Talib watched her give the order for the men to come back to the trucks. As the only female amongst the Jawharan and Americans, he was impressed with her ability to command men who no doubt had much more experience than her. How had she come to be in charge of this mission? It’s obvious that there are much more experienced operatives among her fellow team members.

  Shrugging his shoulders and cracking his neck, he tabled that thought for a later time. He quickly briefed the palace guard as to what was happening, ordering them all back to the palace at once. The entire palace was to be placed on lockdown, and as soon as Khalil arrived with Shira, they were to be escorted directly to the palace under heavy guard. Talib was taking no chances that another kidnapping might ensue before this one was resolved.

  As they dispersed, he turned to watch PJ still consulting with the small American force. While Talib did not know any of the men personally, he knew Slade, and Slade only hired the best. His guess was that most of the men were ex-Special Forces who decided working for Uncle Sam had its drawbacks.

  The only person he was unsure of was PJ. She wasn’t Special Forces – the Americans still believed that some jobs only a man could do. She carried herself with the confidence that only came with military training. He watched her, wondering how she had stumbled into Slade’s arena.

  PJ could feel Talib’s eyes on her back and it was beginning to make her nervous. Something that was sure to have her reacting defensively rather than with a cool head. She shrugged her shoulders before turning to meet his stare. “What?!”

  Talib quirked a brow at the defensive tone he heard in her voice, “Easy there. I was just wondering how you came to be mixed up with the likes of Slade.”

  PJ’s mouth turned up and she laughed, “Slade is one of the best. He served with my brother over in Iraq.” Her smile dimmed at the mention of her brother, but she held onto as much of it as she could.

  “So, your brother works for Slade as well?” Talib asked.

  PJ sadly shook her head, “No. He never made it back home. He died over there and at the funeral, Slade promised to do everything he could to help me out. Tony had been all the family I had with our parents having been killed years earlier by a drunk driver. I had just finished college and was so messed up emotionally….”

  Her voice trailed off and Talib laid a comforting hand upon her shoulder, “You don’t have to continue, if you don’t want to.”

  PJ closed her eyes and let the warmth and strength of his touch soothe her nerves, “No, it happened a while ago.” Taking a breath, she continued, “Anyway, I enlisted and served my four years and then told Slade I was taking him up on his offer.”

  “You asked him for a job?”

  “Yeah, a job. I was an MP in the military. The thought of sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life didn’t hold any appeal. Slade took me in and the guys have been great about helping me learn what I didn’t know, and improve on areas I was weak in.”

  Talib watched her before asking, “So how does that translate to you being in charge of this particular mission?”

  “That’s easy. Your boss hired us to watch his fiancé. Somehow the fact that she’s pregnant got lost, but nevertheless, Slade thought it might be easier to ensure her safety if I was on point. I can go places the men can’t.”

  Talib nodded, “Yes, that is true. You seem to like this type of work.”

  “I do. But it’s become more than work, it’s kind of like a second family now.” PJ shook her head and then turned the conversation to him, “So what’s your story?”

  Talib smiled at her, allowing her to change the subject, “My mother was sister to the former Sheikha. Sheikh Kamal and his brother are my cousins.”

  “So, you’re related to the throne, but yet you work for them?” PJ asked, not sure she had followed his connection to the royal family.

  “It is different here. All children born to the Sheikh are considered royal, but only male heirs can inherit. Since I am only related to the royal family by the marriage of my aunt, I am not really considered royal. Nor would I want to be. I am very content managing the security for my cousins.

  “I had the benefit of being born only a few months before Khalil, Sheikh Kamal’s younger brother. I was given all of the same training they had, attended the same schools and everything in between, but I don’t have the responsibility that comes with the title. I like things the way they are.”

  PJ nodded, “I can see that. So,” she paused, “are we going after the girl?”

  “Yes. Assemble your team while I procure a map of the area. We need to put together a plan and then I will call the palace. I assume you have brought along an assortment of gadgets and such that might be useful.”

  PJ grinned and nodded, “You know it! Slade sent along a little bit of everything. I’m sure we can find plenty of things to play with while we look for the missing bride-to-be.”

  Talib laughed at her and shooed her away, “Good! Get to it then!” He watched her call the American men back over, pleased to see the way they interacted with her, treating her as an equal while yet respecting the fact that she was a woman. A difficult task for most men, but Slade’s crew handled themselves expertly. A fact that made Talib very happy indeed. He had enough on his plate without having to defend PJ’s honor.

  Chapter 4

  Kamal paced his chambers in the palace, anxious for word from Talib about Erin. I should have never let her go this morning! When I get her back, I’m going to lock her up and throw away the key!

  Hearing the soft knock on his door, he called out for them to enter, struggling to contain his anger and present a calm façade to whomever had the courage to visit him now.

  He looked towards the doors, pleased to see Erin’s parents being escorted into the room by one of his ever-efficient household personnel. “Shukran!” Kamal told the young girl as she bowed her head and backed from the room, closing the door behind her.

