Amir took the gun, slipping an elongated black tube from his pocket, which he screwed onto the barrel.
“Where are you going?” She gaped at Faris, her heart racing. He didn’t mean he was going to leave her here with that barbarian, did he?
Fairs half turned and smiled. “We have an alibi to validate. Then I will wait at our ship in the harbor, where the artifacts will be taken and prepared for immediate shipment. In one-and-a-half hours from now, the artifacts will be on their way to the Mediterranean Sea. And you… well, I did make a promise to your mother. So I’ll let Amir use his judgment on that.”
She swallowed. This couldn’t be happening. She watched Karl, desperate for a sign he would help. That he was on her side. But he turned his head the other way, watching as Faris vanished through the garage door.
The door slammed behind him, and Leila stood ramrod-straight. Her eyes anchored on the exit. She could make a run for it. What was stopping her? Amir had focused his attention on Karl and had yet to acknowledge her presence. The gun was in his hand, but he held it loosely at his side. Her heart beat wildly as she took her first hesitant step toward the door. If only she wasn’t wearing those stupid heels.
She waited a moment too long. Someone gripped her forearm and forced her toward Amir. Leila let out a yelp of surprise and stomped her heel down on the foot of the masked thug who held her. The man howled in pain as he dug his fingers deeper into her arm. He swung her to the ground and raised his foot, aiming for her stomach. Before he could swing, Amir shoved the man into the wall.
“Enough!” Amir roared. The man rubbed his shoulder, and Amir pointed the elongated pistol at Leila. “Get off the floor.”
Leila sat up, keeping her eyes on the gun. It followed her upward as she rose to her feet. If she had to face Amir, she wouldn’t do it trembling. She couldn’t give him the pleasure of knowing she was terrified. Whatever his plan was, she wouldn’t make it easy for him. She raised her chin, which allowed her to look past the deformation she had inflicted and glare at Amir squarely in the eye.
“The new look suits you.”
He glared at her, sparks of rage flashing in his one black eye. In one swift movement, he raised the gun and swiped at her. She tried to duck away, but her head whipped to the side as the metal cut through her skin.
Crying out, her eyes burned with tears as pain throbbed from one side to the other. She slowly rotated back toward him, one hand holding the side of her head.
Behind Amir, Karl waited quietly, obediently, twisting his hands together and shuffling his feet. He lifted his head and her eyes met his. His eyes widened, begging for forgiveness. Leila could only give him a slight shake of her head, her mouth tight. How could he have let Amir and Faris bully him into this?
“You’ll look worse before the night is over,” Amir promised and motioned to his thugs. Two of them strode forward, taking their places on either side of her. Their hands tightly wrapped around her upper arms.
Amir fixed his sight on Karl. “I assumed everything worked?”
“Yes,” Karl said robotically, “the last guard came through ten minutes ago. We’re invisible for the next thirty-five, until the next round of patrol. Security cameras have been overridden so the only image they see is the empty hallway that I recorded last night. The outdoor camera is showing the video of the loading dock from last night too. Security is busy keeping an eye on the Prime Minister so one should notice anything odd. Motion sensors and fire alarms for the lower levels have also been deactivated. Her keycard was used to unlock all the doors, so they’re all good to go.” Karl had hardly taken a breath.
Leila’s heart caught in her throat. I’m such an idiot. They had been in the lab together, but Karl hadn’t been working on a presentation at all.
Amir opened the door to the storage room, revealing the collection of antiquities not only from ancient Egypt, but also of Celtic, Greek, and Roman origins.
“Start here,” he ordered. His thugs began to haul boxes off the shelves.
“I don’t believe this.” Leila’s mouth hung open. The thieves went past her with their arms full, heading toward the garage. She narrowed her eyes at Amir. “You think you’re going to get away with this?”
Amir rounded on her. “We’ve carefully planned this for months.” A wistful smile twisted his features and he raised his hands in the air. “Imagine the headlines. A heist in the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. It’ll be impossible for them to trace it to me. There won’t be any witnesses. We’ll be gone before anyone notices a thing. All you can do is watch as we take every single last artifact.”
Leila gave him a sweet smile, pleased she would get to burst his egotistical bubble. She’d already found a flaw in his plan. “You better hurry, then. Your clock is ticking. I’m supposed to be giving a speech this very moment and they’ve certainly noticed I’m missing by now.”
Amir clenched his fists, his arms trembling. He whipped his head toward Karl. “You said she wasn’t going to be speaking.”
Karl backed away, beads of sweat appearing on his brow. “She wasn’t, I—I swear. I had no idea. They—they must have changed it last minute.”
“It was your job to monitor those things.”
“No one said anything about it. It’s not on the program. I didn’t know until just now.” Karl’s round eyes darted over to Leila, as if a plea for help. But what did he expect her to do? She couldn’t move if she wanted to.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?” Amir raised the gun and pointed it at him. “You’ve ruined everything!”
“Please,” Karl begged. His chin quivered. “I did what I could. Everything you asked. I want to see her again.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She had to do something.
“He’s telling the truth,” she said, her voice wavering. “He couldn’t have known.”
Amir ignored her, a deadly spark in his eyes as he glared at Karl.
“Don’t, stop it!” Leila cried.
A muffled shot thudded in the hallway. Karl collapsed to the floor, crimson spreading across his chest. She couldn’t tell if he was still breathing or not. He merely stared past her, shock frozen on his face.
Karl couldn’t be dead. He was simply in shock from the pain. They’d get him to a doctor and patch him up. Yet, as she stared in horror, she knew she was telling herself a lie.
“How could you?” she sobbed, unable to tear her eyes away from Karl’s blank stare. If the thugs hadn’t been holding her arms, her knees would have buckled.
“Easy. Just pull the trigger.” Amir’s lips twitched. He grasped her chin and forced her to lift her head. His fingers dug into her, bringing tears to her eyes. “And if you don’t watch what comes out of your mouth, you’ll be next.”
Her stomach lurched. He spoke as if Karl hadn’t been his first murder. And his remaining eye glinted as if he enjoyed every moment of it.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
From his spot against the back wall, Xander’s eyes roved over the tops of heads. Considering the background check results, it was a harmless bunch. Leila probably had the worst record of any of them. He hid a smile.
Soliman took the stage to polite applause. All eyes were on him as he began to prattle on about how thankful he was to everyone and such and such. Xander folded his hands in front of himself, his gaze following the movements of one guest as she stood and, with her back hunched, crept toward the washrooms. Nothing suspicious.
Xander’s attention briefly went back to Soliman, who was still thanking people. Why did this feel like the longest speech he’d ever heard? When was it Leila’s turn? To again see the soft, wavy dark hair brushing against her shoulder. To again see those eyes, as intense as a desert sandstorm. It already felt like an eternity of waiting. He glanced down at his watch. Soliman had only been speaking for a minute.
