Forever Betrayed: Forever Bluegrass #3 (23 page)

Mila hurried through the door and locked it. She looked around and closed all the doors before diving under the bed. She felt the silent tears falling with every sound on the stairs growing nearer. She heard other doors being kicked open and the intruder walking around each room. Then she heard the steps slow in front of her door.

Mila stifled a gasp as she clasped one hand over her mouth. In the other, she held Squirrel tucked against her shoulder. The bedspread was huge and she couldn’t see anything but darkness as the sound of the splintering wood echoed. Mila’s eyes darted to where she thought the man was walking. What had happened to Abby?  Was she lying downstairs bleeding to death while Mila hid?

The silence was suddenly overwhelming. Mila strained to hear the man’s footfalls, but there was nothing. Had he left? Then she felt it at the same time light washed under the bed. Two hands grasped her ankles and pulled. Mila screamed and kicked, but it didn’t matter. She was being dragged out from under the bed. She lost her hold on Squirrel as she fought to stay under the bed. As she was dragged, she reached into her shirt and palmed the switchblade Dani had given her.

Blind panic filled her body as she was hauled out from her hiding place. She looked up into the dark eyes hiding behind the mask. “Why are you doing this?” she stuttered as he pulled the gun from his belt.

“You rip a man’s heart out and he’s as good as dead. And you are Zain’s heart. Don’t worry. Your love will be joining you soon.”

Mila knew two things in that moment. One, she was going to die. Two, she wasn’t going to die begging for her life. Mila flicked her wrist to expose the switchblade at the same time a small ball of brown fluff with a bright blue band around his front paw raced across the bed. Mila lunged and the gun fired.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Piper is in the conference room along with the rest of the delegates. They are early for once,” Dylan whispered as soon as Zain and Suri walked out of the room.

“Where is my secretary?” Suri asked as she looked around. Zain scanned his surroundings and then asked Dylan.

“She left right after you entered the queen’s room,” Dylan told him. The queen looked perplexed when he relayed the message in her language.

Zain hurried down the stairs where he saw most of his friends and some of their parents. Annie and Bridget had brought one of Bridget’s police dogs. They were no longer trying to blend in. There was a show of force as Suri walked down the stairs to meet his parents.

“Surman is not involved,” Zain told his parents in Rahmian.

“I swear. I am not. Even if you don’t think of me as family, I think of you as such. I would never harm you,” Suri told them before bowing her head in a sign of respect.

“What’s going on?” Annie whispered to Dylan.

“Queen Suri isn’t behind the attacks. And her secretary is missing.”

“She’s not missing,” Cassidy said and then told the queen in her language, “I saw her leave with her bags a little after Zain went to see you.”

“Leave? Why would she do that?” Suri wondered.

“There’s only one reason,” Mo said gently.

“No. It can’t be her. She’s been my secretary for years. She’s been my only friend . . .” Suri stopped talking, suddenly embarrassed.

Cassidy interpreted for the group as Suri, Zain, and his parents continued to talk.

Bridget stepped forward. “Excuse me, do you have anything that belongs to your secretary?” Zain interpreted for Suri and then told Bridget about the secretary’s satchel in Suri’s room.

“I’ll get it. We can use Ace to track her.” Bridget handed Ace to Annie and rushed upstairs.

“If it
is
my secretary, she could have gotten false papers for those men who attacked Rahmi. Plus, she’s been here all week. She could be passing information to the aggressor,” Suri said sadly. “This is all my fault.”

Dani came up and took Suri’s hand in hers. “We’ll handle this together. She’s the traitor, not you. Remember that. You’re the queen and you have your family supporting you.”

Bridget returned a minute later with the bag filled with papers and personal effects. She presented the items to Ace and gave him a command in Dutch to “find.” Ace sniffed the bag and instantly put his nose to the ground. “He’s got it,” Bridget said as she took the end of the long leash from Annie. “Annie and I will get this. We’ll bring her back. Cassidy, you come with us.”

“You need to go to the meeting or they will know something is up. We don’t want to tip our hand if the responsible party is still here,” Mo said softly to Zain.

Zain didn’t want to. He wanted to figure out this mystery and end it immediately. But he listened to his father. Suri was sent in first. As soon as she took her seat, Zain entered.

“I’m so delighted to introduce to you all to Dr. Piper Davies,” Zain said as he stood next to Piper and read off her impressive résumé. He turned over the podium to her as the delegates clapped. Zain took a seat beside the lectern as Piper began to deliver her speech.

