Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lucky’s stomach tightened into a knot. There was no doubt it was him. Lana’s father, the man who’d hugged a woman and child to comfort them when he knew damn well what was happening, was Al Ahmad.
This was the man who’d tortured her. Who’d made her believe she was a piece of garbage and that she was going to die. The man who’d carved her flesh because it had amused him to do so.
He stared at her across the open space between them.
She wondered that he didn’t make a move since he had to be surprised to see them, but then she realized that whoever he was in his formal robes, that was his real persona.
And he couldn’t appear as anyone different in front of the families whose daughters went to the same school as his child.
Even if he planned to kill them all, he would not break his cover to do it.
The man who’d separated Kev and Lucky called an order to one of his men. That man went over and put a gun to Al Ahmad’s head. His eyes glittered, but they did not leave her face. He wasn’t frightened.
Nor should he be. This was all part of the plan.
The terrorists took some of the other men aside too, no doubt to demand ransoms from their families. These were the wealthiest and most connected of Baq society, and it would be a wasted opportunity not to use them to enrich the Freedom Force’s purse.
Not that any of it mattered now that they had the king. He’d departed through a side door with two of the terrorists, and God only knew where he was now. They would use him, and they would kill him. That much she knew.
Lucky’s heart hammered as Al Ahmad crossed the room under his guard’s direction. Those eyes filled her with terror. And rage. He’d kept her captive, poisoned her mind, cut her skin again and again—tiny, painful cuts that had bled and scarred—and threatened her with sexual violence.
She hated him.
And if she was going to die anyway, she was determined she wasn’t going to die alone. She would take him with her one way or the other.
He came closer and she tensed. Beside her, Kev kept a firm grip on her hand. She’d said she’d found their man but she hadn’t been able to point him out.
Yet Kev knew. How could he not? The way Al Ahmad stared at her, that unholy gleam in his gaze, his steps measured and sure as he strode toward her.
“Lucky,” Kev growled under his breath. A warning, and yet she no longer cared.
“We meet again, Lucky Reid,” Al Ahmad said quietly as he stopped in front of her.
The man behind him held a gun on him, but it was only for show.
His gaze flicked to Kev, and her heart rate notched up.
“And this is the famous Mr. MacDonald, I assume? When Lana told me there was a new teacher in school, I admit I was curious. Especially since I’d seen someone who looked remarkably like you on news footage of the bombing near the embassy. ”
Lucky’s insides turned liquid. But then anger scorched through her as she thought of what he’d done to those people. Of how evil and unfeeling he was.
“You aren’t going to get away with this,” she spat.
One eyebrow arched. “Am I not? I have the King of Qu’rim.
Even now, he is issuing the order for the army to stand down at the mine.
The uranium will belong to us in precisely fifteen minutes.
” His gaze flicked to Kev again, who had yet to say a word.
He spoke in English. “There is an American military team waiting for the order to kill me, I assume? I would advise that this is not a good idea.”
One of the men put a gun to Kev’s head then, and Lucky couldn’t stop the gasp that burst from her. Please God, no. Don’t let this happen. Don’t let them kill him too.
“If you think killing me will stop them, you’re mistaken.
” Kev’s voice was full of menace, and Lucky almost recoiled from the barely leashed violence in his tone.
But that’s what he did. What they all did.
You couldn’t deal with a man like Al Ahmad by being soft.
You couldn’t plead. It wouldn’t do you any good.
“I don’t think that at all,” Al Ahmad said. “But I think so long as I threaten to kill you, it will give them pause.”
“Don’t bet on it.”
Al Ahmad snapped his fingers then. The suicide bomber was still in the room, and he walked over to the crowd of women and children, who’d been made to stand with their faces to the wall.
The men had been taken from the room, and only the women were left.
No one could see that this man was in control.
“But you Americans don’t like it when women and children die, do you?”
Horror crawled up Lucky’s spine. “Your daughter’s in that crowd. If you kill them, you kill her too.”
His black gaze flickered with a real regret that almost made her feel sorry for him. But then it was gone and the monster stood there once more. Maybe he was bluffing, but she sensed he would do whatever it took to achieve his aims in the end. “We must all make sacrifices for the greater good.”
