But plan A was still to get her out of here and get her to the nearest hospital or clinic.
He dug until his fingertips bled. He couldn’t see them; he only felt the wetness. He was in a hole underground in the middle of the night. He was going by feel. He fought for every single inch, blocking the pain in his arms and legs, in his back. He didn’t care if he fell back into a bloody coma, as long as it didn’t happen until after he had gotten Isabelle to safety.
Nothing beyond Isabelle and his son mattered.
“Are you still feeling okay?” He made sure to ask every few minutes.
“Let me know if you come across an epidural kit.”
He could hear the pain in her voice. He dug harder.
“Someone’s coming,” she hissed.
He ran for the hole and lunged up. He was half in, half out of it when Darek burst in.
The man’s gun came up immediately. “What are you doing?”
“Found a hole down there. Just looking around, that’s all.” Amir pushed himself up all the way, keeping his voice steady. “Nothing helpful, unfortunately.”
“I have a plan!” Darek shouted, his stance full of menace. “If you mess it up, you are not going to like what happens next.” He walked over, crouched without moving the gun from Amir and glanced down.
“Relax. There’s no exit,” Amir told him.
“Or there is,” he said, “but she couldn’t go down and you wouldn’t leave her. How touching.” He stood and walked back to the door, where Amir couldn’t lunge at him as easily. “Just think, not long now and you’ll be together for all eternity.”
THE NEXT CONTRACTION came and took Isabelle’s breath away. She stifled a gasp. Amir must have heard it, anyway, because he glanced at her, shaking his head nearly imperceptibly. He didn’t want her to draw attention to herself, and she was fine with that. She’d already decided to hide her labor from their captors. Now that they had Amir, they didn’t really need her for anything. If she became too much trouble, the easiest thing for them was just to finish her off right here.
Darek was handing a phone to Amir. “Call Efraim. Time to set up our little meeting.”
Anger and tension rolled off Amir in waves, but he dialed.
“You tell him you’re trapped at the old county airfield. Tell him to trust no outsiders. Insist that the princes come alone to help you.” Darek paused. “Tell him you’re injured.”
“It’s Amir,” he said when the call was picked up. “Anybody else there beyond the four of you? Good.” Then he repeated the message Darek had demanded he relay. He finished with, “Trust no one outside that room. Do you hear me? You should all come, but no one else. Nobody else can be trusted.”
Then Darek took the phone away from him, closed it, shoved it back into his pocket. “I do like it when a plan comes together, even if it comes together a month late. You should have all died in that car explosion. You would have if I had been the one to set the charges. It’s difficult to find good hired help,” he taunted them. “I should have known and come to take care of everything on my own in the first place. It’s more satisfactory like this, anyway.”
“Why didn’t you?” Amir asked, probably stalling for time.
“I thought your death being linked back to me would be less likely if we weren’t on the same continent when the tragedy happened.”
“And now?”
“And now I think getting you out of the way is worth the risk. I’ve waited a long time for this.”
Amir shuffled to the side little by little, getting as far away from her as he could. And while she wished for nothing more than the comfort his arms could give, she understood that he was doing this to keep Darek’s gun pointed away from her.
He thought Darek would shoot now. The realization hit her and took her breath away. Amir had called the others. The trap was now set. Did that make him disposable? She felt for the empty bottle, her only weapon. Last she’d seen it, it was by the foot of the bed.
She was not going to go out like this. She kept her eyes on Amir, waiting for him to give some sort of a signal. They had no choice but to attack now. He had to see that.
But instead of going for Darek’s throat, Amir said, “Five foreign princes murdered. You know there’ll be a thorough international investigation. This is not something you can sweep under the carpet.”
“What murder? The five royals will board a private chopper at an abandoned airstrip to avoid the media. A day of aerial sightseeing that will end in tragedy. The chopper will plunge to a fiery death. If the investigation finds any evidence of tampering, the xenophobic, foreign-hating protesters will be blamed. How fortunate that the media featured them so prominently,” he said slyly, as if he had something to do with that.
She couldn’t care less about his gloating. She was just grateful that he hadn’t started shooting yet. She pressed her lips together as the next contraction came. She stood as still as she could, leaning against the bed and holding her breath.
Then he stepped back out the door and motioned with his gun for them to follow. “We better get to the airfield. The back road is all washed out, according to my local friends. Getting there might take us a while. And you know how I hate to be late. Punctuality is the courtesy of kings, as they say.”
Okay, baby. Not yet. Please wait a little longer. I can be very grateful for favors. Ask any of my friends. I’m thinking puppy.
The baby kicked.
“Leave Isabelle here. She has nothing to do with this,” Amir insisted. “Nobody but the other four royals know that she’s carrying my child. She refused to marry me. She doesn’t want her son to have anything to do with me or Jamala. They’ll be no threat to you.”