Dylan stiffened as he stood behind Zain’s right shoulder. Zain turned and saw Dylan’s lips flatten with concern. When Dylan looked at him, he knew—Mila was in danger.

So many things happened at once that Mila couldn’t process it. She screamed in pain, in anger, and in fear. She felt the bullet rip through her left arm as she used all her force to stab the knife into the man’s leg. The man screamed and dropped his gun. Mila dove for it. Her hands wrapped around the gun as she scrambled backward. She finally looked up and aimed the gun. The man was spinning in a circle. He screamed and cursed as the knife remained impaled in his thigh. Mila took advantage of the chaos and ripped the mask from the man.

“You!” Mila gasped at the same time she heard someone behind her. She swung the gun and quickly put it down. “Abby!”

Mila sprinted across the room and wrapped her bleeding arm around Abby’s waist as she kept the gun trained on him. Abby looked like she had taken a whole clip to the chest. Her bulletproof vest was torn to shreds.

“I’m okay,” Abby said, one arm wrapped around her ribs and the other holding her gun. “I shouldn’t be surprised,” Abby said coldly as she walked into the room.

“You should be. Everything you’ve known will be coming to an end. No more Rahmi. No more immunity for all the crimes your father committed while in service of a country that will no longer exist.”

“Why would you do this?” Abby asked as Mila looked back and forth between them.

“It’s funny how you think you have a right to know,” he said as they heard the doors downstairs crashing in.

“Up here!” Mila yelled.

The sound of boots running on hardwood echoed through the house as Abby slowly moved closer to the assailant. Mila kept her eyes on him. She didn’t know why, but there was something about the way he wasn’t upset that worried her.

“Holy shit,” Jackson whispered as he took in the scene. The sound of someone else running up the stairs had Mila turning. Zain. Mila blinked. No, not Zain. Gabe.

“There he is. The architect of the nanotech lab. Our savior, Prince Zain.”

“You’re behind this?” Gabe asked.

“What’s the matter, Prince Zain? Am I too low on the hierarchy to be able to take down a country?”

“How did you see this going?” Gabe asked as he made his way into the room. In a glance, Mila saw Gabe taking in her wounded arm and Abby holding her ribs.

“It’s already in motion. You won’t be able to stop it. We have men all through your country. The riots, the bombing, the assassination of the queen mother—they’re just the beginning. You yourself will bring the next downfall when your nanotech lab fails to come to fruition. We have citizens in place to turn against you and your family. All it will take is a little agitating and the rest of the country will join the chaos. Think of me as a shepherd leading the sheep to a better life.”

“A better life for who?” Gabe asked.

He smiled. “For me, of course. I’ll have the power and money then.”

“We all know you’re not behind this. You’re just someone who whispers doubts into the right ears.”

“There’s a entire network and our leader is so much stronger than you’ll ever be. Stronger than your cousin, Jamal,” he laughed, “and even stronger than your uncle. And with you out of the way . . .”

Mila saw it happening. Everyone saw it happening. But there was nothing they could do. The grenade slid from his sleeve down into his hand. Before she could scream, Mila felt a hand grasp the back of her collar and she was pulled from behind. She was flung into the hallway as the grenade was thrown.

Zain casually placed his ankle on his knee and appeared attentive as Piper spoke. He didn’t hear anything she said, though. Instead, he counted to two hundred and then casually slid his chair back and went to speak with Veronica as if he were organizing the next event. He waited until no one noticed and then he slipped out of the room with Dylan.

His father was pacing back and forth. “What took you so long?”

“What is it?” Zain asked as he jogged after his father. He’d been in such a panic over his grandmother that morning that he had left his earpiece in his room.

“They have Mila and Abby. A masked man entered into a gunfight with Abby. I don’t know more. Right now, the group has converged on the house.”

Zain felt as if time had been suspended. How could a whole conference be going on? How could the sun be shining? How could horses gallop by in their pastures? Didn’t they know his world had just stopped?

Zain and his father took the stairs two at a time as they descended to the waiting ATV. Zain was about to get in when an explosion shook his already fractured world.

Mila looked around Jackson’s massive arms and saw the grenade sail through the air. It was as if it were all in slow motion. The grenade floated in the air. Abby fired her gun as she bounded toward the intruder. Cade dropped his gun and leapt into the air, soaring across the room like a baseball player stretching to catch a ball. Abby’s shot tore a hole in the man’s shoulder and immediately tackled him to the ground. Mila cringed and closed her eyes as Cade pirouetted in midair, caught the grenade in flight, and threw it with incredible force and accuracy.

