My Desert Rose (14 page)

Oh, but she
did, yet she also knew when to rein in her probing. "What's really
sad in all this is the unnecessary loss of lives."

Amira gave her
a taut smile. "That's why Hassan is the only one who can salvage
the situation. Tariq is no longer safe to work for, but Hassan has
the connections through me to rebuild that trust."

Katie wasn't
buying it. "What if Tariq doesn't give Hassan control and it all
goes pear-shaped?"

A waft of evil
filled the car, knocking Katie back in her seat. She couldn't
breathe. Lowering the window, she drank in the fresh air.

Amira reached
over and patted her knee. "That's why it’s always important to have
some sort of insurance should anything go wrong."

A shiver snaked
its way down Katie’s spine. "What kind of insurance are we talking
about?"

"In business
they call it the 'get out clause'. I'm sure Tariq will choose
wisely when the time comes to make a decision," she replied smugly.
The evil had settled like a blanket of energy around them, waiting
in glee within the confinement of the car for something horrendous
to happen.

Racking her
brain for possible scenarios once they got to the port, she
realised that she might have to be ready to make a quick exit from
the car. She couldn't wait to speak to Tariq about it all. Right
now though, she just needed to be alert. She was in a foreign
country without any knowledge of her surroundings. If Amira was
cold enough to stand by and allow innocent men to be killed, then
she was cold enough to bring Tariq to his knees. It was probably
best to get a sense of direction and know exactly where they were
going.

"How far away
is the port from here?" she asked calmly, not giving away her inner
conclusions.

"About fifteen
more minutes," Amira replied. "But Tariq is expecting us on board
one of the ships, where he’s meeting with his newly selected team.
Malik and Hassan will be there too."

Katie inwardly
felt relief. Perhaps she was making mountains out of molehills.
Yes, Amira was obsessed with Tariq and yes, she seemed to be power
mad, but would she risk having her killed? Surely, that would be
too obvious. Not really knowing what to say next, as every subject
seemed to be taboo, she remained quiet and let the minutes tick
painfully by.

The first signs
of arriving in the port area were the lights. The limo brought them
alongside the docks and she could make out huge ships. Some were
moored and others were further out. Even at nine o’clock in the
evening, it was bustling with the activity of refuelling, unloading
and loading.

"Which ships
belong to Tariq?" she asked in awe.

"Nearly all of
them, but they don’t just belong to Tariq, Hassan has twenty
percent of the business."

Katie was
confused. "So, does Tariq have the remaining eighty percent?"

Amira looked
closely at Katie and blinked several times as the limo began to
slow down. "Tariq owns fifty-one percent and Malik owns twenty-nine
percent. If anything happens to Tariq or Malik, Hassan
automatically gets their share."

Katie turned
this information over in her mind. "So basically, Tariq holds all
the power for making major decisions?"

Amira smiled in
sickly sweetness. "Yes, even with Malik’s share, Hassan will own
forty-nine percent, not quite making them equal."

"But with
Tariq’s share, he owns seventy-one percent," she whispered.

Amira gave
Katie a friendly, yet superficial smile. "All this is common
knowledge. The el-Tayeb brothers have agreed on fifty-fifty shares
when the time comes for Malik to depart this world."

"Of course,"
Katie nodded in agreement, but something was way off centre. A
whole jigsaw was building itself in her mind. She wished she had
her mobile phone, but even if she did, she didn't know Tariq's
number. Weighing up her options, there were two choices. Open the
door and make a run for it and find Tariq by herself or go with
Amira to the ship, where supposedly Tariq was waiting? If Amira got
difficult, she was sure she could take her down, but she wasn’t
sure how safe the area was for a blonde woman to be roaming about
asking questions.

The car came to
a standstill facing a looming ship, with el-Tayeb written down its
flanks. Seeing his name gave Katie a sense of confidence and she
decided to follow Amira. After all, why would she lie? So far,
they’d come to the port as she had said they would and in Tariq’s
note he did say he would send for her, so all this worry was
perhaps for nothing.