Sweat rolled down her forehead. Where was an air-conditioned delivery room when you needed one? And where were the drugs, most importantly?
“Indeed not.” Darek sneered. “Because I’m going to tie up all loose ends. But I’m not completely unfair. Khalid blood might make it to your throne if your sister plays her cards right. After consoling the proud Saida in her grief over your death, I might just marry her as my second wife. My son will be your nephew. And after my death, Jamala’s throne will be his. You must admit, it’s a certain kind of justice. For our friendship’s sake.”
Amir stood tall. “You are a disgrace to everything that is honorable.”
The pain that held Isabelle tight intensified. A gasp escaped her lips. Her hands flew up to her abdomen. Not yet. Please.
“Is she in labor?” Darek turned to her. “She better not slow us down. Having her body found in the wreckage is not imperative. She could always just disappear. As you said, nobody would connect her to you, would they?”
Chapter Twelve
The men outside were getting into their vehicles.
“How long does labor last?” Amir asked Isabelle, standing as close to her as possible, an arm around her waist, helping her to hold herself up.
Darek was arguing with the men, swearing at them for something, paying no attention.
“Average first labor? Anywhere from twelv
e hours to twenty-four. Or it could go on for days.”
He felt the blood run out of his face.
“I don’t think mine will,” she told him. “Everything seems to be progressing. Contractions are ten minutes apart.”
“I apologize.” Whether she blamed him or not, this was all his fault.
“We don’t have time for apologies.” She breathed loudly.
“If I knew there would be any danger to you….” He’d come to Wyoming with distinct plans for Isabelle, but those fantasies didn’t look anything like this. He had hoped for a couple of days together. Days of passion once again, but longer this time, maybe a week or even more.
He brushed his free hand over the screwdriver in the waist of his trousers, in the back, making sure his shirt fully covered it. “I’ve been a fool.”
Her gaze searched his. “For coming back to Wyoming? Not like you knew that you’d be attacked here. We’re not exactly a hotbed of criminal activity. I don’t think anything like this has ever happened in Dumont.”
He didn’t have time to waste. Whatever he wanted to tell her had to be said now, in case they didn’t have time later. “I’m a fool for not realizing right away that I wanted you forever. I should have known nine months ago. I should have searched you out right after you left that morning. I wasted all this time.” His hands fisted.
Ever since he’d gotten off the plane, things had gone from bad to worse. First the limousine blowing up; Bahur, his guard who drove the car, dying; him going into a coma. Which drew Isabelle into the circle of danger. And now his friends were headed into an ambush.
If any one of them died, it would devastate COIN. If all of them died, it would destabilize the region, and their countries would suffer for years, if not decades, in the ensuing power struggle.
Had Efraim understood his hints? When he’d asked who was in the room, Efraim had listed the four royals, plus Jake Wolf and Wade. You should all come, but no one else, he’d told Efraim. So six would come instead of the four, Darek expected. Trust no one outside that room. He hoped they understood that meant Darek, the only one of their circle who hadn’t been in the room at the time.
“When we are in the car, I’m going to distract them. I’ll take out as many as I can. No matter what happens to me, you grab the steering wheel and drive away as fast as you’re able.”
“Because I look like I would enjoy a car race right about now?” She was gasping for air.
“Because you look like you would do anything to have our son born in safety.”
She held his gaze for a long time; then she nodded, a single tear rolling down her face. “Our chances are not too good, are they?”
“I would have loved you. We would have had a good marriage.” He didn’t have time to say more.
Darek was turning to them, grabbing Isabelle’s arm to drag her after him.
“Out to the SUV.” His free hand held the gun on Isabelle. He knew he could keep Amir in line by threatening her.
Four other men stood around the two vehicles. Three of them had come with Darek; the fourth was their initial kidnapper.
One of the men shoved Amir into the back of the SUV; another tried to do the same with Isabelle.
“Let her sit in the front,” Amir told Darek. “At least let her be comfortable as long as she can be.”
A sneer crept onto the man’s face.
“You will have a wife someday,” Amir told him. “We were friends once.”
“So long ago I can barely remember,” Darek said but then nodded toward Isabelle, and the man holding her arm helped her into the front passenger seat before going around and sitting behind the wheel.
The other two men got into the back, bracketing Amir on each side. Darek went to ride in the black van.
“How far is it to the airport?” Amir asked the men when they started rolling.
“An hour, I guess. Anxious to die, Sheik?”
BREATHE DEEP. BREATHE evenly. Easier said than done. Isabelle braced one hand against the dashboard, trying to cope as best she could, which wasn’t going well. The baby was coming. She had to watch for some sort of a sign from Amir, at which point he would fight off the men while she drove away. Right. Was he insane?
But they had to do something.
