| The Sheiks Of Kumar - Part II The Warrior By CJ |
| Chapter 7 Shawna was standing in the doorway of the open glass slider next to Nikash and dressed as Rafee had never before seen her. He hesitated the moment she stepped next to his brother and actually gawked at the tight fit of her khaki Capri pants hugging each and every curve of her legs. He didn’t miss a detail of that outfit in the split second he saw her, for it was difficult to not see how that clingy white short-sleeved, low-cut shirt showed off her cleavage and how her pink painted nails flashed from the toes of her black mule shoes. And was that make-up she wore just a hint of above her sparkling green eyes? Rafee couldn’t tell, for it was then that Omar’s kick grazed across his cheek and sent him to his behind on the mat. “Rafee,” Omar said with shock in their native language. “Are you all right?” “Of course,” Rafee returned, still stunned by something. It was either the grazing kick or the sight of Shawna. Omar clasped Rafee’s hand and pulled him to his feet as Nikash and Shawna entered the workout room. It was the last room at the end of the long patio, with one wall of glass sliders looking out into the pool and one wall of mirrors. Rafee had been attempting to get in a good workout with Omar, something he had been very focused on since his lovemaking with Shawna had been interrupted the night before, when the sight of her had distracted him enough to the point of having the sense knocked out of him. “Rafee, I do not believe I have ever seen Omar best you with one of his roundhouse kicks before,” Nikash taunted from the doorway in English. Rafee glared at his brother and yanked the gloves from his hands. No, Omar had never knocked Rafee down with a kick before in their kickboxing workout matches. Then again, Shawna had never been standing in the room dressed so darn sexy before either. “Are we finished, Rafee?” Omar then inquired. “Yes,” Rafee said. “I do not wish to land on my backside again in front of a lady,” he added with humor. “Are you sure you’re finished?” Shawna asked from the doorway. “I know I’m early. I wouldn’t mind waiting.” She also wouldn’t mind watching the fluidity of Rafee’s defensive and offensive moves some more either. When she found the men in the workout room practicing their obvious advanced fighting skills, she’d been delighted. She enjoyed sport, but mostly, she found she enjoyed the sight of Rafee’s bare chest. He was muscled and bronzed and only a slight smattering of hair covered his chest with a dark line of it disappearing beneath the waistband of his baggy black shorts. She could have allowed her eyes to drink in the sight of those defined biceps, triceps and abdominals all evening. If it weren’t for the fact that they had some serious business in San Francisco to conduct, she would have begged the men to continue their activity. “No, I am finished,” Rafee said, knowing that he would not be able to continue the focus he needed to fight massive Omar with Shawna dressed so and in his line of sight. “Good. If you don’t take too long to get ready, we could leave early and have plenty of time for dinner too. I’m starved and we should talk some strategy before we meet with Rodney,” Shawna said. Rafee nodded as he drank a glass of water Omar handed him. “Then you two are working on the case tonight?” Nik suddenly asked. “Yes. We have a huge break. We’ll fill you and Tara in on it later,” Shawna said. “But do us a favor and have Tara call Gabe tonight, just to make sure he’s going to be in for the evening.” “I will,” Nik agreed. Then he looked at his brother and commented, “Rafee, if you’re going to take the lady to dinner, you should get ready.” Rafee nodded and motioned for Shawna to follow. They walked down the tiled hall and up the stairs for his room. Rafee glanced down at her, knowing it was again a mistake as his eyes caught dark blonde curls bouncing with her stride. Since he’d kissed her the night before, she had not left his thoughts and now that she was in front of him and looking so put together and smelling so incredibly sweet, he was afraid she’d be seared into his memory forever. “What’s wrong?” Shawna asked as he stared at her and nearly missed a step in front of him. His eyes shifted and landed on the black leather backpack purse she carried along with a thin black cardigan sweater. “I was just making sure you brought something to put the money in,” he lied to cover his stare and stumble. “I see you have.” “Yes, I have.” He nodded his approval and opened his bedroom door. It was a mistake to bring Shawna here, he realized, after she stepped into the room. The kisses they’d shared in the back of her car had ignited something inside his gut he could not quell. He’d attempted to extinguish the raging fires but nothing had worked. The late night swim in a less than warm pool had done nothing but make him cold and wet. The phone call to an old girlfriend in France, whom he still