King's Ransom Read online

  He drew Lang to one side while Brianna was with her brother.

  "You must make haste to solve this thing," he told Lang. "I can waste no more time waiting for assassins to do their deadly business."

  Lang's eyebrows rose. "Are you and Brianna at each other's throat again?"

  "It is not that at all," he said. "I wish to go home and be married."

  Lang was shocked and trying not to show it. "Isn't this a bit sudden?" he asked.

  Ahmed waved his hand expressively. "I have waited most of my life. Now this assassination plot has made me aware of my own vulnerability, of the risk to my people if I die without issue. I tell you, I believe my brother-in-law is mixed up in this," he added solemnly, his dark eyes unblinking on the other man's face. "He is the only one who could move against me with such ease and with cooperation from bribed officials. No doubt be has made many promises."

  "You mentioned that once before. We've acted on it. We have operatives making every effort to wrap it up quickly."

  Ahmed nodded. "I hope that it will not take much longer. Now that I have made the decision, I wish to implement it as soon as possible."

  "I suppose congratulations are in order, then," Lang said, thinking how hard this was going to hit poor Brianna, who was so obviously infatuated with Ahmed. The man didn't even seem to notice that!

  "Yes. Another thing, we must have a larger apartment for the duration of this charade," he said. "If Tad comes home with us, and I assume that he will, the apartment she now occupies will not be large enough for the three of us/'

  "We have a safe house nearby...."

  "Unwise," Ahmed said at once. "Even if Brianna did not find it suspicious, the boy might."

  "You're right. An apartment, then, in a building where we have a floor under surveillance. Will that do?"

  Ahmed smiled. "Yes. Thank you."

  "Where do you plan to be married, in Saudi Mahara?" Lang asked.

  "It must be there, obviously," the other replied impatiently. "The duties of state," he added sadly. "I myself would prefer something quiet and simple, but it would be unthinkable not to have all the trappings."

  "I understand. Well, I'll get the ball rolling," Lang replied.

  Ahmed's dark eyes twinkled. "You look sad. You are a bachelor, too. One day, perhaps you will find a woman who can make you happy."

  "I already did," Lang said ruefully. "But being the brilliant fellow I am, I kicked her out of my life and sent her running." He laughed curtly at the joke he made and went in search of a telephone.

  Brianna was so excited about Tad that she hardly noticed the passing of time, But Ahmed's curiously tense attitude disturbed her and when she could manage it, she maneuvered Lang into an alcove to question him.

  "Ahmed is very quiet," she told him. "Has something happened that I should know about?"

  He ground his teeth together. "Sure you want to hear it?" he asked.

  "I've got Tad back," she replied simply. "I think I can take anything now."

  "I hope so. He―" he nodded toward Ahmed, who was reading a magazine in the waiting room beyond the hall "―is impatient to go home and get married."

  Get married. Get married. Brianna heard the words with every heartbeat. She hadn't realized until that moment how much Ahmed meant to her. Now it dawned on her that he would certainly need to marry a woman from his own country. He was a high cabinet official. Of course! How would it look if he married a foreigner? How could she have been so stupidly blind!

  "I see," she managed to say through a tight throat. She even smiled at a concerned Lang. "I've been living in dreams, haven't I, Lang?"

  He grimaced. "Brianna, I wish..."

  "It's all right," she assured him numbly. "I've been expecting it. Good heavens―" she laughed "―he couldn't very well get involved with an American woman, could he?"

  Lang's eyes were sympathetic. "I didn't want to tell you."

  She took another steadying breath. Fate has given me a trade, she thought. It's traded me Tad for what I might have had with Ahmed. She wanted to laugh hysterically, but it would not change the situation. She'd been a minor amusement for Ahmed. She'd been falling in love, but he'd been teasing, playing, while he planned all along to marry some woman back home. She felt like a fool.

  "I need to go and see about Tad."

  "Time does heal things, somewhat," he remarked, his hands deep in his pockets and a sudden, pained look in his eyes.

