Tess Awakening (43 page)

Jake finally summarized things. “This is
going to get very nasty. Tess, I don’t think that you can avoid
working out some sort of mutually acceptable arrangement with
Amir.”

“I need to think about it.”

Chapter 73

The judge ordered both parties to meet and
try to negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement.

Amir’s lawyers submitted that an appropriate
way to approach the situation was for Amir to have custody of
little Morgan every other month.

Tess’s lawyers refused to agree to that plan
because there was an inherent danger of Amir not returning the
child to his mother.

Amir expressed that he was offended by the
insinuation that he would consider doing something that illegal.
Tess laughed.

Finally, it was proposed that both Amir and
Tess live in New York, thus satisfying the requirement that both
parents should have equal access to the child.

Tess was not convinced. She pointed out that
Amir, with his resources and private aircraft, could leave the
country with the child anytime he chose to do so. He had done it
before, and there was no reason why he would not do it again.

Amir looked hurt. “Tess, so far, I am the one
that suffered grievous bodily harm from your actions. No matter;
why would I want to jeopardize the right to see my son Tahir?”

“His name is Morgan,” Tess snapped.

“I am sure that we can work through this,
Tess. In any case, why would you want to deprive my son of a
glorious and prosperous future? He is my heir and the descendant of
noble ancestors.”

“I am not interested in your antiquated
notions of progeny, so spare me!”

“You are talking like an American. You have
little history to speak of and even less pride on whom you
are.”

Two lawyers struggled to keep Tess from
assaulting Amir.

The attorneys on both sides called for a
truce, demanding restraint from their clients.

Davis, Tess’s lawyer, tried to focus on the
matter of security. “What guarantee do we have that the child would
not be taken away to another country?”

“We are willing to deposit a bond if
necessary,” responded Amir’s lawyer.

“Whatever the amount, it would be a drop in
the bucket for Amir,” Tess observed. “It still does not prevent him
from stealing my son.”

“Our son,” Amir pointed out.

Amir and two of his lawyers asked to leave
for consultation. Five minutes later they returned. The lead guy
presented the proposal. “The General wishes to prove his sincerity.
He proposes marriage to Ms. Turner, thus making the issue of
custody irrelevant. She would need to get a divorce from her
present husband, of course.”

“In your dreams,” Tess exploded. “Go to hell,
you lunatic!”

Amir’s lawyers picked up their papers and
started to pack up. The lead attorney looked disillusioned. “We
have reached an impasse. It is better to stop talking until we find
a solution.”

They all filed out of the conference
room.

Chapter 74

Amir was satisfied with his performance
under questioning by Tess’s lawyer. In spite of potential legal
pitfalls, he was able to avoid the traps laid by her minions. He
knew that neither he nor Tess were in a position to disclose the
truth about the various illegal actions that both of them had
engaged in. He was particularly satisfied with having brought
distress to such an extent that her lawyers had to restrain her
from erupting in anger. He could feel her frustration and hostility
toward him. ‘Back to the old days,’ he thought. How he cherished
his dining with her when they first met after her capture. He had
come very close to possessing her if it hadn’t been for her
penchant to kick him in the head.

His pathological obsession with her had not
abated at all. In spite of the disastrous confrontations where he
had been subjected to her vicious attacks, he still wanted her.
This time was different, however. He wanted to demoralize and
defeat her. He had visions of capturing her once more so he could
ravage her, breaking her body and soul, begging for mercy which
would not be forthcoming.

The custody battle in court was just the
beginning of his strategy for revenge. By the time he was finished,
he would destroy everyone around her. He still held the erotic
videos in abeyance, waiting for the best time to use them. His
sister Fadime was now safely ensconced in Buenos Aires and Rio, and
she liked her new environs; plenty of shopping and an outstanding
selection of handsome and virile Hispanic men.

He knew that he might not be able to gain
custody of his son; the legal battle was just a means to the end.
He wanted to apply constant pressure to keep Tess off balance until
she made a mistake, then he would make his move.

He called Kemal. “Let’s take a walk in
Central Park.”

The two men looked like respectable,
well-dressed New Yorkers enjoying a pleasant lunch hour at the
Mall, a delightful path with a tree canopy and benches used by
poets and dreamers. The park was a convenient place to talk about
things without worrying about accidental eavesdropping by other
people.

“Kemal, I want you to organize an operation
that carries significant risks. This time, we can’t afford to mess
things up like your people did on the highway; they were outsmarted
every inch of the way by Jake Vickers and they paid with their
lives. We will not underestimate him again. What we are going to do
next is even more ambitious. Preparations must be done in absolute
secrecy, and the people that we will hire to do the job must be
American mercenaries, not Iraqi bunglers.”

“The men did their best and died for you,
General. They were very loyal.”

“Granted, but loyalty does not help if it
does not produce results. This time, I will personally direct the
operation, and I will succeed.”

“As you wish,” General.”

“The plan will be implemented in stages.
First, we will recruit hired killers, the more vicious, the better.
There are many mercenaries with military experience that will shoot
their own mothers if they are paid enough.

Next, we will create confusion by various
means, diversions to keep Vickers and Tess off balance. Then we
will have them where we want them, and I will be directly involved
in making sure that things are done correctly.”

Amir and Kemal kept walking for a couple of
hours. Amir went through the elaborate plan in detail. He did not
use notes; he had everything in his head. The more Kemal heard what
Amir wanted to do, the more concerned he became that his boss was
going mad. He had been doing Amir’s dirty work for years, but the
scope of what Amir was contemplating now was far beyond anything
that had been attempted before.

