Xander stopped the car and looked after the rider that galloped off into the desert without a look back. Stepping out from the car he slammed his hand onto the hood of the car in frustration and anger. Scott jumped out from the car and ran to Samine who was still out cold on the sand as Xander slowly walked towards the two. Kneeling next to her and Scott he slipped his arm under her shoulders and lifted her up and bit trying to wake her. Slowly her eyes started to flicker open and finally focused on Xander's face and weakly groaned.

            "I must be in hell. I see Satan," she chuckled which ended in a groan as she tried to sit up.

            "I'm not Satan," Xander replied letting go of her shoulders.

            "Yeah but no way in hell you're an angel either," she smiled and fell back to the sand as she lifted her hand up to her face.

            "Did you find out anything from him before he departed?" Scott asked as she gingerly touched her jaw where a bruise was starting to appear.

            "Hold on Scott I still don't remember who the hell I am," she muttered and slowly closed her eyes.

            "Come on Samine we can't stay out here in the desert. You can remember on the way back to the city," Xander said and slipped his arms under her knees and behind her back.

            He easily lifted her and stood there for a moment being sure that he had his balance and he wasn't going to fall with Samine in his arms. Her arms wound around his neck in surprise as she looked up at Xander. He paused seeing the look of fire that flared up in her eyes at the tightness of the two of their bodies.

            "Hey Xander," Scott called to him and he turned to look at him, breaking the steamy gaze between him and Samine.

            "What?"

            "What about the horse?"

            The two of them turned to see Scott holding the rope reins of the horse that stood next to him. The horse was looking at Samine and Xander almost expecting an answer from one of them as they looked back at each other.

            "Put me down Xander. I'll ride the horse back to town, we have to hurry though," she said looking away from Xander and to Scott.

            "Why? We don't know where to go from here. The contact was our last chance to find Enclave," Xander said as he carefully put Samine down to the ground.

            "Not entirely. Before that asshole punched me I grabbed his jacket to pull him closer to me and wouldn't you know. I just happened to grab a piece of paper sticking out from his jacket and maybe if we're lucky it can tell us where we are going next," she smiled and held up the piece of paper that was still clenched in her fist.

            "Well then let's head back to Cairo. Are you sure you're okay to ride Samine?" Xander asked looking down at Samine.

            She looked up at him and was surprised to actually see concern in Xander's eyes. Her heart softened a bit as she smiled softly at him as she reached up and gently caressed his face. Standing on her toes she softly kissed his cheek and smiled up at him.

            "I'll be fine X. You can drive in front of me and keep an eye on me the entire way."

            She took hold of the reins from Scott and swung herself up onto the back of the horse and looked down at the two of them before motioning for them to hurry up. She waited as they climbed into the car and started heading towards Cairo with Samine riding behind them on the Arabian. She cantered along enjoying the wind in her face even though she had a headache the size of Russia pouncing behind her eyes. She was reminded of her horseback riding days as a little girl when she would ride in the horse shows with her horse dressed up for the Costume classes with her robes flapping in the wind and bells jingling. Her horse now had a simple set of sheets that was the basic attire for a horse in this country. She reached back and felt for the paper in her back pocket being sure that she still had it there and it didn't decide to fly away. Abruptly she felt a vibrating in her back pocket and quickly felt there remembering that her cell phone was there. She slowed the horse to a walk and motioned for Xander and Scott to continue driving as she dug out her cell phone and flipped it open.

            "Samine here."

            She listened for a while before her eyes narrowed in suspicion at what the caller was saying to her. Her anger was transmitted to the horse causing it to paw at the sand and fidget back and forth before she snapped the phone shut in anger and shoved it back into her back pocket. Thinking for a moment she urged the horse into a canter and soon a gallop praying to catch up to the guys before anything bad happened. Galloping into the city she quickly rode towards the safe house where everyone was going to meet up dodging pedestrians, rickshaws, and the errant child before riding into the court yard. She swung off the horse before it even stopped and stormed into the house throwing the doors open and didn't flinch when they banged against the walls. Quickly scanning the room she spied no one and promptly went in search of the other rooms. Walking into the living room she came to a stop and stared at Scott who stood in the middle of the room. Xander was at his feet with his hands and feet tied with a nasty bruise on his left cheek.