He was not going to take out three armed men alone. Which meant that she had to take out the driver. She was closest to the man, so it was the only logical thing. Could she do it? Could she really kill a man in the middle of labor? It went against the whole “bringing new life into the world” theme of the moment.
And even if she did, and Amir handled the other two—that “if” being the size of Bow Mountain—there was the small matter of the black van driving ahead of them on the narrow road. She had no way of passing. Which meant she would somehow have to turn the SUV around and drive off in the opposite direction.
Sure. That would happen.
Except that it had to happen. Deep breath. Because she was not going to die today. She was going to give birth to her son, keep him safe, and she was not going to let the bastards have Amir, either. She didn’t know when it happened, she didn’t know whether she liked that it had happened, but she was pretty sure she was falling in love with the man, God help her.
He wanted to protect her and stand by her side and all that nonsense, and she was barely freaked out by the thought anymore. It was official. Pregnancy hormones did give her brain damage.
She gritted her teeth as a contraction came. Squeezed her eyes shut. Breathe. The pain got worse with each contraction. She handled it. Then the long, agonizing seconds were over at last, and her focus had to be back on their current situation again.
They drove through a wooded area, came out into an open field, scaring a couple of grazing antelope into the bush. But soon they were in the woods again. The black van got farther ahead of them, then disappeared around a bend.
“Now,” Amir said at the same time as he went for the screwdriver at his back with his right hand and stabbed it into the throat of the man who sat on his right. With his left he punched the driver hard in the temple. Then, almost simultaneously, he plowed into the man on his left, reached for the door handle and shoved the door open, causing both of them to tumble from the vehicle.
“Amir!” She slammed her elbow into the driver’s face with all her strength, then grabbed the gun from his lap, her mind struggling to catch up with what had just happened.
Driving from the passenger seat with her left hand was no picnic, especially since she was watching in the rearview mirror as Amir wrestled in the middle of the road, fighting for his life. He wasn’t going to last long. He was still too weak.
And he had to have known that, too, must have known all along while he made and executed his crazy plan. He had prepared to die so she could get away.
Blazing buzzards.
She aimed the gun at the driver, who was reviving and was trying to grab her. The mother of all contractions ripped through her. “Make my day,” she said to the man through clenched teeth.
Probably didn’t look too pretty, but it proved to be effective. The man assessed his situation correctly and took his foot off the gas, then jumped from the car as it slowed. Good riddance.
The giant SUV had enough room in the front for her to slide over. The black van was still out of sight up ahead. She made a shaky three-point turn as soon as the contraction passed, was ready to run the man over if he stood in her way, but he wasn’t that dumb.
She sped by him, going back for Amir.
He was off the road, rolling in the dirt by a stand of bushes, Darek’s man on top of him.
She put the car in park. Slid out. Stopped for a second to breathe hard. When the pain in her side passed, she marched up to the men and put her gun to the idiot’s head. “Let him go.”
The guy looked at her but didn’t seem to believe her.
“So help me God, I will shoot you dead right now, right here. I’m a pregnant woman in labor. Do I look like I’m kidding?”
It was enough to make him hesitate. Which was enough for Amir to punch him and roll out from under him. He grabbed after Amir, so she shot in the general direction of the guy. He took the hint, pushed to his feet and started running toward his buddy.
“Get in the car.” Amir grabbed her elbow and tried to drag her after him, but he was pretty beaten up, so it wasn’t immediately obvious who was dragging whom. “You shouldn’t have stopped. You could be a mile down the road by now.”
“You shouldn’t have planned a suicide mission. How could you? You are the father of my son!” She climbed in, holding her belly. “You ask me to marry you and then you try to get yourself killed? What kind of a follow-through is that?” She was yelling, anger furrowing her brows, but deep inside she was so relieved she could have cried. They’d gotten away.
The man Amir had stabbed in the throat had bled to death and Amir shoved the body out of the back, then jumped in behind the steering wheel. “You don’t want to marry me, anyway,” he reminded her as he put his foot on the gas and the SUV shot forward.
“I can change my mind. It’s every woman’s prerogative around here.”
He flashed her a surprised look while the car gathered speed. “Have you?”
“Not yet, but maybe I will. You’re not going find out if by the time I make up my mind, you’re dead!” Another contraction was coming. She was running out of breath.
He was grinning like an idiot.
Then the black van slammed into them, jarring her so hard her teeth rattled. Thank God she’d had the presence of mind to put on her seat belt. She craned her neck, then bit her lip in despair. Their enemies were right at their back.
“Go faster!”
“I can’t.” Amir’s face darkened. “They busted one of the back tires.”
Again, they were bumped. She held her belly. Being jiggled hurt like hell. “I don’t know what this is doing to the baby.” She cried out in pain when the next jostle came. “Make them stop.” She didn’t want to think what might happen if she hit her stomach.