Grabbing her
satchel, she put it over her head and draped it across one
shoulder, just in case she needed to run. The door was opened on
her side and she stepped out to face the ship. Katie had absolutely
zero knowledge of oil ships. This one looked like someone had stuck
a big white house on the front and left the back completely flat.
The 'house' had four floors, with a room at the top which was full
of windows. She guessed that this was probably the control room.
Was Tariq up there in that building? Taking out her camera, she
took a few shots for her own private collection. It was quite
exhilarating to see what her new surname meant to her husband's
business.

Amira came to
stand next to her. "They’re not exactly pretty yachts are
they?"

Katie couldn’t
agree more. "What’s with the white building?"

Amira
sniggered. "And you’ve just married a billionaire oil baron with no
understanding of what he does."

Amira took off
walking in front of Katie towards the ship with her high heels
click-clacking on the hard ground. Well, if there were anything
afoot, surely Amira wouldn’t have just left her there standing?
Taking her roller case from the driver, she set off after her.

Crossing over
the walkway between the port and the ship, Amira stopped to talk to
a rugged looking man who glanced over at her.

Amira called to
her. "Come on Katie, we’re to wait upstairs in his quarters."

As she passed
the rugged looking man, he sneered at her. Obviously, her oil ship
virginity was showing. Moving through the door of the white
building that Amira had opened for her, they climbed the metal
stairs four floors before opening the fire door at the top onto a
long corridor.

"Tariq’s
quarters are on this side," Amira said quietly, before opening the
door marked ‘Captain’.

Inside, there
was a small office area and through an archway, Katie could make
out a bedroom with a double bed. Where was Tariq? Katie felt the
hairs on her neck stand up. There was a funny smell in the room,
which did not have Tariq’s energy stamped all over it. "Are you
sure we’re to meet him here?"

Amira nodded.
"Yes, these were his instructions, but I'll just double check," she
replied in feigned kindness as she moved towards the phone on the
desk. But before she could pick it up, the sound of a ringing
mobile filled the air.

Katie watched
Amira fish it out of her pocket and turn away from her slightly to
speak into it.

"Yes? Hassan
darling, we’re here," she cooed.

Katie listened
in to the conversation.

"Where's Tariq?
Uh huh, yes...No, I didn’t have to use it."

Use what?

"Okay, see you
soon." Amira put the phone back in her pocket and turned to where
Katie was standing. "Stay here, I have to go and get Tariq," she
said all too breezily.

Warning bells
went off in Katie’s head. "I’ll come with you."

"No, that’s not
necessary. I won’t be long and before you know it, you’ll be in
each other’s arms again."

Was that
sarcasm she’d just heard? "No, I insist."

Amira shrugged,
turned her back on her and walked slowly towards the door.

Katie followed
her closely, but just as she reached the door, Amira turned and
shoved her hard with one hand and then leapt for the door
handle.

Katie bounced
back quickly and grabbed at Amira’s hair, pulling her backwards.
The door flew open, but Amira twisted round and kneed her in the
gut. Grunting from the impact, she brought her fist up tight and
caught Amira on the chin. Amira had obviously had some training, as
she grabbed Katie’s jaw, pushed it back and tried to put her two
fingers in her eyes. Katie slammed down hard on Amira’s forearm,
bending it and breaking the hold, but before she could do anything
else, she felt a prick on her other arm. Amira had stabbed her with
a needle and it was protruding out of the muscle, joined to a
syringe.

"What have you
done?" she gasped, pulling at the syringe to remove the needle and
throwing it on the floor. Amira must have taken it from her handbag
as she'd initially moved towards the door.

"If you’d just
stayed here and waited like I told you to, we could have avoided
this," she replied breathlessly.

Katie staggered
backwards and fell to her knees. The room was spinning and she was
seeing several sickly smiling Amiras. "Why?" she managed to choke
out. Blackness was closing in.

"Nobody turns
down Princess Amira Saud in favour of a nobody like you! Tariq will
always be mine. When he has nothing, he will come crawling back to
me for help. Of course, I shall have to reject him once he has
exceeded his usefulness. Hassan is my little pawn in a very big
game, but with me by his side, well, we'll even have the power to
crush my family if I should choose to do so."

