Sheik's Rescue

by Ryshia Kennie

  “The park’s secure,” Zafir interrupted as he joined them almost ten minutes later. He’d been running and he was breathing hard.

  “I hit him once. Possibly twice. After that, he managed to elude me despite his injuries. Although I’d say that he’s hurting badly. He dropped his gun. I’ve got it, so there’s that.”

  “He’s not armed,” Jade said.

  “Not that it matters much. I doubt if he’ll make it. He’s losing blood fast. It looks like an easy arrest or a morgue run,” he said with a shrug.

  Despite Zafir’s harsh words, Jade felt no sympathy for Stanley’s cousin. He was an assassin, more than likely a paid assassin. She just hoped that Zafir was right, that he was captured. She looked at Stanley. His expression hadn’t changed. He didn’t look shocked or saddened, just very annoyed. His cheeks were wind-reddened, his eyes bloodshot. The knees of his jeans were both ripped and his hair was mussed.

  “I’ve notified the local authorities,” Zafir said. “If he makes it, he’ll need medical assistance. He shouldn’t be too difficult to capture.”

  “Great,” she said, and turned to Stanley. “Let’s get you back to the apartment. It’s freezing out here.” She had him by the elbow as if preventing him from bolting again.

  Stanley stopped at the edge of the park, pulled his arm free and looked at them with anger thinning his lips. “Look. I appreciate you saving my life, again,” he said, contradicting everything he’d said before. “But I don’t want a repeat of this. If I were you two, I’d drop this assignment while I was still in one piece.”

  He glared at Zafir. “Like I told Jade, I’m going home. This needs to end now. It’s obvious that I’m the key to it all. I need to face whoever is orchestrating this. That’s the only way it will stop.”

  Zafir said nothing, but he looked as if he wanted to wring Stanley’s neck.

  “Stanley,” Jade said as she stepped between them. “For now, let’s get back to the duplex.” She took his elbow. “The rest can wait.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  They were a quarter of a block away from the park when they saw a man calling to a dog that was off its lead.

  “Stop!” Stanley commanded in a voice that expected compliance.

  “What’s wrong?” Zafir asked even as he stopped.

  “The dog’s going to get hit,” Jade said with horror as she saw what Stanley had seen first. She was out of the vehicle, just behind Stanley. Ahead of them, a border collie was in the middle of the intersection and a truck was wheeling around the corner. It was doubtful that the driver had seen the dog or that he would be able to stop in time. Stanley dived and in an unexpected move grabbed the dog, rolling out of the way of the truck, which honked as it swerved around them.

  “Gotcha, boy,” he said as he picked up the squirming black-and-white border collie.

  “You might want to keep him on a leash until you teach him to come when you call,” he said to the grateful owner, who’d run up to claim his dog all the while thanking Stanley profusely.

  “It only takes once and your dog is dead or seriously hurt,” he said with an authoritative edge to his voice.

  Jade and Zafir looked at each other. This was a completely different side of Stanley. He’d gone from near hysteria to determined rescuer in a matter of seconds.

  “That’s the other reason I need to go home,” Stanley said five minutes later as he sat in the backseat for the short ride to the apartment. It was as if he’d read her thoughts. “The dogs need me. And I miss them more than I thought.”

  “Dogs? The rescues?” Jade guessed.

  “Yes, I told you. Local shelter, I volunteer there. I use my nickname and what it’s associated with. Like I told you, Stanley was a cartoon character. The program is well known in Morocco. It’s nostalgia for the older generation, but they’re bringing back a new version that’s catching on with the younger set.” He looked at both of them and seemed to sense that they weren’t connecting with what he was saying. “Stanley—you know. Cartoon, funny. The name is well known, and I dress in character for various events. It raises money for the local shelter. Turned no-kill last year as a result.”

  Jade glanced at Zafir. Stanley was evolving from socially inept royal to a man who was becoming more likable as time went on. It was hard not to like someone who had just escaped a harrowing experience and then had the compassion and foresight to save a dog’s life.

  Minutes later they were back at the safe house.

  Stanley grabbed a can of Coke and sank down on the couch, slouching back as if his legs would no longer hold him. Zafir lounged by the doorway, his eyes on the window.

  “I know I agreed to stay at least a few more days. I gave you my word, Jade. We shook hands, and that means a lot to me,” Stanley said. And when no one spoke, his lips thinned and his eyes took on a determined sheen. “I know we talked about staying here just a while longer, and it made good sense then. But everything has changed.”

  He looked at both of them with an edge to his hazel eyes and a tight look to his usually full lips. “It’s my money that’s hired you,” Stanley said, and neither one of them bothered to correct him, to tell him it was Prince Rashad. It was a moot point. “If I want to go to see my uncle, then I have that right.”

  “We’ll discuss that later,” Jade said firmly. “First we need all the cards on the table.” She looked at Stanley. “Tell Zafir what you told me earlier.”

  Silence filled the room.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” Zafir gritted out. “There’s been enough foul-ups on this case.”

  “He already knows, Stanley,” Jade said softly. “Fill in the blanks in your own words starting with the trust fund.”

