Page 81 of The Geek and the Sheikh

“Yeah, I should have cut your fucking head off to make sure you stayed dead!” she snapped.

“Temper, temper. That was always one of your problems,” he replied.

Allison pursed her lips to keep them from trembling. “You could have helped more. Instead, you threw me away like I was yesterday’s spoiled meal.”

“Spoiled… yes. Threw you away, no. I made sure that you had a safe and loving family,” he replied.

She snorted. “Safe? Loving? Neither one of them understood me! They treated me like I was some kind of freak. 'Allison, try to blend in.' 'Allison, you shouldn’t hack into the school system.' 'Allison, you know we can’t afford a new computer every year for you.' They wanted me to benormal! I wasn’t normal, Harlem. You knew that and you put me in purgatory! It was hell receivingdollswhen I knew I could be writing software that could bring down the entire global financial district if I wanted.”

“Which is why you didn’t fit. You were smart, but you lacked the ability to control your emotions, to think beyond your wishes in the moment to what your actions would lead to. Power comes with responsibility, and you never did respect anyone who tried to teach you,” he said.

Hatred helped her block the pain coursing through her. She slid out the knife hidden inside her jacket and struck, hoping to take Harlem by surprise. His hand shot out and he gripped her wrist.

Her eyes widened with shock and pain. This time the pain didn’t come from her wrist, but from her side. She opened her mouth, but no sound emerged.

He had punctured her lung. Her legs collapsed under her. Harlem caught her and gently lowered her to the ground. She gripped his jacket, denial in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, child. I never wanted it to be this way,” he said.

She moved her lips, trying to force her last words out. The edge of death was closing in. There was no chill or pain, just a sense of certainty. She moved her lips again.

“How?”

It was the one question that she had to know before she died. How had he survived? How could he be alive?

He shook his head sadly. “I can’t die. I’ve been alive for over three thousand years. It is one of those mysteries in life that I’ve never found the answer to.”

Epilogue

“Are you alright?” Junebug asked, running her hands over Jameel’s face.

“Yes. My wrists hurt, but I’ll live. I’m more worried about you. We’ve got to get out of here. If that is who you said it is, I have to protect you,” he muttered, looking down the narrow tunnel.

She nodded and held his hand. She had tried to memorize the way they came in case they were able to escape. Her eyes slid over Mark Hammer’s body. Blood was pooled around his head. Thankfully, he was lying face down so she didn’t have to see his face or the wound.

“This way.”

She led Jameel back along the maze of tunnels until they reached the corridor that housed the main server room. She didn’t stop until they were standing in front of the elevator. He leaned forward and pressed the button.

“Your wrists!” she exclaimed with dismay, catching her first glimpse of the raw flesh.

“I’ll heal,” he replied, pulling her into his arms.

Before he could kiss her, the doors opened. They stepped into the empty compartment. Jameel pressed the button for the second floor. She wound her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest as the lift rose.

Her body was trembling uncontrollably. She wasn’t sure if it was a reaction to what they had just been through or if it was from seeing Harlem… in the flesh.

He had been so silent that she hadn’t heard him take out Hammer. Her plan had been to put some space between herself and Jameel and Allison. If she could somehow take out Hammer, then she could stop Allison.

She had let the space grow until it was nearly ten feet. Mark had tried to hurry her before the gap got that large, but she had made her voice small and fearful as she told him, "I'm sorry, I'm so short and I can't... I'm slow... I'm sorry."

He had rolled his eyes and growled at her, pushing her in the back to make her keep pace with the others, but that just caused her to stumble.

She was getting ready to make her move at the next turn in the tunnel when Hammer suddenly disappeared. Harlem had walked by her, silent as a jungle cat stalking his prey, a blood-soaked knife in his hand. He had looked at her, put a finger to his lips, and continued on until he disappeared from sight.

She had been shocked. Leaning back against the wall, she had remained frozen. It was as if her limbs and her mind were disconnected from each other. It wasn’t until Jameel appeared that her joy at seeing him unlocked her frozen mind and body.

The feeling was quickly replaced with a need to flee. The fight or flight theory was definitely real. She had been ready to fight Hammer and Allison with every fiber of her body, but one look at Harlem and she couldn’t flee fast enough!

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