Page 8 of Deadly Storms (Sunrise Lake #3)

Shabina was done reliving her past. She forced her gaze to meet Raine’s. “I don’t know why those two men claiming to be from France are here, but I think he sent them. I know he’s still alive because I would have been informed if he had been killed.”

Raine confirmed her suspicion by nodding her head.

“Scorpion and his seven cabinet members were the worst of the men who assaulted me during the six months I was with them. I know they’re on an international wanted list, but without really being able to identify them, how are they going to be caught?”

Shabina was certain they were being actively hunted.

She wasn’t supposed to know, but she did.

She just felt that it was impossible to find a man capable of assuming identities in various countries and committing the kinds of sadistic massacres Scorpion did.

He could be anyone. Any nationality. Well, almost. She had narrowed his accent down to a couple of countries.

She had a good ear for accents, but what did that get her when he could assume the identity of anyone?

She would have been informed if Scorpion had been captured or killed, and so far, no word had come in. She had hoped, after all these years of silence, he would leave her alone.

“Did you call your head of security?” Stella asked. “Because you didn’t contact Sam.”

Sam had worked for Special Activities Division, the same as Zale, Rainier and Rush still did. Vienna’s birth father, Elliot Blom, was the director of that program at the CIA.

“No, I didn’t because I wasn’t positive that it was a threat to me. I’m still not. I don’t want my parents freaking out and insisting I close my café and come home. I’m doing my best to live a normal life. If this is just some strange coincidence, then I don’t want to panic early.”

“I don’t think you’re losing your mind.” Zahra got right to the point. “I’d be worried.”

“I can run the two men through a facial recognition program,” Raine offered. “I’ll get their faces from the security feed from your café. It will take some time, Shabina, especially if they aren’t known terrorists or known to be connected to Scorpion.”

“Thank you. Running that program won’t put you in jeopardy in any way, will it?” Shabina felt as if she were responsible for enough people’s lives ending without having to worry about Raine as well.

“No, I’m very experienced at what I do. I’m a ‘ghost’ in a computer.” She flashed Shabina a mischievous little grin. Using the word ghost was a play on the word. There had been times when Sam and Zale had been referred to as ghosts.

Shabina returned her smile, nearly sagging with relief. She’d told her friends, and it had lifted her burden just a little. She even felt better.

“Thanks for listening. It was getting so I couldn’t sleep. I start thinking too much.”

“Don’t wait so long,” Raine advised. “I’m on a forced vacation and going a little crazy just sitting around doing nothing. It will give me something to do.”

“Who exactly is this ‘General’ who calls you during your vacation and insists only you can get him the information he needs?” Harlow asked. “If he’s very young, he can’t be a real general, can he? And he sounds like he’s a bit of a spoiled brat.”

Raine burst out laughing. It was impossible not to laugh with her. “He does sound like a spoiled brat now that you say that. I would never have thought of him in those terms, but he does throw temper tantrums until he gets his way. Can you imagine being married to him?”

“I can’t imagine being married to anyone,” Harlow said. She gave a little shudder. “Stella and Vienna are so brave.”

“Stella is,” Vienna corrected. “I’m still vacillating. When Zale’s with me, it’s a solid yes. When he’s gone, it’s a ‘maybe I need to think about this for a long time.’?”

“I’m fortunate because I have Sam,” Stella said. “He’s dreamy.”

Zahra held up her hand. “Don’t start. None of us have had enough drinks to listen to you carrying on about how dreamy and sexy Sam is. I would have to put in earplugs.”

“We could quote you, Stella,” Shabina added. “You said those things for two years before you ever started a relationship with him.”

“But everything I say is the truth,” Stella insisted. “As my best friends, you should be able to handle me giving you factual information about the man in my life.”

“The only factual information we want is when you and Sam decide you’re going to have a baby,” Harlow said.

“A baby?” Stella choked on her ice-cold beer. “Not yet.”

“Ticktock, ticktock,” Vienna said, her tone mischievous.

“I don’t think you can say very much,” Stella pointed out. “We’re the same age, aren’t we? Doesn’t Zale want children? As in more than one? I’m sure I overheard him talking to Sam.”

“He’s not home to help raise them,” Vienna said. “I’ll think about marriage and children when and if Zale retires.”

Stella sobered immediately. “Vienna, I thought you were okay with Zale working even if you were married.”

“I’m trying to be okay with it. I believe Zale should do what he loves.

If he needs to work for my hideous birth father, I’ll do my best to be supportive.

I want to continue doing my jobs. I wouldn’t want him to tell me what I can or can’t do.

On the other hand, I don’t want to be a single mother.

I don’t have the first idea about raising children.

If he wants to have them, he needs to be part of their lives, not an occasional father who comes and goes. ”

That made sense to Shabina. She was the youngest of the women.

The man she wanted was unattainable. Not only was he out of her reach, but he was older than her by over ten years.

He thought of her as a child. More, after all she’d been through, she wasn’t certain she could be in a physical relationship with a man, although she was attracted to him.

Like most things in her life she had no control over, she pushed thoughts of partnerships and children from her mind.

“That’s totally understandable,” Zahra said staunchly. “I’d be the same way. I think men should participate in raising their children.” She snuggled Misty closer to her. “And I don’t mean just discipline them.”

Harlow blew her a kiss. “Different generations were taught various things. Same with other countries and cultures. Hopefully, things are changing and we’re all evolving into better human beings.”

“I certainly saw evidence of that,” Shabina said.

“There were so many people good to me. As parents, Salman Ahmad’s tribe all seemed to participate in raising the children.

They treated them lovingly. The boys and girls were separated for education and a few other things, but they were treated with love by both the men and women in the tribe. ”

“What were their religious beliefs?” Stella asked, curious.

“They followed the basic pillars of Islam. They were Muslim. They also followed the laws of the country. Women are subject to their fathers, brothers and husbands. In that tribe, it didn’t appear to be a hardship.

The elders of the tribe and the women’s fathers appeared to have their best interests at heart.

I was there a year and didn’t see a single woman beaten. I didn’t see a child struck.”

She missed them. Each of them. The men and women.

It was strange because she loved her parents, but hadn’t spent nearly as much time one on one with them as she had with the female members of Ahmad’s tribe.

They taught her so many things. She had always been curious, her brain active, and they encouraged her questions.

They taught her practical and survival skills.

Crafts. They taught her to play with the children.

There seemed to always be laughter and singing.

When she was at home with her parents, her father was away at work, and her mother often traveled with him.

She had a nanny and tutors. She and her mother shopped together, but her extracurricular activities and classes took up a great deal of her time.

She lived in a loving home and didn’t lack for anything, but once she was with Ahmad’s tribe, Shabina realized she wanted to be the kind of parent who spent time with her child.

“What a difference it must have been to go from his tribe to being a real prisoner of a man like Scorpion,” Raine said.

Not just a difference. A shock.