  Stanley stood up. The expression on his face was pained. He folded his arms and then dropped them. He sat down, plopping heavily down onto the sofa.

  “Uncle set it up for me. One hundred and fifty thousand American dollars a year for life,” Stanley repeated what Jade had already told Zafir. “Some of that was for the rescue that I work with. He knew how important that was to me, and he used it as kind of a bribe.” He shook his head. “I didn’t want his money, but the truth is, the rescue desperately needed it.” He worried his lower lip for a minute before continuing. “So I agreed. Although, except for the rescue, I would have gladly helped him for free. But the truth is that I need to work and couldn’t devote myself to Uncle like he wanted. It was kind of a catch-22. So Uncle fixed it so I could.” He laced his fingers together, his brow furrowed. “In the end, we reached an agreement that we could both live with.”

  “The trust,” Jade added.

  “Exactly,” Stanley said.

  “When did this happen?” Zafir asked.

  “We discussed it a few weeks ago. He told me what he wanted and what he planned to do. I agreed and the final papers were signed just before I booked the flight here,” Stanley said. “It was completely unexpected. I mean, when he presented the idea to me. But he’s getting on in years and he needs help.” He looked at them, with troubled eyes. “I’ve always been there for him, but now he wants me to live on the estate and take care of him full-time.”

  “That’s a lot of money, Stan,” Zafir growled.

  “It is, but Uncle insisted. He wanted to help support my cause, and he didn’t want to go to a senior facility or have strangers taking care of him. I don’t mind doing it.” He looked frightened and determined at the same time. “The trust is for the duration of his life, and it ends with either of our deaths.”

  There was silence. Zafir strode to the window as if there were answers outside the walls of the apartment.

  Jade was beginning to feel a connection to Stanley that she hadn’t felt for any other client. But then, he was different from any other. Young for his years and naive, but now showing another side, a more mature side and on
e she could admire. It was her job to ensure that he lived to act on the courage and caring he was showing now.

  “That cottage, that’s my bachelor pad,” Stanley said. “I was supposed to be there for the last week. Then I decided to take this trip sooner rather than later. Especially with our agreement. Uncle wanted me to move in with him as quickly as possible. I wanted one more taste of being free and single.”

  Jade turned, knowing the shock was registering on her face. “You never told me that.”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t think it had any importance.”

  “So, Stan,” Zafir said. “It’s safe to say that your cousin Mohammed followed you here intending to kill you.”

  Stanley frowned, and his eyes looked almost haunted. “I don’t know why. What did he stand to gain?”

  Zafir looked at Jade. She mouthed one word and he nodded.

  “Did you know, Stan, that recently your uncle redid his will, and you’re his beneficiary?”

  “Me?” Stanley sounded shocked.

  Jade looked at Zafir. It was clear that Stanley hadn’t known.

  “Your uncle didn’t tell you?” she asked with quiet assurance.

  “No. I...” His face reddened. “It’s too much. I don’t want...”

  “You can deal with that later, Stan,” Zafir said. “For now we need to figure out what is going on here. We know Mohammed has tried to kill you. The question is why?”

  Stanley shook his head. “I don’t know. Mohammed wasn’t close to Uncle or me. In fact, he’s not related to Uncle Khaled. He’s from my mother’s side. When he was a child he visited a lot, but always with his parents.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “Keep going, Stan,” Zafir snarled. “Some of this might very well save your life.”

  “Neither of us would choose the other as friends. As children we didn’t like each other. As adults we haven’t had much to do with each other. I don’t know why he’d try to kill me now, after all these years.” He stopped and worried his lower lip with his thumb.

  Zafir’s phone beeped.

  “One minute,” Zafir said, holding up his index finger as he stood up and moved into the kitchen area. “Yeah, Tara, what do you have, sweetheart?”

  Jade watched as his expression changed from welcoming to grim in the space of two minutes.

  Zafir put the phone in his pocket and came back to the common area, where he perched on the armrest of the couch as if poised to go into action.

  “Tell us about your brother, Stanley,” Jade said. She tried to ignore the fact that Zafir had just received information from that phone call. She could sense it from the look on his face and from the little she’d heard from his end. That would have to wait. It was critical that Zafir know everything that she’d so recently learned, because she sensed that they were running out of time.

  “Everything, including what you didn’t tell me.”

  He looked at her with surprise.

  “No more secrets, Stanley.”

  She touched the back of his hand as if that would sway him, encourage him. “Start with the recent text message on your phone.”

  “By the ears,” he said. “It was a horrid thing my brother would say to me when I was a kid. That phrase meant he was going to hurt me or hurt an animal I cared for. And I cared for them all, even the strays.” He looked away.

  She guessed that it might have been worse even than Stanley told her. She wanted to walk away, not hear it again. She had no choice but to stay.

  Stanley dropped his head into his hands before looking at them again. “It was the one thing he shared with me and no one else. My brother, Chasi, was the only one who ever said that phrase, ‘By your ears.’ That message on the phone was like a message from the dead.” His voice threatened to break. “Those words, they’re like seeing him again. But he’s dead, so who else knew?” He ran the back of his hand across his perspiring forehead.

