Chapter 19
"Beautiful, hey, it's okay. Beautiful you've got to calm down"
My brain maybe heard what was being said but my instincts were slow to catch up. Had I heard someone speak in English, had someone called me Beautiful? No, only Les called me that and he wasn't here, he was probably back home in Trenton.
"Stephanie, calm down. You're okay now"
As I heard my full name I stopped struggling and then felt as whoever it was sit up with me still in their arms. I felt the scarf being pushed off my head and hands sweep down my cheek. It was soft, gentle and intimate and as I tried to look through the tears, I was pretty sure that I was hallucinating.
"Les?"
His arms squeezed me and held my head against his chest, the steady rhythm of his heart beat helping me to try and steady how I was feeling.
"I'm here Beautiful. Ranger's just sorting out the shit on the street then he'll be with you"
A few sobs left my mouth as absolute relief washed through me, I might have been hurting all over, but I never felt it, I just let go.
I woke with a scream as red hot pain speared through my shoulder. My breathing was back to going into overdrive as I tried to work out why I was feeling so much pain.
"Babe, we have to get this bullet out. Santos is going to give you a small amount of morphine, but it'll still hurt"
My eyes shot open not because of what was said but because it was Ranger who had said it. He was laid on his side with me pulled up tight to him, his eyes intent on mine in the dim light. I flinched at the feel of a small stab on my shoulder but compared to the pain that I was feeling from tensing my muscles it was nothing.
"Bite down on that Beautiful"
I felt a cloth being held against my mouth so did as I was told, opening my mouth to feel something hard in my mouth and then clenching my teeth onto it. It felt like someone was cutting into my shoulder, and maybe they were, a pushing and then pulling had me closing my eyes tight and biting down hard on the cloth as pain so intense shot through me before the comfort of darkness engulfed me.
Had I been asleep or unconscious? I didn't know but was slowly becoming aware that I was waking up. I wasn't laid down, more sat up and felt incredibly warm and comfortable, well except for the throbbing in my shoulder. I could feel the steady rise and fall below me and a vibration that seemed to come with sound. A hand was moving slowly over my hip and thigh, slowly and gently. I knew exactly where I was, I was being cradled by Ranger making me feel so safe. Voices became clearer around me and I realized that the vibration had been when Ranger had spoken. I listened now, still somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.
"Where do we go from here?"
"Hard one. I think there'll be people pretty pissed off when they find out what happened to their men"
"They're probably still looking for Steph"
I was curious now because I thought that I knew the voice, but here? I opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the half-light around me and then turned my head slightly.
"Hey Beautiful, looking better. It wasn't me"
I had no idea what Les was talking about and as I continued to move my head, I could see Hector and then Ram. Maybe I frowned because seeing them surprised me.
"What happened?"
Ranger moved me so that instead of being laid curled up between his legs and across his chest I was more upright with my back to his chest. Now I could see the three men in front of me with the remnants of a fire between us. It felt strange to be sat around a fire out in the open with these four men sat around me. All of them were wearing black with evidence of guns in the belts around their waists. They all showed that they'd spent a long time getting here, or I'd been unconscious for longer than I thought. They all bore unshaven faces and the remnants of what looked like black on their faces. In the corner were bullet proof vests but beside each man was what looked like night vision binoculars and automatic weapons with what looked like a rifle next to Ram. How they had managed to get here with so much equipment amazed me.
As I shuffled to sit up, I struggled with my left arm because it seemed to be tied to me but then as the pain sang from my shoulder, I remembered something about a bullet.
"Did I get shot?"
"Yeah. You took one in the shoulder from the man who had hold of you. Hector managed to get the bullet out and we gave you a shot of antibiotics, so just go easy"
I looked from Les to Hector as Les told me what they'd done, remembering the pain that I'd experienced. No wonder it hurt so much if Hector was digging out a bullet. I could remember hearing gun shots and seeing the men who were after me falling to the ground. I shuddered as memories of the past few days went through me so afraid that those men were still out there looking for me.
"The men, won't they come back?"
It was Ranger who whispered the answer to me. Maybe I already knew what he was going to say because I'd seen some of the men fall to the ground and heard gun fire.
"They're taken care of, they won't be going after anyone again"
In other words, they were dead, and their bodies had been hidden somewhere. To be honest I felt relieved until what I'd overheard a minute ago came back to me. How was it that I always attracted trouble?
"I'm so sorry"
Was all I could get out before Les was leaning forward looking annoyed at me.
