Raging Storm {book 2 in SOSfanfic series} [ON HOLD]

Web Of Lies

Karim had a million thoughts rampaging in his mind as he walked in towards the rendezvous point where he had to meet with Mr. Ambrose.
At least now I know that he wasn't killed in the hotel. Unless he wrote the note earlier and died later.
Stop thinking like that. It's not possible. Yet Karin's stomach still churned just like a dog frets as he senses an oncoming storm.

Time seemed to fly by as Karim took his position and waited for Mr. Ambrose, still deep in thought.

He felt his employers presence before he saw or heard him. Mr. Ambrose was walking towards him purposefully like a panther does in a territorial fight. The fact that they were in a dark, foul smelling, deserted alley behind a dingy pub wasn't making Mr. Ambrose look less like an animal out for the hunt. His glare was so harsh and cold that it could stop armies.

Karim, Mr. Ambrose's most trusted employee who knew that as long as he did his job successfully he would never be harmed, could not meet his employers eyes. Instead he performed a visual body sweep to check for any irregularities.
Karim spotted a huge one. Mr. Ambrose was meeting him in a secluded public area in the late morning wearing his nightclothes.

Karim blinked. Maybe I have died and this is a hallucination. At least it is not a bad hallucination and he doesn't have any blood on him.

"It couldn't be helped." Mr. Ambrose snapped explaining his unnatural state to Karim "I had to leave immediately."

"Sahib, I was just relieved that it was not you." Karim tried to cover up his embarrassingly blatant staring with a little white lie.

"What are you talking about?" He snapped again. He must've woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

"What are you talking about?"

"The cause of my problems!"

"Me as well, Sahib."

".
.
....- what? Who?"

"The dead man, Sahib. Who are you talking about?"

"Reyna! Who are you talking about?"

".
.
.
.

Mr. Ambrose grit his teeth where Karim just looked lost. Hardly keeping his temper in check, he grit out a demand.
" Explain."

Karim gladly obliged.

"Me and Koeyla went to submit the morning report according to plan. I had to cause a distraction and a maid rushed in and screamed someone had died in the East wing. I called out the staff to the wing so that Koeyla could give you the background and situation check in your breakfast tray sir. Everything went according to plan and Koeyla delivered your message to me. Here I am."

Mr. Ambrose was contemplating what Karim has said. The silence did not make Karim any more comfortable.

Just as he was about to burst, Karim took a deep breathe and with every ounce of self-control asked the dreaded question carefully, praying he would get the answer before he would go ballistic.
"What has the ifrit done now?"

The force in Mr. Ambrose's glare was like stepping out in a blizzard. It made Karim forget how badly he needed the answer. But he noticed something in his employer. Whenever he had to threaten or frighten someone for the sake of his company and interests, he did it so unflinchingly, as if he had he ability to sleep later with no threat of nightmares.
But when it came to the ifrit, the fury in his gaze was unleased and the strongest of men would cower in front of him. The only reason Karim did not apologize is because he knew that somehow, his employer, while maddeningly infuriated with the ifrit, had become protective of her.

Back in London, Karim would've scoffed. Here in Egypt, Karim had seen the the way Mr. Ambrose had played the part of a caring husband to a lovely woman. The characters may be fake, but the way Mr. Ambrose leaned back in his chair when his ifrit was speaking something scandalous with a twinkle in her eyes, was not.
The ifrit could do whatever she wants and he would punish her for it however he wants, but should a third soul even throw a dark look at the assassin, Mr. Ambrose broke that person apart like a twig.

And while the power couple made Karim want to drown out his sorrows with whiskey, he couldn't help but smile.

"She threw a shoe at me."

Karim was glad he didn't smile. He liked his job. Although, it was hard not to. He knew his employer must've poked the bear with a stick.

Karin's threatening smile slipped when an informer slipped from the shadows and whispered an urgent message at Mr. Ambrose's shoulder. The queasiness in Karin's stomach came back with full force. He hoped nothing had happened to Koeyla.
Karim felt sick when he saw Mr. Ambrose's eyes widen a fraction and loose the harsh glint until they appeared dead. It was ifrit.

"What has happened?" Karim demanded with a booming voice, forgetting where they were. Mr. Ambrose didn't seem to care, he didn't even even acknowledge the world around him. If it was possible, Karim felt even more uneasy.

The informer looked up at Karim from the shadows.
"Ms. Mertya has gone to meet Lord Dalgliesh."

At the same time, in a street three miles away from where Koeyla's person of interest was standing, Koeyla walked down the street to get back to her home and to freshen up before she met her person of interest again. Koeyla had only seen Reyna Mertya once before. She had never heard her talk.
Yet when a piercing scream of pure agony sounding like a breaking heart burst out from a secluded hotel on Koeyla's left, she just knew it belonged to the assassin who her employer had fallen in love with.