SEAL's Deception (Take No Prisoners Book 8) (8 page)

Khalid stopped, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. “My other wives. So, you have met Fatimah and Erin?”

“I have.”

He raised dark brows. “Do you have questions about them?”

“I might.”

“Fatimah was my first arranged marriage. As you know, unlike most western cultures, Arab men are allowed multiple wives.”

Yasmin nodded. “And Erin?”

Khalid’s smile faded, and a faraway look came into his eyes. “The love of my life, and a woman with great patience.” He glanced up at Yasmin and frowned. “Will this impact your decision?”

Yasmin shook her head. “I’ve only just met you. Love is not a factor in this agreement.”

Khalid nodded. “Good. Then we have an understanding.” He walked halfway to the door with her. “Is there anything else you need to make your stay here more comfortable?”

“I would like to visit Riyadh. My parents haven’t brought me here since I was a small child. I would like to go shopping and get to know the area.”

“I can have my chauffeur and bodyguards take you into the city.”

“I would prefer my own bodyguards, if that would be all right.”

The prince nodded. “As you please.”

“Thank you.”

“Rest assured, the wedding will take place soon, and then we can all get on with our lives.” Khalid dipped his head and gestured toward the door. “May your dreams be pleasant.” He turned and walked away.

Yasmin slipped the
abaya
over her head, adjusted the
hijab
and veil then stepped through the door. The two men who’d accompanied her waited on the other side.

Her escort led the way.

Ben fell in step beside her. “Well?” he whispered.

“The wedding is in two weeks.” She glanced his direction, expecting a reaction of some kind, just not sure what.

Ben nodded thoughtfully. “I see.”

She could almost hear the gears turning in his head. That gave them two weeks to find the vials and get the hell out of the Saudi prince’s palace.

Facing forward again, Yasmin said, “I am scheduling a shopping trip into Riyadh tomorrow. I expect you to accompany me.”

Yasmin wanted to say so much more, to share her impressions of the prince and what he’d said about modernizing the country. More than anything, she just wanted to kiss the man next to her. The stress of pulling off a masquerade of this importance made her want some reassurance from someone. Once she entered the women’s quarters, she’d be on her own again.

When they arrived at the doors, Yasmin faced Ben. “Later.”

Their eyes met, and he mouthed the words
, I’ll come for you
.

That night would be the first chance they had to search the palace. How they would do it, Yasmin wasn’t quite certain. But they had to make the best use of their time inside the walls of Prince Khalid’s palace. The sooner they found the vials, the sooner they could go home.

Which also meant the sooner she would go her way and Ben would go his.

A touch of sadness washed over Yasmin as she entered the women’s wing of the palace. For a man she’d just met and made love to twice, Ben had made a permanent impression on her. One she’d find hard to erase.

Squaring her shoulders, she tossed off the
abaya
and went in search of her suitcases—one of which had a secret compartment where she’d stored a white
thobe
and red-checkered scarf like those worn by the Saudi men. Once the women were asleep, she would do her best to sneak out and meet up with Ben. In the meantime, she would explore the east wing. After all, the informant had indicated the delivery had been made to the east side of the palace.

While the women were still awake, Yasmin made a show of familiarizing herself with their quarters.

Erin volunteered to show her around. Several hallways led off the huge living area. “Each wife has her own set of apartments, complete with beautifully furnished suites that include living rooms, small kitchens and several bedrooms.” Erin opened one door to display a nursery. She smiled. “I hope someday to fill my apartment with children.”

“Does Prince Khalid have any children yet?”

Erin shook her head. “I think that’s why he’s agreed to this arranged marriage. His first wife has yet to produce an heir. I think he’s hoping you will be the one to give him a son.”

“What about you?” Yasmin asked.

Erin shook her head. “Children of mine will not be in direct line for the throne. The child’s parents must be royal descendants themselves.”

Yasmin stopped and stared at Erin. “You were born and raised a westerner. How can you accept this?”

She gave Yasmin a sad kind of smile. “I do it because I love Khalid and he loves me. He offered to give up his life here to live with me in England. But, I know how much he loves his country and how much bringing it into this millennium means to him. If he is chosen as the next king, he has a shot at leading his people into a more modern world. I couldn’t let him give up that dream for me. His people need him as much, if not more, than I do. So, I chose to follow him here.”

For a moment, Yasmin had the urge to spill her guts to the woman, to let her know why she’d really come. But, it wouldn’t be fair to ask Erin to keep a secret from the husband she loved so completely. Her loyalty lay with him, not the woman who’d come to potentially cause more heartache for her and the people she now called family.