Kev’s jaw ground together. “They’re standing down. There’s no need to kill anyone.”
Al Ahmad lifted an eyebrow. “Ah, yes, you are communicating with them. I admit I was quite angry to see the two of you here when you should have been waiting for me at the warehouse. But one cannot always count on the help to be as thorough as one would like. Perhaps I should have sent more men to deal with you.” He sighed as if he were discussing a party gone awry rather than a kidnapping.
“You will hand over all devices—and your weapons—before we leave this building, or I will give the order for the bomb to be detonated. Once more, it is your choice.”
Kev slowly slid the guns from their holsters and handed them over. Then he removed the tiny earpiece that was nearly undetectable and the microphone from beneath his lapel. He dropped them into the gunman’s hand.
“And the tracking device.”
Kev reached into his pocket and took out the small disc that was just like the one she had in her bra, as well as his phone. The gunman snatched it all away and then dropped everything on the floor and stomped on them. The weapons he tucked into his robes.
“And you, Lucky Reid.”
She lifted her chin. She thought about lying but she wouldn’t take that chance.
The Freedom Force wasn’t completely unsophisticated, and they might have scanners that would detect the GPS device if she lied.
She would not be responsible for this madman blowing up a roomful of women and children that included his daughter and wife.
“I only have a phone and a tracking device. It’s in my undergarments. ”
“Then you will remove it.”
“Not with your men watching.”
“I care not about your modesty. The device.”
Lucky growled as she reached into the neckline of the abaya and fished downward toward her bra.
Somehow, she got her fingers on the disc and worked it free.
Then she dropped it on the ground rather than hand it to the man whose hand was outstretched.
Al Ahmad lifted his expensively shod foot and stomped on it.
“And the phone?”
She fished it from the pocket in her abaya and dropped it. He stomped on that too.
His smile made the hair on the back of her neck prickle. “And now we are leaving.”
They’d only taken three steps toward the same exit the king had left from when an explosion rocked the building.
Plaster fell from the ceiling, and the light fixtures rattled and clinked.
Lucky jerked her head around to see if the suicide bomber had detonated his bomb, but he wasn’t where he’d been.
He was on the ground, a pool of blood forming around his body. Before she could puzzle out what was happening, a shot rang out and Kev dropped to the ground. Lucky screamed.
Abdul Halim wrapped an arm around Lucky Reid’s neck.
He wanted to squeeze the life from her body then and there, but that would not be prudent.
Instead, he drew his knife and jabbed it into her ribs.
The sharp point just penetrated the silk of her abaya, and she stiffened as the cool metal met her soft flesh.
Her lush body pressed up against his, reminding him of his sexual needs earlier tonight.
Perhaps now he could indulge both desires at once: sex and pain. Even better.
He shoved her through the exit and into a corridor. One of his men was waiting.
“We’re under attack,” Abdul Halim barked. “Go!”
The man led the way outside and into the waiting car.
Abdul Halim shoved Lucky inside and climbed in after her.
She’d turned her body and met him with a swift kick to his thigh.
He yowled in pain and lunged for her. She kicked again and again, but he managed to wrap a hand in her hijab and catch her hair as well.
Then he shoved the knife against her throat and lay on top of her in the back seat of the car as it sped away from the school, his body hardening with excitement and exhilaration.
“I will kill you.”
“I don’t care!” she screamed. “You killed Kevin! You killed all those people! You would have murdered your own daughter!”
He felt no remorse at that accusation. He would have sacrificed Lana and Fatima if necessary. But there was no need.
It had not quite gone as he’d intended. His people were supposed to capture Lucky and her military watchdog. They were supposed to draw the Americans away from the school. The last report he’d had, they had taken their target.
But here she was. And she’d brought an American military team with her. They’d attacked, but he had escaped.
Better yet, the Freedom Force had the king. Abdul Halim’s identity was compromised, but it no longer mattered. He would be a hero to the people after this night. After his triumph.
“Silence, woman!” he roared. He wanted to slice her open from stem to stern, and yet he would not do it yet. He pressed the knife into her throat and watched blood well up from the tiny cut he made. Her eyes went wide. Her throat worked as she swallowed.