Page 107 of Deadly Betrayal

She caught his hand. “Please, if somethinghappens to me, make sure my daughter is safe. I beg you.”

“Nothing will—”

“Please,” she insisted. “Do not let KhanTariq or Agha Khalid have her. She is innocent. She deservesbetter.”

Kaden squeezed her hand and swallowed aroundthe lump in his throat. He acknowledged her words with a nod.“Hurry.”

Facing forward once again, she wiggledherself under the fence. Her voluminous tunic caught on a straightpiece of chain link. Kaden leaned over her legs and pulled as hardas he could. Time was running out. The guards were coming.

Finally, the material tore free. “Go. Go!” hewhispered urgently.

Freba nodded and started running for herlife.

Tariq stormed down the corridor to Khalid’sroom. The doctor bitch and her American puppy had escaped. Therewas only one way someone could leave the hole, and that was if theywere let out. The roar in his ears was so loud, it was all Tariqcould hear. His gaze zeroed in on the guard, who scrambled to hisfeet and fumbled the door open. When he didn’t get out of the wayfast enough, Tariq shouldered him into the doorjamb.

Khalid was splayed out on the cot, hisclothes bunched and wrinkled. If Tariq didn’t know better, he’dthink the man was drunk. There was a teapot and a glass on thetable that a guard must have delivered earlier. The caffeine wouldwake the man up. Violently, he kicked the cot’s rickety metalframe, sending it skidding across the floor and into the wall.Groggy and confused, Khalid reached out to steady himself as he satup. His breath caught when he saw Tariq.

A tingle of pleasure stirred in Tariq’sgroin. Even at fifty-six, he could still put the fear of God in menfar younger. “I welcomed you into my home, treated you like anhonored guest, and this is how you repay me?” he bellowed.

The man was city slime, a bureaucrat whoprofited from the lives of men like Tariq, men who weren’t afraidto fight for what they believed in. And in Tariq’s case, what hebelieved in was the dominance of man and the supremacy of truebelievers. Khalid played at being a traditionalist with his twowives and his fiancée, but when one got beyond appearances, hismoderate views became clear. He wanted to marry a woman who waseducated, a doctor, and childless. The woman didn’t know her place,nor did Khalid.

“Do you know how lucky you are to have seenwhat she really isbeforeyou married her?” Tariq asked thedumbfounded man. “A wife like that would have made a fool ofyou.”

Khalid shook his head as though to clear awaythe sleep. “Khan Tariq, forgive me. I do not understand why you aresaying these things.”

Tariq stepped right up to the man and bentdown to put his nose mere centimeters from his guest’s. “The doctorand the American have escaped.”

“What?” Khalid’s jaw dropped, and for thefirst time since Tariq had joined him, his eyes opened completely.“Azita is gone? But how?”

Moving away from his guest, Tariq smirked.“Now that is a good question. One I’m sure you will answer.” Theonly unusual occurrence during the night had been Khalid’s visit tothe hole.

Khalid’s face scrunched and he pointed to hischest. “Me?”

There was a knock at the door, thetap-tap-pause-tap his men used when something was urgent. He openedit and quietly conferred with the guard. “Khan Tariq, Agha Mustafasays the prisoners were in the hole when he did his patrol at twoand then again at four this morning.”

Azita had come here to stop the wedding. Shecould still be around, ready to cause trouble. Tariq instructed theguard to check on Laila and have someone posted at her door.

Returning to the room, Tariq stared Khaliddown. “You put on a good act, my friend. Wanting her stoned todeath like your other fiancée. Either this is an elaborate plan toeliminate your dead brother’s wife, or you helped her to escape.What I want to know is how.”

“I had nothing to do with it. After we spoke,I spent the rest of the night in my room. The door guard canconfirm it.” He shook his head. “I want to see Azita get what shedeserves.”

The man looked and sounded sincere, but Tariqdidn’t trust him. Khalid was a born politician. He had more facesthan the devil. Tariq paused in front of the table and slammed hisfist down. “Liar!”

They both ignored the spilled teacup asKhalid jumped to his feet, his face stark above his dark jacket.Brown fear-filled eyes started at Tariq. Finally.

“You went to visit her with the guard lastnight. What did you do? Steal the key from the guard? Pass yourfiancée or that American a tool to jimmy the lock?”

“No. I saw her—” He snapped his jaws shut,the crunch of molars grinding loud in the small room.

“Yes, I know what you saw. Yet you stillhelped her escape. She must be a wild one in bed.”

Khalid’s eyes flashed, but he remainedsilent. Their gazes locked. Held. After several long, tensemoments, Khalid looked away. “I had nothing to do with it. Maybeyou should question the guard.”

“My men are trustworthy.” Not one would daredefy him. Besides, Mustafa was his cousin’s son. The idea of himturning against family was ludicrous.

As Khalid shifted his weight from foot tofoot while attempting to straighten out his clothing, disgustfilled Tariq. The only way to keep a politician in line was to havesomething he wanted. “Very well.” He nodded, going to the door.

Khalid’s eyes bugged. “That’s it? What areyou going to do?”