Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Shabina.” Raine’s voice was gentle. “I know this must be frightening, but the truth is many people know about your past. They know your mother is from Saudi Arabia. Just because it wasn’t Bale who did this, doesn’t mean Scorpion sent someone. The worst thing you can do is jump to conclusions.”
She knew Raine made sense. If she panicked, her brain would shut down and she wouldn’t be able to think. Scorpion would win whether it was him or not.
“You’re right,” she conceded. Still, that didn’t calm her pounding heart or stop the coppery taste of fear from choking her.
“I can’t run him through facial recognition because there isn’t enough of him to run.”
That implied he was a professional. Shabina tried to superimpose the men from her past, Scorpion’s cabinet members over that blurry figure. They didn’t seem to fit. He had seven friends he took with him to every massacre no matter where in the world. She did her best to attempt to fit those images over the man on the screen even though she only saw them with masks. One or two might fit.
She groaned and covered her face with her hands. She was going to make herself crazy. Would Scorpion go so far as to kill someone in a fake ritualistic manner and leave them on a trail in Yosemite? There were a few very rare birds nesting that were kept from the public. Shabina had identified the birds and sent in the locations to be documented. Had Scorpion hoped she’d be the one who would discover the body? It would be something his devious mind would conjure up.
Shabina groaned. The idea that she would be responsible in any way for more deaths was abhorrent. Scorpion reveled in telling her how she was the one who held the sole responsibility for every member of Salman Ahmad’s tribe being massacred. Intellectually, she might know it wasn’t so, but that teenage girl who had been forced to stay awake, been beaten, raped, and told repeatedly that she was the cause of those deaths—deep down, she believed.
“Shabina, what is it?”
She raised stricken eyes to Raine’s. “It’s possible that Scorpion is the one behind Deacon’s murder. He might have left the body for me to find on that trail. Few people hike those obscure trails, but I do when I’m documenting rare birds nesting. If he’s been watching me, he might know that.”
Raine sat back in the very comfortable cuddle chair and regarded Shabina steadily. As much as Shabina wanted Raine to deny that her wild thoughts could possibly be true, she knew Raine would give the idea serious consideration. She had an analytical brain.
“We can’t discount that possibility, Shabina, but it’s slim.”
“Do you know where he is? Where his friends could be? Could you find their locations?”
Raine sighed. “Shabina, you know you’re getting into very sensitive, highly classified matters I can’t possibly discuss. No one knows who they really are.”
“But this is about me. You know it is. The only reason Blom began looking for them in the first place was because of me. They know Scorpion is watching me, don’t they? They know he’s going to come for me sooner or later, and that’s why Rainier is always checking on me.”
Raine sighed again.
“If you know where any of them are, I need to know.”
Chapter Five
Raine regarded Shabina for a long time in silence. Eventually, she heaved a sigh. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking?”
Shabina nodded. “I’m sorry, Raine. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”
“Have you been threatened? Tell me the truth, Shabina. Have you received an actual threat from anyone other than Bale?”
Shabina shoved her hand through the thick dark hair at the top of her scalp. “It’s just that I feel threatened. I can’t sleep. I know you’re going to talk to me again about PTSD. I’ve heard it all. I told you that I talked to my therapist. I’ve taken all the precautions. I’ve done everything but turn myself over to a hospital. I might be losing my mind for real, but then again, what if I’m right? What if Scorpion is stalking me right this minute? What if he is looking through my own security cameras? What if that man you just saw coming out of my hydrangea bush is one of his men?”
“Why haven’t you contacted Rainier?”
Shabina twisted her fingers together in her lap, out of sight. “Our relationship is complicated. I don’t want to go running to him and look like I’ve lost my mind when it’s only smoke and mirrors. I’ve messed up his life enough.”
“I don’t think you messed up his life. Rainier goes his own way. No one controls him, Shabina. No matter how much they’d like to, no one has found a way.”
“I’m asking you to tell me if you know who or where these men are. If they’re nowhere around here, I’ll know I’m being paranoid.”