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Yusef was attempting to crawl toward his boat with his shattered leg dangling behind him, a trail of blood in his wake.
Jamal easily caught up to him and put a foot on the back of Yusef’s injured leg. That the man already had a bloodied cloth tied around his hand gave Jamal a little more joy. He only hoped it’d been his wife who’d inflicted the pain. Yusef cried out in pain and fear, and Jamal asked, “Going somewhere?”
“Don’t hurt me, I beg you. I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t—“
Jamal pushed harder. “Where is my wife?”
“Argh!”Yusef wasn’t the tough guy now. “I-I don’t know. Somewhere in the d-desert.”
“Where exactly and who took her?”
“I-I don’t know where exactly. But it was Sheikh Arif and h-his men who took her. They put her on one of their c-camels and headed into the desert.”
Jamal’s gut clenched. He’d gotten news of Arif’s incensed reaction not even an hour after Yasmine had already been taken. By then Jamal was already arranging the flight to track her down. That he could no longer follow her thanks to his technology bringing him instead to Yusef made Jamal want to howl with rage.
But he wasn’t going to stop looking until he found her.
He glanced along the beach. Even with the rotors stirring up the sand there was still some faint markings from the camels. If the wind kept at bay for a little longer there was a chance they could follow the tracks from the air. And though darkness would soon be upon them, the helicopter’s spotlight should give them enough illumination.
Either way, he needed to go now.
But first…
“What are you doing with my wife’s rings?”
“H-how did you know I had them?”
Jamal snorted. “One of my best friends planted a tracking chip in his wife’s ring. Turned out it was sound advice after she was kidnapped and it saved her life.”
Yusef moaned pitifully, his leg twisted in an unnatural angle. He pulled the rings out of his robe and placed them in Jamal’s hand. “I should have known better than to betray you.”
Jamal grimaced as he put the rings in his suit pocket. “Yes, you should have.” The jewelry felt tainted now, touched by evil. He’d get them professionally cleaned. Or buy Yasmine new ones. It was the least she deserved. But first he had to find his wife and beg her for forgiveness.
He glanced back at the dunes. “Whose bodies did you bury?”
“They w-were the other t-two kidnappers. Arif sh-shot them.”
As much as Jamal wanted to do the very same thing to the traitorous scumbag lying on the sand, Jamal instead put his gun away and pivoted away from him. Shooting Yusef was a mercy he didn’t want to give. The bastard deserved to suffer, just like Yasmine was probably suffering right now.
Ignoring Yusef’s shout not to leave him, Jamal broke into a run and climbed back into the helicopter. Grabbing hold of his headset, he ordered, “Follow the tracks in the sand.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Yasmine wanted to lash out, wanted to kick and to punch the fat sheikh even before he wasted a water skin by cleaning off his soiled foot. Only when he threw the skin aside and shambled toward her did she realize she had everything to gain and nothing to lose by fighting him off.
Except her struggles only excited Arif and he was surprisingly strong when he finally grabbed hold of her and held her down. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy hurting you, slut,” he wheezed.
She gagged at his putrid breath that was even heavier on the red wine and onions. She’d die before she’d surrender. Panting from exertion, it took everything she had to relax so that his grip eased and she twisted away, getting her arm free and reaching for the wine.
She looked back at him with a hard smile. “Not if I hurt you first.”
His eyes popped wide open as he caught sight of the heavy clay jug in her hand. Before he could react, she used the last of her strength to slam the jug against his temple.
Crack.
Oomph.
Red wine sloshed to the ground as Arif fell on top of her, leaving her panicky and gasping for air. When she finally succeeded in rolling him over and freeing herself, she knew by his glassy eyes and utter stillness he was dead long before she put her fingers on his neck and felt for his pulse.
