“Well, you know all the names and the codes, but something about you doesn’t sit right with me,” Bash said, watching Mansur’s expression closely. He’d turned on the overhead light in the rear of the SUV, the better to see if Mansur was lying to him. “Like why, if you’re part of Fortress, you’ve let an innocent man sit and rot in a prison cell for the last four months. Like why you had your men bring me to the palace when I was captured.”
Mansur looked back levelly, not seeming at all nervous. “The situation with Mishaan has nothing to do with Fortress,” he said. “It is personal between the king and Mishaan, and Mishaan has never been in any danger, so I didn’t think Nick was going to risk a rescue mission that was likely doomed to failure or compromising to my position.”
Sean spoke up from the front seat, his voice bitter. “Personal between Faisal and me? That’s hardly fair, when one of us has an army and a platoon of armed bodyguards and the other is an unsuspecting civilian!”
A pained expression crossed Mansur’s face. “I am sorry, but he is the king. He would have thrown me into a cell as well if I had stood up for you, and then I wouldn’t have been able to render any help at all. All things considered, it worked out better than I had hoped.”
“What?” Sean and Bash spoke in unison.
“This had better be good,” Bash added.
Mansur shrugged. “I couldn’t ask Nick to break Sean out of the palace, but when you were captured, I could have you brought there as well, Sebastian. I hoped you were the kind of man who wouldn’t leave my nephew behind when you escaped — as I knew you would — and I was correct. To be honest, I hadn’t expected you to strike so quickly, or I would have had supplies secreted somewhere to assist you. You’ve managed incredibly well, all things considered. Although you gave me more than a few anxious moments when you drove off into thehaboob. That was something I wouldn’t have imagined anyone in their right mind doing.”
“No one has ever accused me of being in my right mind,” Bash said. He glanced up, meeting Sean’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. “What do you think? You know him better than I do.”
“I admit I was never mistreated,” Sean said slowly. “And when Faisal ordered for you to be beaten in my presence, Mansur stepped in and ask the king to give me a day to consider.”
“Which didn’t stop him from having me beaten when I was captured.” Bash glared at Mansur. “You say you knew who I was, so…?”
“I could hardly allow a potential spy to go unpunished,” Mansur said. There was no regret in his tone or expression. “It would have been uncharacteristic for me to have gone easy on you, although I gave orders you weren’t to be incapacitated, and I was certain you could take it.” He raised a brow. “Was I wrong?”
“No.” Bash frowned. He still didn’t like it, and he was certainly no fan of Mansur, but everything seemed on the up-and-up, and he grudgingly acknowledged he would have done the same thing in the same situation. “You’d better believe I’m going to ask Nick about this, though. Assuming I get out of this alive.”
“You will.” Mansur seemed to relax. “That is why I came to meet you myself. The king hopes Mishaan will be found alive and brought back. Fortunately, my senior lieutenant, Hamid, is covering for my absence — although even he doesn’t know I’m helping you rather than simply leading the search. I also wanted to explain to Mishaan why I had to do what I did.”
“You could have warned me,” Sean replied, still sounding annoyed. “Why didn’t you get a message to me when Faisal sent his ‘invitation’? All of this could have been avoided!”
“I did not know what the king was planning,” Mansur said. “I thought his desire to establish a children’s hospital in your parent’s names was legitimate. I did not realize he intended to take you hostage and try to extort an heir from you. If I had, I would have tried to dissuade him because you are a homosexual.”
Sean gasped, and he looked back at Mansur in the rearview mirror, his eyes wide with shock. “How did you know?”
Mansur shook his head. “Really, Mishaan. I am the head of intelligence as well as being chief of the king’s bodyguards. I am too good at my job to let something like that escape me.”
“Then why doesn’t Grandfather know?”
“Because I did not feel he needed to know.” Mansur was silent for a moment. “I loved your father, you know. He was my brother, the only one of Faisal’s other children to accept me. He didn’t think I was right in supporting Faisal so blindly, but that was many years ago, when I was young and wanted my father’s approval above all else. But I would never have done anything to hurt Fahd or his family. I would have told him of your sexuality had I known what he intended to do, but once you were here and he’d had you imprisoned, I didn’t dare, lest it drive him to do something… unfortunate. He is a desperate man, Mishaan. He sees the end of his line and all that he’s worked to achieve, and he is frightened.”
Sean muttered something about “people skills” that Bash didn’t quite catch, and then he fell silent.
Bash was quiet as well, trying to find some hole in Mansur’s story and failing. “Are you certain Faisal won’t seek reprisals against Sean?” he asked. “Even once he’s back in England?”
For the first time, Mansur looked uncomfortable. “If he tells me of any plans for such, I will put a stop to them,” he said slowly. “But there are others who have reason to wish Mishaan ill. I do not care that I can never be king, but I cannot say the same of some of the more ambitious of my relatives. It would be wise to take precautions, Mishaan. Perhaps you should not be as trusting as you’ve been in the past.”
It was obvious from his sound of disgust that Sean cared little for that piece of advice, but he didn’t argue.
“What is the plan for when we reach Turkey?” Bash asked. “I assume we cross the border, and we’ll be met?”
“Yes. There are coordinates in the GPS,” Mansur said. “They’re the first set in memory. I will drop you off at a small airfield where a plane is waiting. It was just as well that I came to meet you. After your last extraction, our air forces are on high alert. Better you drive into Turkey and fly back out.”
“All right.” Bash wasn’t going to relax until they were safely on a Fortress plane and Akkadia was thirty thousand feet below them. He reached over the seat in front of him to give Sean’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I think we’re going to be all right. Just hang in there a little longer, okay?”
Sean glanced into the rearview mirror at Bash and smiled. “Okay. Should I bring up the location in the GPS?”
“Might as well,” Bash said, then leaned back in the seat. He glanced at Mansur and caught the older man regarding him with an inscrutable expression. “What?”
“Nothing.” Mansur shrugged. “I am sorry you had such a poor reception in my country — both of you.”
“Though it validates my father’s opinion of the king,” Sean said dryly. “Perhaps I should have listened to him, because he told me to never set foot here.”