Yasmin wondered what it felt like to love a man so much she would walk away from a familiar life and give up her freedom to be with him in such a different culture.

Erin laughed. “Don’t worry about me. I made this choice and I’ve never regretted it.”

For Erin’s sake, Yasmin hoped she never would. If Khalid was the one who bought the biological weapons, he had the potential to annihilate entire populations.

Erin took her past Nahla and Fatimah’s apartments without entering their quarters. “They will invite you in, when they get to know you better.” Yasmin asked about other doors along hallways and Erin answered in her open, forthright way, seemingly happy to have another woman around who spoke English as well as she did.

“Nahla and Fatimah understand and speak English, but they prefer their native tongue,” Erin said. “I have a tutor come in three times a week. I’m learning to speak Arabic, but I’m also learning to read and write in the language,” she said with a smile. “When Khalid and I do have children, I want to help them with their studies and actually know what I’m doing.”

Erin stopped halfway down the long hallway. “I’m sorry. I’ve talked so much I didn’t take into account you might be exhausted from traveling today.”

“I’m quite okay,” Yasmin said.

“Still, we can save the rest of the tour until you’ve had time to rest.” Erin turned back.

“What are the other rooms farther down the hall?”

“Oh, just storage closets and additional unused apartments. One of them will be yours to decorate as you like.”

She didn’t say it, but Yasmin filled in the rest. The other apartments could house additional wives, should there be any more than the two Khalid already had, and the one he thought he was getting.

Though Erin put on a game face, Yasmin suspected the woman would prefer to have her love all to herself. Or, Yasmin was imposing her own thoughts and beliefs on another person. If she were in the same situation, would she put up with other wives? All for love and country?

B
en sat
cross-legged on a rug in the guest quarters he and his teammates had been assigned.

Stingray lay stretched out, his hands behind his head, his eyes closed, conserving energy for later that night.

Irish lounged on several cushions, sound asleep. He could be fully alert in seconds. The man had an uncanny way of recognizing danger.

Though they didn’t have a guard outside their door, Ben had the feeling their presence was only tolerated in deference to Princess Aliya.

He didn’t care, as long as he and his guys could slip out undetected later and search the palace. First, he wanted to get to Yasmin. He wasn’t sure of the consequences of her venturing out on her own. Guards finding her alone might be better than finding her with Ben. Saudi custom insisted a female wasn’t supposed to be alone with a male until she was married. Ben hoped hired bodyguards were excluded from the complications.

Time dragged by as the palace people settled in for the night. Soon, the hallway outside his room grew silent of passing footsteps. Ben wished he had a cellphone that worked. But then he’d be tempted to use it. The risk of a transmission being intercepted was too dangerous. When they made that trip into Riyadh, he’d purchase burner phones for Yasmin and each member of his team. Tucked into a secret pouch inside their duffel bags were radio headsets they could hide in their ears.

Ben crossed the room to his bag and fished out the radios.

“Is it that time?” Irish asked, jackknifing into a sitting position.

“Not quite. I wanted to check equipment to make sure we’re ready when it’s time.”

Irish pushed to his feet and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “I could use a gallon of coffee and a ham sandwich.”

Ben chuckled. “You might find coffee, but the ham sandwich is out of the question. Saudis don’t eat pork.”

“What? No bacon, either?” Irish grinned and headed for his duffel bag. “Then I’ll have to be satisfied with lamb, goat and chicken. Blah.” He sighed and pulled out the tiny headset.

“Can’t a guy get some sleep around here?” Stingray sat up and pulled his duffel bag close. He too, rummaged around for his headset before looping the nearly invisible device over his ear and pushing the bud inside. He glanced at Ben and Irish.

Ben settled his device in his ear and waited for Irish. Once they all had their radios in place, he turned his back, walked to the far corner of the room, and tapped his. “Comm check,” he whispered.

“Stingray here.”

“Irish here.”

Ben swung around and glanced at his watch. They’d agreed to start their search at two o’clock in the morning, figuring most people would be asleep. Hopefully, the guards would be, as well.

They’d thought about finding traditional Arabic clothing, but that would have to wait until after their shopping trip in Riyadh the next day. In the meantime, their pre-arranged excuse for wandering the palace was that they were searching for the kitchen and a late snack.

Yasmin’s excuse would be more of a challenge. Ben was almost certain a woman wandering around that late at night would be more than frowned upon. Yet, she’d insisted on helping them look through the palace. Ben should have contended she focus her search on the women’s quarters. They weren’t certain Prince Khalid had been the purchaser. He might have enemies among the women of the palace.

“It’s almost two. We should begin,” Ben said.

