A Cinderella for the sheikh

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A Cinderella For the Sheikh
Chapter Eighteen.

I was suddenly jerked awake when our car came to an abrupt halt.
"What's wrong?" Julia asked Kade from behind.

"We can't go to Texas"

I sat in my seat abruptly. What was going on?

"Asher call your father right now and tell him to send the helicopter right here."

I didn't ask for details as I dialled my father. I trusted Kade. If he thought of a plan then it had to be good.

As soon as I had sent a gprs mms to my father I looked at Kade.

"There is a motel 10 minutes from here. Tell your father the name when we reach. We will get picked up from there. We can rest the night."

"Why the change of plans though?" I asked Kade as he continued to gaze outside, deep in thought.

"I just have this hunch...." He trailed off.

He looked at me directly into my eyes. " If your helicopter picks us up from the safe house they can easily locate us and then if we ever need it, we won't be able to use it."

I understood what Kade was trying to say. We couldn't let Hassan locate us if we ever needed to hide again. If something went wrong. An uneasy feeling passed through me. What if his hunch was right. What if we do need to elope again. I sure hoped not.

"We are going to change the number plate of this car so that nobody would be able to note it as soon as we get to the hotel."

"And how are you going to do that?" I questioned him curiously.

"I have an extra or two. I am not an agent for nothing." He smirked at me and I nodded my head in amusement.

Twelve minutes later as promised we reached a shabby highway motel. The light flickered but there was a vacant sign hung outside for everyone to see. I texted my father the name of the motel and we all grabbed the little luggage we had and entered the motel.

The motel was surely ancient. As soon as the receptionist, who was a chubby woman with white hair looked at us her jaw dropped.

"It's been so many months since we had these many customers" She announced with glee.

I gave her a slight smile as I asked her for two rooms. One for us boys and the other one for the girls. If the woman never had four guests together then I wonder how she survived.

The woman led us to our rooms. The girls mumbled a good night as they stumbled past us to their room. Kade and I entered the room, it definitely had a standard size double bed in it. The room was slathered with dust. I didn't mind since it was just one night but I suppose Kade's nose didn't think so as he started to sneeze.

"I'm allergic to" he sneezed again "dust" another sneeze.

I dialled the reception to ask for help. The woman promised to come and clean the room as soon as she could. I felt bad for giving her trouble this late at night but Kade could not sleep here.

As promised the woman entered the room and gave it a quick clean. I thanked her making a note mentally to pay her extra while checking out tomorrow. The room was not speckless but it was definitely better than before. I was just glad to have had dinner before landing here. I definitely didn't want to taste what they had here.

The night passed in silence. I couldn't get proper sleep and I knew Kade couldn't sleep either because of the way he kept twisting and turning all night.

As soon as I woke up I called Minho.

"Hey pal. What news you got for me.?" Minho's warm voice greeted me from the other end. I sure did miss that guy.

"I'm having all the newbies monitored so far didn't find anything fishy. But I'll let you know as soon as I find out something."

We all gathered together at the reception. The woman couldn't help hide her glee when I paid her double the amount of what she had charged. This place was deserted so it would be no problem for the helicopter to land on the empty field next to the motel which was considered to be a parking lot.

I was notified that the helicopter would reach us in a few minutes and we all patiently waited except for Julia who was jumping up and down in excitement because it would be her first helicopter ride.

"Are you not excited?" Julia asked turning to Sophia as the helicopter came into view.

I turned around to look at Sophia. Her green eyes depicted pure horror.

"Hey, it's not that bad. We are all here with you aren't we?" I said to her and she shook her head reluctantly. I knew the way she was gulping that my words had not affected her at all. She was still afraid.

"You will be fine Sophia. Just hold on to Julia and enjoy the view. The only way you'd be afraid is if you keep looking at the height. Forget about that. Just enjoy the ride. Enjoy the view. " She nodded again as the helicopter landed in front of us. We could feel the pressure as it landed on land. The man seemed to be in a hurry since he simply gestured to us and sat on his seat. It was weird because most of the royal pilots would greet us first. But I could see our logo on the helicopter so I put the thought inside.

We all got in and latched on our belts. Kade smirked as Sophia muttered supplication after supplication under her breath and Julia smiled on with pure amusement. I wish I could ease Sophia fear but I was of no help.

Just as the helicopter rose upwards and we were twenty feet above the ground I got a call. It was Minho.

"I just found out" his voice came from the other end. It was difficult for me to hear with the all the noise this metal flying bird was making. I had to close my other ear to hear properly.

"Don't get on the helicopter. Don't get on the helicopter." Minho yelled frantically.

"Why?" I questioned confused.

"Because the royal pilot who was assigned to you is standing in front of me and a newbie flew to you. He is Hassan's man."

My blood ran cold as I realised we were trapped.