Captive- Veiled Desires (15 page)

“Mateen must be restless. He needs new toys to play with and the Americans aren’t so willing to give them either,” Adam grumbled.

“What are you going to do?”

“Go to Kabul. Speak to Jahandar. I need to administer damage control before Jahandar backs out of any deal.”

“Mateen is getting out of control. Something needs to be done to keep him in check.”

Adam picked up his bags quietly. Although Basel was right, it was Jahandar he was more concerned about for now. Mateen, on the other hand, had always been a sick bastard. He needed more than a tongue lashing to keep him even mildly civil.

“Adam, I know your prime concerns are Jahandar and the Americans at the moment. But don’t underestimate the problems Mateen can create for us,” Basel warned.

Adam nodded. He didn’t underestimate Mateen. He only hoped he could finish with this project as soon as he could and then get himself and Nora home. Perhaps, when Basel succeeded him as leader of Darul-Ilhaam, he could deal with the likes of Mateen himself.

HAPTER 12

Nora pulled on a new and fresh dress over her. A bath had done wonders to her tired spirit. She felt rejuvenated and ready to take on a different set of challenges life had to offer her. Such as Adam Afridi.

She smiled as she imagined him coming up to their room.
Their room. Our room, he had called it.

She reflected on why she had ever been afraid of him. He never had tried to hurt her. He had never even touched her without good reason. She gathered her wet hair in her towel and began drying it. Outside, stars lit up the dark evening sky. What would she say to him once he did come? Her heart mingled with both nerves and the eagerness to see him. Why? Because he was the only one she could really talk to, she reasoned. She was lonely and didn’t understand a word of what anyone spoke in this house.

The door flung open and she spun around keenly.

“I bring you dinner,” Husna announced as she walked hurriedly in with a tray of food. “You eat now?”

Nora looked disappointedly at her. “No, not yet,” she said hesitantly. She didn’t want to have her meal alone. She wished Adam would come to keep her company. But then again, she had no idea at all how long he would take to return to their room.

“Ahhh, you want to wait for husband,” Husna teased. “You good wife. Very good, very good.”

Nora stared up at her. This had nothing to do with being a wife. She wanted company; that was all!

Husna took the towel from her and began drying her hair. “You have beautiful hair.”

“Thanks,” she muttered. Her comment on being a good wife still irked her. And as if to rebel against that opinion, she now had an urge to gobble down the food.

“Why do you run away?” Husna asked curiously. “You no like it here?”

Of course she didn’t like it here. That and the little fact she was being kept against her will.

“I… I was angry,” she stuttered. She didn’t want any further trouble from these people. She wasn’t sure if Husna could be trusted with everything she told her.

“Why you angry?” the woman asked. “Adam
lala
is good man.”

Yeah, he was. So why was he associated with the likes of evil men like Mateen? Would it make a difference to her if Adam was indeed a criminal?

“Husna, what business does Adam do?” she asked slowly.

The woman stopped drying her hair, contemplating her answer. “You not know?”

“No.”

Husna fiddled with the ends of the towel. “Maybe you ask Adam
lala.
Maybe he not tell you for good reason.”

Nora turned around and clasped the woman’s bony hands. “Husna, he didn’t tell me because I never asked. I only want to know. I swear, I won’t ever tell him you told me.”

“Nora
khor…
”

Khor
… She had already picked-up that that was how women addressed each other here.
Khor
meant sister while
lala
meant brother.

“Nora
khor
, Adam
lala
help our people. He give us work and food. He look after our children.”

“Yes, yes, you already told me he is a good man.,” she muttered under her breath. “Then why does he hang about a scum like Mateen?”

“Mateen?” Husna let out. “Mateen bad man. Very very bad man. Kill our people. He…” She began to visibly tremble from her painful recollection of the man’s evil deeds. “He do bad things to my friend. Bad sex things.” She began to tear, sniveling slightly. “And then he kill her.”

Nora gasped. “Husna, I’m so sorry.”

The woman sat heavily into a chair, wiping her tears. “She was a beautiful person. Her heart, very beautiful. And face too. I miss her very much.”

She watched the woman’s ashen face with sympathy. Had Adam not saved her from that small prison in Paktika, would she have been killed too? Mateen had certainly come very close to raping her. A chill ran up her at the mere memory of him against her. She suddenly could feel his hands over her, his mouth running over her flesh. Her head began to spin and she clutched it, rubbing her temples to ease her pain.

