Desert Rogues Part 2 (34 page)

“A young man was arrested today,” Reyhan said. “He was stealing replacement parts for the oil rigs. We're not sure if he planned to sell them on the black market or sabotage them and put them back into inventory.”

“Faulty parts could create an economic and ecological disaster.”

Reyhan nodded approvingly at her grasp of the situation. “Exactly. His friends are being rounded up and will also be arrested. The man we caught, Fadl, has been unwilling to tell us what he's up to. I want to talk to him and see if I can convince him to cooperate.”

She remembered what Reyhan had said about the nomads' need to be free. “Will he go to prison?”

“Probably. It depends on the seriousness of his crime. In this case, simply stealing would be a relief to everyone.”

“An odd reality.”

He smiled. “How true.”

She turned away because she didn't want to smile back. She didn't want to feel that things were once again well between them. How could he act as if nothing was wrong?

She stared out the window and reminded herself that he had made it clear from the beginning that he
wanted
her out of his life. She'd been the one to forget that and try to change the rules. Was it his fault he hadn't agreed?

“There is a small camp of nomads by the oil station,” he said. “They are friendly and you will be safe in their company. Even so I will assign two men to stay with you. Just in case.”

“That's fine. Are there any cultural rules I should keep in mind?”

“No. Simply be yourself and they will adore you.”

As I do.

He didn't speak the words, but Emma heard them. They hung in the silence between them as loud as the engine. She looked at Reyhan, but he was staring out of his window and she couldn't see his expression.

A trick of her own imagination, she told herself. Nothing more. Her feelings for him weren't going to change anything and she had to remember that.

They touched down about an hour later. Emma saw the low buildings clustered together and the oil rigs beyond. To the left, a dozen or so tents were pitched close to the bubbling oasis. Reyhan had told her the pool was fed by an underground spring.

He climbed out of the helicopter first, then held out his hand to assist her. She took it and instantly felt the warmth of his fingers. Weakness invaded her, a weakness she had to learn to control and eventually conquer.

In time, she promised herself. She would heal in time.

 

Reyhan entered the interrogation room and stared at the young man sitting there. Fadl was all of eighteen, slightly built and sullen looking. The youngest son of a powerful chief. While he would not have inherited all his father's wealth, he could have made a good life for himself with the tribe. Instead, he'd chosen to take what he wanted.

“You have crossed me,” he told the young man. “You knew that your father didn't want you harmed or arrested. He thought you would come to see the error of your ways. But I am not a foolish old man who still indulges a spoiled child. I am Prince Reyhan of Bahania and now we will play by
my
rules.”

Fear flickered in Fadl's eyes. “That's a load of bull. You can't hurt me. You promised my father.”

Reyhan allowed himself a small smile. “I agreed to let you run around and play at being a man until you broke the law. Which you did by stealing parts. Now the deal doesn't exist and you are mine.”

The young man squirmed in his seat. “I don't believe you.”

“Good. I will enjoy putting you in prison. Because of you, the oil rigs must be checked for sabotaged parts. That will cost my country hundreds of thousands of dollars. As I know you have no funds of your own to compensate me, I will take what I can out of your hide.”

Fadl visibly paled. “How did you know that's what we were going to do?”

Reyhan kept his expression impassive. He'd guessed correctly. Now he simply had to get the details from the boy and let Will deal with damage control.

“What made you think you could succeed?” Reyhan asked. “You know nothing of the oil equipment. You certainly haven't worked the rigs.”

Fadl shifted in his seat. “I don't want to go to prison.”

“You don't have a choice. The question on the table is for how long. Please me and I will make sure your time there is almost pleasant. Annoy me and I will find a particularly uncomfortable place for you to call home.”

There were several seconds of silence. In the end, fear won.

“It wasn't us,” Fadl admitted. “Not really. A bunch of us were at a bar in El Bahar and we were trying to come up with a plan. This guy approached us. He said he'd been listening and that we were amateurs. If we wanted to make some big money, we needed to hire professionals. So we did.”

Reyhan's blood ran cold. He crossed to the door, pulled it open and yelled for Will to join them.

Fadl told them everything. The name of the man whom they'd hired, how many associates he'd brought into Bahania and how much Fadl and his gang were to pay them.

“We haven't put back any bad parts,” Fadl said frantically. “They're all in our camp. You have to believe me, Prince Reyhan. I swear. We were just after the money and this seemed like an easy way to get it.”

Reyhan stared at him with loathing. “See if you feel that way after your stay in prison.”

