Page 47 of Sands of Sirocco
Lord Helton tensed beside Noah as though expecting Noah to attack once again.Steeling himself to stay calm, Noah stepped further back.When he spoke, his voice felt steadier.“You want to show you deserve a chance at breathing air that doesn’t smell like shit?Start by telling us about the Aleaqrab.”
Stephen stared at the burning end of his cigarette.“Khaled Al-Mashat.The leader.The group is young, motivated, and armed.They’re furious about the Egyptian conscription and the oppression of the British.”He flicked ash toward the ground.“I don’t know what motivation they could have to take Victoria, but I doubt they’ll treat her kindly.”
The name was a start.Alastair could do wonders with a name.“Do you know how to find them?”Lord Helton asked.
“They’re very secretive.The group would only meet with me if I agreed to wear a sack over my head.”
“How did you meet with them?”Noah asked.
“I was given a place to wait in Old Cairo, and then I was taken to Al-Mashat.They blindfolded and bound me and placed me in a cart.That’s all I know.”Stephen gave him an icy look.
If Alastair were here, he would have been more skilled at learning what else Stephen knew.But Alastair was an expert in that—and Noah wasn’t.The information gave him a place to start, even if Noah didn’t believe Stephen’s denial of involvement.He nodded toward Lord Helton.“We can leave now.”
The two men started for the door.Behind them, Stephen’s shackles clinked and scraped.Noah turned to see Stephen struggle to his feet.In the fading beam of the torchlight, Stephen’s eyes were like the slits of a cat.
Stephen’s voice was a raspy whisper.“I-I’m going to take everything away from you, Benson.Soon.”
ChapterSeventeen
Ginger found her mother in the garden in the morning, pruning a rosebush.At home in England, her mother’s roses had been prize-winning, but Ginger had always suspected the gardener’s touch had brought about the awards.Egypt had proved that suspicion wrong.Her mother had tended to the roses in her garden in Cairo with loving attention, often rising early, like this morning, to work before the sun was full in the sky.
Since she’d been out of the Cairo house for so many months, her mother had probably been aghast at the state of her plants.
Ginger watched her from the verandah, her heart a mixture of nervous anticipation, unbridled excitement, and fear.She’d woken feeling as though she was floating on a cloud.Marrying the man she loved had been the best decision she could have made.
But her marriage meant more secrets and lies to her family.
At the same time, she wasn’t ready to tell them yet.
Her mother pushed a veil of mosquito netting away from her hat and removed it, revealing her own red hair glistening in the soft light of the golden morning.As she tilted her face toward the sun, she spotted Ginger and her lips turned up in a smile.“You startled me.”She removed her dirt-covered gloves and came toward Ginger, holding them in her palm.“Leaving for the hospital already?”
“In the next half hour.”Ginger smoothed her hand over her apron.
“They kept you out late last night.”Her mother continued past her and set her gloves on a rattan table on the verandah.“Or was it the colonel?”
Ginger’s face flushed.She’d told Noah to leave her in the back of the house, for fear her mother might spot him dropping her off.And he had—but then he’d kissed her.And a few kisses later, they’d had to drag themselves away from each other regretfully.“Mama …”
Her mother wrinkled her straight nose and placed her pruning shears beside the gloves.“Come now, don’t lie to me.It’s unbecoming.”
Ginger lifted her chin, determined to act with as much grace as she could.But it was better to be direct with her mother.“How did you know?”
“I saw your display of affection toward each other.And now I understand why you’ve been keeping poor William at a distance.”Her mother didn’t look her way, giving a gracious smile to a servant who came outside with tea.She must have ordered it earlier.
When the servant had retired from the area, she turned toward Ginger, her face unreadable.“I thought you’d put that affair to rest last May.”
“Mama, you don’t know him—”
“Nor do I care to.The man is an unscrupulous debaucher.He nearly destroyed your reputation.And it still hasn’t recovered.He’ll bring you nothing but ruin.”
Ginger wished her mother’s voice held the anger that she knew she must be feeling.Instead, she spoke in a manner that was detached and unemotional, as though they were discussing the weather.
Ginger wrestled with telling her mother the whole truth but she held her tongue.“We’re going to marry, Mama.We love each other—that never stopped.”
Her mother sat and poured herself a cup of tea.“Well, make it stop.Before you finish destroying what’s left of this family.You know the difference between having emotions and acting on them.”Her calm broke as she lifted her tea to her lips, her fingers quivering.She steadied her hand, replacing the cup on the saucer.“I don’t know what you’re thinking.But I know that when that man appeared in our lives, our entire family was devastated.Whatever hand he had in your father and brother’s deaths …” She swallowed hard.
Ginger’s chest compressed and she struggled to breathe.Her mother thought Noah was to blame for her father and Henry’s deaths?Then a worse thought occurred:what will Mother think of me if she ever learns the truth about how Henry died?
Would her mother ever forgive her?
