Page 25 of Forty Days and One Knight
"As much as I would like her to return home with her mother and me, she has asked to remain here during her recovery. I would appreciate if you handled increasing the security measures, so her mother does not worry. We will be leaving for Timasur in the morning. Unfortunately, we are hosting the President of South Korea for a state dinner and trade talks. It took a long time to arrange, and to cancel would cause more questions and problems than I want to deal with at this time. Tahira's privacy is my utmost concern, and if that means I must return home, so be it.
"Sebak, has the official press release been prepared to announce the rescue of Tahira, Nala, and Lahana and deaths of Amar's men?"
"Yes, Sire. I have it here for you to approve." Opening a manila file he'd been holding, the squirrelly-looking man handed Rajeemh a piece of paper. "Amar has already reviewed it. We thought it was best to not hide the abduction but have kept many of the details out, including Lahana's assault. However, there is a chance further information will eventually be revealed if any of the other women rescued talk to the press, and we are prepared to deal with it if that happens.
Once the other hostages had been rescued, the Deimos operatives had made sure they were returned to their families. The women were told their captors had been killed, including the man who'd sexually assaulted some of them. They were also asked to remain silent about the princess, her cousins, the rescue, and the rescuers, however, there was no way to guarantee they would remain mum. His majesty instructed his staff to make certain all the rescued women received any aftercare necessary to help them deal with what had happened and he would quietly pay for it.
Fahim consulted his notes. "I have mentioned the guards' funerals are being arranged by the palace and their families will be taken care of during this difficult time. We are requesting that the press allow them to mourn in peace. We are also requesting they allow Princess Tahira and her cousins a chance to recover from their ordeal. No interviews will be granted, and an updated schedule of Her Royal Highness's public events will be posted within the week.
"As for the rescue, all we are saying is it was done by the royal guard’s special forces team and nothing more will be released about the mission. Mr. Sawyer ...” he nodded in Ian's direction, “... requested that Trident and its operatives not be mentioned." There had been no need to ask Fahim to not mention Deimos since the man, nor the king, had any knowledge of the US black-ops agency's existence.
“To avoid overshadowing the state dinner, I’ll hold the press release until the day after. And as you requested, I have left out the news of Princess Tahira's engagement for the moment."
Over the tops of his wire reading glasses, Fahim glared at Darius. The man clearly did not approve of the princess marrying a non-royal from America. Too bad, Darius thought. The little shit didn't have a say in the matter.
Clearing his throat, Rajeemh read the press release then handed it back to his chief of staff. "Very good. That will be all for now Sebak."
Dismissed, the man gathered his papers, stood, and left the room. The king turned back to Amar. "Unfortunately, I need you to accompany Azira and me home. The security for the prime minister's visit requires your full attention. Who will you be leaving in charge here?"
It was at that moment that Darius remembered Tahira's bodyguard, Kojo, who'd been killed, had been one of Amar's executive guards and in charge of Tahira's detail for the past year or two. Darius had met the man on a few occasions and had liked him.
"I've assigned Jabari Bastide to fill the position, sir," Amar responded. "He was already in line for a promotion and has been on the princess's detail for the past eighteen months."
"He was one of the guards left behind on the cruise when the women went ashore, correct?"
"Yes, he was. I've interviewed him and the other guards extensively. The princess and her cousins insisted on going ashore with only two guards. They didn't want to attract attention with a large entourage. Farid and Diallo also confirmed this. Since Her Royal Highness is often accompanied only by two guards, unless she is attending a highly-publicized function, they did not see any harm in her request. Either way, Jabari had been on duty overnight and scheduled to be off until later that evening. There is no record of him leaving the ship while it was docked in Jamaica, and I trust he had no part in any plot to kidnap the princess."
"But you believe one of her guards was involved?" Darius asked, incredulously. He hadn't been fully debriefed yet, so he hadn't heard what had been reported by Tahira's cousins, Diallo, and the other guards yet. He also hadn't read the witnesses' accounts of what they saw at the park where the abduction had occurred—a fact he planned to remedy later today.
Amar shrugged. "Honestly, I don't believe any of them were, Darius. To ensure there was no coverup, I've asked Brody and Nathan to do a complete check into the finance, computer, and phone records of the five guards assigned to the princess on the cruise. They've uncovered nothing suspicious."
“We also have to deal with the possibility someone on the ship was involved and had the women followed from the ship to the park," Ian added. "With the amount of tourist traffic on the roads from the port to the park, it wouldn't have been difficult to blend in and go unnoticed by the guards. But we're talking about just over twenty-four-hundred passengers and eleven-hundred crew members. It's going to take weeks, if ever, to narrow down that list to something reasonable for us to investigate."
"Also, according to Nala, Lahana, Farid, and Daillo, the women had only decided that morning at breakfast where they wanted to visit once they went ashore,” Amar said. “There were three attractions they'd been considering. They played 'Rock, Paper, Scissors,' and Princess Tahira won. She decided on the waterfalls."
The corners of Darius's mouth ticked upward as he remembered her challenging him to the hand game that morning while they’d been waiting for her to be discharged. The winner got to choose which news program to watch. Darius preferred CNN, while Tahira—who’d won again—liked BBC.
From his right, Devon chimed in. "After all that, there's still the possibility it was a random kidnapping and Diaz just happened to recognize Princess Tahira. You said the women were there for about an hour before you went down to the cell area. Diaz could have been down there prior to that and figured out who she was or one of the kidnappers could have recognized her during the flight and let Diaz know. There's a helluva lot of questions with too many probables to answer them right now. With Diaz, Secada, and the rest of the lieutenants dead, we're left with interviewing a few low-level peons who were left behind. Some friends of ours are locating and interrogating anyone still alive who'd been there in the days leading up to the raid. We just might have to face the fact we'll never find out all the details behind the abduction."
Darius knew his bosses were right. There were far too many unknowns, and they might not ever be cleared up. The friends Devon mentioned were probably members of Deimos. If they'd been any of the Trident operatives, he would have said so.
"Please keep me and Amar updated on your investigation, and he will provide you with any new information his men uncover as well." The king's gaze fell on Darius, but his next words were for everyone else. "Gentlemen, again, I thank you for all your help in bringing my daughter and nieces home, but I would like to spend some time alone with Mr. Knight if you do not mind."
It was a good thing Darius had been trained how to not give away what he was thinking or Rajeemh would have known how nervous he'd suddenly become.What the hell?He’d known the man would want to talk with him—after all Darius was going to be his son-in-law soon.
Holy.
Shit.
How had he not been hit over the head by that fact before? Regardless that it was a sham marriage, Darius was going to be the son-in-law of a fucking king!
Holy.
Shit!
If only Donna Ellsbury, who’d turned him down for their senior prom, could see him now. Darius had only been the second-string quarterback in high school, and that hadn’t been good enough for her. He’d gotten a sick sense of satisfaction when the star quarterback had turned her down the following day. When she then tried to suck up to Darius, suddenly agreeing to go with him, he’d told her she’d had her chance and blown it. He’d ended up taking his friend’s sister, who’d been a junior, and they’d had a blast—just as friends. He hadn’t gotten laid that night, like some of his friends had, but he’d never regretted his decision one bit.
Ian, Devon, and Amar all stood, and the Sawyer brothers bid the king goodbye. Since Darius had his own vehicle sitting in the estate’s driveway, they didn't need to wait around for him.