saw on occasion, only bored him with talk of shopping and parities. And the kickboxing workout with Omar had left him bruised and battered. But none of it had quashed his desires for Shawna that had erupted so quickly the night before. He took a manila envelope from his dresser and tossed it Shawna’s way. She caught it with ease, opened it and flipped through some of the bills. “Where’d you get all this so quickly?” she inquired. Rafee threw her a look of incredulity and Shawna realized the ridiculousness of her question. “Right, I shouldn’t have asked,” she drawled, knowing that three thousand dollars was simple change for Rafee and his family. “Are you sure you want me to be responsible for holding it all?” she then asked. Three thousand dollars may not be a lot of money for Rafee, but it was quite a bit for her. “I’ll trust you with it,” he replied, “and hold the Mustang for collateral.” Shawna shook her head, wondering if he would ever give up on owning her car, and sat on the bed. “Go get showered. I’ll wait here,” she told him. He moved toward the bathroom door and suggested, “Why don’t you find something for me to wear while I get ready? Just be sure it matches.” “I can match an outfit,” she quipped lightly to his back, and then took a few minutes scanning his closet. She noticed he liked dark colors and simple white dress shirts and things of the finest quality. Though she didn’t fret over designer or not, Shawna had wanted to look nice for tonight. She figured that after the luke-warm enthusiasm he’d shown after their passionate make-out session in the car, she wanted to prove to him that she could be sexy. Her outfit may not be something a super model would wear to dazzle a man, but for Shawna, it was as sexy as she owned. She found a light gray Italian wool 3-button suit and a black button up dress shirt that she felt would be appropriate for their night in San Francisco and carried them to the bathroom. Knocking on the bathroom door and hearing a “come in” she opened the door and asked, “How’s this?” Rafee was at the sink, a towel wrapped around his waist. He wiped the last remnants of shave gel from his face and glanced at the suit and shirt she was holding. “That will do,” he accepted as he reached into the marble-tiled shower and turned the water on. Shawna stepped back and hung the clothes on the hook of the bedroom-side of the door to protect them from steam, then looked in at Rafee again. The frosted glass door was open and she could make out the outline of his form as he again adjusted the water. “In or out, Shawna,” he told her as he glanced around the shower door at her vacillating between the bedroom and bathroom. She boldly stepped in and closed the door behind her, leaning against it. “In, if you don’t mind. I wanted to talk to you,” she said. “I don’t mind,” he replied and she watched that towel slip from his lean hips. Of course, the shower door was acting as a mild buffer, and all she caught was the outline of his masculine body as he closed the shower door behind him but it was enough of a glimpse to send her hormones on a rampage. Shawna held her breath until her hormones returned to normal then finally spoke up over the sound of the water. “I was thinking that after we get the documents tonight, we should turn everything over to the police. I have some contacts in the San Francisco Police Department and they won’t question where or how I got everything.” Rafee listened quietly to the sound of her voice, barely comprehending the words, then turned the water colder. He was comprehending the messages from his body loud and clear! “I also brought a copy of all of Walter Malone’s computer records. We’ll hand those over too,” she continued. “I think the San Francisco Police would be better to work with than the locals because I seriously doubt Gabe Bryant has any contacts in that department that would assist him like he could have here locally.” Rafee said nothing, and Shawna thought his silence odd. Taking hesitant steps forward, she neared the shower. He was standing in the water and his heavenly body was only separated from her by a half-inch of frosted glass. If only she were brazen and experienced enough to know how to overcome that half-inch of glass, because since last night at the drive-in, she had thought of nothing but how it would feel to be in Rafee’s arms again. “Rafee?” she asked and watched as he nearly jumped in the shower. “Are you listening?” “Yes,” he answered, shocked at the sound of her nearness. He turned the water even cooler and repeated, “You want to hand things over to the San Francisco Police instead of dealing with the locals. But won’t there be some battle over proper jurisdiction then?” “No, because the forgeries took place in San Francisco,” she answered. “The San Francisco Department can start the process. And because of that, I figure it’ll be too complicated by the time anything is handed down to the local boys here for them