Page 96 of Deadly Betrayal

She acknowledged the truth. “He is a powerfulman.” One who owned her. Her gaze fell on Kaden. His chest rose andfell much more steadily than it had earlier. Some of her anxietydrained away.

When she again looked up at Mustafa, thewhites of his eyes showed and his lips were pale with the forcewith which he pressed them together. What was he not saying? Thiscould be her only chance to garner some much-neededinformation.

“Agha Khalid told me he’d be here for thewedding. It’s tomorrow, right?” she asked.

“Inshallah,” he said.

“I’m sure Agha Khalid will work out thismisunderstanding with Khan Tariq when he arrives,” she said.

The guilt in his expression increased, andthe knot in her gut tightened. “What misunderstanding is that?” heasked.

“My friend and I were coming here to attendthe wedding, yet Khan Tariq has thrown us in this hole, entirelyunprovoked, I might add.” She rolled her bottom lip out in a poutthat had always worked on Shahram. At the thought of her brother,dead at the hands of these men, without so much as a proper burial,her eyes welled. She blinked rapidly. “I don’t find thatparticularly hospitable.”

“I will do my best to improve things foryou.” His tone was sincere.

Azita truly hated to play these games, topretend to be someone she wasn’t. She’d do it though. She’d doanything for Kaden. “I appreciate that,agha. But Khan Tariqwill let us go tomorrow, won’t he?

He shook his head. “I’m afraid not,Doctor.”

She pretended shock, rounding her eyes andopening her mouth as she gasped. “But Agha Khalid will—”

He cut her off. “Agha Khalid will be of nohelp to you, Doctor. He is also a cherished guest of KhanTariq.”

Like a mortar bomb, his words pounded herinto the ground. Khalid would not rescue her. Even if he wanted to,he could not. Would Tariq kill them all? The disappearance of amember of the minister’s cabinet and one of the few female doctorsin Kabul was sure to raise a few eyebrows. Gulnaz and Samira wouldtell their families. Someone would report it to the authorities.But would help arrive in time to save them? To save Laila?

The guard pushed to his feet and lowered thegrid. “Shab ba khayr,Doctor.”

“Good night,agha,” she replied likean automaton. When he was out of sight, she returned to Kaden’sside. He opened his eyes as soon as she touched his head to put iton her lap. Afraid he was trapped in another PTSD flashback, shefroze.

His ravaged face softened and his split liptugged into a smile. Her heart squeezed to see his eyes clear ofthe fever fog. She placed her palm against his forehead to confirmwhat her eyes were telling her. Cool. Only then did she allowherself to smile back. “Are you hungry?” she asked. “The guardbrought us some bread and cheese.”

“Good. Water?” His voice came out in a croakthat made them both chuckle.

After retrieving another dose of antibioticsand ibuprofen from her bag, she helped him swallow the pills withsome water. The sun was setting and the temperature in their smallhole in the ground was dropping. At least they were protected fromthe wind that whistled between the camp buildings aboveground.

They ate small pieces of bread and cheese insilence. Kaden winced as he chewed his food carefully and slowly.The cuts inside his mouth were swollen and doubtless stung when heate, not to mention that his jaw had to throb with each bite. Sheknew hers did. She offered him some more water, and when he’d drunkhis fill, he stretched out on the ground again.

“Guess, I’m not doing as well as I thought,”he said, fatigue and pain evident in the white brackets around hismouth.

After stuffing everything back into the bagthe guard had given her, she shook out the blanket and spread it ontop of Kaden. “You are improving quickly. Give yourself sometime.”

He snorted. “Honey, time isn’t something wehave a lot of. The longer we stay here, the higher the probabilityof Tariq killing us.”

She could barely face Kaden, could barelystand to admit the truth of their situation. But she had to. Afterall the lies and half-truths she’d told, she had promised herselfto be completely honest with him. A sob rose in her throat. Sheforced it down and rested her hand lightly on his shoulder. “Theyhave Khalid too.”

His eyes looked thoughtful, as though he weresliding puzzle pieces into place. “He’s a prisoner?”

“That is what the guard implied.”

“The guard who’s been bringing us stuff?”

How did he know about that? “You wereawake?”

“No. But warlords never let their prisonershave medical care, or blankets. Sometimes they don’t even getwater.”

“You sound like you know something aboutthis.”

“Not directly.” His eyes got a distant look.“Jake.”