"A Princess?"
she whispered.

Amira hooted in
glee. "Welcome to Socotra, Katie. In one hour you’ll be gone and
once you land in Somalia, Tariq will never find you."

Katie’s last
conscious thought was of Tariq’s face and the feel of him in her
arms. What a waste. They no longer had all the time in the world to
share and discover each other.

Chapter
Eleven

Tariq paced the
floor of his office that overlooked the port. The ship had been
ambushed and stripped of its containers, which had been loaded onto
the pirate ships. This time the pirates hadn’t killed his men, but
they'd bound them and left them in the bowels of the ship; some had
been severely injured. The engine and radio had also taken a
beating, leaving them adrift for days.

Tension in his
body had made Tariq tetchy. The jetlag from Texas and his lack of
sleep in the last forty-eight hours was beginning to show. His
thoughts darted back to Katie. It seemed like a lifetime ago since
he’d held all that fire in his arms. What if they hadn’t been
disturbed? Would he have taken her against the wall like a hungry
animal? His craving for her was causing him to do things he
wouldn't normally do. When he'd initially seen that thumbnail
picture of her he'd thought then that she was beautiful, but that
was nothing compared to the real thing. Since he’d first laid eyes
on her, he knew there was something compelling about her. Perhaps,
if he could just hear her voice it would soothe him until he could
get this sorted out. Picking up the phone, he dialled the house.
Just then, his office door opened and Malik and Hassan entered.

Tariq put down
the phone and turned off its ringer. It was time to execute his
plan and set the ball rolling. He would phone Katie in the morning
and get her to come to the port. Not only did he need her
photographic skills, but also he just needed to be with her
again.

"Father,
Hassan, just the people I need to speak with." Tariq noted that his
father was looking a little wan. "I’ve recently got off the phone
with Tristan’s new CEO of the UK branch, Wade Summers, and he’s
placed an order of one hundred thousand tonnes of oil with us." It
was a lie, but Wade had listened to Tariq and he'd already been
informed about the thefts, so he’d agreed to go along with the plan
in Tristan’s absence. The gleam in Hassan’s eyes wasn’t lost on
Tariq. "But in the light of another loss, I’m concerned, so I may
pass this order to Prince Saud instead."

Hassan coloured
bright red. "Rubbish! We can’t let them stop our production. This
is a huge deal."

Tariq folded
his arms. "That may be so, brother, but if this ship is hijacked,
not only will I lose the oil, I will also lose the new contract to
supply, which this delivery rests upon. Basically, my reputation
would be shattered."

Malik sat down
in a chair. "So, what do you propose son?"

Tariq chose his
words carefully, watching Hassan for a reaction. "I say Hassan and
I fly to Yemen, board the ship and see it through to the UK. If the
pirates do show up, it’s time we met them face-to-face."

Hassan paled.
"You want me to go with you?"

"Yes," shrugged
Tariq. "And I’ll be taking Katie with me, so make sure Amira comes
too."

Hassan shook
his head. "It’s no place for women."

"On the
el-Tayeb 271 ship we have a set of luxury suites. I don’t think it
will be too uncomfortable, do you?" Tariq wasn’t letting him back
out. He needed to catch Hassan and Amira with the pirates.

Malik nodded.
"Okay son, I’ll arrange it with your newly appointed team."

Tariq nodded to
his father as he left the room.

Hassan wasn’t
so quick to leave. "I still think we should leave the women out of
this."

Tariq looked
out of the window at the busy port. "I’ve been away from Katie for
long enough. She’s coming." He'd already missed out on what they
could've shared this evening. There was no way he was going to be
without her for another night.

Hassan’s reply
was cut off by a knock at the door and the appearance of Murad.

"Yes?" asked
Tariq.

"There’s an
urgent phone call for you, Sayyid." Murad indicated to the flashing
light on the desk phone.

Tariq was
surprised. "Sorry, Murad, I’d turned it down." Picking up the phone
he spoke sharply into the receiver, "Tariq here."