Freedom Does Matter (Mercenaries Book 2) (27 page)

Beckie whirled to face the woman. “No. No, I don’t think so. Go and pack if you’re coming. If we go. Can you make sure she’s okay, Ian?”

He nodded and walked after the doctor. The orderlies brought up the rear of that little procession.

Beckie spun back to the bench. With the reduction in tension, Noorah and Amy had moved apart. Standing, looking at them, Beckie stamped in frustration. She swung her fist, but there was no wall, or face, either, to hit. “Damn! Just damn!

“I know I’m trying to fit my beliefs and your actions together— Yes! Both of you! My beliefs don’t necessarily fit you, I know, but still…” She snatched her mouth closed, listening to the words echoing in her mind. Are we really that far apart? she wondered silently. How much can I push them?

Cowering against the bench, Noorah said nothing. Amy tried to stand, but Beckie pushed her—more gently than Millie had—to sit again.

She took a deep breath. Change of subject. “So, girl, where were you? And why the reaction at… oh my God!” Beckie dropped to the shell walk in front of the bench. Abby. The stunning woman—stunning both in mind and body—yeah, I completely get why Amy could’ve fallen in love—or lust—with her. “Shalin’s only part way right, isn’t she? You don’t have a boyfriend here, you have… You were with Abby.”

Amy collapsed, face in her hands.

Guess that’s right. Passing infatuation? “How did you manage to spend the day with her and no one figured it out? Even Sue?” She stood, stretched up on her tip-toes. “And why didn’t you tell Shalin? There wasn’t any reason to tell her why… even if I’ve guessed right, which looking at you, I have. Is it love, or just lust?” She hoped her insolent tone would bring Amy back.

Not this well! Amy shot up and swung at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Noorah stand and reach for Amy, but come short. Beckie snatched Amy’s hand after it smacked her cheek. Blinking back a tear, she pulled the girl to her chest, close enough to twist her arm behind her back in a funny, uncomfortable hug. She ran her tongue over her lip where Amy’s palm had crushed it against her teeth. “If you’ve split my lip so I can’t kiss,” she threatened, “you’ll see a fate worse than… than anything,” she finished weakly.

Weakly because Amy was now wriggling saucily against her chest. Beckie let go the girl’s hand allowing her to step away. Amy’s eyes were slitted and her lips were compressed in a line. She took Amy’s chin in her hand, cupping, not squeezing. After a moment, Amy squirmed and Beckie dropped her hand.

“Okay. Want to answer my questions now? Or ask some of your own? Or maybe sit and pout while I beat up Noorah?”

Amy dropped to the bench, and grasping Noorah’s hand, left room for Beckie. “Yeah, that sounds good.” A grin showed faintly, then bloomed into a funny smile before fading. “Why do you fucking care about me? And how did you guess… about Abby?”

“Two confirmations, Amy Rose. Your gasp when I said her name and your question just now. So… love? Or lust?” She dropped to sit next to Noorah, looking past her at Amy, still blushing. “For what it’s worth, my money’s on lust.”

“Yeah,” Amy said, whispering as if the Inquisition was within earshot. “For Abby, anyway, I think.”

“I hate to sound all adult, but I’m… I’m really hard pressed to think you have enough experience—”

“It’s all about you, isn’t it! Well, how does anyone get experience around here? Almost everyone’s in a relationship, even you and Mr. Jamse, and even if they’re not, I’m so far out of bounds… I can’t even see the fucking pitch!”

Beckie was taken aback by Amy’s outburst. Even Noorah twisted away from the girl. Beckie leaned around Noorah’s shoulder to gaze full face at Amy. She sighed. “Okay, Amy. It doesn’t matter to you, probably, but adults think they have a lot of good reasons for those things. Especially here, where we live in the next thing to an armed camp so no one gets killed because of what they’ve done.” Beckie stood and came around to sit beside Amy. As she put her arm around the girl, she said to Noorah, “Your turn is up next,” with a big foreboding smile.

“According to everything I know, Amy, you’re unique here. The only 15-year-old at the Nest. Hell, the only under-eighteen teen here. Both your mother and Ian, too, want to protect you—”

“But I don’t want their protection! I don’t
need
their protection.”

“Stop! Just stop. Look at Noorah.” Amy hesitated. “Look, dammit!” Amy turned slowly to look at the Egyptian girl. “I don’t know if she wanted protection or not, but she didn’t have it. Maybe she would have been grateful for it before her hand got whacked off. Or before she was raped and left—”

“Miss…” Noorah’s tearful murmur brought Beckie’s attention to her.

