Under Command Page 17

  As Zakir gave the orders, word came in over the radio of another blast. Yet another satellite installation had been sabotaged by insurgents and several more of his Sheik’s Army troops had died in the explosion.

  Zakir summoned two more Gurkhas and calmly, coolly ordered his men to have Nikki Hunt followed 24/7, but to never allow her to know that she was under scrutiny, and to give her free rein, even if she attempted to leave the palace grounds.

  “Your goal is to learn who she makes contact with, then put tails on those people and follow them to additional contacts. I want to see if they’ll lead us to the source of this insurgency.” Zakir paused, the vision in his right eye now blurring again, as well. These episodes were coming back-to-back, and the darkness was not recovering in his left eye at all now. But he wasn’t ready to go blind yet. He wanted to hold on to his vision long enough to look into Nikki’s eyes when he sentenced her. To death.

  “I want her every move recorded. Report back to me regularly.”

  Meanwhile, Zakir would mobilize the rest of his army for counterattack should Nikki lead him to an enemy base.

  As soon as his men left his office, Zakir dialed Tariq’s number. He paced, waiting for Tariq to pick up.

  “Do you know what time it is here?” Tariq said, his voice thick with sleep.

  “It’s urgent, Tariq,” he said quietly. “I have a possible lead to the insurgents. I need to know the status of the private investigation into Nikki Hunt.”

  “She is your lead?”

  “Possibly.”

  “The same woman being vetted for betrothal? For queen of Al Na’Jar?”

  Zakir pinched the bridge of his nose tightly. “Have they got anything on her yet?”

  Tariq was silent for a moment. “I am sorry, brother.”

  Zakir cursed to himself. His brother had instantly deduced that once again Zakir had been led by his libido into a relationship with a female traitor. “There is nothing to be sorry about,” he snapped. “The woman will lead us to our enemies, and that is what we want. But I need to know what our investigators have on her ASAP.”

  “I have not received a report yet—I’ll call our investigators at once.”

  “Tell them that this woman’s name is likely not Nikki Hunt. Her passport is probably false.” Zakir hesitated, suddenly overwhelmed again by how deeply he’d fallen for her and how badly he’d wished she could be exactly who she’d claimed to be.

  Several beats of silence hung between the continents. When Tariq spoke, his voice was quiet. “You’re sure she’s a fraud, ya akhi?”

  “Certain of it.”

  “Does she know about your eyes?”

  Zakir raked his hand over his hair. “Yes.”

  Another beat of silence.

  “You cannot let her get out with this news, Zakir.”

  Instead of answering, Zakir leaned forward, clicked a key on his computer. “I am sending digital images of her face to your computer for biometrics cross-referencing. They were captured by our security cameras. I’ll also be sending a scan of her fingerprints I’m having lifted from a glass bottle. I’d like you to pass these on to the investigators. Call me as soon as you know something.”

  Tariq studied the images his brother had just e-mailed to him. Frowning, he glanced up from his computer. It was dark outside, and snow fell soft and thick over the city, swirling in eddies beneath the yellow halos of streetlamps. Tariq got up from his desk, pulled down the blinds and returned to examine the stills Zakir had sent him. There was something so terribly familiar about the woman’s face.

  He swore he knew her from somewhere.

  Nikki was distraught. She’d gone down into the olive grove during the dark hours of dawn while Zakir was drugged, and she’d handed the document over. But the men had not returned Samira. Instead, they’d informed Nikki they’d bring her the next night, if the map checked out.

  And today something was going down. A sense of urgency had taken over the palace. Soldiers moved with focus. Choppers thudded over the fortress fetching and carrying important-looking people who moved in and out of Zakir’s office all day. The king himself had remained sequestered there.

  Then Nikki heard news of bombings being whispered by kitchen staff. And more attacks throughout the country. No one was looking for Samira, either, which disturbed Nikki.

  Stressed beyond words, she paced up and down the length of her room.

