Seduced by His Target (8 page)

“He won’t care.”

He was right, but he might not know that for sure. “Then you don’t know him very well, do you? He doesn’t tolerate anyone mistreating his family, and you’ve already hit me once. When he hears about this, how you denied me basic hygiene...”

She managed to shrug. “Of course, it’s your neck. If you want to take a chance on ticking him off, go ahead. But I wouldn’t want to get on his wrong side if I were you.”

Doubt flickered in his eyes. His shiny forehead creasing, he glanced at the empty warehouses, obviously trying to decide. “All right. But the man stays here.”

She slipped outside into the afternoon sunlight. He locked the door behind her, caging Henry inside. Inhaling, she glanced around, then headed across the lot.

Amir hugged her heels. “Where are you going?”

“Into that building over there. It looks open. And it’s big enough to have a bathroom.”

“We have to stay near the shed.”

“Stay here if you want,” she tossed over her shoulder. She didn’t break her stride. “But I’m looking for a toilet. It’s an emergency.” She doubted he would shoot her. If she knew her father, he’d order the men to bring her in alive. He’d want the satisfaction of exacting revenge himself. But she had to hurry and get Amir far enough from the shed so he wouldn’t see Henry leave.

The terrorist stayed close behind her, as she’d hoped. She ducked into the empty building, then zigzagged through the deserted aisles to the rear door at a rapid pace. Exiting on the back side, she scanned the piles of boards and concrete, then walked to the end of the building and stopped.

She turned to Amir again. “There’s a place around the corner I can use. But it’s kind of open, and I need my privacy.”

Amir crossed his massive arms. His gaze narrowed, and she held her breath, convinced he’d see through her flimsy ploy. “All right,” he finally agreed, proving he wasn’t the brains in this affair. “You’ve got one minute.”

“That’s all I need.” Giddy with relief, she scooted around the corner, then ran flat out to the opposite building, spotting Henry staggering her way.
They were free!
Now she just prayed they could escape Amir and the other men.

Catching up, she took his arm, then pulled him between the buildings and out of sight. “Okay,” she whispered. “We need to get to the river fast. We have to run.”

Still hanging on to his arm, she urged him into a jog. She towed him down a couple of side streets, sweat streaming down her scalp and jaw, terrified they’d be seen. But she realized instantly that she had a major problem; Henry couldn’t keep up. He slowed and stumbled behind her, his breathing growing more labored until he finally lurched to a stop. Wheezing like a steam engine, he grasped his head. “I can’t do it.”

“Just a little farther,” she begged. “We’re nearly to the river now.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry. It hurts too much. You’ll have to go without me.”

The hell she would. Her anxiety rising, she whirled around, desperate for a way to help him, and spotted a delivery cart parked nearby. She dashed over to the foot-propelled vehicle, tossed out a sack of potatoes and climbed aboard, ignoring a shout from inside the hut. “Come on. Get in. I’ll drive you.”

Henry tottered over and collapsed in the cart. Glancing back, she caught sight of Amir running toward them, shoving people out of his way.

Her pulse took flight, veering toward full-blown panic now. “Hold on. He’s after us!” She jerked the cart into motion, then pedaled with all her might, bumping down the unpaved road. Her breath sawed. Her lungs burned with the effort to propel the cart through the muddy ruts with Henry weighing it down. But then the road began sloping downhill. They steadily picked up speed. She swerved through a couple of alleys, still angling toward the river. The smell of fish grew strong in the air.

Then buzzards came into view, circling the garbage rotting along the bank. She came to a stop in the crowded street and scanned the boats, searching for a place for Henry to hide. She zeroed in on a long, wooden vessel loaded with crates, its outboard engine running as the driver prepared to depart. The driver stepped ashore a second later, shouted to a man working on another boat and entered a riverside shack.

She leaped down and helped Henry out of the cart. “That boat over there. The one with the thatched roof. Go pick up a crate and take it onboard. Then hide underneath the tarp.”

“I can’t leave you here.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be right behind you in another boat.”

“But—”

“There’s no time. He’s after us. You’ve got to go.”

