Page 29 of Her Loving Hero

“Petra is getting Chris right now,” Carly said.

Wyatt gently took the phone out of her hands and muted it. “Tell her you’re going to conference me in now.” He handed her back the phone.

“Carly, I’m going to conference Scott in now. I don’t want to keep him waiting any longer.” She muted the phone once again for thirty seconds. “Scott are you here?” she asked.

“Yes,” Wyatt answered.

“Carly, can you hear me?”

“Yep, I’m here,” was her sister’s chipper answer.

“Scott, I told you that Carly is my sister. We’re waiting for a couple of her friends to join us on the call, then we can get started, okay?”

“That’s acceptable,” Wyatt said in a serious tone of voice. He sounded different than what she was used to.

“Carly, I told you I don’t like this,” a young man’s voice said into the phone.

“What is this Emily?” Wyatt said in a slow tone. “Do they want my help or not?”

She opened her mouth to ask Wyatt what he was thinking but he put his hand over her mouth. Emily almost dropped the phone in fear. But she fought back the terror as she heard Carly yelling in the background. It helped her realize where she was. Who she was with? That she was safe.

“I told you that my sister was getting somebody to help us. You promised to listen,” Carly said loudly to someone.

Emily looked into Wyatt’s pleading eyes. He knew how scared she was of a man’s hands covering her mouth. He was begging her to trust her, and not blow things. She gave a tiny nod of her head.

Her heartbeat slowed, then stopped. His eyes turned molten gold as his fingers slid downwards, his thumb a slow caress across her bottom lip as he released her. He dipped his forehead against hers. “So brave,” he whispered almost silently.

Her blood flowed like thick honey.

“Emily, are you listening to me?”

“Carly.” Emily’s voice only shook a little bit. “Honey, I’m worried. Scott really knows the landscape there. He can help. I promise you, I trust him with my life.” She watched as Wyatt’s tense shoulders slumped with relief and he gave her a grateful smile.

“What can you two do for us?” the male voice asked belligerently. “I’m worried about my family. Nobody’s taking us seriously, and I know something bad is going to happen. We need to get proof. If my dad won’t listen, maybe with proof we can get the Ambassador to listen.”

Emily’s heart ached for the boy trying to protect his family.

“My name is Scott Lyle, I work for one of Ernst and Young’s competitors, and I’m doing risk assessment for some of the largest operations here in Oman,” Wyatt said calmly.

“I don’t understand, what does that do for us?” A new female voice asked.

“It means I have access young lady. A lot of access. It also means I know people and have my ear to the ground. Emily has explained to me what the school counselor Miss Bannister said. I’m inclined to agree with your parents and the Ambassador, it seems odd that she heard the name Hamza al Libi, since he’s dead. But the fact that the journalist had a car wreck two days after giving her that audio is very suspicious, so I’ll look into it.”

“We should look into it.” Chris said. It was clear he was angry.

“If there is something to find out, I know the right people to contact to put out the fire and take out the bad guys, do you?” Wyatt asked in that same cool and deliberate tone.

He was met by silence.

“Look, we don’t have time to wait around. There’s going to be a big party Saturday night with some of the Sultanates cabinet ministers, oil, pharmaceutical and airline executives. If you’re as connected as you say you are, we’ll see you there.”

Wyatt’s lips twitched at Chris’s deliberate throw down, but Emily wasn’t amused, she was scared spitless.

“Don’t go,” Emily cried.

Wyatt held up his hand. Again, he mouthed ‘Trust me.’

“Now hold on Emily.” Wyatt sounded bored. “What is it you intend to accomplish? Emily told me how Carly is going to act as interpreter, but what exactly are you hoping to find out?”