Stingray flexed his muscles and rolled the kinks out of his neck. “Any idea what exactly we’re looking for?”

“Some kind of vials,” Irish said.

“Something that looks like a dangerous plague.” Stingray nodded. “Got it.”

Unarmed and foreign in a royal palace, they already had a lot of strikes against them. But, they wouldn’t find the biological weapons hanging back in their rooms.

Ben pushed open the door and peered out into the spacious hallway. So far, he hadn’t seen signs of security cameras, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. He figured they’d have one shot at playing the new-in-the-palace, looking-for-the-kitchen card. After they were caught once, they’d have to resort to Arab clothing disguises.

As he’d expected, the hallway was clear. He and his teammates stepped out into the corridor.

“Which way?” Irish asked.

“Spread out,” Ben whispered. “We’re likely to find what we’re looking for in a lab, basement, storage room or office safe.”

“So, all we have to do is open enough doors to find one of those.” Irish shook his head and rubbed his belly. “I’m so hungry, I could search the entire palace for a slice of pizza about now.” He winked.

“They fed us well,” Stingray pointed out.

“Not pizza,” Irish argued.

“Let’s go, leprechaun,” Stingray said. “Your
pizza
awaits.”

“You know the drill,” Ben said. “When we split, whoever finds pizza first speaks up.”

“Got it. I’m betting the kitchen is in the basement.” Stingray turned to the left at the first connecting corridor.

“I think I saw a door leading off the dining hall.” Irish turned right.

Ben headed straight for the east wing. Because he’d been there earlier with Khalid’s escort, he found it quickly. The door was closed, but the guard that had been there must have gone to bed. Ben reached for the door handle, just in case.

Locked. He tapped very lightly on the wooden panel and waited. He had no idea how big the east wing was, or how far back it went. He’d caught a glimpse of a living area when he’d escorted Yasmin to the east wing. The sleeping quarters had to be farther back.

After waiting a full minute, he knocked a little louder.

The door opened and a head poked out, covered in a red-checkered scarf with the black braided headband holding it in place.

Ben backed a step, wondering why a man was answering the door from inside the women’s wing.

“Shh. You’ll wake the others,” a voice sounding suspiciously like Yasmin whispered.

She carefully checked the lock to make sure it would remain disengaged when she closed the door, before she stepped out in a long white
thobe
and the checkered head covering.

Ben chuckled softly. “Where did you get that?”

“Aliya’s father left it at her apartment. I packed it for just such an occasion. I didn’t think I would be allowed to wander around the palace in an
abaya
.”

“Just keep your head down if we pass anyone.”

“Believe me, I will.” She grabbed his arm. “Come on, this is a huge place, we might need the full two weeks before my wedding to find what we’re looking for.”

“Pizza,” he said.

“Pizza?”

“Code for our target acquisition. And, if we’re caught, our excuse.”

“You don’t really think someone would believe you’re looking for pizza, do you?”

He shrugged. “Or the Arabic equivalent.”

They hurried down wide, tiled hallways.

“This place is massive. How will we ever find pizza here?” she asked after they’d tried several doors only to find them locked, or the rooms beyond to be empty.

“Just like eating an elephant.”

Yasmin snorted. “One bite at a time.” She pushed open a door to what appeared to be an office or study. Bookshelves lined the walls in deep red mahogany. A desk made out of the same rich wood took center stage, dominating the room. “Do you think someone would keep biological weapons in here? I would think they would be stored in some kind of refrigeration unit.”

“If not here, there might be some evidence of where they might have hidden it. Who knows, there might be a safe behind a painting. We have to look.” He pulled her into the room and closed the door. Once inside, Ben tugged her into his arms and kissed her hard. When he brought up his head, he sighed. “I’ve wanted to do that all day.”

“Are you insane? We could be hauled off to some godforsaken jail for what we’re doing, and you want to kiss me?” She shook her head, hooked her hands behind his neck and dragged him down for another kiss.

He searched for her hips, buried in the voluminous
thobe
. When he found them, he pressed her close to him, realizing it might have been a mistake. Having her close was good, but he wanted so much more. They didn’t have time for making love, but he wanted to. And the potential of being caught only made their actions more enticing.

Footsteps in the hallway made Ben break off the kiss. “Did you hear that?”

“Yes.” Yasmin grabbed his hand and dragged him toward French doors leading out into a garden. She pushed through. He followed and they ducked to either side of the glass as the door to the office opened and the light inside came on.

Ben eased to the edge of the glass and looked in.

A man, wearing traditional dress, entered, crossed to the desk and pulled open a drawer. He slid his hand inside, moved it around as if searching for something, and then withdrew his hand. The wall behind him parted between two bookshelves and slid open.

