Zara by Jade Kerrion

Author:Jade Kerrion [Kerrion, Jade]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948642118
Publisher: Jade Kerrion
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The narrow shaft led up to a hatch installed in a maintenance shed. Zara winced as the hinges squeaked, but apparently, no one was around to hear it. She scrambled up, reached down for the gun case Klah handed up to her, and stepped aside for Klah to exit. As he emerged from the tunnel, he glanced at the sloping piles of slate roof tiles stacked on three sides of the hatch. The only opening was a small gap against the wall of the shed, just large enough for a person to squeeze through.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Kantari. Northeast Beirut.”

She looked him over. Dusty, bruised, and bloodied, he looked like he had been in an explosion and a fight. She suspected she didn’t look any more respectable, but she could conceal herself from head to toe in the conservative garb worn by the religious sects. A few quick twists turned her carryall into a black robe.

“Stay here. I’ll find us a cab.”

“You don’t have to take your gun case with you.”

She smiled and shook her head. “I don’t trust you that much.”

Zara made her way through the narrow streets to a small apartment complex and pressed the buzzer for apartment 6-D. No answer. She allowed a minute to pass and buzzed it again. Static crackled. “Who is it?” a male voice slurred in Arabic.

“Zara Itani.”

“Mistress Zara?” The voice sounded considerably more awake.

Thank God, Idris worked the late night shifts. “Will you take me to Baalbek?”

“Of course.”

She sighed. “Ask why, Idris.” She had been trying to drum streetwise cynicism into him for five years. From his response, she was not succeeding.

He laughed. “Why bother if it’s not going to change my answer? Do you want to come in and wait?”

Best not to draw too much attention to where her friends lived. “I’ll wait out front.”

“Okay, I will bring my cab around the front in ten minutes.”

He managed it in eight and a half, but by then, she was already mentally drumming her fingernails against any available surface. A cab stopped in front of the building, and a man hopped out of the driver’s seat. Idris, the street urchin Zara had yanked out of poverty five years earlier and settled with a foster family, had grown into a lanky young man with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. He scurried forward, stopping several feet in front of her to touch his right hand to his head and his heart in a gesture of greeting and respect.

Zara inclined her head, acknowledging the gesture. Beneath the veil, a smile tugged up at the corners of her lips; Idris had always had that kind of effect on her. With effort, she kept her voice stern. “Always ask why.”

He shrugged and gave her a sweet smile. “With you, I don’t have to. Where to?” he asked.

“To Baalbek, but we need to make one quick stop first to pick up another passenger.” She gave him directions back to the shed.

As Idris took off, Zara glanced out the window but saw nothing to raise her hackles.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.