Lora Leigh - Guilty Pleasure

The sound of oncoming sirens could be heard as the limo sped away quickly from the apartment building.

“Mathews wants a report asap,” Shayne told them, his expression tight and closed as he stared at Khalid before turning his gaze to the traffic around them.

“That makes two of us.” Marty breathed in roughly. “I didn’t even have a chance to get a look at his face.”

“His face was covered,” Khalid stated.

“And my apartment was very professionally searched,” she reported. “There was just enough out of place to show he was in a hurry.”

What could he have been searching for? Marty never brought files home; her computer was used for personal e-mail and business records only. She wrote about or logged her reports from her office computer.

“The search was a smoke screen,” Khalid informed them. “They weren’t after information.”

“They were after Marty,” Shayne finished.

Marty stared back at the two men as she tried to make sense of what they were saying.

“He was there to kill me.” She had known that the second she had realized what was going on.

The gunfire hadn’t been loud; the assailant’s weapon had been silenced. She had known the sound of that pop-pop as the bullets had been fired from the fire escape.

Something flashed in Khalid’s face then. It wasn’t just fury; it was pain, an agony that went far beyond the thought of what could have happened.

It was there and gone so fast that she couldn’t be certain of the emotion she had seen there.

“He was there to kill you,” Khalid finally agreed. “We need to figure out what the hell is going on.” Khalid glared at Shayne. “When we get back to the estate I want you to pull in as much information as possible from your sources. Don’t scrimp, Shayne; we don’t have much time. That assassin was too close. If they follow previous patterns, then they’re here in Alexandria. They would want to be close. They would need to see me suffer. They wouldn’t wait in Saudi and merely guess at my reaction.”

“If your brothers hate you so much, then why come after me rather than you?” she asked.

“Oh, they will,” he promised her. “But they would want me to suffer first, Marty. Killing you would ensure that suffering, even more than they could guess. Before they kill me, they want me to know they’ve taken my woman, destroyed her. They’ll be satisfied with nothing less.”

“Have they threatened the girls you look after?”

There were six young women who his father had sent to him years ago as sex slaves; at least, that was the rumor. Khalid had adopted them instead.

“The girls have never been threatened, because they were a gift from my father,” he sneered, his voice deepening, darkening with a ragged agony that tore at her soul. “Until he dies, Ayid and Aman won’t tempt his patience with them by harming them.”

“But your lovers are fair game?”

“My lovers are fair game,” he agreed quietly, but the echo of rage in his voice was clear. “Over the years I’ve cost my brothers a lot, love. Even more important, I’ve steadily worked at destroying them. The last cell we captured was more important to them than most. The mission they were on was one that would have brought glory to Ayid and Aman among the terrorist community. Taking that from them ensured that they would strike against me.”

Marty stared back at him, not in horror but in confusion.

“Why?” She surveyed his expression carefully, watching the subtle emotions that flickered through his eyes. “When you first went to Saudi fifteen years ago, according to the file I had on you, there was a sense of alliance between you and your three brothers. What happened, Khalid?”

“They found out I was working against them,” he stated baldly. “And in doing so, I was responsible for the attack on the headquarters of a small cell based in Riyadh that was planning to infiltrate the royal palace and blow it to hell. The strike the government made against those headquarters resulted in the deaths of their wives. They swore then they’d destroy any woman I claimed as my own. It hasn’t helped matters that I’ve continued to attempt to destroy them over the years.”

Silence filled the limousine as Marty stared at him in surprise and pain. The grief that seemed to envelop Khalid drove a wedge of pain inside her chest. To see him, his black eyes flickering with sorrow, tore at her. A sorrow that his brothers had destroyed any hope of a future with any woman he could love, any child he might have.

Marty saw the agony he felt, that at no time had he ever been safe. That his friends, his family, that everyone he loved could be struck at any time. The weight of the knowledge must have been horrible.

Breathing in tremulously, she considered the options they had.

“What do we do next, then?”

“Tomorrow, I’m taking you to the club,” Khalid said, causing her lips to part, first in shock, then in mounting anger. “Ian has agreed to allow you to stay in a specially prepared area beneath the club for those members’ lovers, wives, children who are in danger. You will be safe until this is finished.”

Marty couldn’t believe what had just come out of his mouth.

“Ian is not going to allow me back in that club,” she informed him. “Not after tonight.”

“The agreement has been made,” he informed her. “The rooms beneath the club are safe, Marty. Neither Ayid or Aman, nor their assassin, can get to you there. You will be completely sheltered.”

She looked at Shayne. Once again, he had found something else to direct his attention to.

“The fucking scenery isn’t that interesting,” she burst out as he stared out the window. “Did you know about this? Did my fathers?”

Shayne turned to look at her and cleared his throat. “It’s a rule. All members have to be informed in the eventuality of this. No names are given, nor the location of where you’re staying. Simply that you are staying on the property and that your protection is assured by the club. That means we’re all responsible for your safety and well-being.” He stared directly at her then. “And we take it very seriously.

“Well, bully the hell for you and your club members!” she sneered. “But you can count me out. I do believe I have other plans.”

“And those plans are?” Khalid wasn’t happy, but at the moment, she really didn’t give a damn. She couldn’t believe he would dare attempt to stash her someplace safe while he and Shayne got to run around having fun catching terrorists. It wasn’t going to work out like that.

“Anger Thornton is hosting a party in two nights,” she informed them both as she sat back and crossed her arms over her breasts. “I’m scheduled to be there, as are the rest of the very powerful and elite here in D.C. There’s enough gossip at those parties that if a person catches the right whispers, they may very well get a clue as to what is going on.”

“We attend the party and do what?” Shayne asked. “We have no idea who to watch, question, or kill. You’re reaching Marty.”

“As long as I hide, Ayid and Aman will never show their faces or their intentions,” she snapped back at him. “Put me out there. Show them we’re not frightened, that we intend to fight back, and you’ll piss them off. You’ll make them move.”

“And risk your life?” Khalid said as he leaned forward and all but shoved his nose against hers. “I don’t think so.”

Marty watched Khalid. It wouldn’t work without his cooperation, without his help. He would have to be there with her as well as Shayne to present the correct image and to incite the brothers who hated him so desperately.

“I don’t need your permission,” she stated coolly. “Don’t make this mistake, Khalid. You can work with me. I can even follow your lead. But I’m not a helpless little homebody that’s going to be content to sit in some basement and twiddle my damned thumbs while you’re out having fun catching the bad guys.”