  Turning to address Erin’s parents, he stepped towards them, shaking their hands in turn, “It is a pleasure to meet the two people responsible for taking care of my Erin. I only regret she cannot be here to greet you in person at this time.”

  Tom Malone shook his hand and then asked, “No word on where she is yet?”

  Kamal shook his head, “I’m afraid not. Talib went straight out to the refugee camp, but he hasn’t checked back in yet. I am sure everything possible is being done to locate Erin.”

  “Mr. El-Jawhara…,” Patty Malone began, only to be cut off.

  “Please, Mrs. Malone. Call me Kamal when we are in private.”

  “And when we’re in public?” Patty asked, watching his face and liking the strength she saw there. This man was very agitated at having lost her daughter, yet he managed to maintain his control and project a calm façade. Very nice! Just what Erin needs in her life.

  “Your Majesty would be the correct form of address.” Kamal watched Erin’s parents as they digested this information, pleased when they merely looked at each other and then nodded in his direction.

  “I’ll try to remember that….Your Majesty,” Patty Malone replied with a small bow and a teasing smile.

  Kamal was charmed by her ability to tease him in face of the news that her daughter had been kidnapped by neighboring rebels. Sobering, he gestured for the couple to join him in the large sitting room.

  “I assure you, we will find Erin.”

  “Kamal, we know you’re doing everything you can. Talib seems very capable of handling whatever situation our daughter has gotten herself into.” Turning to address his wife, Tom commented, “That girl is a trouble magnet. Ever since she was six…”

  Patty laid a hand over her husband’s lips, silencing him with a wink, “There’s no reason to go into all of that now.” Looking at Kamal, she smiled, “I’m sure he’s already aware of her propensity to find trouble. I would love to hear how you met our daughter.”

  Kamal smiled at Patty, very aware that she was doing her best to distract him from worrying about Erin. “I met your lovely daughter when Shira brought her along to a celebration between Jewel Oil and the Addams Group.” Kamal paused, not quite sure how to navigate the rest of their history with her mother.

  Patty saw him pause and took pity on him, “If you’re trying to find a polite way to tell us Erin is carrying your child, Talib already spared you that task.” Seeing the storm clouds gathering in Kamal’s eyes, she hurried to soothe them, “In his defense, I don’t believe he meant to tell us, but he mentioned she had been ill and one thing led to another. I can be very persistent when I need to be.”

  Kamal took a slow breath and then released it, “I wish I could say I am sorry, but in truth, I am not. Erin’s pregnancy simply gave me the added incentive to bring her to Jawhara sooner than later.”

  “Talib said she has been suffering from morning sickness. Have the doctor’s been able to help alleviate any of it?” Tom asked, thinking back to how sick Patty had been while she was pregnant with Erin. She had suffered from morning sickness around the clock, for the entire nine and a half months. Thus, the true reason Erin had been their only biological child.

  Kamal nodded, “Yes, as long as she eats carefully and takes the medications that have been prescribed for her, she seems to be feeling much better. I worry how she will handle the sickness without those things. She has lost quite a bit of weight and…”

  Patty reached across the sitting area and patted Kamal’s hand, “My Erin is strong. She will do whatever is needed to keep her child safe.”

  “I know,” Kamal replied with a grim look, “That is what worries me most.”

  Before he could comment further, his cell phone rang and he quickly answered it, “Tell me what is happening?” Kamal didn’t feel the need for niceties and knew that Talib would understand his abrupt response.

  “Your Majesty, the camp had been thoroughly searched when I arrived. Another, more thorough search was undertaken after my arrival, but she had already been removed from the camp. We believe we’ve located her with a lone kidnapper, heading for the western border and mountains there.”

  “You saw her?” Kamal asked.

  “On the satellite images, yes, I believe we identified her. She was sitting astride a donkey, being led by the young palace guard we believe is related to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

  “The man who was assassinated during the coup?” Kamal asked, not liking where his thoughts were heading. On his last visit to the Sumari capital, he had been informed that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had been the ringleader of the small Islamic extremist group that had taken responsibility for killing the previous ruler.

  The extremists had been attempting to overthrow the current leadership by infiltrating positions of authority within the government. Once their plans had been made known, the liberal rebels had risen up and eliminated everyone who had aligned themselves with the extremists. Not only had the Minister of Foreign Affairs been assassinated, but several other advisors and the interim ruler had been deposed as well.

  The rightful heir to the throne had been released from the prison where he was being secretly held, the public having been told he had died in a bizarre accident. The extremists had been warned to stop their coup games, or leave the country. Many of liberally-minded citizens had fled into Jawhara, fearful that further action would be taken against them for their religious beliefs or lack thereof.

  Kamal hadn’t realized that among the refugees there were any extremists. How that information had escaped his own people was something he intended to find out once Erin was rescued.

  Kamal had been furious to find out that his country had been drawn into a religious war, rather than a humanitarian or political one. He had informed the new Sheikh that it was up to him to learn to co-exist with the staunch followers of Islam if he ever wanted to rule in peace.

