Page 49 of Burdens
Not that she’d open up to me like she used to even if no one was around.
She finally looked away but right before she disappeared through the door, I caught the hint of a smile on her face, but it was so brief, I might have simply imagined it.
1 Get up.
2 You son of a bitch.
CHAPTER 13
AMALIA (PRESENT)
A poundingheadache loomed at the back of my skull and all I wanted was to hit the person responsible for it. I had everything perfectly planned and Noah had single-handedly ruined it in one impulsive—and stupid—fell swoop.
As entertaining as it was to watch Barrera struggle so pathetically, a scenario I’d often envisioned exacting upon him on many occasions, Noah still managed to fuck up my plans from the confines of a barricaded cell.
Once I’d landed in Bab Al Mansour last night, I’d called Hamza and ordered him to send one of his lackeys to collect Gabriel. Meanwhile, I took my car that I’d left parked in the hangar before my flight and made my way back to the Barrera mansion, using the time to work out my next steps.
I certainly couldn’t call the Bureau since I’d gone rogue. The goal of my assignment hadn’t changed, but how I got there most definitely went against anything I’d learned in training at the Academy.
So I spent the thirty-minute drive making all the necessary arrangements to have everything fall into place and prevent myself from getting killed in the process of my own extraction.
After I’d managed to get a trusted contact of mine at the Royal Palace to convince the Crown Prince to visit The Oasis, one of the most coveted nightclubs in town, for an early birthday celebration, I’d then spent the early hours of this morning carefully planting conversations that Barrera would overhear about the event that would be held in honor of Moulay Ahmad.
The prince was turning twenty, which meant one important thing to Barrera. He was young and malleable, unlike his father, his Royal Highness.
Earlier this afternoon, Barrera had finally taken the bait after hearing Sabiri mention the Crown Prince. He’d immediately found me and asked I accompany him to pick an outfit at the marketplace in the old city.
I didn’t want to raise suspicions, so I’d agreed, putting a delay in my plans to get Gabriel out of the cell next to Noah’s.
I should have known better than letting one of Hamza’s subordinates take care of him. Because instead of putting Gabriel in a cell with all the other prisoners on the other side of the property like I’d asked, he’d taken him to the old cell that was adjacent to the one Noah was currently staying in.
I’d rarely used his cell before since it was on the opposite side of where my room was on the property, except when I required additional space for my interrogations, especially when I could leverage the hook on its ceiling.
Besides, I preferred using the building where all the other prisoners were so that they could all hear every torturous scream when I had a discussion with one of them. It helped make them more talkative when their turns came.
Hamza and his crew had apprehended Noah while I’d been away and Barrera had insisted we confine the new hostage there although it was actually my decision.
I’dasked Hamza’s soldiers because I didn’t want an agent mingling with our prisoners and the place was secluded from the rest of the property, so only authorized people could go in there.
I’d only ever kept one prisoner at a time there, so it made no sense to me as to why they’d taken someone else there, making my job so much more difficult.
Since I couldn’t risk Gabriel overhearing, knowing that sound carried easily between the cells despite their distance, I’d eventually found a way to get Gabriel out of there without raising suspicion.
But of course another hurdle appeared in my way in the form of a painstakingly frustrating handsome man who decided to strangle Barrera when we were almost out the door.
I reined in my frustration as I led the way to Doc’s office. I’d briefed Barrera earlier about Gabriel potentially having information on Alaoui that might be useful to us and that he might also still be concealing contraband.
I’d been under the assumption that I’d be taking care of it on my own when Barrera had simply nodded after I’d delivered the information, but when I’d made my way to Gabriel’s cell, he’d appeared with Sabiri and two other teenagers I knew he’d most likely took off the streets toworkfor him.
When I’d asked what he was doing, he’d told me to stop asking questions and lead the way. Instead of challenging his authority, something I had no issue doing, I’d opted to do as asked.
I’d been tempted to stand my ground but knew that might lead to questions I just didn’t have time to answer. The hours until I had to leave all of this behind ticked by and wasting any resourceful time wouldn’t help me come out of this alive.
I didn’t particularly want Gabriel to be put in the direct line of vision of Barrera and suffer in the process, but if it was thetemporary price to pay until I got him out, I was prepared to do so.
I didn’t feel remorse very often anymore, but as I watched Sabiri and the other boy whom I’d never seen before today drop Gabriel’s unconscious body on the examination table, the emotion whirled inside my ribcage.
I shook myself out of it and dismissed the boys, Barrera having already retreated to his room to get checked by his personal physician. Then I turned my attention to Doc and said, “I need you to check him for swallowed packages of cocaine. He most likely overdosed last night and seemed fine after I gave him a dose of Narcan, but we need him alive.”