“I’m sorry for using you as an object lesson, to be careful what you ask for.” She reached to cover Amy’s lips with her fingers, stopping her from responding.

Noorah was intent on her hand, lying in her lap. Her voice was hardly audible. “Did you also tell… the man?”

“The man? Ian? Yes, he knows… Oh! Haleef? No. You will speak to him, if you choose. He knows about your hand, and you’ve been mistreated, but no details.” She pursed her lips. “He could have guessed it, I suppose, if women are routinely treated so in your society.”

Noorah merely bobbed her head up and then down.

Beckie focused on Amy again. “Now, Amy Rose, until you’re eighteen, you’re stuck with someone else’s idea of protection. Your mom’s idea may be… may seem really confining, but it’s nothing to what some other parents think is appropriate. Ian’s concern is your physical safety, which includes one of the team hitting on you because you are awesome good looking, and young, and innocent.

“Some other time, we can argue whether the Nest was a good place for you to grow up. Right now, though, it’s where you are, so let’s try and make the best of it.” She sat back. “I’ll promise Ian won’t hear Abby’s name in this context from me.”

“He’s probably figured it out.”

“Then Abby’s gone.” Beckie’s matter-of-fact delivery sent Amy into tears. “I’m serious. Abby’s like half-again your age, and she knows better than to take up with a 15-year-old. I’ll take your word that she and you haven’t—”

“No! No, dammit. I wanted to, but she’s all it’s not time yet!”

“Well, looking at you…” Beckie did a slow scan of the girl’s body, licking her lips to make it as lascivious as possible. “You won’t have long to wait till she breaks down. Sending her to work with Barbara may be a blessing in disguise.” She stood and slid Amy along the bench to open a space next to Noorah. “We have some work to do, and you will stay with me till we’re done. After that, we’ll talk to your Mom ‘cause you need to tell her about Abby.”

“But… but…”

“Yeah, we’ll have to be careful. I’ll think about it. Don’t worry till later, okay?” She waited until the girl nodded, then turned to Noorah. “Things could always be worse. Until Amy showed up and gave me another outlet for my… temper, I was mad that you didn’t see things the way I see them. Having her…” She flipped her head back toward Amy. “… defuse my pique… Well, I’m not so angry, now. I do understand that you have no reason whatever to trust me, except that you’re being fed and your arm is being looked after.” Beckie took a deep breath. “I grabbed you away from everything you know. Whether it was good or bad, at least there you understood things and where your place was. Here, you have none of that. It’s all different and while you don’t see any threat, how could you be sure, having seen nothing but the inside of one room and maybe five people? Anything could be happening.” The girl’s mouth was open. Guess she understands.

“And then I tell you I’ve brought you a… suitor.” Noorah made a little sound of confusion. “Huh? Oh. A suitor is a person interested romantically with… you, in this case.” Noorah cringed as she ducked her head in a nod of sorts. “Anyway, I bring him here for my own purposes, and his, and expect you to trust me, and by extension, him.” She lowered her head, catching it in her hand. “I am so stupid… And arrogant. I must be two people!” Behind her, Amy snickered but choked the sound off. Beckie raised her head to stare into Noorah’s eyes. “I get that… I understand that you don’t know Haleef or anything about him. You have no reason to trust him even as much as you might trust me, and you have lots of historical reason to doubt his intentions. I can only vouch for him on the basis of the hours I’ve spent with—”

“Miss Beckie.” But Noorah stopped there. She rose and walked to a flowering bush across the path. For several long minutes, she played with the flowers in silence. Amy squeezed Beckie’s hand; Beckie gave her a smile filled with thanks.

Finally, Noorah turned and broke the silence. “Because I live, I will meet with him.” She walked back to the bench and sat. “To talk, nothing more. I ask for your…” She glanced over Beckie’s shoulder at Amy. “I desire your protection, and… Mr. Ian’s.” She peeked under her eyebrows at Amy. “I’m sorry, Miss Amy, but—”

“No! God, no. Please don’t apologize,” Amy said. “I understand completely. In your place—”

“Which is exactly where no one wants you or anyone to ever be, Amy. Remember that.” Beckie took Noorah’s hand and squeezed it. “Thank you. For now, we’ll drop you at your room. Tomorrow morning, we’ll talk to Haleef. He asked if he could hold Friday noontime prayers, too.”

Noorah made no response, and Beckie stood to lead the way back.