  If Zakir found out what she’d done, she would certainly face trial.

  Death.

  She needed to get Samira back tonight, and she had to find a way to get the hell out of here, maybe using all this action as a distraction. Nikki left her room and quickly made for the children’s chambers. There she packed a few bags, getting the younger children ready. She told them to remain in the chambers and to be prepared to move at a moment’s notice. And she instructed them to remain silent, to tell no one—not one single soul—that they were ready to evacuate the palace.

  “Solomon,” she whispered, crouching down to eye level, “I am putting you in charge, okay?”

  He nodded gravely. “What about Samira?”

  Nikki bit her lip, her heart squeezing at the liquid emotion gleaming in young Solomon’s big round eyes. These children has seen so much darkness in their life that they absorbed bad news with stoic acceptance. “She’s coming back tonight, Solomon. I promise,” she whispered very quietly in French. “Keep this to yourself, okay?”

  He nodded, one lone tear rolling like a jewel down his dark cheek. Nikki bit back her own emotion. “And Solomon, if something happens to me, go to the staff in the kitchen and get someone to show you how to leave the palace. Try to find your way back to the Rahm Hills. The Berbers will take care of you.”

  “What could happen to you, Miss Nikki?”

  “Rien, Solomon. Nothing. But just in case the king gets angry with us—”

  “He can be an angry man?”

  “I think he can be a very angry man.”

  Especially when he finds out what I have done to him.

  At dinnertime there was still no sign of Zakir. Unable to eat, Nikki declined the food the palace staff brought to her. And when the sun sank behind the red and brown peaks and a hot velvet darkness swallowed the land, Nikki made sure no one was following her, and she went down into the olive garden.

  A different man stepped out of the shadows. Bigger. Rougher.

  Her grabbed her, doused her torch and yanked her back into the trees.

  “Where is Samira?” she hissed with mounting panic as she saw no sign of her.

  “You did not follow orders,” the man growled in broken Arabic.

  “I did! Where is she?” Frantically, Nikki peered into the dark shapes between the twisted trunks and branches of the ancient olives. But there was nothing. “You bastard!” she swore, lunging for the knife sheathed at his hips, grabbing the hilt. She yanked it free, but the man’s hand clamped like a vise over her wrist. He twisted her around, wrenching her hand up high behind her back, and he shoved her cheek hard into the gnarled bark of an olive tree.

  Nikki’s heart thudded as she felt the tip of his knife press against her carotid artery. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered that it was a hunting knife, not a jambiya or kukri.

  “You lie,” he whispered, his breath hot against her ear. And it hit her that he was not a native Arabic speaker, but she could not place the accent. French or Italian, maybe. He twisted her arm higher, and she gasped in pain. He dug the blade against her skin.

  “What,” she said hoarsely, “makes you think I didn’t follow your orders?”

  His mouth came even closer. She could smell mint and a particular tobacco, black, bitter. A hint of aftershave. This man wore gloves.

  “Because,” he whispered, mint-tobacco breath feathering hot over her lips, “the Sheik is still alive.”

  She froze, heart palpitating. “That’s what you wanted from me? The pill—it was supposed to kill him?”

  The man r
emoved something from his pocket. She noted he was wearing jeans, a Western shirt. He keyed his PDA, held it in front of her eye, the other side of her face still squished against rough bark. The screen on his PDA flickered to a gray glow. Then an image came up.

  Samira.

  A hood over her head, jambiya at her throat. The man holding the blade wore a balaclava.

  Nikki’s assailant gave a command into the device, and the hood was ripped from Samira’s head. Nikki choked at the sight of her orphan’s terrified eyes, the dried blood on her mouth, one eye swollen shut. “Wait!” she whispered. “Please…please don’t do anything. I…I used another drug on the king, a barbiturate. I thought it would be easier to medicate him with it because I was familiar with the dosage and could be certain how long he’d stay under. With the capsule you gave me…I…I was unsure.” Leaves rustled.