just to ignore if they do favor Gabe.” “I hope you’re right,” Rafee replied. “I am,” Shawna declared with more confidence than she was feeling in her words. Being so close to Rafee naked was having her doubting all her abilities—especially her abilities with a man. Clearing her throat, she added, “I, uh, I was also thinking that maybe my contacts at the police department could help you out.” “How so?” Rafee asked, the water of his shower almost ice cold. Asking Shawna to remain while he showered had been a very large tactical mistake on his part. How was he to take a peaceful shower in cold water? “Well, it sounds to me that you’re convinced the threat to your home in Kumar is coming from somewhere within the Middle East,” she said. “It appears that way now.” “So, perhaps my contacts could get us a list of all the people who have recently traveled into the San Francisco and Oakland area airports with passports hailing from those countries in the past week. You know, people who could have been sent here to keep on eye on Villa Serena and start that fire. Maybe you’d recognize one of the names or at least it may give you a hint.” It was a brilliant idea and Rafee wondered if the American authorities would really cooperate. “You think your friends in the police department would be willing to get that information?” he inquired. “Why not? Its not like you’re looking to have anyone arrested over here so there’s no need for search warrants and officials to be involved. We merely need an unofficial look at some names that we may be able to link to Kumar. What do you think?” “I think, it sounds like we’ll have a long night ahead of us in San Francisco,” he commented. “Shall I get us a hotel suite for the night?” A hotel suite for the night? Shawna liked the sound of that. Then she remembered that a night with him would do nothing for her ego and more than likely destroy it when he taunted her for her inadequacies, so she banished the thoughts from her mind and figured her own apartment would be a safer choice. “Don’t bother,” she answered. “I have an apartment there. It’s not much, but we’ll be comfortable enough.” “That will be fine,” he accepted and was about to ask a few more questions about her plans to rid his mind of other thoughts, when Nikash entered the bathroom. “Sorry,” Nik said with some surprise as his eyes landed on Shawna. “I did not mean to interrupt.” Shawna stepped away and moved toward Nik. “Its no interruption, we were merely strategizing about the case,” she said. Nik nodded, then said, “Tara’s downstairs. Perhaps you could tell her what you wanted her to do tonight. I need to speak with my brother.” “Sure,” she said, taking the hint and backing out the door. “See you downstairs, Rafee.” Once the door closed and Shawna was gone, Rafee turned off the water and grabbed his towel. “What are you plotting, Nikash?” Rafee asked, knowing that by the way his brother had tactfully dispersed Shawna he was up to no good. “I am concerned,” Nik said straightaway. “About?” “Shawna,” he disclosed. “Why? She’s quite capable of taking care of herself.” “I have a feeling she is in over her head with this,” Nik insisted. “With what?” Rafee asked, wrapping his dark towel around his waist and stepping out onto the thick bath rug on the floor. “This case?” “No, with you.” Rafee frowned and pulled another towel from the rack and earnestly dried his hair. His brother was seeing things and Rafee wanted no part of this discussion. “With me? How do you mean?” Rafee inquired, trying to play the innocent. “You are attracted to Shawna.” “I am not,” he refuted. “You are!” Nik argued and pointed to the slight bruise growing on Rafee’s cheek. “You could not take your eyes from Shawna this evening, otherwise, Omar would not have left that upon your cheek.” Rafee frowned and looked away from his brother’s inquisitive eyes. But his next sentence proved that Rafee would no longer be able to ignore his brother’s insistences. “I spoke with Jenny this afternoon,” Nik preempted. Rafee cursed and pulled the towel from his head. He tossed it at his brother and brushed by him, leaving the bathroom for his bedroom. “Rafee, this is serious. I am concerned. Shawna is Tara’s good friend. I will not have you seducing and using that poor woman for your own pleasure,” Nik professed. Rafee halted his escape and turned sharply toward his brother. “First of all, Nikash, it is none of your business. Second, she is quite adept at handling herself, even around me. And third, why on earth do you think I seduce and use women?” “You have never been serious about any of them before,” Nik explained. “Nor have any of them been serious about me,” he returned, “so it was a mutual manipulation. Besides, you were never serious about anyone until Tara.” “Correct. But I was also not as caustic in my attitude toward Americans as you are. Shawna is American and you have a problem with that. I’m afraid you would hurt her on purpose.” With