Chapter 13
Zoe’s Arabic was good after spending so much time in Qatar, but she struggled to keep up with the conversation between Heath and the officials.
They’d been brought into an interview room with a plain grey desk and a few plastic chairs, and Heath had told the officials what had happened. He produced their passports, which were taken away by another official, and had then been questioned incessantly about who he’d hired the boat from.
Perhaps it was a known drug-smuggling boat.
Zoe kept her hands in her lap and her eyes down at the desk in respect as the questioning continued.
“Please, may we go home?” Heath asked after an hour of going back and forth over the details.
“To Qatar?” the official asked.
Heath shook his head. “Zoe’s boss called us not long after we left to say they were shutting down the embassy. We’ll go back to Australia.”
“You’re not going to continue your holiday?”
Zoe shuddered and shook her head, and Heath took a moment to squeeze her shoulders. “I think we’ve had far more adventure than we bargained for. Zoe just wants to see her parents.”
Had Dobby told him that? Tears welled in her eyes and she glanced up at him. Her smile felt tremulous, and she sniffed and glanced at the official, and then back down again. But she’d spotted sympathy in his eyes.
Maybe that would help. She just wanted to be on a plane home.
The official who had taken their passports finally returned to the room. He nodded as he handed them to the official interviewing them.
“I’ll organise a car to the airport,” the man said, handing Heath the passports. He stood and Heath shook his hand vigorously.
“Thank you so much.”
Zoe got to her feet, smiled and nodded her thanks at the official and followed him and Heath out of the room.
“Wait here.”
The reception area was large, and there were a number of people inside despite the late hour.
A couple of minutes later the official returned. “Your car is ready. It will drop you at the airport. There are several flights to Australia in the next few hours.”
Heath held out his hand. “Thank you for your help.”
Outside the building, Heath studied the driver and then slid into the white sedan, holding his hand out for Zoe. He pulled her close.
Warmth rushed into her, which was quickly squashed as he leaned over her and waved goodbye to the official.
All for show.
Of course it was.
He strapped in, greeting the driver and asking him about his day. As the two of them conversed, Heath slid his hand into hers and squeezed it.
She glanced at him, and his warm smile melted her insides.
Maybe it wasn’t all for show. Zoe closed her eyes and relaxed on the twenty-minute ride to the airport. Finally they were somewhere safe. All they had to do was get on a plane and fly home.
As the car pulled up to the curb outside departures, a man dressed in a business suit came over and opened the door. Security. “Mr Ghanooni. Ms Yelton. I’m to see you through security.” His name badge said his name was Lotfi.
Making sure they left the country.
After they got out of the car, Heath slipped his hand back into hers as if they really were a couple. Zoe smiled and followed the security man into the busy check-in area and over to the Emirates desk. Lotfi spoke to the woman behind the counter. “They’re going to Australia.”
“Which city?”
“Perth,” Heath said. He handed over their passports and the woman booked their tickets.
“It leaves at five,” the woman said as she handed them boarding passes.
They had a couple of hours.
Lotfi took their passports and with a smile, he said, “This way.”
Worry filled her and Zoe hesitated, glancing at Heath. Keeping their passports spoke of controlling their movements.
She swallowed hard and hurried after them. Heath stopped so suddenly that Zoe bumped into him and tripped. As she righted herself, she noted his whole body was stiff. Concerned, she glanced at his face to find his gaze locked on someone across the building, his expression a picture of fury.
Goosebumps leapt to her skin as she followed his gaze to a maintenance man standing with his trolley next to a water station. The man turned his head and Zoe saw his profile. Crooked nose reminiscent of the Wicked Witch. Her gaze dropped to see his left ring finger was missing.
Shit.
Surely that couldn’t be the man from all those years ago.
Heath looked ready to attack. Which wouldn’t help either of them.
Quickly she slid her hands around his fist and stepped in front of him. “Heath, look at me.”
He didn’t move, and she ran her hands down his arms, trying to break through his trance. “Heath, if it’s him, you can’t do anything here,” she murmured. “They’ll arrest you.” She stood on her tiptoes to block his view. “Please.”
He blinked and his breath exploded from him, but the tension remained.
Zoe glanced towards the official who had realised they’d stopped and was waiting for them to catch up.
She needed a distraction. She cupped Heath’s face, turning it towards her and brushing a kiss onto his lips.