Henry’s worried blue eyes held hers. And suddenly, a swarm of emotions brimmed inside her, words she wanted to say. But they didn’t have time for a long farewell.

“All right,” he said, relenting. “But be careful.”

“I will. Don’t worry. Now get on board that boat.”

He hobbled down the bank. Luckily, no one looked his way. He paused to pick up an empty crate, then climbed onto the boat as if he had every right to be aboard. At the last minute, he turned back and lifted his hand, and her heart made a little clutch. Then he disappeared beneath the tarp.

Her throat turned thick and she swallowed hard, suddenly feeling bereft. It felt odd to be parting company with Henry after all that they’d been through. And for the first time since this ordeal began, she was on her own. But she had to make sure he survived.

Needing to divert Amir, to make certain he didn’t notice Henry, she abandoned the cart and set off on foot, darting into the open road. She looked back, waited a second until she knew he’d spotted her, then sprinted past a row of huts.

A minute later, she swiveled around and spared another glance back at the cargo boat. The vessel puttered into the center of the slow-moving river, then started gaining speed, heading downstream with Henry stowed aboard.

She let out a shaky breath. She had no idea where the boat was going, or how Henry would get back to civilization when it eventually put to shore, but at least he was safe from the terrorists.

Now she had to worry about herself.

She started running again, knowing this was her last chance to get away. If she didn’t escape now, if Amir and the other men caught her, they would turn her over to her father, and she’d be dead.

The road came to an end. She turned and started uphill, away from the river, hoping to circle back. But suddenly Manzoor came into view above her, heading her way.

She slammed to a halt. Her panic surging, she detoured into an alley between two buildings and ran back toward the river again. But the alley ended abruptly with a barricade, and she skidded to another stop.

She peered over the wooden barrier. Twenty feet below her was a pile of rocks. She spun around, searching for options, but then Rasheed appeared at the alley entrance, barring her way.

Her heart missed several beats. She glanced behind her at the rocks again—but she’d never survive the jump.

“Nadine!” he called. “Come this way.” He started walking toward her, a gun in his left hand. And a terrible sense of betrayal seized her—because despite the kidnapping, despite his association with the other criminals, she’d wanted to trust this man. Some insane part of her had tempted her to believe that he was different, that his kiss had meant something important, that he wasn’t as bad as he pretended to be.

“Let me pass,” she begged.

“I can’t.” His voice was strained. “Not now. You have to come with me.”

She grabbed hold of the barricade and looked down. She’d never make it. The rocks were too far away. She’d break a leg or worse if she tried to leap. But that was better than facing certain death at her father’s hands.

“Don’t do it,” he warned. “Don’t jump.” Her gaze flew back to his. He was only a few yards away now, walking steadily closer, his eyes intent on hers. “You won’t survive it. And I’m not going to hurt you. I’ll help you. You can trust me to keep you safe.”

Could she? Should she? She searched his eyes, wanting to believe in his sincerity. And her mind flashed back to the gentle way he’d treated Henry, how he’d protected her from Amir. But if she guessed wrong...

“I promise you, Nadine. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

She had to decide. Manzoor waited on the hill above her. Amir was on the bank below. It was either jump onto the rocks or trust Rasheed—and take a leap of a different sort.

She sucked in a breath, knowing her fate rested on her choice. Her legs unsteady, hoping with every fiber of her being that she wouldn’t regret it, she let go of the railing and walked to Rasheed.

* * *

“Don’t say anything,” Rasheed murmured, relief barreling through him as he seized her arm. “Just play along until we’re away from the others.” He had to make this look convincing or he’d blow his cover for sure. He’d had a hard enough time distracting Manzoor, keeping him from reaching the river before Henry escaped in the boat. He couldn’t ruin everything now.

He pulled Nadine back down the alley into view. “I’ve got her,” he called to Manzoor, who was watching from the hill above. “We’ll meet you at the airstrip.”

“Make sure she doesn’t get away,” the leader called back.

“Don’t worry. She won’t. You can depend on me.” Needing privacy, he glanced around. He spotted an abandoned building beyond the hill, out of Manzoor’s direct line of sight. Making a show of being rough, he dragged Nadine behind the building, then hustled her through the door. They were alone for now.