a rueful smirk, Rafee reminded his brother, “And American women are never serious about their lovers so why are you so concerned about Shawna?” “Because, Rafee, she is not that woman from your college days!” Nik said forcefully. “And I will not have you using her for your own means and then going back to your life as if nothing happened. She will be in our lives now that I am marrying Tara and you must respect that.” Unwilling to hurt his brother or his brother’s fiancé, and knowing that hurting Shawna would only be cruel, Rafee sobered and admitted, “I have not taken Shawna to bed, so you needn’t worry, Nikash. Jenny witnessed an innocent kiss. Nothing more.” Nik’s face filled with relief and he asked with humor, “Only an innocent kiss? Rafee, are you losing your touch?” “You warn me away from Shawna and now you are challenging me? Which direction do you wish me to go, brother, for I will not be warned away and challenged simultaneously.” Knowing that his brother could only be steered in one direction, Nik wiped the smile from his face and said, “I want you to do what is right.” “And that is?” “Since you refuse to fall in love again, I suggest you keep your relationship with her strictly platonic,” Nik said. “It is platonic…mostly,” Rafee admitted. “We work together, we talk about cars, we argue…we are friends.” “Friends? Well, I never would have imagined you friends with a woman.” Nik studied his brother closely and asked, “Do you like Shawna?” “I like very much about her,” Rafee answered, “and when we travel to Kumar for your wedding, she will remain to assist me with our own crisis. She and I think alike and that is beneficial to our mysteries.” There was a fire lit in Rafee’s eyes that Nik had never seen before. He was positive his brother was growing beyond liking Shawna. Rafee respected her and saw her as an equal and suddenly Nik was positive his brother would not intentionally hurt Tara’s friend. Nik’s warning had been unnecessary. Rafee would watch over Shawna more closely than anyone else and if anything developed between the two, Nik now saw that it would be nothing he could halt, nor would it be anything one-sided. His brother may want Shawna, but he would never use her. “Very well,” Nik said, nodding his head. “I see that she is in good hands with you, Rafee, and I will warn you no further.” Nik started for the door then halted, one last jest growing in his mind. “Although, I may still taunt you ruthlessly.” “Why?” Rafee questioned. “When the time comes, you will see,” Nik said evasively, certain his brother would go back on his word and fall in love very soon. For Rafee and Shawna were made for one another. And as soon as they realized that and stopped all their childish quarrels, they would be very happy. ** “Ready?” Rafee asked as they sat in the Mustang, the top up in the cool fall night. They were parked just around the block from the Wheel House bar on a darkened city street in downtown San Francisco. “As soon as I call Tara and check in with her. I want to make sure she talked with Gabe and that he’s at home as he should be,” Shawna answered him. The fact that they had to end the pleasantries of the evening and begin working was nothing Shawna wanted to do. The drive into San Francisco had been casual and talkative and dinner at the elegant Italian restaurant had been one of the best she’d had in years. She could still remember how easily they had sat across from one another, the softly glowing candle between them, and discussed things that had nothing to do with Gabe Bryant or family dangers in foreign lands. They had talked of interests and experiences, and Shawna discovered in the course of that one dinner that Rafee not only looked ravishing in everything he wore and in every move he made, but that he was also very good company when he set his mind to it. His impeccable manners, manners that had no doubt been bred into him, showed through and Shawna could suddenly see him as the sheik of his homeland sitting at the head of a table full of foreign dignitaries. Yet Rafee was not a man who wanted that. Those chores were best left up to his brother. Rafee may have all the breeding, but his heart and soul lay in his duties as family protector. He did not want to lead the family, merely watch over them. He may not be the crown prince, but he was the first knight of the Kumar royal family. As Shawna conducted her call, Rafee watched her in the faint light of the street lamp. They had eaten dinner before coming to the seedy bar on the wrong side of town and Rafee couldn’t remember the last time he’d dined with a woman and talked for so long about issues of so dear to his heart. They hadn’t talked of frivolous issues such as shopping and gossip, but rather of personal topics and life experiences. He’d learned that Shawna liked to jog and lift weights at the gym and that her mother had left the family behind when she was just a young girl. He saw the respect and caring