Chapter 7
S he sat back and, out of sight of the rearview mirror, pulled out her tarot cards. It didn’t take long for her to stare at a card that intuitively meant betrayal . Seven of swords. It had a lot of meanings but came up often with questions regarding Faheed. The answer turned her stomach, as she cast her mind back to mornings she woke groggy and disoriented, just putting all her symptoms down to grief and fear of her imprisonment. “My gut says I’ve been taking drugs without realizing it. Lots of times I didn’t take the medicine I’d been given for one reason or another. Yet I was so numb with grief that I was pretty well falling into the same pattern anyway, enough that could make them assume I was taking it regularly.”
“And that was to your benefit. They thought they had control over you, and the longer it went on, the less they expected resistance from you and certainly not an escape attempt. They didn’t have heavy security on you, as they didn’t expect to need it. Then, when you did escape, I’m sure it was a complete and total shock.”
She sighed. “A couple times Faheed’s doctor asked me if I needed anything to make me sleep, and I just told him that I already had stuff that I took every night.” She got lost in thought. “It never occurred to me until I became a prisoner that he had any underlying reason for asking, but it did make me wonder. And then I remembered all of that just going away again.” At that, she groaned out loud. “They’ve pretty well just been keeping tabs on me and drugging me up as needed, haven’t they?”
“Possibly, but, because you weren’t taking it all the time, that gave you an opportunity to get free of it. Even though you may not have realized that you weren’t taking something, you were still following your intuition, and that kept you alive and sane anyway. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t consuming something in your coffee or tea every day.”
In the background, as she put away her cards, she muttered, “Asshole.”
Rick nodded. “Yeah, it also says a lot about his need for control. Again we have to ask, was it Faheed’s need for control or was it his brother’s?”
“I don’t have an answer for you there,” she murmured. “I want to believe it was Faheed, but I don’t know that for sure. He could be the one pulling the strings though.”
“Why do you want to believe it was Faheed?”
“Because you’re starting to make me think that he did have something to do with Hannah’s death, and, if that’s the case, I want him punished. If it was his brother, that one’s already slimy and nasty. I don’t know that I could think much worse of him anyway. But to think that Faheed would do that is an act of betrayal that goes much further into my What’s wrong with this world scenario that I can’t,… I can’t even begin to think that in any world such a thing would be acceptable.”
“It’s not acceptable,” Royce confirmed. “You and I both know that, but, for somebody who’s done it time and time again, he may just not even care. Maybe he has that under control. However, if he just found out that he couldn’t get Hannah’s company, which she had already given to you, Faheed may have lost control over his better judgment.”
“Regardless,” she muttered, as she sat back, “I want to get to the truth of it.”
“You need to keep honing those instincts of yours,” Royce suggested. “The drugs have worn off, but it would be lovely to know that you’re fully functioning and that whatever skills and abilities you have are solid and dependable.”
“For your use or mine?” she asked, with a wry look.
“Until we get you safely back home again, for all of us,” he stated. “Remember that anything you can do to help us keep you safe is a huge blessing. We’ll do the same anyway.”
“Wait.… Does that mean you guys have abilities?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Royce smiled at her. “We both work for Terk. What do you think?” he asked, with a chuckle.
“I think you do, though I get the sense that you don’t talk about it much. Since I think it’s pretty amazing that we even got away in the first place, I’ll continue to trust you and to hope that we can get the hell out of here safe and sound. Then I can get back home again and sort out my business, So I guess you’re right. In the meantime, if you take down Faheed, along with his nasty-ass brother, I will be in your debt forever.”
Royce nodded. “Let’s see if they’re guilty first, but there’s enough photo incrimination of them being in close contact with killers, drug lords, and mafia members that it’ll be quite the caseload anyway. Don’t worry. A full investigation will happen.”
Rick parked at a small airport, and all three of them exited the vehicle. Royce immediately put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him, nonchalantly taking in his surroundings.
She looked up at him. “Do you really think that somebody who’s looking for us will be fooled by this little charade?”
“No. Still, if they’re not looking too closely, all they’ll see is a happy young couple.”
“Ah, meaning, we’ll blend into obscurity.”
“Just one more relationship in a world gone crazy full of them,” he noted cheerfully.
She snorted at that. “You do have a sense of humor.”
“I do,” he agreed, “although it’s not as if you’ve had a chance to see much of it.”
“Maybe not,” she admitted, with a note of sadness in her tone. “And it would be nice to see you or to meet you under different circumstances.”
