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)
“Do you have photographs?”
“I’m not showing them to you. I will say this: if you were to take transparent paper with a map of the wounds on your body, including every violation done to you from head to toe, and place it over their bodies, there would be an exact match. Is that what you want to know?”
“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and held on tight.
“Rainier.” She whispered his name to herself. Her anchor. The one person who kept her safe. He had come when there was no hope. He’d been like the desert storms, sand whirling like tornados, rising out of nowhere and passing fast, leaving devastation in their wake.
He’d hunted down two of the men who had tortured her. Two of the men who had massacred an entire tribe. She knew him and his ruthless, single-minded purpose. He wouldn’t stop until he found each of the men threatening her.
“You know the identity of Deadly Storms, don’t you?” Raine asked, her voice gentle.
Of course Raine would know. The way he’d killed the two men was a dead giveaway. Blom might not put two and two together. He probably didn’t want to know, but Raine knew.
“You can never tell anyone, Shabina,” Raine cautioned. “Not ever. Take that to your grave.”
“I took his life away from him,” she confessed. “I didn’t mean to, but it happened. I took everything from him.”
“You didn’t, Shabina. You take on the world. Scorpion did that to you. He made you think you were guilty, responsible for everything he did. Rainier makes his choices, he always has. No one runs him. No one. That man can’t be controlled by anyone.”
Raine didn’t know the entire story. Shabina nodded her head because what else could she do? Raine had just gone against her code to help, showing her classified files. That went above and beyond friendship.
“Thank you, Raine. I really appreciate what you’re doing for me.”
“Just because those two men were Canadian doesn’t mean Lefebre is involved,” Raine cautioned. “The men traveled extensively and were often in countries setting up for Lefebre’s arrival weeks before he arrived.”
A shiver went through her body. She wasn’t much closer to knowing Scorpion’s true identity.
“Just get some sleep, Shabina. You aren’t going to be able to function if you don’t sleep. I’ll work on identities and also to find out if anyone has infiltrated your security feed. I don’t think it’s possible without alerting us, but I’m not taking chances. Sleep.”
Shabina watched Daisy leaping into the car and going into her crate before the lights faded as Raine drove down the drive and out the gates, once more leaving her alone. She paced long into the night and finally fell into a fitful sleep.
Shabina woke choking back a cry. One didn’t ever make a sound and draw the attention of the guards, or worse, Scorpion or his cruel cabinet members strutting around camp shoving others out of their way and spewing orders right and left. Most of those Scorpion took on his raids were men like him, sadistic and cruel, but not all of them. Still, even those raiding with him were afraid of Scorpion and his cabinet.
She rolled off the bed, heart pounding. Sitting on the floor, pressing herself against the wall, drawing up her knees, she made herself as small as possible. The dogs pressed close to her on either side. Malik made the rounds, both at the bedroom windows and then throughout the rest of the house. When he was finished, Sharif took over patrolling and then Morza. They traded all night. She didn’t move until the alarm went off to tell her it was time to go to the café to bake the day’s pastries.
* * *
—
The main topic of conversation in the café was the murder. She couldn’t blame the locals or the tourists for their curiosity.
“I feel terrible,” Vaughn greeted. “I was pretty flippant the other day after he went missing. This should teach me to keep my mouth shut.”
He looked so glum Shabina couldn’t help but try to cheer him up. “You didn’t mean anything, Vaughn. You certainly had no idea he was dead.”
“I know, but I shouldn’t have said anything at all.”
“He hadn’t been very nice. Sean had encouraged him to act like a hostile, belligerent jerk, and you were just defending me. You can’t get down on yourself. Let’s just try to keep our customers happy. We don’t want them thinking they’re going to get murdered if they go to Yosemite.”
Patsy picked up two plates. “But they might. Who knows? I heard maybe there’s a coven of satanic worshipers or something making human sacrifices.”
Shabina was horrified. “I hope you aren’t repeating that. Who in the world told you that? Because it wasn’t the sheriff.”
Patsy looked slightly ashamed, but a small grin hovered. “No, Nellie did. She’s very gullible. Sonny Leven, you know, one of Stella’s security guards up at Sunrise, was in this morning teasing her. I think he has a crush on her.”