she felt for her own family ties and Rafee felt a connection to her because of that. In fact, he felt several connections to Shawna on many different levels. The one connection that was tugging at his mind the most as he sat next to her in the car, was attraction. He wanted to touch her and kiss her again as he had the night before. But something was holding him back and it was not his own pride this time. No, what was stopping him now was entirely Nikash’s fault. How dare his brother warn him off! Rafee still ran his brother’s words through his mind. Did Nikash think so little of him that he saw him only as a rogue bent on using every woman he came in contact with? He puzzled over that, for though he had participated in his share of womanizing, he had never ventured out to hurt someone. Since college when he had learned such a vital life lesson in love, he’d steered away from women who were looking for commitments. The women he’d shared relationships with over the years had been women with their own careers and their own goals who had only been looking for a male counterpart to share an occasional dinner and evening with when their paths crossed in Europe or Kumar. They had never been women whom he could hurt, or who could hurt him. And they certainly were not women he ever shared real interests with. Shawna, however, was different. There was nothing pretentious about her, nothing devious. She was independent, yet cherished friendship and family at the same time. He doubted she worried over missing a manicure appointment or making the fall fashion shows in Paris as many women in his past had fretted about. She was willing to work hard, to fight, to learn. And she was so very, very different from the first woman who broke his heart when he was only twenty. “Well,” Shawna said with a curious sigh as she clicked off her phone, “that’s strange.” “What is?” Rafee asked. “Tara said she spoke with Gabe earlier this evening and that he was very cool toward her. She even happened to mention that perhaps they should make a date for next week and he turned her down. When she asked why, he said she would find out soon enough. Then he insisted he had to hurry because he was coming to the city tonight.” “Here? To San Francisco?” Rafee inquired. “Yes.” Rafee’s instincts took over and he looked around at their surroundings and announced, “I do not like this. Something is wrong.” “I’m beginning to think so too,” Shawna agreed. Rafee looked at his watch. “Its 9:45. Should we go in? Or do you think we should call it off and try to catch Mr. Bryant another way?” Something was not right, yet Shawna felt they were running out of time. If Gabe was turning Tara down, he may be on to something. They needed to nail him and nail him quickly. “We go in,” Shawna decided. “Let’s just do this. If it’s not right, we get out.” “All right,” Rafee agreed, and they locked up the car and walked around the block to the bar. The surrounding buildings were dark and dingy and the bar itself was no better. A few motorcycles were parked in the front of the bar and smut magazines and advertisements littered the sidewalk. A tall, bearded bouncer stood guard over the front door and as Shawna and Rafee approached, he halted them. “What do you need?” he insisted. “We’re here to see Rodney. He said for us to come tonight at ten o’clock,” Shawna informed him. “Just a moment,” the man returned and disappeared into the bar. Smoke and music spilled out of the blackened glass doors, and the man returned only a moment later. “Go around back,” he said, pointing to the alleyway to the left of the bar. Shawna would rather travel through the bar, though it was more than likely dirty and disgusting. But at least there were people, witnesses. Walking down a deserted alley was dangerous. They did it anyway, all the while keeping their eyes pealed for trouble. And trouble arrived quickly and almost without warning. A large, broad man emerged from behind a dumpster and grabbed Shawna’s arm. He spun her toward him and asked harshly, “What in the hell are you doing here?” Nothing registered in her mind aside from the feel of the man’s hand gripping her arm until Rafee stepped forward and pulled the man away from her. Rafee’s hands grabbed the lapels of the man’s jacket and jerked him a good two feet away from Shawna. When the man tried to break Rafee’s hold, Rafee clutched his arm and began to twist it into a fierce lock. But the man moved quickly too and spun out of the hold before Rafee could secure it and recovered by throwing a punch toward Rafee’s face. Having been hit in the face once already, Rafee reacted in a more protective manner than aggressive and blocked the punch with his arm, then stepped forward and swung his elbow in a close-in fighting move. He made contact with the man’s face and stunned him long enough to grip his wrist and twist it into a controlling wristlock. It was then that Shawna saw the three other men come from the