“We can certainly arrange that,” he replied, with a cheeky grin. “I’m not sure what you’re doing in a couple days, but I know I would be interested in a dinner date.” She laughed. “If nothing else, it will give you something to look forward to.”
“I won’t argue that,” she replied. “Considering enough uneasiness is going on in my world right now, that’s probably something to at least keep in mind, as one reason to move forward.”
“Hey, you’ve got a lot more reasons than a nebulous date with a guy you just met,” he pointed out. “Keep in mind your work, your freedom, and all the best that the world has to offer. Then there’s your company.”
As soon as they walked inside the private hangar, the pilot came to them.
“We’ll be in the air in fifteen.”
Royce nodded and turned to Heather. “Are you okay?”
“I will be when I’m safely back in England,” she muttered, unable to ignore the vibrating tarot cards tucked in their box and hid in the waistband of her leggings. Whether they sensed danger or sensed her nervousness, she didn’t know. The end result was the same and put her on edge. She wrapped her arms around her chest and looked around nervously.
*
Royce could sympathize. He needed to get them back home again, but they would have to make a stop in Amsterdam first. That would unnerve her a little more than anything, and he wasn’t sure she remembered that part.
The stopover happened soon enough. When they landed, a team of government officials were there to greet them. She moved closer to Royce, hating the immediate panic trying to take over. “Am I in trouble?” she murmured at his side.
“No, but again we’re at a disadvantage with no travel papers. We’re talking to MI6 to get this all sorted.”
“ Great ,” she muttered, with an eyeroll. “I was hoping the inquisition didn’t start until I got back on home soil.”
“It will, but they’re providing us some security to ensure that you have a safe overnight visit.”
“Why overnight?” she asked. “I would be totally okay to continue straight home again.”
“I’ve told them that, but we can’t control the weather. A pretty-ugly storm is coming between here and there,” he shared, “and a lot of flights have been grounded, ours included.”
“Of course. Why would anything be easy?” She shook her head. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be a bitch. I just…”
“It’s all right. You’re not, and I understand.”
“It’s almost as if you’re too understanding,” she noted, looking at him sideways.
He snorted at that. “I’m not sure there is such a thing. Yet it is needed, if we are to keep our heads in stressful times.”
“Right,” she conceded, “and this is what you’re trained to do, versus me, hence the mess.”
“Not sure that we’re trained to do anything along this line of peacekeeping,” he noted, with a laugh. “Yet we definitely don’t want to get into any more trouble before we get home.”
“I agree with that,” she muttered.
As soon as they were allowed, they were escorted to a hotel, where they were given connecting rooms. Royce didn’t like the look of that either. As he walked into her room to see her crashing on the bed, he asked, “Are you ready for a nap?”
“That and food,” she said, yawning. “I really don’t want to be here, but apparently this is where we’ll be. I don’t want to say prisoners , but… that is what it feels like.”
“How about we go with guests instead? We’ll be guests for a while but just overnight, providing the storm passes and we can safely get back in the air.”
“It’s expected to, isn’t it? The storm passing, I mean.”
He shrugged. “Expectations don’t always work out, especially where the weather is concerned. So I prefer to just work on that whole premise that everything will be fine, yet be prepared in case adjustments are required.”
“Sure,” she muttered, and then she sighed. “Can we order in some food? Can we do something?” she asked. “I’m obviously not suggesting shopping or going out in public, and I’m content with staying hidden for the time being. But any activity would be so much better than this boring wait.”
“I don’t love the fact that you’re over here in this room on your own.” She looked at him, wide-eyed, and he shrugged. “A part of me says it’s not safe.”
“Feel free to bunk in with me then,” she offered. “I have absolutely no death wish, and, if you don’t think it’s safe, I’m happy to listen, providing you fix it.”
With that, she rolled off the bed and headed into the bathroom. He waited until she came back out, her face washed and looking marginally better, but the whole process was wearing on her, and he understood that. Her energy fluttered as if running on empty too. She needed a chance to recharge. They were almost to the point of being back on home soil, and that’s what she was waiting for. Still, Royce couldn’t count on Faheed not following them. “Did Faheed know anything about your business?”
“Sure, we talked about it a fair bit, but it seemed to be more of a curiosity. He was particularly flabbergasted that a woman would be allowed to have control of a company, for one thing,” she noted, with a wry smile. “In his world, such a thing just isn’t possible. I think it might have been what he and my sister fought about, but I can’t be certain.” When Royce didn’t say anything, she sighed. “He was just playing me, wasn’t he?”
“Depending on his end game, he could have been just doing his research and possibly thought the company might be in trouble if it was run by women. Hannah likely didn’t give him a great impression of women in business,” he added.