  “You still have the capsule?”

  “Yes,” she said hoarsely. “I have it. It’s in a jar on top of the cabinet in the physician’s examining room.”

  “You will use it, then. Tonight. The poison will take between eight to twelve hours to work. If Sheik Zakir Al Arif is not dead by tomorrow evening—” he thrust the PDA image of Samira in front of Nikki’s nose “—she dies instead.”

  “Then you will have won nothing,” Nikki rasped as he continued to press her face hard against the tree.

  “And neither will you.” He spun her around suddenly, moonlight glinting in his dark eyes that showed through the balaclava slit. “Will you do this?”

  Nikki stared directly into his eyes. The skin around them was pale. He was Caucasian. “What guarantee do I have that you will honor your word?”

  “She’s not dead yet, is she?”

  “That’s because she still holds currency for you,” spat Nikki. “She’s still got leverage.”

  He hooked his gloved knuckle under her chin, forcing her face up. He brought his lips so close they almost skimmed hers. “If you do this,” he whispered, “she will go free. And if you do it well, no one will know that it was you who assassinated the Sheik. We don’t want you or the girl. All we want is for the Al Arif dynasty to die. For too long they have ruled this desert. It is now our time.”

  He let her go, and like a black ghost, he slipped back into the trees.

  Nikki began to shake violently. She braced her palm against the tree, bent over and threw up. Then she crouched down, searching for her doused torch amongst the sharp, dry leaves. The air in the grove was hot, the leaves rustling as the breeze stirred. But as Nikki located her torch, she heard a crunch of twigs. She stilled. Then she heard it again, another footfall.

  “Who…who’s there?” she called nervously, drawing her veil back over her face.

  She thought she heard another sound, as if the footsteps were retreating.

  Nikki waited in the shadows for a long while. She had no idea what to do. And nowhere to turn.

  When Nikki reentered the palace, all was disturbingly silent.

  She peeked in at the kids. They’d had dinner and were either reading or climbing into bed, their bags still packed and under their beds. Solomon came up to her door. “What happened, Miss Nikki? You have scrapes on the side of your face.”

  She forced a smile. “De rien. Je suis bien. Thank you for holding the fort, Solomon.”

  “Where is Samira?”

  “She…she’s on her way. I just have a few things to do first.”

  “Are we to remain all packed and ready to leave?”

  “Yes. And thank you, Solomon. You have no idea how much of a help you are.” She kissed the top of his head and made her way to the physician’s examining room. Closing the door quietly behind her, she leaned against the wall, head back, eyes closed. Cold nausea swirled in her stomach.

  She’d been pushed right up to the edge. This was far worse than she could ever have imagined. Both Zakir’s and Samira’s lives were in danger. And she was in the middle. She had no doubt that Gelu was working with these men. He was probably planning for her to take the blame if the king died. Now she had to tell Zakir that his enemies were planning to assassinate him. And she had to do it very, very carefully, because if Gelu found out, it would be death for Samira. Nikki would have to somehow convince Zakir to play along and feign ignorance at least until Samira was safe.

  But would he do it? Especially after she told him that she’d spied on him, drugged him, stolen a critical document?

  Even if he did, she doubted he could ever forgive her. He’d have her tried for treason.

  Telling Zakir she’d spied on him might just help save Samira, but it was going to come at a huge personal cost. She’d lose her own life. But what other choice did she have?

  Because there was no way in hell she’d ever even think of giving him the poison.

  Nikki exhaled shakily, her body wet with perspiration.

  She had to do it. Now.

  She had to make the sacrifice—lose everything, including her precious children—to save his life and hopefully Samira’s.

  She had to take the capsule of poison to him and confess it all.

  Nikki leaned up on tiptoes and felt with her fingertips along the top of the cabinet for the pill bottle she’d stashed there. For a terrifying moment she thought it was gone, then her fingers brushed against the bottle. She had to fetch a stool to reach it. She must’ve pushed it farther back than she’d realized.