doorway of the next building. She was ready to run and yell for Rafee to do the same, but they had him in their holds too quickly. Two secured his arms while a third reached for her. That’s when she saw the silver flash of handcuffs and recognized the man who had grabbed her. But it was too late for her to correct the misidentification, for Rafee and she were both dragged into the open doorway of the next building. “Damn you, Shawna!” Joseph snapped at her as he gingerly wiped at the blood on his cheek. Rafee’s elbow had cut his cheek and it was already starting to swell. “What in the hell are you doing here?” he repeated. Shawna stared at her brother and couldn’t believe their bad luck. Of all the people for them to run into and fight in a dark alley, Joseph was the worst. If she had to compare Rafee to anyone, it would be to Joseph. Eddy was the older, relaxed family man and Billy was the younger, impressionable one. But Joseph, well, he was the one who always sounded the family battle cries. She was closest to Joseph, but also fiercely protected by him. And his being here meant her attempts at solving Tara’s case were finished for the night, for Joseph would not let her out of his sights now. “What do you want us to do with this one?” one of the men who had handcuffed Rafee asked as two men flanked him, their hands on his arms. Rafee’s face was stoic and his eyes gave nothing away. It was obvious he did not fear these men or his situation. “Lock him up in the back room, get his ID and read him his rights,” Joseph instructed as he pulled his silver watch from his wrist. It, like his cheek, had been damaged in the tussle and he glared at his sister and added for good measure, “Arrest him for assaulting a police officer.” Shawna started to protest, but Joseph grabbed her by the arm and began to yank her into a side room. Though Rafee was cuffed and had two plain-clothed San Francisco detectives holding him, he pulled away, lunged toward Joseph and insisted, “Do not touch her!” His eyes flashed menacingly as the two police officers soundly resecured him before he got too close to Joseph and forced him backward. All the while his eyes remained fixed on her brother and finally showed with emotion. That emotion said it would be hell to pay if Shawna was hurt. “Its okay,” Shawna called to him just before Joseph tugged her through the doorway and slammed the door shut. The building they were in was some sort of old office building with tiled floors, dilapidated desks and peeling paint. She heard voices through the wall and she was positive she and Rafee had unknowingly waltzed into some police sting. “You have exactly one minute to explain yourself, Shawna, before I toss your boyfriend in jail and lock you in your apartment,” Joseph said. “Joseph,” she began, “you have to let us go. I’m working on a case.” “Not here you’re not,” he insisted. “We’re just about to serve a warrant on that dive bar and you’re lucky I was watching on the surveillance camera our undercover bouncer was wearing. Otherwise you’d be in there right now and arrested with everyone else in ten minutes.” “So you had us sent down this alley on purpose?” she asked. “Yes, I was planning on telling you to get lost, but I wasn’t expecting you to be armed and ready with your own bodyguard.” Joseph dabbed at the cut on his cheek again and winced. Then he rotated the right wrist Rafee had wrangled into a hold and said, “Damn, where’d you get that guy? I haven’t been hit that hard in a long time.” “He’s working with me,” Shawna said simply. “What are you working on?” Joseph asked. “Its sort of an embezzlement-forgery case. If you had let me in that bar, I’d have all the proof I need to wrap it up. I was going to tell you all about it tonight, but you just ruined it,” she said. “Forgery? You weren’t on your way to see Rodney Banks, were you?” Shawna nodded. “Then thank goodness I stopped you. We’re serving our warrant on him.” Joseph pushed away from the desk he was sitting on and snapped, “Just think what would have happened if you had been in there and were caught with forged documents or in Rodney’s office.” With sarcasm, Shawna answered, “I know exactly what would have happened. Rafee and I would have both ended up detained by Detective Patrick like we are now!” Joseph glared at her and Shawna sighed. Reaching into her purse, she extracted a tissue and moved in front of her brother. She wiped the blood from his cheek with sisterly care and asked, “Are you really going to arrest him?” Not answering her question, he asked again, “Where’d you get him?” Chuckling because Rafee had really bested Joseph, she said, “He’s Tara Malone’s fiancé’s brother.” “Tara Malone’s engaged? Too bad.” “For you and Billy, maybe,” Shawna joked, knowing her brothers had always admired Tara. “This case I’m working on is for Tara. Remember Gabe Bryant?” “Yeah, that plastic twit with the bad attitude,” Joseph said. “That’s him. I have proof that he