Free Sheik Protector by Dana Marton

citrus smell of the palace, noting the white marble tiles under her feet. “Karim. You need to wake up. Hello.”
    Nothing.
    The security system beeped once.
    She took that as a warning and tentatively touched her hand to the screen. A window appeared with a fingerprint drawing on it. She reached for his hand and pressed his thumb against the spot. He didn’t resist. Another window appeared with a blinking cursor. Probably waiting for a password.
    “Wake up!” She pried his good eye open with her fingertips. Only the vacant look spoiled the gorgeous sable color. “What’s the code?”
    He shook his head and tried to focus on her without success. She was beginning to feel real guilty for doing this to him. Then hardened her heart. If he had listened to reason, she wouldn’t have had to take things so far.
    “The code.” She turned him toward the screen. Him being bossy was annoying, but having him completely helpless wasn’t all that fun, either.
    He gathered himself and lifted his hand, punched in a series of numbers she didn’t quite see as she had to hold him up. But she did see when the light switched to green.
    “Thank you.” She leaned him against the wall and let him go, closing the door behind them. Mission accomplished. She was practically on her way to freedom.
    A small beep sounded again. By the time she turned around, he was sitting on the floor with his back resting against the wall and his eyes closed. The security light was red once more. He had rearmed the system.
    And just like that, she was trapped again.
     
    “F AILURE WILL not be accepted. This is a holy mission. Do not come back,” Mustafa yelled into the phone before remembering that his men needed encouragement as well as discipline. He switched to a more fatherly tone. “You will find them. Your path will be guided by righteousness.”
    So there had been setbacks. He knew he was merely being tested. He was prepared to show the strength of his faith by never giving up, never letting an unexpected problem get the better of him.
    He’d lost a man. A noble sacrifice.
    Every cause had martyrs. The loss would only strengthen him and his small group of true believers. They were all prepared to die for what was true and right.
    You fought against the devil, you had to expect that there would be casualties. He had expected that a few men would have to be sacrificed. He was willing to give that to the cause. In truth, he was willing to give so much more.
    His calling was to rid the world of evil, and he was prepared to do that, whatever the cost. But some of his followers were untrained yet, their minds not as strong as they should be. They didn’t see losing one of their own as glorious as he did. They would learn. Teaching them was part of his responsibilities, a sacred duty entrusted to him.
    But his enemies were multiplying, it seemed. Who was the woman? A whore no doubt. No woman of honor would spend the night at a strange man’s house, nor would she take him back to her hotel room with her. If he had any doubts about whether Karim stood on the side of righteousness or darkness, that alone would have revealed the truth. Karim had been infected by evil, his actions turning immoral already. Who knew what he would do if Mustafa didn’t stop him?
    He felt the full weight of that responsibility. He would not lay down his burden until his task was done, his mission completed.
    “Check our primary points. I will also send out the others,” he told the man on the other end of the line.
    His team had been following Karim around for weeks now. They knew all the places he regularly visited. He was wounded; he would want someplace familiar to hide, someplace he felt safe.
    Little did he know that for a man who sided with evil, there was no safe place among righteous believers.

Chapter Five
    If she left now, the alarm would go off. Julia could see it all: a foreign woman running into the street with blood on her clothes and a palace security siren