Page 25 of Hiding in the Sheik's Arms

“We’ll be back at the palace in an hour,” he told her softly. Was it a warning? Or a promise?

Both, he thought as he leaned back in his seat.

Chapter 20

“I have no idea if it’s her!” Nathan roared. “Get me a better picture!”

Evan rolled his eyes, not concerned about the senator’s ire. He was sick of trying to find this woman. He’d been searching for Tasha O’Connor for a year now and this explosion trick had been his latest attempt to find out if she was the one who had been hired by the Lativa government.

“I don’t think that another explosion is going to help your cause, senator.”

“I don’t give a damn about my cause,” he snarled into the phone. “Find her and get her back here! I need her here alive and well.”

“Why?” Evan finally asked the question that had been plaguing him for months now. “What is so important about this woman?”

“She knows things,” Senator King replied in a lowered voice. “She has evidence of…conversations between you and me.”

Evan didn’t like that. In fact, he was actually quite irritated about it. “Well, how about if I just eliminate her? Why do you need her to come back to you?”

“Because she told me that five other people have copies of the evidence, with instructions to send everything to the press if anything should happen to her, you idiot!” he snapped.

Obviously, that was the end of Senator King’s patience. The man was ready to explode with fury and impatience. Too bad Evan could hear noises and echoes over the phone. The old fart was probably in the capital building, about to head intothe Senate Chamber for a vote. It was the only time that the senators actually appeared in the senate chambers these days. It used to be that all of the legislators sat in the chambers during debates. But these days, the senators and representatives assigned an intern to listen in on the votes via the CSPAN cameras. If there was something that a legislator needed to argue, that point was brought to their attention. Otherwise, it was a more laid back atmosphere of lunches and martinis.

Evan turned around, his cell phone plastered against his ear. “King, why don’t I just take her out? It would be easier. Call her bluff.”

The man’s breathing increased. “I didn’t get to this place in my life by calling another person’s bluff unless IknowI will win. Tasha O’Connor isn’t an idiot. She’s smart, with an ability to analyze faster and more strategically than a master chess player.” He sighed and Evan pictured the man rubbing his forehead and acting important for any reporters that might be trying to get an interesting image for their news outlets. “Just…find her and bring her back here.”

“Not worth it to me anymore,” Evan replied. “Find someone else.”

“She has evidence on you as well!” King snapped.

Evan shrugged even though the senator couldn’t see the gesture. “I can easily disappear. I don’t need–”

“I’ll double your fee.”

Two million dollars. Interesting! This was a much more lucrative option now. “Fine.” He thought about finding the woman and discovering where she’d stored the evidence. Then Evan could use it for future payments. Blackmail was a side hustle that Evan had found to be extremely profitable. “I’ll get back to you soon.”

Evan ended the call before the senator could make any more demands. The game was afoot and Evan was one of the best players. For two million dollars, perhaps it was time to ramp up his efforts. Yeah, Evan had spent the senator’s “campaign” money on his expenses in the past while searching for this O’Connor woman. But Evan had taken several other jobs during his search. The past year had been particularly lucrative, but Evan had a goal. He was thirty-five and the game of cat and mouse was for the younger crowd. He had two, maybe as many as five more years doing this before he’d be too old for the effort. He already had a nice nest egg stashed away. Plus, he had several, ongoing blackmail efforts which created a passive income. Whenever he needed a boost, he selected one of his victims and forced them to pay up.

The senator was a very wealthy man due to his insider stock trading – all done through a “blind trust” of course. But the man sat on several highly influential senate committees, which in turn allowed the senator to make incredibly “wise” investments. Knowing what kinds of contracts the government is about to approve allowed one to get ahead of the stock purchases, Evan knew.

“Time to get to work,” Evan announced and stood up. He slammed the last bit of whiskey, hissed as the burn slid down his throat, then left the bar.

Chapter 21

Back at the palace, Tasha was grateful that a small handful of important issues had come up during their trek to the explosion site. That forced Khal to sit in on several additional meetings, giving Tasha a bit of time to get her head back in the game.

Sitting at her desk, she hurriedly worked through the issues that had come up in her absence. They’d been gone for six hours, but problems didn’t stop simply because the ruler was out of the palace. She scrambled to read through the newest reports, and then wrote up analysis of both sides of the issue. This was where Tasha thrived. She loved the analytical side of her job. Of course, she also loved debating with Khal as well as nudging him along to the next meeting. It gave her that little bit of control that she craved. After her last job, as well as that miserable hospital stay Tasha needed,craved, control.

Several hours later, Tasha knew she should shut down for the night. She’d caught up on everything, but she still felt guilty about leaving.

No, not guilty. Scared.

“Are you hungry?”

The question startled her out of her contemplation of revising her filing system.

When she turned to look up at Khal, Tasha curled her fingers closed into a fist. “No,” she lied. She’d skipped lunch because of the amount of work that had piled up while they’d been at the power station and hospital.

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