He blinked and his gaze shot to hers, surprise in it.
“Lotfi is watching us.” She grabbed her phone from her pocket and said loudly, “Take a photo with me, honey, to celebrate going home.” She pulled him around so they both faced away from the maintenance man, and she zoomed her phone in.
Then she held it up, but she couldn’t get a good angle on the man.
“You have access to facial recognition, right?” she whispered.
Heath shook himself and took the phone. “Let me, darling.” He took a photo of the man, but just as he lowered the phone, the battery went dead.
Shit. Had they captured the photo?
“Let me get one with my phone,” Heath said.
“Let’s go,” Lotfi said, walking over and blocking the shot of the suspect.
Heath took the photo and turned. “Sorry about that. I appreciate your patience.”
Gone was the angry, frozen man of seconds ago, and in his place was a genuinely grateful guy. Zoe exhaled but slipped her hand in his in case this was just a facade.
The maintenance man swiped his security card at a nearby door and went inside. No way for Heath to confront him, but that was a good thing.
Still if they could identify the man, perhaps he would get some closure. “May I buy a charger?” Zoe asked, pointing to the store they were passing. “My phone is dead and I’d really like to call my parents.” She smiled at Lotfi. “It’s been an emotional few hours.”
Heath squeezed her hand and smiled.
Lotfi looked a little annoyed but nodded and gestured them inside.
“Thank you,” Heath said.
“What now?” Zoe asked in a low voice as they wandered away from the man.
***
Heath’s mind whirled in disbelief, unable to answer Zoe’s question.
It was definitely the same man. Over twenty years older, but still with those harsh eyes, that bump in the middle of his nose that made it crooked and that missing finger.
And there was no denying his visceral reaction to seeing him again.
He’d frozen, completely flashed back to that night in the desert; the darkness, the cold, and the terror.
Until Zoe had brought him back to the now. That’s where he needed to stay. “As soon as you’ve got charge, send the photo to me and Dobby.” He scanned the shop for anything that would be useful.
“What about security?” Zoe nodded at their shadow. “Do you think he’s going to stay with us until we get onto the plane?”
“Maybe. Though I doubt we’re important enough to guard for so long.” He grabbed a charger for his phone, some bobby pins and a brush, and some snacks in case they were shut into a room
Whatever happened, he couldn’t go after the witch until Zoe was safely on the plane.
He paid and Lotfi led them to a door near the security checkpoint. Heath smiled at the man. “I think we should be good from here. We’ll grab something to eat and then wait by the gate for boarding.”
The man smiled back. “We have a room you can wait in until the flight.”
Damn it. He didn’t blame the authorities for making sure they got on the plane, but he wanted to find the witch.
Frustration bubbled in him as Lotfi scanned them through the door, and they walked down a bare, white corridor, passing a few doors on either side until they got to a small room with a table and four chairs in it. Sparse interrogation room.
Lotfi gestured them inside. “There’s a power-point you can use to charge your phone.” He handed back their passports and boarding passes. “I’ll come back when your flight is boarding.”
Heath opened his mouth to protest, but the door was shut in his face. He swore under his breath and turned. Zoe had already ripped open her charger packet and put it into the socket.
At least she understood the urgency of the situation.
He called Dobby as Zoe turned her phone on and the device logo appeared on the screen.
“Sitrep,” Dobby said.
“Dubai airport. Booked on the five a.m. flight to Perth. Currently sitting in a customs detainment room.”
“Why? Have the authorities arrested you?”
“No, they just want to make sure we get on the plane.” He kept his voice low and his gaze on the window in the door to make sure they weren’t being watched and briefly explained everything that had happened since he’d last called Dobby. “I’ve found the witch.”
Dobby inhaled sharply. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah.” He glanced at Zoe’s phone as she opened her photo app. There he was. Proof Heath wasn’t crazy. His phone buzzed with the message she’d sent him and Dobby. “Zoe sent you the photo.”
“Send it to Radar too.”
Their tech whiz. Quickly he forwarded it.
“Customs won’t let you stay behind,” Dobby said. “And you can’t attack him.”
Heath didn’t want to acknowledge the truth of his words. It killed him to be this close and not be able to confront the man who’d murdered his father and raped his mother. “Can you ID him?”
“Radar’s running it now.”
Heath tried the door, but it was locked, not that they could leave without causing further issues. “We’re locked in here.”