“I’ll be damned,” Ben muttered.

“What?”

“A secret room.”

“Can you see inside?” Yasmin asked.

“No.”

“Who’s in the office?”

“I can’t tell.” Ben stared hard at the man. “He has his head down.”

At that moment, the man brought up his head and looked toward the French doors.

Ben ducked out of sight, his pulse pounding.

Yasmin’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something.

Ben raised a finger to his lips and pointed toward the office. She flattened herself against the outside wall, merging with the shadows.

Ben did the same. He couldn’t hear footsteps against the Persian carpet, but he sensed someone moving around the room. A minute passed. Ben started to lean toward the window.

At the exact moment, the handle wiggled and the door swung open. A red-checkered-scarf-covered head thrust out into the night.

Ben held his breath and remained perfectly still, his gaze capturing Yasmin’s.

A noise sounded from inside the room.

The Arab ducked back inside and closed the French doors. A soft click followed.

He’d locked the door.

A sick feeling settled in Ben’s belly. He waited several seconds before easing to the edge of the window. He was just in time to see the wall sliding back into place. Before it closed completely, Ben caught a glimpse of a white-robed figure moving about in the secret room. With the light still on in the study, they couldn’t go back the way they’d come until the late-night visitor left.

By the light shining through the windows of the French door, Ben glanced around.

They were in a small garden. A path led to the outer wall of the compound where it ended in a T-junction. Ben forged ahead, turning to the left. The path led to another, then another, as if they were wandering in a maze of fragrant bushes. Finally, one led back to a doorway.

Ben twisted the handle, only to discover it was locked. He took out his handy pocketknife, unfolded a thin, sharp blade, and applied it to the lock.

“Have you ever picked a lock before?” Yasmin asked.

“Of course. Give me the benefit of the doubt. I’m trying.”

“If it won’t bruise your ego, let me have a whack at it.”

He handed her the pocketknife and moved to the side.

As she worked the lock, he watched her by the light of the moon shining down from a clear sky, loving her take-charge personality and the sexy body hidden beneath the voluminous robe. “You know you’re sexy in red-checkered headscarves, don’t you?”

“Are you serious?” She frowned, her concentration on the lock as she wiggled the knife blade in the keyhole. “Here I am, trying to save our asses from being discovered, and you’re flirting?”

Ben smiled. “You can never go wrong telling a woman she’s pretty.”

“There’s something called timing.” She jerked the knife and a click sounded inside the door handle. Yasmin twisted it, and the door swung several inches inward. She peeked inside and grinned. “I think we found your pizza. Only, it’s not what we’re looking for.”

Ben’s heart skipped a few beats at the smile on her face. God, she was beautiful. Even dressed as an Arab man. He swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”

“We found the kitchen. Well, the garden entrance to the kitchen.”

The radio crackled in his ear. “Stingray here.”

Ben stiffened and cupped his hand over his ear. “Go ahead.”

“I found the basement,” he reported.

“And?” Irish piped in.

“A lot of locked doors. Should I attempt to open them?”

“Not now. The palace staff probably rises early. We’d better head back to our quarters. We’ll check tomorrow.”

“Aye, aye!” Stingray said. “Heading back to our bachelor pad.”

“Sure could use a pizza,” Irish lamented. “Heading back.”

“I have a stop to make, then I’ll be back as well,” Ben promised.

“Give the princess a kiss for us, while you’re at it.” Stingray chuckled softly in Ben’s ear.

Oh, he planned on kissing the princess again, but not for Stingray or Irish. He and Yasmin weren’t nearly out of the woods, yet. They still had to find their way back to the east wing without getting caught.

Ben cupped the back of Yasmin’s neck. “In case I don’t get a chance to do this later…” He pulled her close and kissed her, his tongue darting between her teeth to sweep along the length of hers. The longer he kissed her, the harder for him to break it off. Time was running out before the palace staff began their early morning duties.

Yasmin cupped his cheek. “We need to go.”

“Going.” Ben kissed the tip of her nose, looked inside first and then entered the kitchen. He hurried past the bank of stoves and ovens and out into the dining area where he’d sat at a smaller table with members of the prince’s bodyguard staff. He and his team had been allowed to eat with the security staff, in a room off the main dining hall. Not so close they could be seen or overhear conversations, but close enough to assist if the Arab royals needed them. Thankfully, he knew his way from that point. He waved for Yasmin to follow him. They made it all the way back to the east wing without running into anyone.

Outside the door to the women’s quarters, Ben shot a look around, and then dared to steal yet another kiss before stepping away. “We’ll shop tomorrow for more info.”