  “When you saw the message on your phone, you thought it was him right away?” Jade asked. “Even though he’s dead?”

  “He’s been dead for twenty-five years. But I don’t think anyone else knew he said that. It was our little secret.” There was a quiver in his voice, and his hands were in fists. His face was white.

  “He was close to your cousin Mohammed?” Jade asked.

  “Sort of. As close as he could get to anyone.” He nodded. “I can’t believe it,” he muttered. “You’re insinuating that he’s alive, that he hired Mohammed. Then where has he been all these years?”

  “Did Mohammed spend time with Chasi?” Jade asked.

  “Yes, he did. He visited and stayed over many times when I was young.”

  “And he would have heard Chasi taunting you, maybe heard that strange phrase of his?”

  Stanley shook his head. “Maybe. I don’t know. What does this mean?”

  “I don’t have any answers for you, Stan, but I bet there’s still something you’re keeping from us,” Zafir said.

  Stanley shook his head, his face flushed. Silence pulsed through the room before he began. The stories of torture and cruelty that followed were more than he’d revealed before, and Jade felt sick just hearing it.

  “They said he was an uncontrolled psychopath. I was eleven when he was committed by my parents,” Stanley said softly. “That’s how they referred to it back then. Committed,” he repeated. “I was relieved. My life got better after that.”

  Jade looked at Zafir. What Stanley was telling them was unimaginable, but it was the classic pattern of a dangerous psychopath.

  “What happened when your brother died? Is there anything that stands out in your mind?” Zafir asked.

  “There was never a funeral.” He shrugged. “At the time I didn’t care. I remember that my father said that he thought something wasn’t right. But there was never any proof of anything. I know my parents had no idea what went on in the asylum prior to his death. We had no contact after he was committed. Chasi refused to see either of them.”

  “There’s no death certificate, is there, Stanley?” Zafir asked.

  “I don’t know about that. I’ve never looked,” Stan said.

  “Did anyone view the body?” Jade asked.

  Stanley shook his head. “We never viewed the body, not that I know of. I had nothing to do with the burial, and I don’t remember my parents attending, either. The hospital handled all of it, at least that I know of. I think my mother might have said a prayer or two. My father, he never spoke of him again.”

  “We just ran an official search,” Zafir said. “There’s nothing, Stan. As far as the Moroccan government is concerned, your brother’s not dead.”

  He bit his lip and sank deeper into the couch. “It was all odd, everything about his death. At the time I didn’t consider it much. I was too young to feel anything but relief. As far as the specifics, I never asked. I was told that he committed suicide at the institution and that he’s buried there. That’s all I know.”

  The humming of the refrigerator was loud in the silence that followed.

  “Who stands to gain from your uncle’s estate if you’re not alive?” Zafir asked. “Who is your next closest relative?”

  Jade looked at Zafir, wondering where he was going with this. They’d received a copy of the will that named Stanley as beneficiary, but nothing that addressed who he would bequeath his estate to if Stanley predeceased his uncle. That was odd, and it changed everything.

  “What are you suggesting?” Stanley’s gaze swung between both of them. “I get the impression that you think my brother’s not dead.” His voice shook.

  “Who inherits your uncle’s fortune if you’re dead, Stanley?” Jade asked again, softly. “Your uncle didn’t specify a successor, so it would be his next closest relative.”

  “Uncle�
��s not dead.” His voice was ragged. “You told me...”

  “He’s not, but officially it hasn’t been released who died when that cottage was destroyed. All they said was that an unidentified male died in that explosion. That’s why it’s so important to know who inherits next. Your brother might be a long shot, but we can’t rule anything out.”

  The words hung between them as the seconds ticked by.

  “If he were alive, Chasi would inherit, if how you say that will’s written is right, if I were dead.” He shivered.

  “In the meantime, there’s the trust. Who else knows about the trust?” Zafir growled.

  Jade looked at him with a question in her eyes.

  “The trust is evidence of a favored position. From it, one could easily assume that Stanley will inherit,” Zafir said. “Even without knowing about the will. I’m betting that’s why all of this has happened so soon. Someone got wind of what was going down.”

  “I think you’re out on a limb on that one,” Jade replied.

  “And—” Stanley looked at Zafir “—in answer to your question, no one knows. At least no one was supposed to but...both of you and no one else.” His voice broke. “Most of my relatives wouldn’t care...they have money in their own right.”

  Silence filled the room as Stanley seemed to struggle to collect himself. “Now you see why I have to go home.”

  “I know,” Zafir said. “And we’ll get you there. But you won’t be flying commercial.”

  “You’ll be safe,” Jade assured him, putting a hand on the crook of his arm as if somehow that would give him confidence.

  He looked at her and smiled. “I know. It’s about time I faced my brother.”

  “Let’s not make assumptions, Stan,” Zafir said. “Officially, for all we know—he’s dead.”

  Two hours later, the company Gulfstream was waiting for them on the runway. It was only a matter of them walking to the plane that sat two hundred yards away.