Page 80 of The Geek and the Sheikh

“One false move and your bug will be the first one I put a bullet in, understand?” Hammer warned in a low voice.

“Yes.”

Junebug muttered an unladylike word behind him. He bowed his head to hide his smile. His ‘bug’ had a backbone made of steel.

He was surprised when Allison turned to the right. It didn’t take him long to realize that Kaffir must have shared information about the maze of tunnels located under the palace with her. He worked his hands back and forth. He gritted his teeth when the plastic cut into his flesh.

They twisted and turned through the dark tunnels until he wasn’t sure where they were. Allison held up one hand and pressed the barrel of her gun to his temple with the other when shouts and gunfire echoed through the tunnel.

“No need to wait for Kaffir and his men,” she murmured before motioning for them to go in the opposite direction.

They passed through a round area with multiple tunnels leading off of it. Allison pulled her phone up and glanced at the screen before she took the fourth passage to the right of where they had entered. He rolled his shoulders and continued to work at the binding. Hammer had pulled the strap so tight that his fingers were growing numb.

He frowned when he noticed that Junebug was no longer walking right behind him, but had slowed until there was a growing gap between them. Worry gnawed at him. He stumbled on something on the floor and turned his attention to Allison’s back.

When he turned to look around again for Junebug, he was shocked to see a huge black man behind him. The man placed a finger to his lips and swirled a nasty-looking knife in his other hand before sliding it between Jameel’s flesh and the plastic. Relief and pain immediately swept through Jameel. The man motioned for Jameel to step aside and stop.

Jameel watched as the man walked by him on silent feet. Allison, intent on their escape and confident that she was still in charge, continued on her way, oblivious to the change in dynamics. He rubbed at his wrists, wincing at the torn flesh. Once he felt confident Allison wouldn’t hear him move, he turned back the way they had come. He needed to find Junebug and make sure she was alright. If the man was who he suspected—

“Junebug,” he whispered.

A muffled sob was his only warning before Junebug appeared out of the darkness and threw her arms around his neck. She buried her face against his chest. He ran his hands up and down her back, ignoring the pain caused by the movement.

“Hammer?”

“Dead.”

“Was that—?”

She tilted her head back and nodded. “Yes.”

* * *

“I’ll go first and make sure everything is clear,” Allison said, turning around.

She jerked back several steps. Her hand instinctively started to raise the weapon in her hand. Pain flashed through her arm and her fingers opened when another hand wrapped around her wrist and twisted. She felt the fragile bone of her ulna snap.

A low moan of pain slipped from her and she cradled her arm. Terror, and the certainty that she was about to face justice, poured through her mind. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“Hello, Allison.”

“I see you are just as polite as ever before a kill, Harlem. I thought you were dead,” she replied.

Harlem chuckled. “It would appear I have a hard time dying,” he dryly remarked.

“So it would seem,” she retorted, looking over his shoulder.

“If you are wondering where Hammer is… he contracted a sudden sore throat. He won’t be joining you here… maybe in hell, but not here,” Harlem promised.

Allison pursed her lips. “It’s not like you to play with your kills. Can I at least hope you squashed that pretty little bug as well? That would make dying a touch more satisfying, knowing she was dead as well.”

Harlem shook his head. “No, Junie won’t be joining you.”

Allison stared at the man that her childish hopes and dreams had centered around before he used her for his own agenda. He had never cared what she wanted, just like every other man she had known. She lifted her broken wrist to her chest to give it more support.

“I used to imagine you as my father,” she admitted.

Harlem raised an eyebrow. “If you are hoping for sympathy, Allison, you shouldn’t have shot me in the back and dumped my body in the river.”

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