 

Emma wandered around the oasis. Her bodyguards kept far enough away that she was able to forget about them. As she'd seen before on her outing with her parents, there were children playing and filling the afternoon with the sound of laughter. Several small dogs tumbled over each other in a game only they could understand. Women clustered together sewing and cooking and sending glances her way.

A little girl of about seven or eight ran up to her and offered a plate of dates. Emma smiled her acceptance and bit into one. Soon another little girl joined them, then another and another.

“I can't eat all these,” Emma said with a grin as she touched the closest girl's smooth dark hair. “But thank you for offering.”

A little boy tugged on her sleeve. She bent down to his level and he pulled on her head covering. She reached up and slipped it down to her shoulders. All the children gasped at the sight of her red hair.

“I know. Not the usual thing,” she said happily.

A girl reached out to touch it, then shrank away. Emma laughed.

“It's all right. It doesn't burn.” She stroked her hair herself, then took the girl's hand in her own and brought it to the side of her head. The child touched her lightly, giggled and touched her again. The other children crowded close.

“My, my, my. Aren't you a pretty lady?”

At the sound of the male voice, the children scattered. Emma stood and turned, only to come face-to-face with two tall, armed strangers. Her bodyguards were nowhere to be seen.

“You're American,” she said, trying not to betray her nervousness.

The man closest to her grinned. He had close-cropped blond hair and a tattoo of a snake on his forearm.

“Good guess,” he said and stepped behind her. Before she could make a move, he had grabbed her and pulled her close, then pressed a knife to her neck. “And you're our prisoner.”

 

“What the hell were you thinking?” Will demanded as he paced in front of Fadl. “You hired a man you met in a
bar.
Didn't it occur to you that he wasn't just a military consultant? Didn't you think you were getting in over your head?”

Fadl looked miserable, young and scared. “He said if we didn't do what he wanted, he'd kill us.”

Reyhan stared at the boy. “You
wanted
to get caught,” he breathed. “You need our help to get out of this mess.”

Fadl nodded frantically. “Prince Reyhan, please. They're out of control. You have to help me. Help all of us. We're sorry. We didn't mean for any of this to happen.”

“Of course you did. But now you've got a tiger by the tail and you don't know how to keep it from eating you.” He looked at Will. “This is your area of expertise.”

“I'm on it,” his security chief told him. “I'll call in a team from El Bahar and—” he glanced at Fadl “—elsewhere.”

Reyhan knew Will meant the City of Thieves, a secret city in the middle of the desert on the border with El Bahar and Bahania.

“I know the head of security there,” Will continued. “Rafe Stryker and I have worked together before.”

“Good.”

Will started to leave, but before he reached the door, a man burst into the room. He ran to Reyhan.

“She was taken by two Americans. They shot one of the men guarding her and knocked out the other. They have Princess Emma.”

Reyhan went very still and very cold. He looked at Fadl. “If she is harmed in any way, the desert will run red with your blood.”

“S
o how many millions are you worth, sweetheart?” the man with the tattoo asked as he pushed Emma into the back of a truck.

The gag in her mouth made it impossible to speak, so she could only glare her rage.

“I didn't know Prince Reyhan was married or I would have planned this better,” the man said with a grin. “Guess I just got lucky today. Don't worry. No one wants to hurt you. I thought those unhappy kids would be our ticket to the easy life, but they turned out to be all talk. When it came right down to doing the dirty work, they got scared. Said they didn't want to blow up any oil wells. So I figured I'd wasted my time. Then you came along.”

Emma wanted to shriek her outrage. She couldn't believe this was happening. If she could just get her hands loose she would claw her kidnapper's eyes out.

Her anger pleased her. It meant she wasn't going to be immobilized by fear. She had to stay strong so that when the time came she could escape.

The man fingered a strand of her hair. “I'm guessing your old man is going to pay through the nose to get you back in his bed.”

A knife flashed. Emma jumped back but not before her capture sliced off a lock of her hair.

“Just so he knows I'm not bluffing,” the man said, and slammed the door.

She found herself alone and in darkness. The hum of a motor and cool air blowing over her told her there was an air-conditioning unit. At least she wouldn't die of heat exhaustion.

Don't give in to the fear, she told herself. She had to stay strong. She had to be prepared. The men who had taken her weren't going to kill her. She was too valuable for that. They wanted money, and lots of it.

Feeling her way along the inside of the compartment, she found a bench seat and lowered herself onto it. Her hands were tied behind her. Ropes cut into her wrists and as she struggled to loosen them, her shoulders began to ache.