embezzled money from Tara’s father before he died. Half of that proof is in there with Rodney Banks. I need to get it.” Before Joseph could respond to her story, Billy walked in. He too was wearing plain clothes, obviously assisting with the serving of the warrant, and he held a red passport book in his hand and said his hellos to his sister. “You said to arrest that fellow back there, right?” he inquired a moment later. “You know, the one with Shawna who cut your face open.” Joseph frowned and Shawna realized that reminding Joseph of his losing that fight was no way to get Rafee freed. “What about him?” Joseph prompted. “Well, he says we can’t arrest him.” Joseph stood and walked toward his brother. “What? Is he a lawyer?” “No, he gave me this.” Billy handed Joseph the passport and Shawna watched as Joseph frowned furiously. “Ah, hell,” he breathed. “What does it mean anyhow?” Billy asked. Joseph stared at his brother like he was clueless and explained, “This is a diplomatic passport from the United Arab Emirates. The guy’s right.” He looked at the passport again and continued, “Arresting Sheik Rafee Mohammed bin Armanjani here would be like arresting Prince Charles. Can’t be done.” “What do you mean?” Billy continued to inquire. “It means, he’s some sort of Arabic royalty,” Joseph snapped impatiently. “He’s immune to our laws with that passport.” “Then lets just call some embassy or something. I mean, the guy messed your face up,” Billy argued. Snatching Rafee’s passport away from her brothers, Shawna said, “Don’t be silly, Bill. No embassy is going to care about Joseph’s face getting messed up a little. Besides, he deserved it. He shouldn’t have ruined my case.” “You almost ruined our warrant,” Joseph retorted. Joseph and Shawna stood in the room, staring at each other with a challenging glint in their eyes. Finally, Billy stepped between them and asked, “So? What do we do with the guy?” At the same time, both Shawna and Joseph answered. Joseph instructed, “Keep him where he is,” while Shawna insisted, “Let him go.” Billy waited and finally, Shawna asked, “Do you really want to upset Tara just before she’s about to get married? I’m sure she’ll be upset if her fiancé’s brother is kept in your custody all because you’re upset about your watch.” She’d given Joseph a reason to back down without bruising his ego and he finally realized that keeping Rafee would serve no purpose. Finally, he relented and said, “Fine, uncuff her little royal boyfriend and bring him here.” “He’s not my boyfriend,” Shawna refuted. Billy disappeared and not a moment later, he returned with Rafee. As soon as Rafee’s face shown in the doorway, Shawna moved to him and asked, “Are you all right?” “I’m fine,” he answered, looking just as calm as he always looked. “Are you all right?” “Yes.” Shawna’s eyes scanned him to ensure that her brother’s friends had not sought any evil revenge for the fight in the alley and saw that he looked just as she’d left him. “The boys didn’t rough you up in the back, did they?” Rafee shook his head. “No. They merely checked for weapons and asked me for my identification. They were very professional.” “Sorry for getting you arrested,” Shawna told him, “but my brothers sometimes have their own agendas.” She turned toward Joseph and said, “Joseph, this is Rafee Armanjani. Rafee, this is my brother Joseph. He works for the Police Department, as does my brother Billy here. I didn’t recognize him in the alley. If I had and if he hadn’t accosted me, we would have been spared this entire embarrassment.” The fact that Rafee had been handcuffed by the authorities had Shawna reeling with shame. She doubted he had ever been treated so and she was positive this would only be another strike against her country and culture. If Rafee was going to hold this fiasco against her and America, it didn’t show. In a move that stunned Shawna, Rafee stepped forward and held out his hand toward Joseph. “My deepest apologies, sir, for your injuries. I was not aware that you were with the Police Department, or Shawna’s brother. I would not have acted to defend her if I had known.” Keeping his bravado about him, but accepting the gesture, Joseph shook Rafee’s hand and replied, “That’s all right. At least my sister played it safe this time and brought along back-up.” Joseph pointed to his cheek. “Very good back-up. And by the way, nice elbow.” Rafee bowed his head slightly in recognition of Joseph’s words and before either man could say another word, a detective stuck his head in the door and said, “Patrick, there’s another customer asking for Rodney at the front door. Some suit by the name of Bryant.” “Tonight’s just full surprises, isn’t it?” Joseph drawled and they all quickly rushed to the next room. On a small black and white monitor, Shawna could see Gabe Bryant’s face. He was a handsome man, very classical in his looks, but he exuded an attitude of aloofness that Shawna had never liked and that made him ugly