Chapter 16
The cool air of the hotel room did little to settle Walid’s nerves as he stared at the chess board. When he discovered one of his men was particularly proficient, Walid insisted they play a round. After he lost the first round, Walid respected the man’s willingness to not play easy against his boss.
In their culture, those of lower station bowed to those above them. Groveling and supplication were a big part of his father’s dynasty. It was an aspect Walid never agreed with. Treat people like people, and they’ll work hard to maintain a positive point of view. Walid rewarded the man’s tenacity by insisting on another game. So far Walid had won a single game to the man’s four.
Both were quick thinkers, neither taking more than a few seconds to move. Obviously this was his opponent’s style, and he was good at it. At first Walid was attempting to match his tactics, to overcome his enemy on his own turf. Now that it was failing, he realized he needed to play his own game. As Walid contemplated his next move, his cell phone vibrated in his coat pocket.
“Yes,” he answered.
“The bar owner’s information was good. We believe we’ve located where they’re keeping his wife.”
“Good. Standby. I will gather the rest of our men. A deal is a deal.”
“There’s something else.”
Walid held up a finger to his opponent to inform him he needed a minute. Walid leaned back in his chair and turned his focus entirely to the conversation. “Go on.”
“As we observed the building, they brought in someone else.”
“I find your hesitation both troubling and unnecessary. Out with it.”
“They have Lacy.”
His greatest fear realized. Walid closed his eyes as a very real pain seared through his chest. The love of his life, the would-be mother of his child, and she was in the clutches of this mystery enemy. Now was not the time to show weakness.
“Hold position. Await further instruction.”
“Understood.” Walid ended the call and placed the phone on the table beside the chess board.
All his mind could latch onto was the thought of breaking something. To smash the table, find a deserving man and crush his skull. It wasn’t just a desire, but a need to break his fists against something. Such outbursts, however, were unbecoming of a leader. Walid wished to be followed in this foreign land of concrete and sales, and that meant being a pillar of stone. The shaking hands of his were anything but stone, however.
He tried to disguise this by slowly rubbing his palms together, his eyes fixed on the enemy king on the chess board.
“They have her, don’t they?” his opponent said. It was worded as a question, but they both knew it didn’t need answering.
Walid saw the eyes of his opponent rise to look over Walid’s shoulder. He in turn looked up and saw his other warriors standing beside him.
“What do we do?” one asked.
“We do nothing. They’ve yet to reveal their hand to me. Until they do, we cannot know their intention for Lacy.”
“I cannot believe their intentions are in any way benign.”
“Nor I,” Walid said as he looked back to the chess board, “but we cannot play the game their way. First, we must discover their intentions, and then we will devise our own plan of attack.”
“I do not understand why we do not attack now while they are unaware we’ve been alerted,” the third guard said.
“Silence,” the other guard snapped at him. “When it is your place to know, you will know.”
Walid held a hand up for the guard to stop his beratement. “When the enemy reveals their demands, they will in turn reveal their greatest weakness. In that time, we will strike clean and decisive.”
His phone rang from an unfamiliar number. Walid answered, his entire body tense.
“It would seem the presence of your men have advanced our timetable.” The voice on the other end was female. The caller used an electronic scrambler to change the tone, but there was something familiar in the way they spoke.
“Who is this? Why do you call?”
“Do not think me a fool. You know who this is and you know why I call.”
“You are the false Sheikh.”
“Use that word one more time, and her blood will be on your hands.”
“Your demands?”
“You will not meet them.”
Walid stared at the chessboard, his eyes falling on the bishop. Fighting sideways. He plucked up the piece and looked at the round knob at the very tip. “Make them anyway. It is only courteous.”
“Leave this country. Abandon your projects. Never return.”
“And I can take her with me?”
“No you cannot. She remains.”
“Her body or her spirit?”
He could hear the smile in the voice as it answered, “That depends on your answer.”
The call ended and Walid set the cellphone down, his eyes locked on the bishop.
“What did he want?” Walid’s former opponent asked.
“She,” Walid said.
“What does she want?”
This was it, the moment of truth. Walid had been torn on his true heart’s intent. If he stayed now and continued to pursue his business, he would succeed. It was as clear as the fact that they had to capture his love in order to try and persuade him.
Both of them knew he would be the victor. However, he would lose Lacy and his would-be child. If he left, he would lose everything, but Lacy and the child would live.
This would have been a devastating choice to make, except for one grave mistake. This “Sheikh” had to make the call herself, to dig it in. Secretly, she wanted Walid to know who was competing against him. That, however, was to be her downfall.
“Why are you smiling?” one of his men asked.
“I know who the false Sheikh is.”