That was his plan anyway. Of course, if what he told them wasn’t authenticated somehow, they might just kill him.
‘Hopefully? What does that mean?’ Autumn asked.
He let out a breath. ‘You know what it means, but that’s a risk we have to take.’
‘You’d die for me?’
‘Yes.’
He felt her put her head on his shoulder, and, through the material of the sack, he could smell the coconut and vanilla scent of her hair. He sucked in the fragrance and let it evoke memories of their nights together.
‘I’ve never met anyone like you,’ she whispered.
‘I’ve never met anyone like you,’ he replied.
The sound of the bolts being drawn back had him scrambling away from her, moving farther along the wall to the corner.
The door opened and someone entered on soft-soled shoes. Asif.
‘Water! You must drink!’ he barked.
The sound of something being thrown into the middle of the floor filled the air. The door closed and the bolts were replaced.
‘What is it?’ Autumn asked.
Nathan slid back to her. ‘I’m guessing a bottle of water.’
‘I’m really thirsty.’
He sighed. ‘Yeah, but if they really wanted us to drink it, they would have untied our hands.’
Thirty-Five
He had no concept of time. It went so slowly when you had nothing to occupy it. Or did it? He didn’t know, that was the whole point. He couldn’t tell. Autumn was still shaking next to him, and he didn’t want to do anything yet to alleviate their comfort. He needed the group to believe they were cooperating, and that meant toeing the line until Autumn made that video plea, at least.
‘Talk to me, please. It’s too quiet when we don’t talk,’ she told him.
‘I was going to suggest I-Spy, but we’re limited on options,’ he responded.
‘That’s almost funny.’
‘Humor in adversity is on day one of the surviving-a-kidnapping training course.’
‘Really? What’s on day two? Getting your good side when filming the video plea?’
‘No, that’s on day one, too.’
He felt her shoulders shake, this time not with cold or fear, but with laughter.
‘This is stupid! This is the most ridiculous situation I’ve ever been in! This week I should be appearing on websites and TV shows trying to win support for the awards, reaching out to fans, ordering them in a subtle, subliminal way to buy my album. That’s almost like performing hypnotism sometimes.’
‘It sounds like you’d almost prefer to be here,’ he stated.
‘There’s nothing to do here but think. Not just about what’s going to happen in the next few hours, but what’s going to happen after that, if there is an after that.’
‘Best-case scenario, your father comes with a crack team, evades capture by the British government, busts in here, takes down the group, and gets us out of here,’ he said.
‘Wouldn’t he be safer with the government?’
‘Depends what you mean by safe.’
‘Don’t talk in riddles. I know you’re in some sort of secret club, but… just tell me. Am I going to protect my father by doing this, or am I going to make things worse?’
‘I can’t answer that.’
‘For God’s sake!’
‘Put it this way, Autumn, if As-Wana wants him badly enough to have you kidnapped, he’s a marked man. If the British government wants him badly enough they’re involving your mother to oil the wheels of the kidnap plot then…’
‘Okay, I get it. He’s screwed no matter what he does. So why am I here? Why am I risking my life? Why are we risking your life when the likelihood is…’
He could hear the sentiment in her tone. The tears were so close to the surface, and she was starting to sniff. He turned his head to look at her, but he couldn’t see anything, just a vague shadow through the material of the sack covering his head.
‘We’re doing this because we have to try, and because it’s the right thing to do,’ he told her.
‘Do you always do the right thing?’ she asked.
‘I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life.’
‘That wasn’t what I asked.’
‘I always try to do the right thing. But the right thing in my eyes might not be the right thing in the eyes of the world.’
‘You’ve got strong morals. That’s more than most people I’ve surrounded myself with. Juan and Janey, two people closest to me, and they hated me,’ Autumn said.
‘We all get misled by people.’
‘You don’t.’
‘Oh, I’ve been misled, believe me.’
*
She heard him let out a noise of exasperation, and she turned her head toward him.
‘Who misled you?’
‘It doesn’t matter. It’s not important.’
‘Yes, it is. I want to know.’
‘It isn’t the time.’
‘What? It’s exactly the time! What else are we going to do? Rock, paper, scissors is out,’ she told him.
She felt his shoulder tense next to hers, and she assumed he was taking in a deep breath.
‘Nigel Farlow, the guy whose name I told you to use to convince As-Wana I had information, he misled me,’ Nathan began.
‘Who is he? Did he work with you? Was he a soldier?’
‘He was supposed to be a friend. Not just a comrade, you know. A friend. He came to my house. I invited him into my home, our home.’
Autumn sensed the anger and regret in his voice. She didn’t speak for fear of him clamming up again. She wanted to learn something about him. She wanted to know what angered him, what or who had questioned his values.
‘Then I found out. He was about to betray everyone, and I couldn’t let that happen. He tried to play me. He tried to tell me that what he was doing was for the greater good. But he was putting other people in danger, other soldiers, other friends of mine, good people, normal, un-manipulated people. And I didn’t believe him about the “greater good”. He’d been turned. Money and greed had turned him, just like it turns everyone who’s weak and spineless,’ Nathan spat.
‘What happened?’ she dared to ask.
She heard movement outside the room, talking and footsteps heading toward them. She felt Nathan shift away from her again, and she braced