to her. “Rodney’ll see you now,” the bouncer said. Shawna could hear the undercover man’s voice, but not see his face on the monitor for he was wearing the hidden camera. Gabe entered the bar and his image disappeared from the screen. “When are you serving the warrant?” Shawna asked her brother. “Just as soon as everyone’s in place. Shouldn’t be more than another few minutes,” he returned. “Well, hurry up. You have to do it while Gabe Bryant’s in there,” Shawna insisted. “Otherwise, my entire case will be blown. If you move quick, then you can catch Rodney and help me catch Gabe all at the same time.” Joseph leveled his hazel eyes on his sister and asked with suspicion, “Just how much money did this guy steal exactly?” “He stole all of the Malone’s money just before Mr. Malone died and because of that Tara was forced to sell her estate.” Joseph frowned. “That sorry, son-of-a…” “Yeah, my sentiments exactly,” Shawna agreed. “And you think that if we go in there now and get Bryant too, you’ll be able to provide us with enough proof to hold him?” Joseph inquired. Shawna patted her purse. “I have it all here. Disks and disks of information. And I also just happen to know that Gabe’s picking up some forged documents right now from Rodney. One of which is a forged power of attorney for control of Walter Malone’s estate.” Joseph regarded his sister for a long while, then turned and looked down at two of his detectives. “Todd, are we ready?” he questioned. “Ready,” the detective returned. “All right, let’s move,” Joseph said and all the men in the room started to move out the door. Shawna followed behind her brother until he turned and instructed, “Stay put.” “But…” Shawna started to protest until Rafee caught her arm. “I will keep her company,” Rafee assured Joseph. The men exited and Shawna was left behind with Rafee. She sighed and moved away from him, surveying the old room. A small vinyl couch sat against the far wall and the police crew had left behind a solid table with folding chairs and monitoring equipment. “It’ll be a long wait,” Shawna said to Rafee. “They probably have thirty or forty officers waiting outside. They’ll detain almost everyone in the bar and then work their way through the group trying to decide who’s who.” “I figured it would take a long while,” Rafee said back. The room was not only sparse and dilapidated it was cold. Shawna only had a thin cardigan for warmth and she rubbed her arms as she paced around the room, trying to decide what to do with herself for the next few hours when she felt a warm jacket land upon her shoulders. “Here, this should help,” Rafee said as he stood behind her. Shawna could feel the left over heat from his body warm her and she pulled the jacket tighter about her shoulders. “Thank you, Rafee,” she said, turning to look at him. “And I guess I should also thank you for defending me tonight.” His bravery was never ending. She remembered how he had run into the fire and also halted her from going inside that burning barn. Then there had been the scuffle with her brother whom they had assumed was a thug in a dark alley. And finally, even after he had been handcuffed and detained, he had threatened her brother not to harm her. Nothing seemed to deter him in his quests regardless of the danger involved. “Yes, for defending you against your brother,” Rafee said in jest. “If he had been a no good criminal I would feel justified. But he was your brother and…well, I do hope he holds no grudges.” Shawna shook her head. Rafee may be abrasive and brave, but he was also honorable. She could see he took no pride in having harmed her brother even though it had all been a misunderstanding. “I don’t think he will. We just caught him off guard. Now that he’s calmed down, he respects what you did.” “Your brothers are very protective of you,” Rafee then commented. “I can tell by the way they look at me.” Shawna threw him a comical look and asked, “Why? Just because they cuffed you and threatened to arrest you? That doesn’t mean they’re protective. Not at all.” Rafee smiled at her joke and Shawna noticed that since she’d gotten to know this man, his smiles for her were now sincere. They reached those golden eyes of his and did not merely stop at his mouth. Did that mean he felt comfortable around her, that he trusted her? She hoped so, because she realized that after tonight, she trusted very much about him. They moved to the small couch and sat to wait out the warrant process. Shawna yawned and felt her eyes fluttering shut. Tonight had taken a toll on her and she found herself leaning against Rafee for comfort and yielding to her exhaustion. Just before she drifted off, she felt Rafee’s arm loop around her shoulders and tug her against his chest. It was a tender move she never would have expected from a man of his ways, but she made no remark and simply allowed sleep to take over. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The Warrior - Chapter 8 |