After seeing Noorah to her room, Beckie chivvied Amy along, over the channel to Kevin’s home. He greeted them at the door with only a hint of surprise at seeing Amy. Behind the girl, Beckie shook her head as she asked for Haleef.

“He’s down in the TV room with the twins.”

“I have to say, Beckie, these Egyptians are excellent with kids,” Shalin said.

“That’s good to hear. Especially for Haleef.” She looked around the neat kitchen area. “Think we could use the dining room? Or maybe the lanai? That way we won’t interfere with you too much.”

Kevin nodded as he pointed the way; Shalin walked down the hallway toward the TV room.

In a minute, Amy, Haleef and Beckie were sitting at the deVeel’s long dining room table. Kevin agreed with Beckie that he wasn’t needed, but while Amy would have been just as happy somewhere else, Beckie wanted her underfoot, at least for the time being. And while she did trust Haleef, having a third person made sense. She spent a few words introducing the girl, watching with interest as Haleef politely acknowledged her before focusing on Beckie.

“I talked with Noorah,” Beckie began, thinking this might not be that long a conversation after all.

Haleef brightened considerably. “That’s good. I was beginning to think you were inveigling me away from her.” His expression drooped. “And I just realized that could still be true. The fact that you talked to her doesn’t mean she’s here, does it?”

Beckie chuckled at his self-induced disappointment. “You’re right, but…” She smiled and reached across to pat his hand. “… you should trust me, a little. That’s not to say you could find her, or get to her without me. She’s close by, under our protection.”

Haleef clenched his fists and stared at Beckie with wide open eyes. “Already, I put myself in your hands. I promised I would not act without your knowledge. What may I do—”

“Nothing,” Beckie said. “So far, I couldn’t ask for better behavior, thank you. And tomorrow morning, you, Noorah and I will have breakfast.

“I am bound to tell you that she is… leery… Yeah. Distrusting might even be correct. I’m sure,” she said as she held off Haleef’s attempt to interrupt, “that her attitude is from past experience, and because she doesn’t know you from… from anyone. You will have the chance to make a first impression on her tomorrow.”

“You did it!” he said; his pleasure was evident. Even Amy smiled as she watched. However, his happy expression faded before Beckie could speak. “I am embarrassed that I didn’t speak sooner. I do not wish to seem dishonorable. When we talked at the hotel, I told you everything I recalled. However, last night, while I was trying to make sense of Sedki… attacking Noorah and you, and then losing interest… I remembered that he asked that I return to London with him, to give him assistance.” Beckie nodded. “As I told you, my grandfather required me to stay during the negotiations. But while Sedki was trying to convince me, he said I could help strike a blow for Allah.”

“Hmm,” Beckie said over Amy’s little gasp. “What kind of a blow, did he tell you? And how would you assist?”

“He would explain it after we arrived. He said only that we would be finished before the end of the month.”

Beckie’s mind went fuzzy for a few seconds. Nasir had said London, too. What else did he say? Oh! Soccer. She shook her head. “Thanks, Haleef. You’re forgiven. This may have added the… cachet needed to justify more investigation.”

He gazed at Beckie for a long moment; she was unsure what he wanted to say. “If you choose to investigate further… And it is after I meet Noorah, I would like to help, if I may.”

“I’ll keep that well in mind. Thanks.”

Beckie left Haleef with Kevin and Shalin, who agreed they’d deter him if he showed interest in sight-seeing in the dark. She pulled Amy along to the dock. In the boat, she had Amy steer across the waterway while she put her head in her hands and thought as hard as she ever had.

“Hey,” Amy said, more nervous than Beckie expected. “You okay?”

She popped her head back up. “Yeah. Fine, actually. Now, I’m trying to devise a strategy so it all stays fine.”

Amy nodded. “Anything I can help with?”

“Just listen, okay?” The girl bumped the boat against the pier, grabbed the painter and nodded as she tied it off. “Good work, thanks. Now, my job for the next little while is kind of multi-layered. I’ve gotta keep Ian from getting mad and… and throwing me off the island. Same is true for Abby. Least I guess you don’t want her fired…” She had to grab the gunwales; Amy rocked the boat with her nodding. “… and I know Derek has plans for her and her expertise, whatever it is.”

She looked into the bottom of the boat. “He’s not…”

“No, no, no. He and Emily are doing fine. In fact, another little Hamilton’s on the way, if I remember what he said. But he’s interested in international affairs and Abby’s résumé from Columbia’s pretty impressive.” She gave Amy a quizzical look. “Any idea why she doesn’t call herself Jolene?”