“Then we can only trust our friends from Keeneston. They would never betray us.”
Mo nodded. “I’ll have Nabi make a formal request to Ryan for help from the FBI. My friends can come on as extra support. Miles, Marshall, Cade, and Cy will help us have more eyes and ears to ferret out the traitor. And I have to say this—could Mila be in on it?”
Zain stiffened. “Excuse me?” he asked, his voice hard.
“I know you like her, son. But these things didn’t start happening until she arrived. She gets close to you and suddenly someone tries to kill you. Twice. You have to acknowledge the coincidence,” Mo said, not backing down either.
“It’s not Mila. She has no motive.”
Mo’s lips frowned. “You don’t know that. I’ve asked Nabi to look into her.”
“You did what?” Zain exploded. His father didn’t flinch as the door softly opened and Dylan stuck his head in.
“You okay, Zain?”
“Get out, Dylan,” Mo said with royal command.
“No offense, Mo, but I don’t work for you. My friend hired me, and I’m asking him if he’s okay. Because right now, he doesn’t look so good.”
“Excellent. They’re done.” Veronica said a second before sweeping into the room with her face buried in a tablet. “You have three minutes to get to your meeting with the prime minister—” she looked up and froze. “I’m guessing you will be late?”
Zain shook his head. “No, I’m ready.”
“Wait,” his father said softly. “Don’t you want to know what Nabi found? And where Mila has been recently? Or maybe I should say, with whom?”
Without looking at his father, Zain strode from the room. Only when he was in the hall with Ahmed and Dylan following quietly behind did he breathe again.
“Ahmed,” Zain said softly.
Ahmed didn’t answer, just stepped up even with Zain as he walked upstairs to the meeting room.
“Did you know about this? And don’t pretend to not know what I’m talking about.”
“I never pretend. And yes.”
“Do you help my father look into Mila?”
Ahmed didn’t say anything.
“So, that’s how it’s going to be? You’re my godfather,” Zain said, hiding the hurt.
“And I’m your father’s best friend. I swore to look out for you. I’m going to do just that.”
“No, you’re not. You’re fired,” Zain said as he reached the door. Dylan coughed quietly and shook his head. “Ahmed, Abby can replace you, but you will no longer be my bodyguard. If my father hired you, then you can watch him.”
Zain shut the door on any protest, not that Ahmed would protest anyway. Now he was already running late to see Mila and the only thing he could think of was what his father said about her. He refused for it to be true. But he wasn’t going to wonder. He was just going to ask.
“Hello, Prime Minister. What can I do for you this morning?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Mila walked back into the hall to find Ryan talking softly with his brother. Jackson saw her instantly and hushed his brother. “How are you?” Jackson asked as soon as the chancellor’s assistant scurried into the room Mila had just vacated.
“Well, I’m sort of fired,” Mila said, taking a seat next to Jackson.
“Damn that Nikki,” Jackson cursed.
“What does sort of fired mean?” Ryan asked.
“It means I would have been fired immediately but they couldn’t find a replacement. I’ll be finishing out the conference but then will be out of a job. He’s also having me fired from my job at the embassy in Washington.” Mila turned her head away from the brothers and swiped at the tears slowly rolling down her face. She was a professional. She wasn’t going to cry over her whole career being over. She would pick herself up and dust herself off. She would find something even better to do with her life.
“Mila, I’m so sorry,” Jackson said softly as he and Ryan suddenly looked uncomfortable at the first hint of tears.
“It’s okay. I knew better. This is what I get for becoming visible again,” she sniffed. “You’ve been so kind. Thank you. But I think I’m going to gather myself before I have to spend the day by the chancellor’s side.”
“Of course. I’ll be around if you need an escape. After all, you’re fired. You don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to,” Jackson said as he patted her shoulder awkwardly.
Mila shook her head. “I wouldn’t do that to Zain. He needs this nanotech lab to succeed.” She looked down at her watch. She had thirty minutes. Maybe he was waiting for her right now. There was nothing Mila wanted more than the comfort of being in Zain’s embrace right now.
“I can check with the FBI. We’re always using interpreters. But take a moment to regroup and then let us know if we can help,” Ryan said as Mila stood up.
“Thank you, both.” She gave them a weak smile and headed for the library. She kept her head down as she walked down the hallway. She didn’t want to stop and talk. And she didn’t want anyone to see the tears in her eyes.
She looked up and down the hall and when she didn’t see anyone, she slipped into the library. She grabbed a handful of truffles placed on the table for the dignitaries and headed for the secret door. Mila pulled back the curtain and froze at the sound of the heavy library door opening and closing.
“Is anyone here?” she heard a whispered voice ask in Arabic.
A second later, a second voice answered in a hushed tone, “No. It’s clear.”
“I take it from the lack of police activity you failed in your job to kill the prince?”
Mila stopped breathing.
“Someone came to the door. I had the gun to his head. I don’t know when I will get another opportunity. I was just informed that the prince has pulled all of the Rahmi guards from his detail and replaced them with his friends from Keeneston.” She could tell it was a male voice, but the other spoke very softly. She strained to be able to learn more about the speaker.
“That should make things easier, won’t it?”
“No. You don’t know this town. I’ve looked into it. These men aren’t your average farmers, and they are fiercely loyal.”
“Then we go after his family. It doesn’t have to be Zain who dies. We up the disruption to Rahmi and target his family.”
“What about the women? They can’t rule Rahmi, so they aren’t a threat.”
“I don’t give a shit if they’re a threat or not. Take them out. Nothing cripples a man more than seeing the woman he loves bleeding. These dumb bastards all love their wives.”
Mila gasped and then slammed her mouth shut.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, check it out.”
Mila moved quickly. She pushed in the small button and slid sideways into the dark room. “Close, close, close,” she chanted to herself as she heard the man moving closer to the curtain. As his footsteps stopped on the other side of the curtain, the door silently slid shut.
“I don’t see anything,” he heard a muffled voice say from the other side of the door. And then everything was quiet. Her body shook as she stood in the dark staring at what was probably the back of the door. She didn’t dare move. She didn’t dare cry. She didn’t dare turn on the light. She didn’t know if they were still on the other side of the door or not. She didn’t know if they would be able to hear her or to see the light.
Mila didn’t know how long she stayed there, but she finally took the chance to pull out her cell phone. The screen lit up and hurt her eyes. No signal. She used the glow of her phone to find the landline and picked it up. She was relieved when she heard the dial tone. Mila scrolled down her contacts and dialed Zain’s number. She had to warn him. She had to warn everyone—his mother, his sister, his father. They were all in danger.