Page 39 of Warlord’s Empire

Saskia tried to back away, terribly afraid he intended to lock her inside. “Where are we?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, dragging her into his arms and holding her tight. She felt his lips move against her hair.

Fuck, that sounded bad. “Why’re you sorry?”

He answered her with action rather than words, pushing her inside the room and slamming the door shut.

She heard the lock engage. She was closed in a pitch-black room.

Reaching for the door, she yanked on the door handle. It wouldn’t give. Where the fuck was she?

Dropping her blanket, she banged on the door with both fists. “Muhammed! You let me out of here right now!” She listened, but the only sounds she could hear were coming from her. “Okay, calm down, Saskia, and think.” She was shivering so hard, her entire body was vibrating.

Snatching up the blanket, she stood on it, protecting her bare feet from the cold concrete floor before wrapping it around herself. When the shivers had somewhat subsided, she reached out, feeling first the door, then the wall.

Radik must’ve put her in a safe room. It was the only thing that made sense. He wouldn’t have left her if he didn’t think she’d be safe, which meant she wouldn’t come to harm wherever she was.

Taking several slow breaths, she was able to convince herself that death was not imminent, which gave her the ability to search for a light. She doubted Radik would commission a safe room without adding a light switch.

She found it and turned it on.

As light flooded the room, she was able to take her first proper unpanicked breath.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, staring at a wall of monitors above a desk with a leather office chair.

She sat, reaching for the keyboard on the desk and pushed buttons until the screens lit up.

Half of the monitors were dominated by views of the house while the other half were of the rest of the compound, which seemed oddly quiet for them being under attack. Where were Radik’s soldiers? Shouldn’t they be protecting Marifiya?

Concentrating on the house cameras, she searched for Radik. She could make out enough objects that she knew which room was which, including her own bedroom. She would have to talk to Radik about violating her privacy later.

She spotted him approaching the front door, but then he whirled around, training his gun on something in the darkness.

Saskia’s heart leapt into her throat, but she calmed when she recognized Shola stepping out of the shadows. Thank goodness, Shola could help Radik neutralize the threat, then come let Saskia out of the safe room.

But as Radik turned his back on Shola, she lifted her gun, levelling it on his back.

“No!” Saskia shouted, but it was too late. Shola pulled the trigger, shooting Radik. “I’m going to fucking kill you!” Saskia snarled, running to the door and trying to yank it open. She pressed buttons randomly, trying to get the code, but it wouldn’t unlock.

She rushed back to the camera, tears filling her eyes, terrified she was going to have to watch helplessly as Shola finished Radik off. That wasn’t what happened though. Instead, Shola lowered her weapon as Radik stumbled around to face her, lifting his gun.

“Shoot her!” Saskia urged, but before he could pull the trigger, he was shot again, this time from another direction. His body jerked and then hit the floor, convulsing as he lay prone.

“Oh my god,” Saskia squeaked as she watched Nuani stand over Radik, his gun hand out. It was an ambush! They were going to kill Radik and there was nothing Saskia could do to stop them.

A sob burst from her at the thought of losing him.

On the screen, Nuani kneeled next to Radik, checking his pulse.

“I’m going to kill them.” Saskia searched the room for weapons. “Fucking traitors.”

She found a drawer in the desk and jerked it open, discovering a gun. A Beretta 92. She popped the magazine. Fully loaded.

She figured Radik’s attackers would be coming for her next. Shola and Nuani’s defection explained the lack of alarm inside the compound. They must’ve let the attackers in and ordered them to stay silent until they took down the boss. Well, now they’d have to contend with her and she wasn’t nobody. She was Saskia Koba and she was itching to light up Radik’s attackers, no matter that she wasn’t the best shot in the world.

Sure enough, less than two minutes after Radik was shot, she heard scraping sounds at the door. They were trying to get in!

She glanced at the monitors hoping to see a contingent of Radik’s people coming to their rescue. Instead, she saw nothing, not even Radik’s body. What the fuck was going on? Where was everyone?