“He kept asking me about my second-in-command.”
At that, he turned slowly and looked at her, the energy of the comment buzzing. “Was that one of the five people you asked us to check out?”
She frowned at him and slowly nodded her head. “Yes, why?”
“A man?” When she nodded again, it made the tumblers in Royce’s brain click . “Which means that would be someone who Faheed would be comfortable talking to, or at least comfortable approaching.”
“I suppose. Back to that, are we? I sure don’t want to think that somebody in my own company had something to do with this.”
“No, I’m sure you don’t, but burying your head in the sand won’t help us solve this.” She glared at him, but he just smiled. “Again, not trying to be difficult, but we can’t fix what we don’t know about.”
She slumped into place, and, when a knock came on the front door, he stepped over and let Rick in. She looked at him and muttered, “I guess you guys are prisoners too.”
Rick winced at that.
“We’re guests, remember,” Royce chimed in.
“Right, so we’re guests with no privileges.”
Rick laughed. “Yeah, that’s about the size of it. This weather may well pass by morning, so there’s a good chance we’ll be in the air not long after that.”
“That would be awesome,” she said, “and, so far, nobody’s asked me any questions.”
“I’m not sure they will. This is very much under wraps right now. They’re doing this as a favor for MI6.”
“Lovely. I’m glad to know that MI6 has such a long reach. However, it does remind me that other governments and other people have a long reach as well.”
Rick nodded. “We’re still investigating the people in your company, with priority on those you identified, but we don’t have any answers yet.”
“No, I’m not expecting any answers, especially anything that would make me doubt my own staff,” she stated, then winced. “Until Royce brought up something.”
“And what was that?” Rick asked, looking over at Royce and then back at her.
“We were just discussing the fact that Faheed doesn’t approve of women handling anything and often asked me questions about my second-in-command. That’s Dan, and he was one of the five names on the shortlist.”
“And you’re thinking what?”
“I’m not thinking anything,” she declared. “I want to believe that he is exactly who I think he is and that he’s loyal to me, and I will continue thinking that until I’m shown otherwise. But I’m sure the two of you are wondering whether Dan could easily be bought off with a bribe or with a promise of a better position, such as taking over the company. Royce asked if the fact that he is male would make it more likely that Faheed would choose him to discuss these issues, and, of course, the answer to that is absolutely yes. I can totally see Faheed doing precisely that.”
“And, if he wanted that company, which I understand from you that he does, then it’s also quite possible that Dan’s been approached already.”
“I don’t want to talk to him about it long distance. I would much prefer to talk to him in person,” she replied. “That’s not something that I really want to just guess at, and I would much rather see his face when I ask him. Of course Royce doesn’t want me contacting the company just yet because of Faheed.”
“Of course. We also haven’t had any luck so far in figuring out who Hannah was writing to all that time.”
She stared at him, blinking several times. “Right, I’d forgotten about that.” She shook her head. “She had no friends, so where did the letters go?”
Sensing only truth in her energy, Royce relaxed more. She really didn’t know about those letters, neither had she questioned it. Was that because she subconsciously didn’t want to know or because of the drugs? “That’s one of the curiosities that we’ll have to get to the bottom of,” he shared. “Not that there’s anything dark or dangerous or ugly about it, just that it’s a curiosity. So we do need to figure it out.”
She nodded. “I’m tired and worn out, but I also need food. I obviously won’t get more clothes while we’re guests ,” she noted for emphasis, “but it would be nice if I could get a solid night’s sleep so I’m better prepared for tomorrow.”
At that, Rick looked over at Royce. “I suggest we order in.”
“That’s what we were just talking about too,” Royce said, with a nod. “I also don’t like the fact that she’s in a room all on her own, so I will stay here with her.”
Rick didn’t say anything, just nodded as if it made perfect sense to him.
That was a good thing because no way Royce would take no for an answer on that point, not given the ongoing prodding from his own instincts.
“Do we need to set up four-hour shifts?” Rick asked.
Royce grimaced. “We should.”
Rick stared off in the distance. “I agree with not leaving her alone, so, for added security, I suggest we all stay in the same room.” Then he frowned over at her. “Actually…”
Royce nodded. “Yes, I think you’re right on that too.”
“Hang on a minute, he didn’t say anything yet,” Heather noted in exasperation.
“I know, but I just read his mind.” Royce laughed at her gasp. “And I suggest we do it now.”
“Agreed,” Rick replied.
She threw up her hands and asked Royce, “What are you two talking about?”