“Nora
khor,
you must rest,” Husna said. “Desert heat not good for your health.”

“I’ll be fine, Husna.”

“No, please, I take you to bed,” she replied sternly, helping her up from her chair.

Nora sighed. Having left with no energy to protest, she abided willingly as the other woman led her to her bed.

She climbed into it quietly, her day’s adventure suddenly weighing heavily on her. She would only rest for a while and wait for Adam to return. She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the women’s murmurs outside the walls of her room.

“Have you come to try and make up for Mateen?” Jahandar asked as he walked into his living room.

“I heard about what he had done. If I had any idea he was going to do that, I would have dealt with it,” said Adam.

“Have you done anything about it now?” Jahandar raised an eyebrow.

Adam turned away, tucking his hands into his pockets.

Jahandar smirked. “I don’t know which I find more offensive. That you as the leader of Darul-Ilhaam have absolutely no control over your mentally instable members or that you failed to discipline one.” He stepped closer, leaning his face forward. “Do you see this bruise on my face? And this here on my neck?” He pulled open his neckline. “It’s not how I like to present myself to my precious clients, Adam.”

“I know. And I am sorry about that. I can assure you it won’t happen again.”

Jahandar shook his head. “How disappointing, Adam? Is that all you can offer me after everything I’ve done for you?”

“What is it that you want, Jahandar?” Adam asked sternly. He didn’t like where this was heading. After all his efforts at trying to secure contacts with the Americans, he seemed he was reverting back to the initial stages of groveling again.

“There is something I want you to do for me,” the man said cunningly. “Consider it compensation for Mateen’s errors.”

“What is it, Jahandar?”

The man smiled. “Tomorrow, I will let you know.”

Adam ran a frustrated hand through his hair. That fat bastard! He was taking advantage of Mateen’s assault. Jahandar knew how he desperately wanted to extend his business with the Americans. The question now was whether he was prepared to do whatever it took to meet them.

He stood by the window of his rented room. He needed some air, the stresses of his day taking a toll on him. Jahandar wouldn’t tell why he needed Hazrat Zawahiri hurt. Instead, he had given him no option but to stay the night in Kabul. If Jahandar wanted to know how desperately he wanted to make contact with the Americans, then he had been successful. Otherwise, he would have kicked the offer back in that bastard’s face.

But Jahandar was not the only matter on his mind. There was Nora. He closed his eyes as he traced her face in his mind. Her beautiful green eyes, her full and luscious lips. He sighed. He hadn’t told her he was leaving for Kabul. Should he have? She would be well taken care of by Husna and the other women.

He leaned on the window sill and stared out into the stillness of the night. He had wanted to tell her about his trip to Kabul but he didn’t know how she would react to the news. Would she have laughed at him? He didn’t want to forcibly have a relationship with her. If there was one… if she came to him on her own accord… He shook his head. So much for wishful thinking. Just because she was being a little civil towards him, didn’t mean she was beginning to like him.

The men were standing before her again. They pointed their weapons at her and Adam, just as they had done in the desert. But they were in the desert again! They had escaped the men. They had left the desert! How can this be?

The leader gave a cruel smirk as he cocked his gun at Adam. She began to cry and beg him to let them free. His finger played with his trigger, taunting them with every move.

Adam stood before her, protecting her. “Go ahead, shoot!” he dared the leader.

“Don’t Adam,” she begged. “He will kill you.”

“Shoot! Shoot!” Adam screamed.

The gun fired, letting out at shrilling sound through the air. She smelled gun powder in the air. A limp Adam fell to the desert floor, blooding the sands. She let out a scream as she fell down to his side.

“Adam? Adam! No, no, no… You can’t die on me! Adam!”

Her eyes flew open, her heart was racing. She awoke to blind darkness. And for a moment she panicked that she was blindfolded and held captive in some dirty prison again. She gasped, touching her eyes desperately. But there was no cloth binding her eyes. Then why was it so dark?

She was in prison, she thought breathlessly. She jumped out of her bed and ran looking for a window. She bumped into a table, stabbing her toes against its legs. She let out a whimper and slumped down into a chair to massage the pain away from her injured toe.