  In an effort to make that happen, an agreement had been reached between the remaining extremists still in the country and the Sheikh to allow them to live in designated areas, unhindered by western influences. Either the palace guard imposter hadn’t received that information, or the extremists were still bent on taking over the country.

  “The very same. It would appear that the unrest was not merely political in nature.”

  “Extremists.” Kamal didn’t ask, he stated fact. He recounted to Talib the rumors he’d heard on his last trip to meet with the new leadership. “I was led to believe a peaceful agreement had been reached, this situation leads me to believe the exact opposite.”

  Talib was silent for a moment and then his voice came through the phone, “I am wondering if anyone other than the kidnapper and his accomplice in the camp know he has Miss Malone as a hostage. There is absolutely no cell reception in the area, and he was travelling alone.

  “The American security team and myself have come up with a plan. With your permission, we will go after your woman and bring her home, hopefully before her kidnapper reaches his destination.”

  “Talib, thank you. Whatever you need, you only have to ask and it is yours. Bring her home to me.”

  “I will, Your Majesty. I will.”

  Chapter 5

  Talib disconnected the phone and then looked up to see PJ and the other five Americans watching him; waiting for him to speak. “Sheikh Kamal extends his gratitude for your willingness to help retrieve his bride. No demands have been made as of yet, so we must assume that as of right now the kidnapper is working alone.”

  Brett Larson spoke up, “Won’t that change as soon as he crosses the border with her?”

  “Maybe. But the closest settlement is fifteen miles inside Sumari, and even then cell phone reception is almost impossible to rely upon. According to information Sheikh Kamal was given on his last trip into Sumari, a peaceful agreement had been reached between the extremists and the current ruler. Either our young kidnapper is not aware of that, or the agreement is only a façade. Either way, we need to capitalize on the fact that he is most likely working alone at this time. Since we’ve seen no sign of other’s approaching the border, we can assume he won’t be able to contact whomever he’s working with until he gets to some sort of civilization.”

  “So that means we have additional time to find him and retrieve Miss Malone.” PJ didn’t look up as she made the statement, she was already busy looking at the maps and trying to figure out where the kidnapper might head.

  “PJ?” Talib said, waiting for her to look up at him before he continued. “You are correct in that we now have maybe an additional day before he could make contact with other extremists, however, the mountains inside Sumari are riddled with caves. Some of those are rumored to network for miles inland with booby-traps and safeguards to keep others out.”

  Talib looked each man in the eyes before turning his gaze back to PJ, “Our best Brock of finding her is to locate them before he goes underground with her.”

  Brock Sweeney, ex-Navy Seal, offered, “Why not send the drones up? We could put them on heat seeking mode and locate them that way.”

  “We could also alert her kidnapper that we’re looking for him which would push him underground even sooner. The fact that he has dressed her in the cultural clothing of his people indicates that he might be trying to take her as far as possible on the roads. That works in our favor.”

  “How so?” PJ asked, not following his line of thinking.

  “If we were to jump ahead of him and start travelling back towards Jawhara, we might be able to intercept him before he makes contact with the others he’s working with.”

  “Don’t you think it would be pretty obvious if he were to run into a group of Americans out in the middle of the desert? I mean, we don’t exactly blend in around here.” Brett was looking around at the group of five men and one woman who had travelled around the world to assist Sheikh Kamal. Brock Sweeney was a red head with a face full of freckles; Tim Morris had the dark skin common to his African-American heritage; Carlos Sanchez was Hispanic in both his good looks and his speech; Brett and his twin brother Travis were both blue-eyed, blonde haired surfer boys from Southern California. That only left PJ, and with her blond hair and sky blue eyes, there was no way she could pass as a local.

  Talib looked at each man and then at PJ, agreeing that without some sort of camouflage, there was no way any of them could pass as a local citizen. “I agree. What I am suggesting is this…”

  Talib and the American team spent the next half hour working out their plan. The American men would travel to the closest village via an alternate route using the helicopter available to them back at the palace. They would set up satellite feeds, a com station, and monitor the situation from there.

  Talib would take PJ with him, and they would take a shortcut through the desert, cutting in front of the kidnapper and his most likely path into Sumari. They would then appear to be nomads travelling back to Jawhara via camel. Talib knew of a small group of Jawharan nomads, which were currently only a few miles from their intended location.

  PJ listened as the plans were outlined. She would be travelling with Talib, in full cultural dress, which would include a face veil, but not the oppressive black one favored by the Islamic extremists. She wasn’t thrilled to know that she would have to figure out how to stay on the back of a camel, but it seemed to be their best Brock of finding and retrieving Miss Malone.

  And what woman in her right mind would mind spending some alone time with the handsome head of palace security? Definitely not her!

  *****

  Erin battled the nausea as long as she could, finally becoming desperate for fresh air and a stop to the rocking motion of the donkey. “Stop! Please, I need to stop for a moment!” she called out, not caring if she angered Amir or not.

  Amir stopped walking, halting the forward movement of the donkey before walking back to address her. He frowned at his captive as she struggled to remove the heavy veil, her breathing harsh and uneven in her struggles.