  "I know." She touched his arm gently and then walked back toward the intensive care unit. She didn't look in Ahmed's direction at all.

  She didn't change her attitude toward Ahmed noticeably. She was polite and courteous. But the distance between them grew, and he noticed her reticence without understanding what was wrong.

  Lang hadn't told him that he'd mentioned Ahmed's upcoming marriage. But Lang had told him that they had an agent pretending to be Ahmed installed in a classy downtown hotel being very obviously guarded in his hotel suite. And there had just been an attempt on the man's life. Ahmed was concerned now for Brianna's safety, and Tad's. If he was discovered, all the red herrings in the world weren't going to stop the terrorists from striking at him; nor would they care if they happened to kill some innocent person who simply got in the way.

  Ahmed, and Lang, went with Brianna every time she went to the hospital now. But Ahmed, sensing her withdrawal, didn't come any closer. He was protective and tender, but not amorous. Not at all. She wasn't sure if she should be hurt or grateful. After all, he had somebody else, and he hadn't even been honest enough to tell her.

  Tad's animated presence almost made up for Ahmed's reticence. She delighted in his company, spent every available minute with him. And when the doctor said she could, finally, take him back to the apartment, she all but danced around the room with joy.

  "I have already told Lang that we must have a larger apartment so that we each have a bedroom."

  That wasn't all he'd told Lang, but she didn't say any more. "It might be wise" was the only comment she made.

  He scowled. "You are withdrawn," he said quietly. "Since the night I slept with you in my arms, you have hardly had three words to say to me."

  "I've decided that it was a mistake," she said without looking at him. "I don't want to get involved in a relationship that has no future."

  His brows jerked together. "What do you mean, no future?"

  She turned her head. "I think you understand me. I'm not going to be your plaything. Not when you've got a woman back home already."

  He averted his eyes. "I am a man, full grown. I feel the occasional need for a woman in my bed. I will not apologize for being human."

  "I didn't ask you for an apology," she returned. "I simply said that I'm not standing in for another woman."

  "There would be no question of that."

  "Good. I'm glad we understand each other." She put the car into gear and drove home, with Ahmed quiet and contemplative beside her. He'd already started planning a state wedding, and here was Brianna all upset about his mistress and refusing him. He'd already telephoned to tell the woman back home that he was marrying. He'd given her a handsome compensation and provided for her old age, and they parted friends. But apparently Brianna couldn't accept that he had a past. It made him sad. He'd thought her more forgiving than that.

  And she still didn't know it all. Inwardly he was remembering just how great a deception he and Lang had worked on Brianna. There was a truth she hadn't yet discovered, one that would certainly have changed their relationship or even killed it once she knew. He hadn't wanted to tell her. He'd planned to wait, to find the right words, the right time. But she seemed unwilling to even speak of a future with him now. He'd waited too long.

  He looked at her sadly. She was very young, of course. Perhaps he expected too much, too soon. He would have to bide his time and hope that she wasn't as unaffected as she seemed.

  By the next day, Lang had found them a new apartment. It took all of a day to have everything moved int
o it by Ahmed's friends. Brianna was shocked at the way he did things, literally snapping his fingers to get people to do what he wanted. She'd never been exposed to anyone with such a sense of power and confidence. She stood in awe of him, but she was determined not to let it show.

  The woman back home was welcome to him, she told herself. She didn't want him!

  While she unpacked, Ahmed spoke privately with Lang. "The boy will be safe here with us?" he asked worriedly. "I would not have him hurt now for all the world."

  "He won't be," Lang said. "You'll all be as safe here as you would be in a bomb shelter twenty stories down. You're completely surrounded. There are bugs and cameras everywhere," he added meaningfully. "For your own protection. Remember them."

  "Do you think I might need to remember them?" Ahmed laughed heavily. "She has no interest in me now that her brother is conscious. I have become the forgotten man."