"Beautiful, when Hector told us that he was worried about you, well Ram and I just had to get ourselves to Milan and help you out. It's always fun when you're involved"
I looked at Hector because I had never really seen him as someone who be worried about something. He was always so self assured and knew what to do.
"Si. I was worried. I managed to follow you to an airport but then couldn't find out where the jet you were on went to. No record. I called Les because with the systems at Rangeman he might have been able to hack into the airport system"
That was bad then if no one had known where I'd gone.
"When the jet returned without you, well we knew that we had to find where you were"
"When we arrived in Milan Ranger was talking to Silvio asking him to do some research on various names. When he finished the call, that was when he realized that you'd called him and left a message"
I looked at Ram amazed at how quickly they'd got to Milan but then again it was the morning after I'd left Milan by the time that I'd been able to make the call on Mehedi's phone, plenty of time to fly from New York.
"Getting here wasn't easy Beautiful. You do realize that you're in the desert in the middle of Saudi Arabia? Had to call in a favor and get dropped near to that village, it was the only way to bring in the gear that we might need"
I frowned when Les said dropped, what did he mean by that?"
"Parachute Babe"
They'd used parachutes to get here! I suppose I'd never really thought about how they would get here other than by plane to the airport where I'd arrived at. Then again considering no one seemed to check us after we landed and ask for passports maybe that should have told me that something dodgy was going on. I watched as Hector opened up one of the rucksacks and handed a foil to each of us, unsure of what he had given to me. I watched as the others pulled off the lids and turned surprised when Ranger handed one to me.
"Eat, you must be hungry"
I was even though the contents didn't look very appetizing. I placed the pack on my knee and followed the example of the others, using my fingers to stuff the rice content into my mouth. It wasn't bad, a bit bland, but I was too hungry not to eat it.
"Come on Beautiful, tell us why we needed to do that and then had to face down six armed men to get to you"
I took in a deep breath and relaxed against Ranger, not really knowing where to start. The beginning seemed sensible but maybe Ranger had already told them the first part.
"Has Ranger filled you in what I was doing here?"
Because explaining about modelling for Scintillante seemed a mute point for me at the moment. To me it seemed that I'd been taken advantage of by Dario and probably Allegro, set up really. I had no idea why and felt stupid for believing their lies about me fronting their product. Seeing the guys nod their heads I was relieved that they didn't say anything about the modelling so began my story when I'd left Milan in the jet.
"Allegro had told me that they had a very rich and influential client who was interested in the Ania range. Originally, we were supposed to meet with him, today, but she woke me early and said the plans had changed. I knew as soon as I got onto that jet that something was wrong, because there were only three bodyguards and Dario, Allegro's brother, on the plane. As far as I know Dario has nothing to do with the fashion business so him being there was strange to me. I wasn't told where we were flying to and stupidly assumed that it was a city in Italy. When we got to this client's place, I had to wear a necklace and it seemed the client, a man named Yaser was buying it"
"The blue diamond?"
I nodded my head hearing Ranger ask me that, knowing that he would have seen me wearing it on the night of the launch.
"Anyway, Yaser and Dario started to haggle over the price, I thought that he was buying the necklace, but it was apparently me. The thing that confused me was when Dario said that he'd reduce the next shipment if Yaser paid the full price"
I looked around at the guys faces sensing that they weren't pleased and maybe they had already guessed what that had meant for me.
"I think Yaser, well"
"He abuses women for his own pleasure"
I could almost feel the anger radiating from behind me so knew that everyone else would know exactly what Yaser had planned for me.
"A young woman helped to get me out of the room and into a space between the walls. I kinda tagged on to some Bedouins that were camping nearby and one of them, Mehedi, lent me his phone to call you Ranger, and then got me to that village"
Saying those things out loud sent a shudder through me, not just because I'd been so close to not getting away and being assaulted by Yaser, but for any other women who'd not been as lucky as me. I felt Ranger's arm tighten around me as though he knew what I was thinking but knew that unless we could get out of Saudi Arabia then finding out exactly what was going on and who was involved was going to be difficult to do.
"How are we going to get out of here?"
I asked because these guys always had a plan.
"We were just talking about that Beautiful. The airport that you flew into is heavily guarded and private, so there's no way we could fly out of there"
I didn't even want to know where they'd get a plane from or who would fly it so maybe they had an alternative idea.
"There are very few roads out here and only one across to the capital, Riyadh. I think there'll be men watching those roads"
"Which only leaves us one option"
Okay, I wasn't sure that I was going to like what Ram was thinking. I mean would anyone still be looking for me, then again I might be a threat to Yaser and definitely to Dario. Yeah, I couldn't wait to meet up with him again.