How long would it all take? She knew that however much Reyhan might want her gone, he wouldn't ever just leave her like this. She knew he would rescue her. But when? And how could she hang on until then?

 

Fadl shrank back in his chair. He looked far younger than his eighteen years. “I swear I didn't know,” he said as tears filled his eyes.

Reyhan didn't care. “You are responsible. I should kill you now.”

Will grabbed his arm. “Killing him won't help. We have a situation.”

He glared at his security chief. “They have taken my wife.”

“I know. We'll get her back.”

Reyhan felt himself consumed by the fires of rage. He wanted to destroy with his bare hands. He wanted, at his feet, the broken and bleeding body of the man who had dared to take Emma, and then he wanted the opportunity to kill him a second time.

Fear lurked inside him, as well. Fear for her and what she must be feeling. Fear that she wouldn't believe he would move the rotation of the earth itself to get her back. He'd been so cold, had rejected her so many times. His efforts to convince her he didn't care had been too successful by far. What if she thought he wouldn't be bothered?

He clenched his hands into fists and turned to Will. “Find out how much they want. This is all about money.” Will nodded and left.

Reyhan glared at Fadl. “Your attempts to play at danger have cost me something precious. You will pay, as will your entire family. The cost will bleed down through a hundred generations of your people.”

Fadl hung his head. “I'm sorry,” he whispered through his tears.

Reyhan walked out of the room. He needed to move, to act, to do something. Instead he could only wait for information. In the main security center, a dozen men worked phones and computers. His security chief walked over to him.

“Reinforcements will be here within the hour,” Will said. “Troops are coming in from El Bahar and the City of Thieves. I've got my best computer guy working on a special kind of Trojan horse. Basically it allows the ransom to show up in the offshore account, but it's only good for ninety minutes. Then poof, the money isn't there anymore.”

“That doesn't give us much time to get Emma back,” Reyhan said, knowing he would gladly pay any price for her safe return.

“We set up the exchange so that we're face-to-face when it happens. We see Emma, we send the money transfer. They get notification of the deposit and they release her. It should only take about five minutes. That gives us the rest of the time to get the hell away.”

“Do it,” he said.

Will nodded. “Just as soon as they tell us how much. We should—”

A young man in uniform came running up. “Sir, we've heard. Sixty million in euros. I have the account number.”

Will looked at Reyhan who nodded. “Agree to it.”

The young man swallowed. “There's something else, sir.” He glanced from Will to Reyhan and back. “A storm. It didn't look like much an hour ago, but now…” His voice trailed off.

Reyhan's chest tightened. “Sandstorm?”

The officer nodded. “It looks bad.”

Reyhan stared at Will. “The helicopters won't be able to fly.”

Which meant the reinforcements wouldn't arrive anytime soon and Reyhan couldn't fly Emma to safety.

“We could stall them,” the young man said. “Explain that it takes time to raise that kind of money and—”

“No!” Reyhan's gaze narrowed. “My wife is not to stay with them one second more than necessary. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. Of course.” He scurried away.

Will shook his head. “It's more risky without the backup but we can still make it happen.”

“We have no choice. If necessary, I will fight them all myself.”

 

The tattooed-snake guy who turned out to be called Billy pulled Emma out of the truck.

“Looks like this is your lucky day, too, sweetheart,” he said as he helped her to the ground. “Your old man is going to pay up. Sixty million euros. Not bad for an afternoon's work.”

She was stunned. Sixty million euros? That was close to sixty million dollars. An insane amount of money. She couldn't imagine there was that much wealth in the whole world. Reyhan couldn't pay that. Just the thought of it made her sick to her stomach.

“You look shocked,” Billy said. “Don't be. These prince guys really have a thing about other men hanging around their women. Of course I thought he'd try to negotiate me down a little, but he didn't. I'm not going to complain. That's twenty million for each of us.”

She glanced around the camp. The sky had darkened and the air seemed thick, but she could still make out nearly two dozen men. She looked at Billy.

He nodded. “I know what you're thinking. There's more than three of us here. But see, these aren't my guys. They're those kids who hired us. The ones who chickened out. So I say screw 'em. Me and my boys will be long gone with the money while these stupid kids take the fall. Good plan, huh?”

She nodded and wondered how she could get the information to Reyhan.

“Hold on,” Billy said, and tugged at her gag. When it was removed, she sucked in a breath of air.

“Better?” he asked.

She nodded, her mouth too dry for her to speak.

He glanced at the sky. “There's a storm coming. Good for us, bad for them. They would have called in for help, but it ain't coming in the middle of a sandstorm. Come on, Princess. Your ride is this way.”