  Lang couldn't help but feel that it was the best thing to happen, since Ahmed was making marriage plans.

  "I'm sorry. I know how you feel," Lang replied, and his eyes were distant. "I've had years of being the forgotten man."

  Ahmed scowled, curious. Lang looked very different when he spoke that way.

  "There was a girl back home," he told the Arab wryly. "I made a mistake. I tried to apologize, but it was too late. Now I can't get near her. She hates me."

  "I am truly sorry."

  "Me, too," Lang replied. He got to his feet. "Life goes on. I'll leave you to it. We'll be somewhere close when you bring the boy here. No more catered meals," he added.

  Ahmed raised both hands. "Very well. I suppose that in an emergency I can learn to eat cursed hot dogs." He glowered at Lang. "My counterpart enjoys filet mignon and cherry crepes jubilee nightly, I suppose?"

  Lang chuckled. "One of the perks of his 'position.'

  "Yes. Well, tell him not to enjoy it too much," came the haughty reply. "His position is very temporary indeed."

  "He certainly hopes so," Lang informed him. "We're very close to a solution. I can't tell you any more than that. And I'm sorry to add that you were right to suspect your brother-in-law."

  "And what of my sister?" he asked solemnly.

  "I don't know yet."

  Ahmed was preoccupied as he rode with Brianna to the hospital to get an exhilarated Tad that very afternoon. Brianna was apparently in high spirits. Her boss had given her the day off, and the women in the office had gone in together to get a special present for Tad. They hadn't told her what it was. They'd wrapped it up, and it was very big. She was as curious as Tad about the contents.

  "I would have brought it with me," she told Tad, "but, the box wouldn't fit in here with the three of us."

  "Unsurprising," Ahmed said with disgust, looking around him. "I do not fit in here."

  "You'll have to ask your boss for a raise, Bri, so We car get a better car," Tad said.

  "I like this one, thank you," she returned. "Once it's painted, it's going to be beautiful"

  Tad made a sound in his throat and she smiled, but the smile never reached her eyes. Ahmed thought that he'd never seen her look so helpless. It infuriated him that she was willing to throw away what they felt for each other out of misplaced jealousy.

  They unloaded Tad and his things and got him upstairs to the tenth-floor apartment. This one had three bedrooms and a living room, with a spacious kitchen. Brianna hummed as she worked, putting together a special meal.

  Meanwhile, Tad had opened the suspicious box and let out a whoop.

  Brianna stuck her head around the doorway to see what he had. She burst out laughing.

  It was a collection of everything from a football helmet to a baseball and bat, all that a young man needed to join the human race again, including a Walkman tape player and several tapes to play in it.

  "I've never heard of any of these people," he murmured as he looked at the tapes.

  "You'll probably love them," Brianna said. "Marjorie bought the tapes, I'm sure.

  She has a son your age. She'll know what's popular." She frowned. "My goodness, Tad, we'll have to see about getting a tutor for you, so that you can catch up to your age level in school."

  "That is easily arranged," Ahmed said gently. "Later, though. Not today."

  She didn't look at him. "Of course not today," she replied. She went back into the kitchen and fixed a balanced meal worthy of Tad's first night home, with all his old favorites.

  "This is great." He sighed when he'd cleaned up the very last of the chicken-and-rice casserole and the canned apricots and homemade rolls. "Bri, that was the best food I've ever had."

  "You flatterer," she said, smiling at him warmly. "I'm glad you liked it. Your appetite is certainly going to please Dr. Brown."

  He leaned back in his chair, studying Ahmed. "How did you wind up here, Cousin Pedro?" he asked curiously. "Did our aunt and uncle send you up here from Chihuahua?"

  "Why, yes," Ahmed lied easily, and his eyes smiled. "To look for work. And I have," he continued. Lang had placed all sorts of applications from "Pedro" in strategic locations. But no one had called him about work.

  "Sure." Tad smiled with some puzzlement. "But that Spanish accent of yours is the oddest I've ever heard."