Mila heard the sound of breaking glass as Cade landed hard on his side and slid across the hardwood floor. A second later, they heard the sound of the explosion and felt the house shake. Jackson pressed Mila hard onto the floor until the only sound was that of Abby smashing her fist into the man’s face.

Jackson scrambled off Mila and ran across the room. He wrapped his arms around Abby and pulled her off the intruder. Miles stood from where he had protected Gabe from the grenade and walked over to look down at him. “You’re going to tell us everything you know or Jackson will turn Abby loose again. I’m pretty sure she’s ready to beat you to death.”

“Go ahead and kill me. It’s too late.” He laughed before coughing up some blood.

“See, it’s not too late,” Gabe said as he joined them. “My grandmother wasn’t killed, and the assassin was captured. In fact, he was captured by the citizens of Rahmi. You haven’t started a war. You’ve rallied our nation. You’ve strengthened our bonds.”

The man shook his head. “You think that’s all there was? You think we would leave it up to only one man?”

“Mila!”

“Zain!” Mila heard his voice from outside. She was shaking as she stood up slightly light-headed.

“Zain?” the man asked from the floor as he looked around the room.

Zain burst into the room with his father on his heels and then Mila was in his arms. She felt the tears flow as the lights flashed around her.

“She’s going to pass out. She’s been shot,” Cade said gently as she heard the sound of ripping fabric. Mila cried out as Cade tied a strip of bed sheet tightly around her arm. The pain chased away the darkness as she felt herself being handed over to Cade.

Zain’s breath came quick and shallow as he saw the gaping bullet wound on Mila’s arm. The man responsible was lying on the floor, guarded by Abby, who had murder in her eyes, a bloody fist, and a shredded vest. Miles and Jackson turned to watch him. Zain handed Mila to Cade. If the person lying on the floor weren’t already dead, he would be soon.

“Who is it?” Zain asked as he walked closer.

Jackson and Miles stepped aside and Zain felt it like a punch to the gut. “Kareem?”

Zain heard his father curse and speak into his phone. He was surely calling Dirar.

“Wait,” Kareem looked back and forth between the brothers.

Zain lips snarled. “Oh, you see my brother is back in town. While you were here, I was conducting a meeting at the house. The nanotech lab panel is underway. Everyone is there. You didn’t stop anything.” Zain looked down and saw the knife sticking out of his leg, the bullet hole in his shoulder, and his bloodied face.

Zain reached down and grasped the handle of the knife. “Cade, please take Mila out of here.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“Out!” Zain yelled. He heard Cade fighting with Mila but he didn’t want her to witness  what he was about to do. He didn’t want her to see the darkness that had come over him. He was pissed. The desire to cause excruciating pain to the man who had betrayed him was overwhelming.

“Do what you need to, but I’m not leaving!” Mila called out as she struggled with Cade.

A streak of brown fur shot out from under the bed and ran toward Mila. Zain turned and saw Squirrel leap onto Cade’s back. Cade screeched, let go of Mila, and started spinning around to dislodge the squirrel hanging onto his back.

Mila jumped out of Cade’s grasp. “Squirrel! It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” she said softly as the squirrel jumped off Cade. Mila bent and picked up the little creature—the little creature that had distracted Kareem long enough for her to stab him, so she could hold him against her chest. “You think I can’t handle this? Can’t handle what you’re going to do to get information out of him? Well, I can. The bastard shot me. He’s threatened your family, your people, and your country. Do what you need to. But you’ll be doing it with me by your side.”

Zain saw the determination in her face. Fine. If she wanted to see what lurked beneath his finely polished exterior, then that's exactly what she’d get. Zain didn’t bother giving her another look. He twisted the knife. Kareem cursed as he sat up and swung out at Zain who blocked the punch and slammed his fist into Kareem’s face.

“Who is behind this?”

Kareem shook his head and Zain twisted the knife again. He felt Mila flinch next to him, but that didn’t stop him. “Who are you working for?” Zain dug the knife in deeper and saw the sweat trickling down Kareem’s face.

“Surman. It’s Surman.”

Zain shook his head. “No, it’s not. See we already know about Suri’s secretary. She was your co-conspirator. You two were working to create distrust between our two nations—to drive a wedge between our countries. Why?”