"Sounds like a plan Ram"
Damn, I'd totally missed what Ram had suggested and was hoping that it didn't involve walking across sand or even using camels.
"We could take their vehicles, you speak Arabic don't you Ranger?"
That was something that I hadn't known about and wondered how many other languages he could speak. I suppose if we were stopped then it would come in handy. That had me thinking of something else that might be helpful.
"Could we syphon out the gas from one, so then we wouldn't have to stop so often"
"Not just a pretty face then"
I stuck my tongue out at Les, pleased that doing that seemed to ease the tension and then listened as the three men planned exactly what we would be doing.
Ranger and Hector were going to be bringing one of the vehicles close to where we were, after taking the gas from the other one and hiding it. While Ram and Les were staying with me and sorting out supplies and I assume weapons as well.
I pondered over some of the suggestions that had been discussed for how we could get out of Saudi Arabia. It seemed that we were going to be travelling by car to Mecca and then heading toward Jeddah which was a port on the Red Sea. From there, well it depended on whether or not there were people watching. Flying from Jeddah to Cairo was an option or taking the ferry to Safaga or Suez. The ferry though was a long trip between 17 and 25 hours. To be honest I far preferred the idea of flying especially if we could get the flight that connected at Dohar and went on to Milan.
Once Ranger and Hector had left it gave me a chance to take in where were. Looking beyond the fire we seemed to be in a small building, well the walls of a building seeing as they were only about four feet high. Les and Ram had emptied out the four rucksacks that I assumed they had brought with them and were cleaning guns and sorting through ammo. Looking at the assortment of other weapons it looked as though they could have invaded a small country.
"Beautiful, would you repack the medical kit, it got a bit jumbled up when we were looking for the morphine. Oh, and while you're at it look for the painkillers. You'll need those with you"
I could manage that even with just the use of one arm so sat on the floor determined that I'd help anyway that I could. Even as I started to remove the items from the bag, I was looking at the labels from the light of the fire. Okay, bandages and dressings I knew about but clotting agents and a diazepam injection syringe, I was a bit confused about. Then there was an abdominal wound trauma kit and chest wound dressing along with an atropine injection syringe and intravenous equipment. I had no idea how any of those things would be used and hoped that I never had to find out. Some of the other things made sense to me like compression bandages, burn dressings, iodine solution, antibiotic ointment and injections, water-purification tablets. I suppose in the middle of a battle everything here might need to be used to save a life and I assumed that the men with me would have that knowledge.
As I finished tidying up the contents of the bag, I picked up the small plastic container that held some painkillers and read the instructions. To be taken every four hours, but it didn't say how many. The ones that I usually took were two each dose, so I shook two tablets from the container and swallowed them with some water.
"All done Les, what next?"
Les picked up a small bag and threw it on the ground in front of me, making me wonder why he'd done that until I looked inside and saw some clean clothes. I had to admit I did feet dirty and sweaty with what I was wearing, two layers really because I still had that grey sheath dress underneath the black one that I'd taken from Katifa. There was also a pack of wipes, but I wasn't sure where to go to change and whether or not I'd even manage with my arm strapped to me.
"I offered to help but I don't think that Ranger appreciated that"
I smiled at Les because I was sure that he had said that to Ranger, it seemed that how Les annoyed Ranger hadn't changed.
In the end I persuaded Ram and Les to leave the small enclosure so that I could start to get changed. I was struggling with removing the sheath dress when Ranger interrupted me. For the first time ever, I felt embarrassed as he started toward me with that predatory look in his eyes. Even as he moved close to me and held me in my arms, I wasn't sure what to feel, but as his lips came down on mine all of my inhibitions left me as I relaxed into his body, literally.
I wasn't sure where I was as I began to wake or what had happened. My head felt a little fuzzy as I struggled to focus on my surroundings. I was moving, well in a vehicle if the feel of the bumps and sound of the tires on the road were anything to go by, but how I'd ended up in the car wasn't something that I remembered. I moved my head slightly and found that I was resting on Les, who also looked to be asleep. Slowly sitting up I was surprised to find that I was wearing khaki cargos and an olive green T-shirt and was sure that the bra and panties weren't the lacy black ones that I'd been wearing. My feet felt snug inside combat boots, but I still had a bandage securing my arm to my chest, or was it the black scarf that I'd been wearing? I looked ahead of me and saw Ranger looking back at me through the rear-view mirror. I was pretty sure he was smiling at me.