Kemal always had a strong instinct for
self-preservation, and he didn’t like what his boss was planning to
do. He now felt obliged to question the wisdom of the scheme.
“General, what you propose is extremely precarious. We are in
America now, not Iraq. We lack the flexibility that comes with
chaos. Here we are in an environment of clear-cut and effective law
enforcement; we are also facing foes like Vickers, who is very
skilled and hindered us before. We also need to take into
consideration the power and influence wielded by Tess’s father,
General Turner. I feel that this time we are biting off more than
we can chew.”

Amir abruptly discarded Kemal’s concerns.
“Kemal, once I achieve my goals, I don’t care what happens
afterward. We will disappear and assume different identities. In
any case, your job is not to question what I want to do. You will
do as I ask and you will be rewarded accordingly. Now, stop whining
and get to work.”

Chapter 75

Jake was not happy. Both he and Tess would
be stuck in New York during the custody proceedings. They had to
withdraw their SRD people from Iraq due to safety considerations;
the country was under increasing pressure from Sunni insurgents
that were now working with rabid Islamic fundamentalists to fight
the government.

The Army had reassigned Carmen to Fort Rucker
and Nicola was planning to join her in a couple of weeks after he
completed training the Iraqis on the new equipment.

Carmen was now disillusioned with the Army
the same way that Tess had been two years before. All of the
efforts and sacrifices that the American and Coalition soldiers had
made to help Iraq become a democratic nation had come to naught.
The country was falling apart, and many of the cities that the
American soldiers had taken with flesh and blood now had fallen
back in enemy hands. In her mind, it no longer made sense to risk
her life if nothing would be accomplished.

Tess offered Carmen and Nicola positions in
SRD, her firm. Carmen resigned her commission from the army and
agreed to come on board as a deployment coordinator, supervising
the assignments of operatives to various projects around the world.
Nicola had not signed on yet. He was not sure that he wanted to
move to the U. S., although he really wanted to stay with Carmen.
The two were madly in love and Carmen told Tess that she was
considering the unthinkable — getting married.

Tess smiled. “Great move, Carmen. Nicola is a
lot better looking than your mythical accountant. Are you going to
have kids as well?”

“Let’s not rush into things, Tess. I want to
enjoy being in love for a while. Besides, it looks like you are
going to work me to death.”

“Yes, you now have a challenging position
that includes a lot of travel. Try to talk Nicola into coming
aboard so you can be together.”

“Yummy, I can’t wait to get my hands on
him.”

Carmen settled into her new office and called
Nicola in Iraq.

“Hi Nicola, I miss your hands all over me.
When are you coming over?”

“I wish I could take you to bed right now,
you vixen. It’s really miserable here. We have made little progress
training the locals. There seems to be a culture here that
equipment maintenance is optional. At this rate, much of the
hardware they are getting will be useless and rusting away in no
time. And don’t ask me what happened to their will to fight the bad
guys; mostly, the Iraqis avoid combat if they can get away from it.
At this rate, they are going to be in real trouble.”

“When are you coming, Nicola?”

“I will fly to London and connect to New York
in a couple of days. When I get there, I fully expect to see you
naked with a bottle of champagne in your hand.”

“You are a horny bastard, but you are mine. I
surrender, you beast.”

“I love you, Carmen; I can’t wait to see
you.”

Jake called a meeting of the top members of
the team. They needed to coordinate several projects around the
world. Carmen realized that now she had a job that carried great
responsibility. She needed to understand the capabilities of every
individual operative so she could assign people with the most
appropriate skills to the client states that hired them. She was
amazed that the wars over the last ten years had produced so many
freelance ex-soldiers with technical and lethal skills. There was
not a shortage of jobs for professional fighters; several military
companies were making millions supplying people to the U. S. as
well, helping to supplement regular forces.

Nicola arrived a few days later and Carmen
barely fed him before jumping on his bones. They spent the next
twelve hours alternately having sex and making love. Their passion
was red hot and inextinguishable.

There was a problem, however. Nicola was
reluctant to leave Italy permanently. He had family there plus two
residences and business interests. He needed to sort things out.
Carmen postponed decision making. Tess had invited both of them to
stay at the farmhouse for a long weekend.

Chapter 76

The custody negotiations between Tess and
Amir got nowhere. She did not believe for a minute that Amir would
not take off with their child once he got possession of him. Amir
was quite comfortable to let her think so because the custody
battle now was nothing more than a device to keep her and Jake tied
up in New York.

In the courtroom, Tess’s lawyers were not
making much progress with their questioning of Amir. He skillfully
continued to deflect many of the questions posed to him, well aware
that the facts of what had actually happened could not be used
against him without incriminating Tess. As far as the spectators
could see, Amir was the epitome of the gentleman, well dressed,
polite and erudite. Throughout, he steadily kept looking at Tess,
sporting a benevolent smile.

Now it was time for Tess to testify. Her
lawyer asked her to provide a summary of what had transpired. She
alleged that Amir had kidnapped little Morgan, taken him to Canada
and then brought him to Istanbul. Opposing counsel raised a flurry
of objections that the allegations could not be proven. The judge
upheld the objection.

Amir’s lawyer started to harass Tess on the
circumstances of Amir’s capture in Iraq. “Ms. Turner, isn’t it true
that you and people employed by your company shot down General
al-Saadi’s helicopter for the sole purpose of capturing him?”

“Yes, it’s true,” Tess confirmed.

“You imprisoned General al-Saadi somewhere in
Jordan where you abused him during an interrogation.”

“Yes; I was trying to find out where he had
taken my son. He told me that he was in Istanbul.”

“Wasn’t that information provided to you
under duress? Did you kick my client in the face?”

“No, I just threw a table at him.”

Jake winced, thinking ‘Why does the woman
always tell it like it is?’

The lawyer continued. “You went to Istanbul
with your employees, all of them hired mercenaries. Did you find
your son there?”