“Because they must be married,” he said. “That is a given. However, at this point I also need to obtain some assurances on my life, on my grandchild. Because Aleah has defied me and defiled herself by getting pregnant, the deal will be different.”
“Ah, now she’s secondhand goods, is that it?”
“Yes, as you Americans would say it. Exactly.”
“Well, that won’t work out for me,” Shelly said. She lifted her head and peered around the corner of the closet door and mattress. “I don’t know where the guys are,” she whispered to Aleah, “but they need to grab Aziz fast. I can only distract him for so long.”
Aleah looked at her in surprise. “You say these things to upset my father, and what good will that do?”
“Maybe he’ll give away his position. Maybe somebody will take out one of them. I don’t know,” she said. “What I do know is that, if he comes in here, I’m dead. He’ll try to send you off to get married, but he’ll shoot me on the spot.”
At that, Aleah nodded slowly. “Yes, that’s true. My father will kill you.”
“So, at this point, anything I do,” Shelly said in a hard voice, “is to help my situation and yours.”
“You are confusing,” she said, “and I don’t see how antagonizing him can help.”
Well, Shelly didn’t really either. But it made her feel good, so, if antagonizing this asshole was the last thing she did in this world, well, so be it. She sent out a quiet prayer to Shane. I hope you know what you’re doing because I need to get out of here. But then this wasn’t the tightest or the worst situation she’d been in before, and Shane had been the one who had rescued her then as well. Besides, they had a whole new life ahead of them. She wouldn’t condone or support anything that took what could be a very bright future away from her. She looked around, then looked back at Aleah. “Wait here.”
She quietly slipped out of the closet and around the mattress to the door that was open and crawled out into the hallway. There she watched as Shane, standing up against the common room wall, slowly cut a circle of glass out of the window, then raised his weapon. She watched in amazement as he took a slow deep breath and pulled the trigger.
The man’s head exploded.
Shane quickly withdrew his rifle as gunfire rapidly returned in his direction. A second shot rang out, and then there was nothing but silence. He twisted to see Shelly, who he’d heard creeping along the carpet. He held a finger to his lips. She nodded. He knew she was struggling to stay put and out of the way, but he had hoped she would have lasted a little bit longer. But then that was expecting too much.
At the sound of a weird bird call, her eyes widened, but Shane just shook his head and answered it. Immediately there was another call. She crawled toward Shane, and, when she got to where he stood, he gave her a hand up, putting her back against the wall.
She whispered, “What was that?”
“Diesel.”
“Is he giving you an all clear?”
“Well, we’re hoping so. We’ll have to figure out how many men are left.”
“Who did you shoot?”
He took a look at her and said, “Her father.”
She winced and nodded. “Good,” she said. “That other asshole needs to die too.”
“It seems like the two men have been after each other for a long time. Half-friends, half-enemies,” he said. “The research we found on them was very convoluted. They have been a strange combination of business partners, enemies, and friends for a very long time. But now, with the arranged marriage disclosure, it makes more sense.”
“Well, you shot and killed Aziz. Now what will the intended groom do?”
“He plans to kill us all,” Shane said. At Shelly’s worried look, he said, “Except possibly Aleah. And I won’t be so easy to kill.”
“And so he’ll kill me?” Shelly asked.
Shane closed his eyes and whispered, “You’re right. We still have one asshole.”
“Now,” the gunman yelled, “I want the three of you to get out of that house before I blow it up.”
“What about Aleah?” Shane asked aloud, then whispered to Shelly, “Take Aleah and the baby, leave through the back door, and run, fast.”
The gunman yelled once more, “What about her? If I can’t have her, I’ll find another one,” he said. “She’s secondhand goods anyway. Now I’ll let you count to ten, and, by then, you better have that front door open and be coming out,” he said, “or I’ll set off the bomb.”
Diesel called out, “He’s holding a detonator in his hand.”
“Absolutely I am,” he said.
“Who was the mole who told you where we were?”
“An MI6 informant,” he said. “Even though he was discovered and suspended from duty, they hadn’t removed his access from everything, so we were still tapped in to his plans. But he’s dead now too. I couldn’t afford to leave him as a loose end. Once I’m gone from here, I’m gone,” he said.
The dead MI6 agent in the grass here. “And you’ll kill Aleah too then?”
“If she doesn’t come out, she dies,” he said. “I’ve invested enough time and money in this.”
Aleah. Immediately Shane dashed down the stairs toward the back door. He met up with the women, pushed them as fast as he could to the kitchen door, and, as soon as he opened it, he ordered them to head straight into the brush and to run as fast as they could.
“There could be shooters out there,” he said, “so dodge, move to the side, do whatever you have to, but get into hiding and stay there.” He took the baby from Aleah and said, “Let me carry this one.” And, with that, he raced behind them. They barely made it past the far corner, when the house exploded with a loud boom.
Chapter 15
They settled into the brush away from the house. Shelly stared at Shane in shock. Aleah was huddled up against her, still not recovered from giving birth, still in pain and still sore, but clutching her baby tightly against her. “Jesus,” Shelly said, “these people need to stop.”
“They will,” Shane said, “after one last hurrah. You stay here and don’t move. “Keep the baby quiet and don’t make a sound.” Then he looked at Shelly and added, “I mean it this time.” Then he turned and raced away.
“He knows you well, doesn’t he?” Aleah muttered.
“Apparently.” She sat down beside her and said, “We need to make sure that they can’t find us.”
“The house fire will make it hard for us to hide,” Aleah said. “I’ll bet our faces show up easily.”
“Good point.” Shelly carefully disguised the baby with her blanket and their faces with a shield of branches. “There. That’s better. Now we stay here and try not to move,” she whispered. They heard gunfire and sounds of fighting. It all made her heart run cold. Aleah reached over, grabbed her hand, and hung on. Shelly squeezed her hand back and whispered, “Hold tight. This will be over soon.”