"Welcome back Babe. You've been asleep for hours"
I stretched the muscles on my face and over my eyes as I tried to push away the tiredness from my mind. Maybe that long day and night had caught up with me. Being in the middle of the seat between Hector and Les wasn't comfortable, stopping me from stretching properly and my shoulder ached, maybe from how I'd been sleeping. Feeling in the pocket of my trousers at something digging into me, I discovered the bottle of painkillers. I'd shaken two into my hand and was looking for some water when Les scared me to death by shouting out.
"No"
Then he was holding my hand with the tablets in. Obviously glaring at him had no effect because he suddenly started laughing.
"Shit, no wonder you've been out for so long. Two of those just about puts Tank on his back"
I was staring now at Les trying to understand what he was saying, I mean I was tired so of course I'd sleep for a long time. But then why did I have no memory of changing my clothes and how it had happened. I looked back at Ranger as a sudden thought went through my head.
"Did I pass out?"
I had done, all because of those damn pills and because I was so tired and then Ranger had dressed me. I felt mortified at that but more because I was sure that my last memory was being kissed by Ranger. How the hell had I passed out when he was kissing me? No wonder I'd felt weird when Ranger had come in to help me change. Looking down Les had removed the two pills from my hand and I now had half of one to take.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Fifteen hours, never known you to be so quiet for so long"
Yeah, Les deserved the punch that I gave him on his arm and as usual he acted as though I'd hurt him.
"We're about thirty minutes out. Ram is Torrez up to speed"
I was listening as Ranger asked Ram that because I was sure that I hadn't heard that name before.
"Yeah, he's all ready for a quick pick up"
A pickup, where and how was going through my mind as I looked out of the window. Obviously, the plans had changed while I was asleep but for now, I would trust that whatever the guys had planned was the best way that they could find to get us out of the country. The sky was just beginning to lose the darkness of the night, that time between night and day. I seemed to have lost a day of travelling but to be honest I didn't actually mind because I was sure I would have been a pain to everyone stuck in this car.
I glimpsed a sign for the airport, King Abdulaziz International Airport in 45 km, so pleased that the decision had been made to fly out rather than to go by ferry but what wondering what this person Torrez had to do with that. I was keen to see where we were going so was surprised when Ranger pulled of the main route that we were on, onto a side street. Any lights that I'd seen before seemed to disappear and the desert seemed to be infringing across the road, the sand almost sparkling in the lights from the car. To my left was a tall metal fence and beyond that a large open expanse with rows of lights that I assumed was a runway. Which meant that we were driving around the perimeter of the airport and not going through the usual entry for cars and passengers.
I hated it when Ranger turned the main lights of the car off, finding it difficult to see anything and wondering why Ranger had done that. Then I saw it, a brief flash of light ahead of us. Even before the car had stopped Ram and Les were opening their doors. I turned when my door opened and felt as Ranger lifted me down onto the ground with his arm remaining around my waist.
"You okay?"
"Yes"
I answered because somehow, I knew this was not going to be the usual way that you caught a plane. Ranger walked me away from the car toward what seemed to be a small truck and I watched as a man who I didn't know undid a bolt and opened up two doors to the back of the truck. I assumed that this was the man who Ranger had mentioned, Torrez. No one said anything as Ram, Les and Hector loaded their rucksacks into the truck. The light was too dim to make out any details of what might be inside. I had a feeling that we would using the truck in order to get inside the airport though how we'd get through security was puzzling me. Weren't all vehicles searched before being allowed entry? Ranger was still stood next to me holding me around my waist as though I might pass out again. No way was that going to happen but then again maybe it would have been a good idea when I learnt how we were going to be smuggled into the airport and onto a plane.
"Thirty minutes at the most Babe"
I was stood in the back of the truck looking down into a wooden crate.
"There's a section that fits over you so no one will think to look any further inside the crate"
Yeah right. What if one of those lizards decided that it wanted to look further inside the crate. You guessed. I was looking at a tray that held three lizards, The Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard was the name written on the side of the crate, well crates, because there were several of them on the floor of the truck. The lizards were about a foot long with pale brown skin, that looked wrinkled around their legs, and they looked to have spines on their tails. I moved from foot to foot as I debated with myself the wisdom of doing what Ranger had asked of me.
If I didn't get inside that crate, then I wouldn't get out of Saudi Arabia. It was as simple as that. There would be three in the section above me, how bad could it be? Bad, really bad and that didn't take account of my fear of being trapped in something that was looking more and more like a casket.
