Page 86

She shivered.
“Nobody will care what I do to you. You are a spy. A pig westerner. You are worse than trash.”
In the distance, she heard a faint throb of a helicopter. Abdul Anwar. He was coming.
“Come near me and I’ll fight you.”
The guard threw back his head and laughed. “You can try, bitch.”
He grabbed her abaya and tore it off her. She cried out in surprise. Buttons went flying and bounced across the concrete floor.
Then he grabbed her tunic and ripped it off her shoulder. She lashed out with her legs, but he was too quick for her. He kicked her again, causing her to double over. Then he reached out and squeezed a breast, painfully.
She twisted to get away from him, but that only spurred him on. He gripped the other breast and pulled at her bra until that snapped, leaving a raw angry welt under her arms. She screamed and kicked out again, this time connecting with his shin.
“Bitch!” He struck her across the face, causing her head to swing back and hit the wall. The knock stunned her, and she hung limply by her wrists until the spinning stopped.
The whop-whop of rotor blades got louder, or was that the pain in her head?
She heard a male voice shout, “Leave her alone. Abdul Anwar said not to touch her. He wants to take her back to Syman for a public execution.”
The guard backed off, worried now.
She leered at him. Serve him right for messing with her. She hoped he got shot for his efforts.
The helicopter landed in the yard outside. It wouldn’t be long now.
Abdul Anwar entered the warehouse with an egotistical swagger that made her want to puke. After six months of hating her, and days searching for her, he was getting his revenge.
“Hannah Evans,” he drawled. “How nice to see you again. I’m so sorry it had to come to this.”
Her head still pounded on the side where she’d hit the wall, and she was sure her left eye was swelling from the guard’s smack.
She saw anger flash across the chief of State Security’s face.
“Who did this?” he barked. “I gave strict orders that she wasn’t to be touched.” He bent down and inspected her face. “That is my job.”
She cringed. She’d always known Anwar was a sadist, and now he was revealing his true colors.
“Get out,” he ordered the other men. They shuffled out in silence.
“Finally, we are alone,” murmured Anwar. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve looked forward to this moment.”
She glared at him. “What are you going to do with me?”
He chuckled. It made her skin crawl. “I think you know the answer to that.”
She did.
“You haven’t given any of our secrets away yet, have you?” He was serious now.
Hannah toyed with the idea of baiting him. Making him worry would be her only revenge. Except if Tom did manage to get the intel out of the country and into the right hands, the international authorities would be on their way to the safe houses to arrest Prince Hakeem. He would have to stand trial for crimes against humanity, but even that was too good for him.
No, she’d have to pretend she hadn’t, take the secret with her to her grave.
Which wouldn’t be a long time in coming.
She shook her head.