On the Hunt - Page 66

“I put her in Kira’s tent. She wasn’t feeling so good. Taylor knocked her around a little.”

“And why did you ignore my calls?” Kalim demanded as he got out of the car. “I’ve called you twice since we got on the road. You do not ever do that to me, Aban. I thought that was understood.”

“It is,” Aban said quickly. “But Kira was very worried, and I thought you would not mind just this once. You always say I have to do what’s best for everyone. Kira was very sad and worried. She told me I had to rescue the damsel in distress even if it wasn’t her.”

“And I’m tempted to break your head open, young man,” Kalim said grimly. “Next time I’ll do it. Where is this damsel, Harlan?”

“Here she comes.” Harlan gave a low whistle as he saw Fiona limping toward the blazing fire. “And not looking any too well,” he said as he started toward her. “You’re sure she’s not badly hurt, Aban?”

“She said she was fine. Just a few bruises.”

But Fiona was running toward Harlan now and then she was in his arms. “It was terrible, Harlan. I told him to take me to you, but he wouldn’t do it.” She was wiping the tears away from her cheeks. “It’s all wrong. We have to go back to get her. I never would have left her if she hadn’t lied to me.”

He was looking at the cuts on her face. “These aren’t too bad.” He looked her in the eyes and asked gently, “Did Taylor hurt you in any other way?”

“Lots of threats and he made me drink that horrible stuff that put me out. And he socked me twice after I threw that cup at him. That made him really mad. I wanted to crush his face in.”

“I imagine you did. I know just how you feel.”

“But none of that matters.” Fiona threw her arm out toward Aban. “He should have taken me back when I told him to. He wouldn’t listen. Kira is with that asshole, and we have to go get her.” Tears were flowing down her cheeks again. “He hurts people. He told me how he hurt my father. He laughed about it. I won’t have him hurting Kira.”

“You’re right, we have to go back and get her,” Harlan said. “But it’s not your battle now. You’ll have to leave it up to me.”

“The hell I will,” Fiona said. “It’s always up to you. But this time I’m the one who brought Golden Boy’s vet to Summer Island. I still don’t know what Taylor did to him after he gave me that shot. He wouldn’t tell me. All he said was that he hadn’t hurt Golden Boy because he was too valuable. I’ve got to make sure I didn’t cause any other harm.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Harlan said. He didn’t want to tell her that two of the guards he’d left to protect her on Summer Island were missing and now presumed dead, which was how so much time had elapsed without anyone realizing Fiona had been taken. “I don’t know what role your vet played in this yet. But on the road here from Abdullah’s, I called the captain of the guards at Summer Island, and I don’t have the slightest doubt you were the target, Fiona.”

“What difference does that make? Because Taylor still took Kira—” She whirled to face Aban. “—and it was his fault because he wouldn’t pay any attention to me when I told him he had to take me back to get her. All he’d say was that he had his orders from her and you’d be angry if he didn’t obey her orders.”

“I did what I was supposed to do,” Aban said sourly, “and everyone is already yelling at me. You’re a pretty lousy damsel in distress, Fiona. I’ll have to tell Kira that the next time I see her.”

“If you see her again,” Harlan said. “I’m not too pleased with the way you handled this either, Aban.” He turned back to Fiona. “But it’s probably not fair of you to blame him too harshly. We all know how difficult and determined Kira can be when she makes up her mind. You’ve seen it yourself. She wanted you back very much and was willing to do anything to make it happen. Now we’ve just got to concentrate on bringing her home. Aban will help us do that, and so will Kalim—to whom you haven’t been introduced.” He gestured to Kalim. “Kalim, my niece, Fiona, who appears to be just as upset as we are about the way Kira decided to go about getting our hands on Taylor.”

“He’s the one with the horses?” Fiona turned immediately to face Kalim. “Good. Tell him we don’t care about his blasted horses if he’ll help us find Kira. I’ll even give him my Golden Boy. He could be as good as any one of his horses that Kira was telling me about. He’ll probably win another Olympic medal this year.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Kalim said. “But I’ll have to refuse your offer. I regard your friend Kira as also my good friend, and that means I can’t take anything in payment but your help in bringing her back to us. You may know a good deal about where Taylor and those terrible men were keeping her and can give us information. Is that possible?”

“It’s possible,” Fiona said. “And you’re very smart to think about it. We can use him, Harlan.”

“Thank you,” Harlan said. “I’m sure he appreciates your approval. I was about to ask you the same thing, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Suppose we all go back to your tent and ask you all those questions right now. Unless you prefer to go to Kalim’s palace?”

“Whichever is faster. I think Kalim will want that, too.” She started back toward the tent area. “And Aban can come, too. He might remember something else Kira told him that he forgot to tell me. He said she’s the one who talked to Taylor about you.”

“Of course I will come,” Aban said. “I do not need your permission. Kira is my friend. I am the one she called when you foolishly got yourself caught by that vermin.”

Fiona looked stricken. “You’re right. I’ve known that from the minute you jerked me down in that motorboat and took off with me. It was all my fault. I was the one who called the vet to come to Summer Island and take care of Golden Boy. I thought it was the right thing to do. But if I could change it now or have Harlan try to trade me for Kira, I’d do it. Taylor just might do it. He was very angry with me when I hit him with that cup.” She glanced at Harlan. “How about it? It’s either that or you take me with you when you go hunting for her. Otherwise, I’ll go after Kira on my own. It’s my fight now. It should have been mine all along.”

“You were a little young,” Harlan said. “And that would have been a special victory for Taylor that I’d never give him. As it is, I should have kept you safer while you were on Summer Island.”

“Bullshit,” Fiona said. “Make a choice, because it’s going to be one or the other. You’re probably right, I was only blaming Aban because I was feeling guilty myself. You can’t expect me to stay here twiddling my thumbs—I’m not about to just sit this one out. Kira didn’t do that when she knew I might be in danger.”

“The young lady appears to be giving you a great deal of trouble, Harlan,” Kalim murmured. “I could have her taken to my palace and put under heavy guard.”

“No, you couldn’t.” Fiona turned back to face him. “I’d find a way to get away and then I promise you that I would be on my own.” Her voice was suddenly fierce. “Because I’d never stop. Stay out of this, Kalim. That was a lousy idea. I respect you. I even like what I’ve heard about you from Kira. Since you’re trying to be helpful, I’ll be glad to work with you and do anything I can to please you. But don’t think you can order me around. Look, maybe I wasn’t as courteous as I should have been, and I know that all these people around here believe you’re some kind of important royal demigod or something, but it doesn’t mean anything to me. I grew up in the same house as Jack Harlan and I’m used to it. We can do this together. But don’t get in my way.”

Kalim gave a low whistle. He glanced at Harlan. “It’s your call.”

“It always is,” Harlan said. “From the time she was seven years old. And I believe that we’d better take her along. She always means what she says, and she’ll obey once she understands it’s the right thing to do.” He pushed her toward the tents. “But you’ll obey without question, Fiona. And we’re going to ignore that you’re a bit banged up because that’s what you want. But your first order is to keep an eye on Mack while we’re on Taylor’s trail. There may be more orders later.”