Emma followed the man. As she walked, she tried to figure out how long she'd been held in the truck. She would guess two or three hours at most. With clouds rolling in and covering the sun, there was no way for her to judge time that way. The air was so thick with sand that it was difficult to breathe.

Should she try to escape? If Reyhan had made a deal, maybe it would be better to go along with the plan. But she wanted him to know that the young men they had captured had nothing to do with the trouble.

 

“Be prepared,” Reyhan told Will. “If things go badly and we can't get away in time, there could be a fight.”

“Agreed.” Will patted the gun at his side. “My men are ready.”

Reyhan was also armed and determined. He'd given firm instructions that no one was to do anything until Emma was back in his arms. Once she was safe, their side would walk away.

“Is your team in place?” he asked Will.

The other man nodded. “They'll get behind the trucks and put on the tracking devices. Then when the storm lifts, we'll send in an armed contingent to take them.” He grinned. “They won't know what hit them.”

“Good.”

Reyhan's first instinct was to punish the men immediately, but he had to think about Emma. Getting her to safety was his primary concern. The bastards who had taken her would be brought to justice. He would not rest until it was so.

He checked his watch, then stepped into the open Jeep. The vehicle offered little protection against the growing storm.

“It's time,” he said against the wind.

Will started the engine and they drove into the desert.

 

Emma couldn't see anything. The sand was thick and hot and her face felt as if it were being scraped by sandpaper. She squinted against the windshield.

“How do you know where you're going?” she asked Billy.

He tapped the compass on the dashboard. “I'll find the rendezvous. Don't you worry, Princess.”

She wasn't worried. Not for herself. Did Billy and his men have any idea about the danger they were in? Reyhan wasn't simply going to pay them, and if Billy thought he was, the man was a fool.

His two companions were in the truck behind them and the young nomad-rebels farther back.

“When will you three head out?” she asked casually, wishing he would untie her wrists. Her shoulders ached and her skin was raw.

“Don't even think you can bat your eyes at me and get me to spill my plans, Princess. You're pretty, but I'm not going to fall for it.”

She shrugged as if it didn't matter, then stared out of the windshield.

Visibility had dropped to a few hundred yards. The road was covered with blowing sand and debris. She squinted as she thought she saw an outcrop of rocks in the distance.

“Here's the place,” Billy said, stopping the truck. He took the keys and tucked them into his shirt pocket. “I'm going to leave you here, Princess. Tell me you're not stupid enough to try and escape into this mess.”

“I'll stay here,” she promised, knowing she would. Running now would be idiotic and suicidal.

Billy disappeared into the storm. Emma waited, trying to be patient, knowing Reyhan was close and wanting to run to him. But she couldn't be a distraction. He would have a plan and she didn't want to get in the way of that.

After what felt like a lifetime, but was probably only ten or fifteen minutes later, Billy opened the truck door.

“Show time,” he said, and pulled out a knife.

He slit the ropes holding her wrists together. When she tried to move her arms, pain shot through her. She forced herself to ignore it and flex her arms until she could move them freely.

She saw Billy's two companions just behind him. They were equally scary with their close-cropped hair and multiple weapons.

“Climb on down,” Billy said, motioning for her to step out of the truck.

When she stepped onto the ground she realized her escorts were the least of her problems. Sand attacked her like a giant angry beast. She couldn't see, couldn't breathe, could barely move. Grateful for the voluminous material covering her body, she pulled up her head covering and tugged the edges so she could protect her nose and mouth. Billy grabbed her arm and led her deeper into the storm. When they stopped, she looked up and saw Reyhan.

“I'm here,” she called, trying to jerk free of Billy's hold.

The mercenary didn't let go. “Transfer the money,” he yelled, then jerked his head toward his buddies. “Check the download.”

The men pulled out small handheld devices. Emma strained to break free, never taking her eyes from Reyhan. He wore protective glasses and a heavy cloak, but she would swear he was staring right at her. She could almost hear his voice, willing her to be strong.

“Here it comes,” Billy's friend yelled.

“What have you done?”

The fierce question came from somewhere on the left. Billy turned toward the man racing toward them.

“Shut up, kid. Stay out of this.”

“No! You have kidnapped the wife of Prince Reyhan and now you ransom her?”

“Welcome to the games the big boys play. You and your friends were too much like girls to go through with your plans, so I had to pick up a little expense money elsewhere.” Suddenly Billy was holding a gun in his other hand. “Stay out of this kid, or die. It's your choice.”