The Sheik's mysterious cook

Chapter 18 - ....and Rescue

        The helicopter arrived five minutes after I requested it. All my men were upset that they failed to protect Caroline and Sarai. Everyone hoped that they were still okay and that his cousin hadn’t dared hurt them either. I jumped into the helicopter so that we could take off right away. We went across the city, to where the car was last picked up from a camera, and started following a possible trail from there.

      After we followed the first path for an hour, I felt choked up with fear. I knew my cousin, he probably wasn’t acting alone. He was too dumb for that. I just hope he didn’t hire professionals. If it was just him and my uncle, Caroline and Sarai had a better chance at surviving. I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I had a message from an undisclosed number. I choked up with fear what this message could entail. It just read:

 “Are you missing something already. I picked up your stray and will dispose of her soon, unless you pay 10 Million.” And attached was a photo. I had to fight with myself to open it, too afraid of what it would reveal. Due to the bad reception up here the picture loaded for a few minutes. It was a picture of Caroline huddled in the corner of a dark room. She was hugging Sarai to her chest and I could see tear tacks on her face which was covered in dirt and blood.

      I felt my anger rise along with bile. I felt physically sick. She was hurt, bleeding from the head. He would pay for that. I forwarded the message to my Dad and the chief of police as well as my security chef. I also texted Farah that the kidnappers had made a demand and there was a big possibility that the two were still alive, and would stay that way, after I paid the ransom. I couldn’t send her the picture knowing it would upset her, not comfort her.

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      I don’t know how long we have been locked in here. Thankfully, all the crying had exhausted Sarai and she fell asleep a while ago while sitting in my lap. I hugged her close to me and hoped help would get here soon. I could feel my strength leaving me, draining out of me faster and faster.

      Since I had been throwing up everything since we left Montana and trapped in this hot room, my body must be dehydrated. My head injury didn’t help with the issue. I was sick to my stomach, nauseous and my vision started to fail me. I was exhausted to say the least. I started talking to my Dad again.

“Please Daddy, help us. Don’t make me loose the baby or Sarai, you can’t let them take us away from Tariq. I can’t handle another loss. I don’t have the strength anymore.”

I started sobbing quietly, to not rouse Sarai from her sleep. The longer she stayed asleep, the better. This way, she would miss most of what was going on.

      I could hear several men talking outside. Shortly, after that bastard locked us in here, another vehicle had arrived. I heard them talk about a ransom, but I had a feeling that no matter what they demanded for us, they would not keep to true to their word and would kill us anyway. These men seemed to be furious with Tariq and were running a personal vendetta against him, so there was no way we would get out unharmed. But I didn’t care if they hurt me, if Sarai would get away unharmed I would take every blow and kick or other way of turture if I could just keep her safe.

      Luckily, they still don’t know who I am. I was glad that they didn’t get a hold of Farah, as they originally planned, but wished they had just taken me and left Sarai back at the airport. She was in more danger now, than she ever was living on the streets. I could feel my consciousness slowly slipping away. My vision was worse than before I could barely see the slit beneath the door, where the sun shone through. My sight was blurry and I had the feeling like I was on a moving ship. Dark dots started appearing from the outside.