"Torrez, is there a double crate?"
I frowned as Ranger asked that. A double crate might have more space for me, but it would mean twice as many lizards.
"Nah. The crates would be too heavy to lift. Is there a problem?"
I turned to look at the man called Torrez and could see that he was puzzled by me not moving and I knew that I had to make a decision. Hector and Les were already inside their crates and I hadn't heard any screams, yet.
"We've got to get moving Ranger. If I miss my take off slot we could be stuck here for hours"
I closed my eyes and then held onto Ranger's arm as I stepped over and into the crate. At least there looked to be a soft covering underneath and around me. Ranger helped me to sit down and to lie down before his hands were on either side of my head and he was leaning down and kissing me.
"I won't let you out of my sight"
I closed my eyes again as I saw Ranger and Torrez lower the section that contained the lizards down over me. I heard the sound as their container slid into place and then the sound of tapping.
It was surprising comfortable and quiet as I lay there, making me wonder what Torrez used these boxes for. Did he smuggle people in and out of countries? Was he one of those shady characters that Ram and Ranger knew? Did it matter if he could get us out of the country? I supposed it didn't and I wasn't going to ask.
The problem with being laid there with my eyes closed and not feeling tired were the questions and images of faces rattling round in my head. Coming to Italy had obviously been the first mistake and that was because my father wanted to attend a wedding. No, I think it was more than that, he'd wanted to reconnect with his roots. Who could blame him, after all it was an opportunity to meet his cousin and to see and experience where his father had grown up. In his place I think that I might have wanted to do the same. Me accompanying him had been last minute so I didn't think that it had anything to do with me. Or had me arriving surprised Gaia's family, had they only expected my father to turn up?
Then there were the people that I'd met, most of them Gaia's family or their friends and I'd been sucked into whatever was happening. Had someone seen an opportunity with me, the cute and silly American relative? There had been Lando the photographer, who first caught an image of me, Enzo, the friend of Dario who was also a policeman and Tomas. I still wasn't sure what role Tomas played, part chaperone and someone who got close to me. Then there was the whole incident with Bria. She was so angry with me though thinking about it now, I still had no idea why. She seemed too emotional for it to be just about jealousy over a job, though people had killed for less. No, what she said before she fired that gun and then the whispered conversation from Tania made me consider that there was more to it than jealousy.
Of course, the two people that were definitely at the top of my shit list were Dario and Allegro. I'd started to like Allegro. She seemed open and friendly and had done a lot to accommodate me, like letting me stay at her apartment so she obviously trusted me. Or was that her way of winding me in, trying to be my confidante, because she was more than keen to have me as their next face for their fashion line. I knew very little about Dario or his new wife Chiara other than he was a lawyer and she was from a very well off family and filled her time with charity work.
I just had an awful feeling that Dario was somehow providing men like Yaser with women, what was that called? Oh yeah, trafficking. Were the women tricked like me or did he have some devious plan that kidnapped them? I'd have to ask Ranger to see if that was a problem in Milan. Was Bria talking about Dario, did she know what he was doing or was she suspicious ? Was that why Dario had brought me to Saudi because he was worried that Bria had said something?
I'd almost forgotten about Lucio because he hadn't really said much to me, he always seemed so absorbed in his business and its success. So did the business Scintillante play a role in all of this? As those thoughts went through my mind, I knew that I couldn't just return home to Trenton. I had to find out what was going on and somehow stop Dario, it also reminded me of the promise that I'd made to myself, to try and help Katifa get away and find somewhere where she could be happy and safe.
I was so absorbed in thinking things through that I had honestly not been aware of what was happening around me and now that I started to think about it the tendrils of fear were beginning to creep into my thoughts. What if we'd been stopped and I was about to be found? I had no idea what the penalties would be. Was it illegal to stowaway on a plane? I didn't think being a woman would help my cause especially after what Mehedi had told me and how women were viewed in this country. I might find myself in some disgusting prison never to be heard of again. What if this crate with me inside was dumped in a container or yard, would I starve to death because I couldn't get out and no one knew that I was inside?
Yep, there was definitely a feeling of panic building up inside me, especially when I opened my eyes to the pitch blackness around me. What if I never saw Ranger again or spoke to my mum and dad. Never had a conversation with Mary Lou or Lula, never saw the light of day again? I felt the tears running down my face and tried very hard to keep my breathing slow and normal. Not easy to do especially when I could hear noises from above me. I was prepared to see soldiers pointing guns at me as the tray above me began to move.