            "You son-of-a-bitch. You've been working for Enclave the entire time we've known you," she sneered keeping her temper under wraps.

            "What?" Xander asked looking from Samine to Scott who grinned evilly.

            "We've been had X. I had Gibbons do some background checking on our friend Scott Pierce here and guess what he came up with? Scott was dismissed from the British Secret Service because he was selling important government secrets to the highest bidders. He went AWOL and went to work for one of his bidders…Enclave to be exact. Enclave sent you to check up on the packages at the plant and instead found us so you decided to play the good guy and get some good information. And to think I actually trusted you."

            "That's your own fault sweetheart. Your father told me that you were very trusting; I didn't expect that much actually. You know you and your father actually do act very alike," he smiled seeing her anger simmer under the surface.

"Just for that I'll kill you."

The two of them stood and stared at each other waiting for the other to make the first move. Samine knew that there was a gun hidden under the sofa to her right but it was at the far end of the sofa near Scott. The only sound that was heard was their breathing and the occasional ticking of the clock on one of the tables. The clock started chiming the hour signaling Samine to make her move. Launching herself towards Scott she dove over Xander and caught Scott around the waist knocking both of them to the ground. Straddling his waist she punched him across the jaw before diving towards the right hoping to reach the gun before he realized what she was going after. He grabbed her foot and jerked her back away from the couch just as she was just about to reach it. Rolling over she kicked at him and scrambled to her feet going for the gun. Before her hand could search it out he grabbed her around the waist and propelled her towards the glass door leading out to the courtyard. Shielding her head she crashed through the door and felt the glass shards slice up her forearms as she fell to the grass feeling more of the glass dig into her. She slowly rolled over and groaned in pain as he stepped up next to her and rested his foot on her chest and putting some of his weight on her. Looking up at him he held the gun in his hand and had it pointed at her as she squinted to see him clearly.

"Get up!"
            "I can't with your foot on my chest bitch," she snapped weakly and cried out when he pressed harder and she heard a rib or two snap from the pressure.

He suddenly removed his foot and grabbed her arm pulling her up to her feet as she stumbled from the sudden movement which didn't help her already pounding headache. He pushed her back into the house and forced her onto the ground next to Xander and pulled out a loop of rope and started to tie Samine up next to Xander. Once he was finished he patted her cheek and reached for her back pocket and pulled out the piece of paper barely sticking out. Slipping the piece of paper into his pocket he pulled out a small tank from behind the couch and started to dump it everywhere. Samine and Xander cringed at the strong gasoline smell and turned their head away from the stench.

"Now if you would excuse me I have to be departing. You two have fun," he said straightening up and pulled out a book of matches.

He lit one of the matches and threw it into the corner causing the gasoline to ignite and quickly start to burn as Scott smiled and disappeared out the front door as the acrid smoke started to fill the room.

"This is bad Samine," Xander said struggling against his bonds.

"We've had bad before X."

"Yeah but this is a whole lot worse."

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Okay everyone there is the new chapter hope everyone likes it. One of my reviewers said that I have the habit of leaving people hanging at the end of my chapters and that she doesn't need the added anxiety. Well I honestly don't mean to but I just happen to end all my chapters like that but hey I've put up this new chapter but now you have to wait for the new chapter after this one. So anyway everyone has probably guessed that I imaged Scott Pierce as James Bond and when I was finishing this chapter I just happened to be watching a Bond movie so I found that ironic. Well everyone R/R and I'll start to work on the new chapter probably tomorrow because tonight I'm going to my grandparents for dinner and I can't take my laptop with me because they'll be bugging me the entire time about my laptop. So everyone take care and Happy Thanksgiving. Peace.