“Be careful, Jafar. Without it, you become the monster you are beginning to face in the mirror each day,” Abram said before turning and moving toward where Paige and Tariq waited.
There wasn’t a second’s warning. Tariq’s eyes widened, Paige cried out in fear, and the feel of cold steel against his neck stopped him in his tracks.
Abram froze, regret for his cousin welling in his chest as much as for himself. “You used to be a man of your word, cousin. “And unfortunately, of all things Abram had expected Jafar to remember, it had been the honor of his given word.
“I used to be many things, cousin,” Jafar said softly. “Many hard lessons have taught me the error of my ways.” The blade scraped against Abram’s jugular as he allowed his gaze to meet Paige’s.
Terror filled the emerald depths as her tears washed over her cheeks. Tariq stood behind her, forcibly restraining her from crossing the distance.
She would have run to him, he realized in bemusement. Even knowing there was nothing she could do, and that there was a high chance she could have been harmed, still, she would have run to him.
“Jafar, please, don’t do this,” she cried out in horror. Abram felt the knife begin to bite into his flesh.
“I won’t go back,” Abram warned him softly, knowing the game his cousin was playing. “I can’t go back, Jafar. You know this.”
“Return or die,” Jafar snarled. “I cannot afford to allow you to leave at this time, Abram. You know this.”
“You have no choice. Accept it,” Abram answered quietly. “I won’t go back, Jafar, and I won’t give that vow. You and Azir have lost this game.”
“Perhaps I’ll put the blade to your lover’s throat, Jafar suggested mockingly. “Then would you do as I need you to do?”
Abram almost paused at the way the other man phrased his words.
Almost.
“You would have to kill me first,” he warned him. “I won’t let you touch her as long as I live.”
“Easily done.” His arm tensed as the blade pressed harder.
“You owe me, Jafar,” Paige screamed out furiously, her voice raw and hoarse as Tariq was forced to hold her back.
She strained against his hold, her expression twisting with rage.
“Damn you, Jafar, you owe me,” she screamed again. Abram felt a trickle of blood at his neck and yet he still stood silently, too curious about the path his cousin would take to attempt to break his hold just yet.
Jafar paused.
“You owe me,” Paige repeated as the tears rolled down her face. “You still owe me.”
And just what the hell would Jafar owe her?
“She is a beautiful woman,” Jafar sighed, his hold against the side of Abram’s head tightening. “And yes, I owe her much. Without her, perhaps I would be dead.”
Surprised, Abram wondered what the hell had been going on over the years that he was unaware of.
“And this is how you repay your debts?” Abram asked him. “With blood?”
Behind him, he felt Jafar breathe in slowly, deeply, as though preparing himself. As his body tightened, Abram tensed as well, covering his own anticipation within Jafar’s.
“I’m sorry, cousin,” Jafar said. “But I cannot afford your escape or theirs.”
As the words left his mouth the viperous red lines of the laser rifles’ sights cut through the night, pinpointing Jafar and each of his men as black ropes and army rangers slid soundlessly into position.
They surrounded Jafar’s team of men as Abram let his gaze move to Paige once again.
Something in him tightened each time he allowed his eyes to meet the grief in hers and to acknowledge the fear that filled her face as Jafar kept that knife at his throat.
“Release him, Jafar,” the commanding voice of the black-masked ranger closest to him ordered.
“I cannot do this.” The lazy amusement in Jafar’s voice was at odds with the tension in his body.
“Don’t make us start picking off your men,” he advised when Jafar refused to move. “We will.”
“We are called martyrs for a reason.” Jafar mocked them though the knife never moved.
It wasn’t going to move. What fucking game was his cousin playing? If Jafar was going to cut his throat, then he would have already done so.
Abram found it a little too easy to slam his elbow into his cousin’s diaphragm as he caught the wrist holding the knife at the same time.
Thrusting Jafar’s arm to the side as he held his wrist, Abram broke away from the hold, twisting the wrist as he moved and taking his cousin to his knees.
Abram released him. He jumped back to safety behind the rangers now circling the team of terrorist soldiers.
“Drop your weapons and we’ll leave just as quietly as we arrived,” the commander ordered. “Otherwise, we’ll kill, if we have to.”
The terrorists’ weapons were tossed carelessly to the ground as Abram moved quickly to Paige. They were gathered upwe𠆜onfiscated to ensure a safe escape, but Abram had other things to take care of besides watching the soldiers’ defeat. He had to get to Paige. He had to ease her fear and her tears before she broke his heart with them. Her arms flew around his neck as she cried out his name. The broken sound of her voice and the trembling of her body had all his protective instincts screaming.
“We have to go,” he whispered into her ear as the rangers moved to help Tariq into the harness that would lift him into the hovering helicopter.
Easing from her he took the harness from the waiting ranger and helped her into it before strapping on his own and clipping it to the rope.
Just in time.
As they were lifted into the darkened sky, the lights of the Matawa’s vehicles began cutting through the winding vehicle paths that eventually led to their location.
Once the Matawa arrived, there would be no escape without bloodshed.
Within seconds the ropes were pulled into the helicopter, the rangers climbing in and securing their passengers then themselves, before the helicopter shot through the sky.
“Captain Mustafa, we’ll be landing at a hidden airbase and loading you on a transport plane straight to D.C.” Commander Ramsey jerked the mask from his face as he made the announcement.
David “Race” Ramsey settled back against the frame of the stripped-down Black Hawk helicopter as he stared at them.
“Thanks for arriving on time, Commander Ramsey.” Tariq grinned. “It looked as though you might be running late for a minute or two there.”
Race gave a small chuckle as his blue eyes twinkled in amusement.
“General Jack Walters will be waiting in D.C. to debrief you, Captain Mustafa, and Ms. Galbraithe.” Ramsey grinned at Tariq. “One of you are going to have to advance in rank soon, before things get confusing.”
“Yes, sir,” Abram responded, only half listening as he felt Paige tense in his hold.
“Captain Mustafa?” she whispered.
“A formality, nothing more,” he answered quietly, praying no one would explain before he had the chance to do so himself.
Ramsey’s lips quirked, obviously catching the less-than-honest response.
It was another lie told to her. It was one of many, and God knew she didn’t deserve the dishonesty.
“Your brother and parents are being notified of your rescue,” Ramsey assured her before nodding to Abram. “It’s good to have you back, sir.”
“It’s good to be back, Commander.” Abram nodded. It had been a while since he’d had to consider the rank he’d earned while working undercover in the place he should have been able to call his home.
Abram turned his head and stared for a second at the darkened sunbaked land below them.
There were no regrets.
As he watched the land of his birth recede into the distance he couldn’t feel anything for the years he had spent there, except sorrow.
Lessa was buried there, as was the second wife he had barely known, along with their unborn child.
He was leaving behind his youth, but it hadn’t served him well while he had it. Just as the land he had been born to had refused to protect him.