  Nikki retrieved the capsule and slid it into her pocket.

  She exited the room and stepped into the marble corridor. “Nikki!”

  She jerked stiff, spun around. In shock she saw Zakir marching down the passage tightly flanked by Gelu and Hasan. He held on to his dog as he strode, tall, unfaltering. Impeccably dressed, scimitar gleaming.

  Nikki’s heart leaped against her chest.

  Up until now, Zakir had done without his bodyguards in the private living quarters of the palace. Something had changed. She wiped damp palms against her skirt. “Still…still no sign of Samira?” she asked.

  “My men are searching everywhere and everyone,” he said curtly. “I am sure you saw the helicopter activity, all the troops arriving and going?”

  That was more than a search and rescue mission for Samira.

  She nodded.

  “They’re going through the outlying village now. House by house. And—” he paused, eyes narrowing “—where were you going?”

  From behind Zakir, Gelu’s eyes caught hers in warning, his hand moving surreptitiously to the hilt of his kukri knife. Fear balled into Nikki’s throat.

  “I…I was just coming to look for you. I…needed to talk to you…about something.”

  “Good,” said Zakir, taking her arm brusquely. “You can talk while you dine with me.”

  Something had changed in the king. He had to have noticed the scratches and blood on her face, her state of disarray, yet he said nothing.

  And Nikki was suddenly terrified of him.

  Gelu and Hasan slotted the bolt across the inside of the dining hall door and took up positions in front of it.

  Panic flared in Nikki’s eyes as she saw this, and she turned to Zakir. “I…was hoping we could dine in private,” she said, her voice thick.

  Zakir pulled out a chair. “Things have changed. Take a seat.” She did, nervous, her gaze flicking to Gelu and Hasan.

  It hardened Zakir’s heart. He saw her fear as just another sign of her guilt. Flipping out his napkin, he poured wine into two crystal goblets. “You will join me tonight, Nikki. Partake of my fine cellar collection.”

  “That…doesn’t sound like a request, Zakir.”

  “It’s not.”

  Blood drained from her face. “I…don’t understand.”

  Zakir smiled harshly at her, hating her for her beauty, for breaking his heart, for killing his family, for making him taste the intoxicating pain of need.

  But he’d regained the upper hand.

  His other Gurkhas had seen her in the grove tonight, and they’d followed th
e man she’d met with. That man had led them straight to a large military-style bunker dug into a cliff wall. The Sheik’s Army was now busy surrounding it. Without Nikki’s betrayal, Zakir would never have found it.

  This was exhilarating news. It was, however, tainted by the fact Zakir had then watched Nikki from the cameras in his office as she returned to the medicine room. He’d watched as she retrieved her capsule from the jar atop the cabinet and slipped it into her skirt pocket. And she had it with her now.

  Thanks to his pathologist, Zakir now knew what the powder was—a highly toxic cyanide compound.

  She wasn’t just a spy.

  She was an assassin.

  Chapter 18

  Nikki stared at the burgundy liquid Zakir was forcing on her, fear rearing like a horse in her heart.

  He didn’t blink. Not a muscle in his body moved. “I must concede, Nikki, that you ply your craft exceedingly well.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He leaned forward suddenly. “Did your people compile a psychological profile of me, assess my weaknesses? Then send in someone specifically selected to target my vulnerabilities? Is that why you came up with the idea of playing a mission nurse? And where did you get the children for your ruse? Steal them from some orphanage?”

  Panic licked through Nikki. She shot a glance at the door. The Gurkhas blocked access, their hands on their knives.

  Zakir waited for her gaze to meet his again. When it did, Nikki’s mouth went bone-dry. His face had turned to dark thunder, eyes crackling with aggression and hatred. There was no sign of the man she’d been falling in love with, the man who’d asked her to spend the rest of her life with him.

  “What is your name?” he said very quietly in Arabic. “Your real name.”