Page 13 of Empowered

I eyed the gun in his holster. I had never used one myself, but I knew that you had to remove the safety before pulling the trigger from seeing my dad use them when I lived at home. I looped the rope I had just used on the guard around my neck like a necklace since I would probably need to use it again soon. I grabbed the gun and tucked into my waistband. It couldn’t hurt to have one just in case I needed it later—since now I was a cold-blooded killer and all. Bile rose up my throat.Focus, Becker.

Salena would be nearly finished dressing, so I had to hurry. I retrieved the dropped handkerchief that had slipped from the guard’s hand onto the ground and pressed it against my cheek to sop up some of the blood so I wouldn’t leave a drip trail behind me. My cheek stung on contact, I had to press my lips together to stop from screaming aloud. I grabbed the keyring from the waist of the guard’s pants, too.

I slid out of the opened gate quietly and made my way to the dungeon door. No one was in the hallway. I tried each of the three keys on the ring when I reached the door, and the last one opened it. I knew this door was the noisiest one, so I pushed it open as gently as possible to minimize the sound it made.

My heartbeat was pounding in my ears as I made my way into the palace. I looked around the corner and no one was in sight. I followed along the walls of the perimeter, as Salena had instructed. I could hear distant chatter from females—probably the maids. Instead of coming toward me, they took a turn and their voices moved further away.

I crossed the hallway by the kitchen, slipping past the cooking staff.

At the end of the hall, I spotted Noor. She was cloaked in all black, standing next to a freshly dressed Salena in front of the door to the garage. Salena’s head was covered in a headscarf. They were waiting for a guard to open the door so they could get into one of the cars.

I ducked into the shadows to avoid being noticed by Noor. I held my breath as I tiptoed along the wall. Salena noticed me but didn’t make it obvious so as not to draw Noor’s attention.

I approached them, staying in the shadows of the statues and sculptures that decorated the hall. Just as Noor noticed me, Salena reached out in a flash and slapped her palm against her mouth through herburkahto muffle her. I ran towards them and helped Salena wrestle her down to the ground.

We had to move quickly, before the guard opened the door. I grabbed the rope from my neck and moved to tie Noor’s hands behind her back.

“No, take her clothes first,” Salena whispered, struggling to hold her hand over Noor’s mouth to keep her quiet. For an older woman, the handmaid knew how to put up a fight.

I couldn’t figure out how to undress her. Her robes were so long, and there wasn’t a zipper or any buttons that I could see.

Other than her hands, Noor’s eyes were the only part of her body that was exposed, and they were wild with fear.

Salena noticed my struggle. “Did you steal a gun?”

I nodded and removed it from my waist band. Salena grabbed it from me, removed the safety, and aimed it at Noor. “Uth jao,”Salena whispered forcefully.

As if following her command, Noor stood up silently, despite her mouth no longer being covered. Salena pushed the gun into the small of Noor’s back and pushed her to the side of the hall, in front of a door. Opening it, she shoved Noor inside and left the door open for me to follow. It seemed like we were inside of a supply closet.

“Hand me that drop cloth,” she ordered, nodding her head to a pile of fabric neatly folded on the ground by the door. She pulled off Noor’s head covering, revealing an elderly woman with wiry silver hair pulled into an unkempt bun. Her face was full of wrinkles and she had a few missing teeth. She didn’t look like the most agreeable woman—more cranky and perhaps even mean. The woman started to whine in a foreign tongue. Salena pushed the gun further into her face. “Chup!” That instantly shut her up.

I handed the rolled-up drop cloth to Salena, unsure of what she would need it for. As if she had done this many times before, she pressed the cloth to the old woman’s temple and touched end of the gun to the cloth. In one quick move, she pulled the trigger. With barely a sound, Noor slumped onto the floor, lifeless.

I stood frozen to my spot, staring at the dead woman in front me. Salena saw how stunned I was. “What? She was a horrible bitch. She deserved it for how she treated me.”

“How—how did you do that—like—”

“You forget that I’m the daughter of a criminal and have been engaged to two of them, as well.” A sly smile spread across her lips, as if she were proud her background. She was more badass than I had given her credit for.

“Stop standing there and come get dressed,” she ordered.

Salena had kept the drop cloth on Noor’s head to avoid blood spilling all over the robes. We undressed her and I quickly put everything on over my clothes. She had been shorter than me, so the clothes barely covered my ankles, but if I slouched like Noor usually did, I could conceal the hem of my pants. I instantly felt hot from being cloaked in thick black robes, or maybe it was from the adrenaline rushing through my veins.

I eyed the woman’s feet, enclosed by worn-out sandals. I grabbed them off her feet and quickly slipped them onto mine. Old shoes were better than no shoes, especially if I had to travel by foot soon.

We ran out of the closet, shutting the door behind ourselves, and resumed our positions at the garage door waiting for the guard. Not a second later, the guard opened the door for us. My heart was beating so fast that I feared he would hear it through my layers of clothes, but he barely gave me a second look. I followed Salena’s lead and took a seat next to her in the white minivan in front of us.

We pulled out of the stone-laden garage and onto narrow streets. I kept my head down for the entire ride to conceal my eyes. My eyes were a noticeable shade of green, and if the guard saw them, he’d instantly recognize me. I was unable to see anything with my gaze focused on my tightly balled up hands in my lap and black fabric blocking my periphery. The van jostled us around as we traveled over the bumpy road. The air conditioning wasn’t on, so I was sweating profusely under my layers of clothing. Luckily, the blood on my cheek had begun to coagulate and I didn’t have to deal with more of it gushing out under the stifling cloth.

We drove for about twenty minutes before coming to an abrupt stop. The guard jumped out of the car and opened the door to let us out.

“I will wait for you here. Be back in forty-five minutes,” he warned me gruffly. I didn’t look up or speak to him. I simply kept my gaze low and nodded my head in agreement.

In front of us stood a stone path of stairs. It was the longest path I had ever seen. It would take us at least a half hour to climb all those stairs. It led all the way up to a grand white building with what looked like thick, pointed arrows sticking out of the roof.

“Come on. We need to hurry if we’re going to make it up there in time,” Salena whispered to me without moving her head so the guard wouldn’t know she was talking. I could feel his eyes on our backs.

We started up the steps, walking at a brisk pace. I was glad that I had swiped a pair of shoes. Otherwise, the hike would have been impossible on all this uneven stone.

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