  "It's been years since you've heard one," Brianna reminded him.

  "Well, yes, I guess so." He flexed his legs. "It's so good to be able to get up and walk. I don't guess any of my old friends are still around?" he added.

  "Todd Brock is," she said, smiling at his surprise. "He calls every month or so to check on you. He has ever since the wreck."

  "Wow! Do you have his telephone number? Can I call him?"

  "Of course, I'll get it for you." She hesitated. This was going to present many complications. She couldn't let him tell Todd where he was, or who was living with them. She grimaced.

  "You're worried," Tad said, suddenly curious. "You don't want me to call him.

  Why? What's going on?"

  Chapter Eight

  Brianna stood in the middle of the floor with a mind that refused to work. She couldn't think up a good reason to satisfy that suspicious look in her young brother's eyes.

  "She has only just managed to reacquire you from the hospital after three long years," Ahmed said softly, smiling at the boy. "Is it not natural that she should jealously guard your company for at least the first few days you are back at her side?"

  Tad colored and laughed roughly. "My gosh, yes. I'm sorry, sis. That was thoughtless of me, really!"

  She walked over and hugged him warmly, her eyes mirroring her gratitude to Ahmed over Tad's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's just that we've only just become reacquainted and I don't want to share you for a few days. So, do you mind?"

  "I don't mind at all." His blue eyes twinkled. "Todd can wait."

  "Thanks, Tad."

  He shrugged. "What are brothers for?" he mused, and then laughed.

  One disaster was averted. Brianna found it difficult to avoid the questions that kept coming, though. Inevitably Tad noticed how careful Brianna and Ahmed were about what they said, about going out, about letting anyone in. He was a sharp boy. He didn't voice any of his curiosity, but it was there in his eyes just the same. He had his own television in his room, and he was quickly and eagerly catching up on three years of news and new developments in his favorite subject, science. But he was giving his two companions looks that became more perceptive by the day.

  "Tad is suspicious of us," Ahmed told Brianna one evening when they were alone in the kitchen after Tad had gone to bed.

  "Yes, I know. It's a strain for all of us," she replied. "But it won't be for much longer, will it?"

  "I hope not," he replied quietly. His dark eyes narrowed in impatience. "I long to be free of the necessity for this stealth and deception."

  "So do I."

  "You do not look at me anymore, Brianna," he said suddenly, lounging in the doorway with eyes she found difficult to meet. "You look beyond me or you talk to my chin
. You avoid eye contact. Why?"

  She deliberately dried a dish. There was a nice dishwasher in the apartment, but there were too few dishes for a load. She liked the feel of the warm soapy water on her hands.

  "I hadn't noticed doing any such thing," she said defensively.

  "Talk to me!" he said curtly. "Explain this violent change of attitude. Is it because you learned that I once had a mistress?"

  She dropped the plate in the soapy water and fished it back out quickly, with trembling hands. "Your private life is no concern of mine," she said through numb lips. "You'll be going home soon, won't you?"

  He shifted irritably. "Yes, I must, once this situation is resolved. I have responsibilities which I cannot shirk."

  "We all have those, I guess," she said sadly. She washed the last of the dishes and let the water out of both sinks.

  He jerked away from the door facing and came to stand directly behind her, so close that she could feel the heat and strength of his tall body.

  "Have you traveled at all?" he asked. His warm breath stirred her hair.

  She really should move away, she told herself. And she would, in just a minute.

  "Not really," she replied. "I've been to Mexico, but that was just a quick trip over the border from El Paso while on vacation with my parents and Tad, when I was in my early teens."

  "Have you never longed to see other places, other countries?" he continued.

  She could hear the soft whisper of his breath. Her body tingled at his nearness.

  She had to concentrate. What had he asked?

  "Yes, I'd love to travel," she said huskily. "It's a big world, and I know very little about it. Tad would like it, too. But it will be a long time before that can happen. He isn't fit for long vacations just yet."