Page 38 of Deadly Betrayal

“Where is she?” Each word exploded from hismouth like a silenced bullet: fast, quiet, and deadly.

Shahram jerked out of his chair, knockingover his tea. “A-agha Khalid.” The man’s hand shook as he held itout, his fearful gaze darting to the people whose attention they’ddrawn.

Swallowing his revulsion at having to touchthe man who’d caused the death of his Jamila, Khalid quickly shookthe bastard’s hand. Who could blame him if he squeezed a little toohard? He smiled at the flash of pain on Shahram’s face.“Outside.”

Shahram nodded and headed for the door.Khalid followed, but was stopped by a shout from the food preparer.“Agha, your order.”

Changing direction, Khalid collected hislunch. “In my eagerness to be back on the road, I’d forgotten. Havea good day.” He hustled out the door, forcing himself not to run,despite the fear that Shahram would sneak away.

He needn’t have concerned himself. The littleweasel stood partway between the fueling station and the store,smoking a cigarette. His fingers trembled as he brought it to hislips. Shahram looked up when Khalid approached, but he didn’t say aword. He simply kept inhaling long drags from the cigarette beforeletting the smoke out through his nose, huffing great clouds like adonkey in winter. Oh yes, the man truly was an ass.

“Where. Is. She,” Khalid said again, loudernow that they had some measure of privacy.

Shahram stared past him. “I-I don’tknow.”

“Liar. She left with someone. Who?”

Shahram’s lips tightened mulishly. Khalidgrabbed the man’s neck, intending to pull him close, but Shahram’scry of pain surprised him into letting go. “What’s wrong withyou?”

Shahram hitched his jacket up and hunched hisshoulders in a gesture that protected his neck.

Frowning, Khalid walked around him and yankeddown the collar of his jacket. Four red ovals, the beginnings ofbruises, marked the right side of his neck and one larger oval, theleft side. Khalid placed his own hand over the fingerprints andfelt his brows rising. No matter how he stretched, he couldn’tcover all the marks at once. Whoever had done this was a very largeman. Exactly as the food preparer had described.

Khalid’s arm dropped to his side. A fearstronger than any he’d ever known gripped him. Not even afterliving through all the atrocities committed against his people bythe Soviets, the Taliban, the warlords, the Northern Alliance, andmore recently, the ISAF had he been this afraid. No, this fear wasfar worse. Someone very dangerous had taken his Azita.

Grabbing the front of Shahram’s jacket,Khalid jerked him forward. That’s when he noticed the blood on theman’s cheek, near his ear. Every millimeter of his body went as icyas the peak of Tirich Mir.

“Where is she? What happened to my fiancée?”The words ripped from his throat and bounced between the walls ofthe store and the garage.

“Y-yourfiancée?” Shahram’s eyeswidened until they seemed to overwhelm his face.

“Yes, my fiancée. I told Azita yesterday thatI planned to marry her on the one-year anniversary of my brother’sdeath.”

“I see.” Shahram blanched even more.

Adrenaline coursed through Khalid’s body. HisAzita was missing, and the only person who could tell him what hadhappened was the sniveling excuse for a man standing before him.Khalid clenched his fists to keep from strangling his futurebrother-in-law. “If you value your life, you will tell me exactlywhat is going on and who the tall man is.”

Shahram turned away, an unsteady hand rubbinghis forehead. Khalid gripped his shoulder and whipped him around.“Now!”

The younger man’s bottom lip trembled as hemet Khalid’s gaze, and when he spoke, his voice was so low, Khalidhad to strain to hear him. “She’s determined to get Lailaback.”

Khalid sighed. “Why?”

“She feels that their situations are…similar.”

“They are not.” How could she even think sucha thing? He was a far better prospective husband than Tariq.

Shahram narrowed his eyes in a surprisingshow of defiance. “Aren’t they? Azita was forced to marry, and nowLaila is too.”

Khalid waved away Shahram’s angry words. “Mybrother always treated Azita well.”

“Is that so? And you? From what you justsaid, she is being forced to marry again.”

“Forced?” he spat. “Hardly. I’m the perfectman for her, and she knows it.”

With an infuriating shrug, Shahram dismissedKhalid’s argument. “Maybe. But did you ask her or tell her?”

“This is not America!” Khalid paced away fromthe other man, trying to process what he’d learned. His feetstilled. “Are you saying she ran away from me?” It couldn’t betrue. He’d given her everything. She was freer with him than she’dbe with anyone else,anywhereelse.