The Sheikh's Troublesome Bride (The Jawhara Sheikhs 2)

“Yes. A bright young man that joined the palace guard several weeks ago.”

“Where is he?”

The man once again scoured the area, calling to several of the other workers in Arabic who only shrugged their shoulders in reply. “No one has seen him for several minutes.”

PJ had a bad feeling about this and pushed her com button, “All agents, listen up. We have a situation on the southern side of the refugee camp. Miss Malone is missing along with her young guard. I want the entire area searched until she is found.”

“PJ, what’s going on?” Trent Larson was the first to reply, an ex-Navy seal who had specialized in extractions.

“I’m not really sure, but as of now, Miss Malone is missing.”

“I’m on it. Should we alert the palace?”

PJ cringed but knew it was the right thing to do, “Yeah. I’ll make the call. Slade’s gonna have our heads if she goes missing.”

“Make the call. We’ll find her.” Trent sounded so sure of himself, PJ grabbed onto that ray of hope as she called the palace, dialing Sheikh Kamal’s personal line.

When he answered, she quickly outlined what she knew, cringing as he cursed in Arabic for several minutes. She hadn’t picked up much of the language, but even she could tell the words coming from the Sheikh were not very nice ones.

Kamal felt like his heart was being ripped form his chest as PJ informed him of Erin’s disappearance. She had only been missing for a few minutes, and the American agent informed him they were going to search every tent until she was found.

Hanging up the phone, Kamal sat behind his desk trying to decide the best course of action. Either Erin had deliberately disobeyed him and was simply occupied with one of the refugees, oblivious of the fact that everyone was searching for her, or his enemies had made good on their earlier threat.

He felt so helpless. He was the Sheikh of Jawhara, one of the richest oil countries in the world. How could something like this have happened?

Picking up the phone, he dialed Khalil’s phone and waited for the call to connect.

“Kam, what’s up? Did you forget to tell me something else? We just picked up the items from Erin’s office and were heading back to the hotel.”

Kamal was silent on the other end of the phone, not wanting to speak the words as that would make Erin’s disappearance more real.

“Kam? What’s going on?” Kale waited for Kamal to speak to him, not liking the sense of foreboding that filled the silence.

When Kam finally spoke, Khalil’s heart dropped, “Erin is missing.”

“What?! Where is she?”

“She was helping deliver food and water to the refugees. I sent a detail out to bring her back after the latest intel. She and her guard have disappeared.”

“The guard is missing as well?” Kale asked, Slade’s comments about a leak in the palace security coming to mind.

“Yes. He has only been on staff for a few weeks and is fairly young.”

Kale immediately knew that the young guard was the source of the leak. It was too coincidental that the very day the intel was discovered, Erin should go missing with one of the newest palace employees.

“Shira and I will be on the jet in a few hours.”

Shira had only been half-listening to the one-sided conversation until that last comment. Kale had switched from Arabic to English without even knowing he had done so.

“No! I don’t want one more person in danger until we figure out what is going on here. Stay there and I will call you when I know more.”

“Kam, we’re coming home. You need my help and shouldn’t be alone during this time. Slade is bringing more men out at the end of the week. I’ll let him know we need him sooner. Shira will want to be there as well.”

Kamal sighed, knowing his brother was right, “Fine. Talib has already left to pick up Erin’s parents in Brisbane. They will be returning tomorrow. At least, everyone will be under the same roof and not scattered around the globe.”

“Erin will be fine. She is a strong woman and will do whatever is required to keep her child safe.”

“I hope you are right, brother. I hope you are right.” Kamal hung up the phone, striding for the office door and the courtyard. He refused to sit by and allow anyone to threaten his future bride or his child.