Nadine jerked her arm free, panting hard. Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes sparked at his in the light seeping through the cracks between the boards. “What do you want? Why won’t you let me go?”

“I can’t.” God knew, he wanted to. But the truth was that he needed her help. And she was far safer in his hands than in Manzoor’s.

“Please.” Her voice trembled, the fear seeping through her bravado gutting his heart. “You have to help me. This is my only chance to get away. My father... He’s going to kill me if you turn me in.”

“What?” He stared at her, unable to mask his surprise. “What do you mean he’s going to kill you?”

She frowned, confusion filling her eyes. “Don’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“But...” She gave her head a shake. “If you don’t know what he’s doing, then why did you kidnap me?”

“I was following orders. I told you. I have a job to do.”

Her eyes searched his. “But you know who my father is?”

“Yeah.” He knew, all right. Yousef al Kahtani was the man financing this operation, the man who’d ordered Rasheed’s wife’s death.

“He’s been looking for me for years,” she said. “He wants to kill me. That’s why I ran away from home.”

Rasheed’s mind spun.
Hell.
He hadn’t expected this at all. “You ran away?”

“Yes, when I was seventeen.”

That accounted for where she’d gone, and it explained why the terrorists had captured her now. Her father must have discovered her whereabouts and ordered them to bring her in. And, if it was true, then she really was a victim in this affair. That fear she’d exhibited was real.

Still, he had to be sure. “Why would your father want to hurt you?”

“Because of his
honor.
” Her mouth flattened, her voice ringing with disgust. “He arranged a marriage for me when I was a teenager. To a distant cousin, an older man who has a higher standing in the royal family. But I refused and ran away.”

An honor killing.
He’d heard of those, of course. The archaic practice still happened far too often in tribal cultures in the Middle East. And he could imagine Nadine’s value as a bride with her bewitching eyes. Her father could aim sky-high.

“And you’ve stayed hidden during all this time?” he asked, still not completely convinced.

“That’s right.”

“How?”

“At first I stayed on the move. Later I created a new identity. That’s how I got through medical school without him finding me.”

Taken aback by her story, he studied her in a different light. If she was being forthright, that had been some feat. She’d disappeared so effectively that even the intelligence community believed she’d died.

“And you seriously think he’ll kill you?”

“I know he will. His honor is at stake. The cousin I was supposed to marry is the ambassador to the U.S. now. He isn’t the kind of man who’d forget. Neither is my father.”

Rasheed couldn’t argue that. When al Kahtani had caught wind of Rasheed’s investigation, he’d ordered the terrorists to kill his wife. He wouldn’t blink at murdering a daughter who’d impinged his honor.

“And it’s not just me,” she continued, rubbing her arms. “My friends are in danger, too.”

He frowned. “Why would he go after them?”

“He wouldn’t. But after I ran away, when I was living on the streets in Baltimore, I witnessed a crime. A gang execution. Well, one of my friends saw it, one of the girls I hung around with. I was just standing nearby. But the killer has been after us all this time. And if he finds me, if I appear in public and he recognizes me, he might be able to find them, too.”

“Christ.” Rasheed ran his hand down his face. This was getting more complicated by the second.

And her revelation changed everything. If she was telling the truth—and he strongly suspected she was—he now held the fate of an innocent woman in his hands, the one thing he’d vowed he’d never do again.

“Please.” Her green eyes pleaded with his. “You have to let me go. If you don’t, I’m going to die.”

Swearing, he spun on his heels, then paced across the room and back, his steps echoing on the wooden floor. His conscience demanded that he let her go. He had no right to hold her captive when her life could be at risk.

But he
couldn’t
let her escape. Not only would he blow his cover, but he needed her help. He urgently needed information about her father to have any hope of stopping the attack. If he gave up now, if he aborted this crucial mission, thousands of people could die.

He stopped and faced her again, the desperation in her eyes erasing any doubt. She was innocent. There wasn’t a chance in hell she was working with her father. And he couldn’t deliver her to her death.