Page 13 of Deceptive Lies

If Professor Mahmoud thought killing her was going to solve all his problems, he was wrong. While she didn't have enough evidence yet to bring him down, she had enough for people to start asking questions, and add in her disappearance and likely death, and she was sure that in the end, she would be the one who came out victorious even if she was no longer alive to celebrate her victory.

“You are nothing,” Professor Mahmoud snarled as he slammed his foot into her body.

Instinctively, she curled in on herself, protecting her head and vital organs as best as she could as his foot continued to make contact with her body.

Like she always did, Willow mentally reached out to her father, who had suffered the same fate she currently was.

Help me, Daddy. Help me be strong like you were. Help me to hold on. Help me stand up for what's right and not cave no matter what.

Give me a miracle and send someone to save me.

Chapter

Four

July 11th

10:32 A.M.

He was walking around the pyramids—thePyramids of Giza—a place on many people’s bucket list, and yet Cooper could barely give it any of his attention.

It wasn't that the pyramids weren't spectacular, they were, and you could spend an entire day walking around, taking pictures from different angles, capturing their size and magnificence. The problem was him.

It didn’t matter how amazing the pyramids were, he felt like he should be doing something productive. This was no vacation, he wasn't there to marvel at the wonders of ancient Egypt, he was there to get answers on who set his mom up to look like a traitor and why.

That wasn't all that was on his mind.

The person in black in the corner of Mahmoud’s kitchen was as well.

Cooper couldn’t seem to get them out of his head. The body was too small to be an adult male and too big to be a youngchild, so it was either a woman or a teen boy. Given where they were and the big, baggy clothes the person had been dressed in, he was leaning toward a woman.

Who was she, and how had she gotten mixed up with a man like Tarek Mahmoud?

Was it possible that the professor was wrapped up in more than just whatever happened to his mom? Could he be into human trafficking? Prostitution? Was the boy or woman a slave? A prisoner?

His brother’s words kept echoing in his mind. He shouldn’t worry about it, he was there for a reason and one he had to focus on. He had to keep his mind on the ball and not allow himself to become distracted.

But …

What if the person needed help?

If they were in trouble, could he really just ignore it because he had his own issues to deal with?

That wasn't who he was. Wasn't who he had been raised to be. While he and his siblings had believed that their mom worked for an aid agency and that’s why she had to travel sometimes, they’d always known that she was strong and tough. To travel to dangerous countries and build a successful marriage with a special forces operator who was away sometimes for months at a time, you had to be. Learning she was actually in the CIA was a huge shock but had also filled them all with pride.

Their mom had been an amazing woman which was why he and his siblings were determined to clear her name.

It was the least she deserved.

So stop thinking about the person in black.

Whatever was going on there wasn't his business. There was every chance that the person wasn't in any trouble, and even if they were, it wasn't like he had many options to do anything about it. Sure, he worked for Prey, and he had his boss’ okay to be there, but this was no official mission and he couldn’t just barge into a respected professor’s home and demand that he hand over the person in black. What if they were there of their own free will? They might not even want to be rescued.

Best to just let it go.

There was enough to focus on without adding to the mix.

To that end, he did his best to shove all thoughts of the huddled black figure in the kitchen corner from his mind.

---