“Yes, sir?” Kareem was straightening the tie to his black suit. He had probably just changed as well after the morning’s spectacle.
“I need to meet with King Omar of Tahjad today. Things got a little heated when I talked to him last night. Can you set up lunch with him? And call your father. See if there’re any bargaining chips I can use to get Tahjad to agree to stop the piracy.”
“Right away,” Kareem said, giving a slight bow of his head before pulling out his cell phone and hurrying away.
“Not the best start to the day, huh?” Matt Walz, the Kentucky state trooper asked as he met up with Zain at his office door along with Deacon.
Zain pushed open the door to the office that connected to his father’s. He went inside with Matt and Deacon following him. “You all want some breakfast?”
“No thanks. I’m just here for my shift to guard your scrawny ass. Although, from what Miss Lily said, someone doesn’t find it scrawny,” Deacan teased.
“I especially like the rescued squirrel part. Where is the critter?” Matt asked as he looked around the office.
“Wyatt is working on him back at my house. And someone needs to take away Miss Lily’s phone. Do you know she tweeted out a picture of my ass dangling from the tree this morning?” Zain told them as he picked up the phone and quickly asked the kitchen to deliver some breakfast.
Matt snickered. “Prince saves Squirrel. I saw it. At least she didn’t mention Mila in the public post. Last time I looked, it had close to ten thousand retweets.”
“Just what I need today,” Zain complained as he unbuttoned his shirt.
“Whoa, I don’t need to see that scrawny ass the twitter universe is enjoying right now. I’ll be outside the door. Shout if you need anything,” Deacon said in mock horror and hurried from the room.
“What about you?” Zain asked.
“I don’t particularly want to see your ass either. Mila, on the other hand—”
“I meant, what do you need, Matt?”
“I wanted to let you know there will be an increased trooper presence on the grounds today. Ahmed called us in after your car accident, and he decided to up the patrols of the boundary fence lines. I’ll be checking on them and reporting back here, so I’ll be in and out all day. Text if you need anything. Also, the guys are meeting at the café around eight tonight after things shut down if you want to join us,” Matt told him as he placed his hat on his head.
“Great. Thank you. And I’ll try to meet up with you all if things calm down enough here,” Zain said, kicking off his shoes.
Matt closed the door after him, and Zain kicked off his pants before turning to the far end of the room. He headed over to the window and looked out the back part of the farm. The rain had cleared and the sun was out. The green grass was an emerald carpet over the rolling hills lined with black fences for as far as he could see. The gardens in the back overlooked the pastures, and Zain took a moment to refocus on the day.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The feel of the metal gun muzzle to the back of his neck caught him by surprise. But by the rate the day was going it shouldn’t have.
“You think you can do anything you like? Well, you can’t,” the disguised voice stated in accented English. Zain went to turn around but the gun pressed harder against his neck.
“Well, you’re the one who has a gun on a man in his skivvies, so why don’t you tell me what it is you want,” Zain said as calmly as he could. He was not having a good day.
“What I want is for you to give up on this nanotech lab. This summit is over. You are over.”
Zain kept his eyes in the window. He could barely make out the reflection of the man holding the gun. A ski mask covered his face, but he was shorter than Zain’s six-feet-two-inches by at least six inches. And this time, he knew it was definitely a man.
“Is that why you set out the spike strip? To prevent me from having the summit?”
“You just can’t take a hint, can you? So I’ll have to go with something more permanent.”
A soft knock sounded on the door and Zain saw the man move slightly to the right so he could turn and look at the door. Zain made his move. He’d trained his whole life with Ahmed, Nabi, and Abby. He slammed his elbow back and connected with the man’s ribs. The force was strong enough to fracture them. The man grunted and the gun dropped from his hand. Zain spun, but the man was already gone. The connecting door between his and his father’s office was open.
“Yo, Zain, your breakfast is here. Are you decent?” Deacon yelled through the door.
“Dammit!” Zain was already through the connecting door. Upon hearing his yell, the door flew open as the Rahmi guard and Deacon burst in. It was too late. The window behind his father’s desk was open and the man was gone.
The two guards rushed into the room with their guns drawn. “What is it?” Deacon asked as he scanned the room.
“I had a gun to my head ten seconds ago. Someone wants to stop the summit and my lab. They’ll kill me to see it done.”
“My, that sounds awfully dramatic.”
Zain turned and bit back another more colorful curse. Queen Suri stood at the connecting doors. “I came to have a talk with you and find out that not only was Prince Jamal assaulted this morning by your own guard, but that your life has now been threatened. My, things aren’t quite what they seem, are they?”
Zain stalked forward. “As if you didn’t have your hand in this. You probably ordered him to kill me.”
Queen Suri straightened, the amusement on her lips thinning. “You are accusing a queen of attempted regicide? You’d better think carefully of your next words, cousin.”
“Then how about this, Suri,” Zain said, purposefully dropping her title. “Let’s talk right now. End all of the nonsense and double-speak politicians are so fond of.”
“I think I’ll hold to our agreement from the other night. I’ll speak with you tomorrow after you’ve calmed down, or after we find out if you live until then. If you are assassinated, our discussion would be moot anyway. And when we talk, you’d better be ready to listen. I’ll not let you insult me again without repercussions.” The queen turned on her heel and left through Zain’s office door.
“Son!” Mo called from the hall as he ran into Zain’s office. “Are you all right? They told me someone attacked you.”
Zain hurried through the connecting door and Mo wrapped his son in a hug. “I know you’re a grown man, but that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you."
“I’m fine. Angry, but fine. He wants the summit and the nanotech lab stopped.” The room was quickly filling with people.
Mo looked around at Deacon, Ahmed, Dylan, Matt, and a slew of Rahmi guards. “Where’s Jamal?”
Zain shrugged. “He was in here changing, but he wasn’t here when the man slipped in through the window. When I chased after him, the room was empty.”
“Give my son and me a moment alone. Dylan and Ahmed, stay by the door. You’re watching Zain today. The rest of you, comb the area. Find Jamal and bring him to me. And see if you can find any clues about who was in here.”
The room emptied and Zain picked up his suit to get dressed. His gun had been on the floor with his discarded pants just feet away from the window. The sight of it angered him. If he had been wearing it . . .
“Who do you think is behind this?” his father asked.
“Someone on the inside. They have to be familiar around here to be able to move so freely. I accused Suri of it. She didn’t take that too well, but she didn’t exactly deny it either. Between the riots in Rahmi, Jamal being an ass, and now this, I don’t think we’ll get much cooperation from Surman. Although I still think she’s in on it. She knows things right after they happen. And here I thought Tahjad would be the hard neighbor to deal with.”
“If Suri knows things so quickly, she must have a spy in our camp,” Mo said as he took a seat.