Worry ate at him. Jameel didn’t always follow protocol. His brother felt he didn’t need the same type of protection as the rest of them. If anything, Jameel needed to be guarded the most. If anyone could hack into the Jawahir Royal Military, not to mention hundreds of other areas of national security, it was his twin.
“I’m going to need to reassign two of you to protect Jameel,” he said the moment he stepped into the front section of the plane.
Yahya and Ziya sat up from where they were dozing. Issa and Hyder paused the game of cards they were playing. His gaze moved to Yahya.
“What do you need, Junayd?” Yahya asked.
“I need you to track and protect my brother and a woman named Junebug Rain,” he instructed.
“Junebug? Are you serious? Who would name their kid after a beetle?” Hyder snorted.
“A woman named Rainbow,” he replied.
* * *
Midnight looked out of the window of the Humvee the next day. Jawahir was as beautiful as Junayd had described.
They had landed in the capital of Nasir just before sunrise. To her surprise, they hadn’t stayed there. A short, friendly man named Ashar had greeted them and handed Junayd and the others keys to the three Hummers. She had been surprised when Yahya and Hyder had left in another vehicle. They were replaced by two men that she didn’t know.
Junayd had led her to the middle vehicle, opening the door for her before he walked around to climb into the driver’s seat. Soon, they were exiting the city and traveling along a series of highways. They were currently stopped at a service station outside of a small village east of Nasir.
“Do you need anything?” he asked.
She nodded. “A visit to the little girls' room,” she said, eyeing the station warily.
“Inside, left back corner. If you want anything, have the cashier charge it to the pump,” he said.
She nodded and slid out of the Hummer. She adjusted her hat and looked around as she walked across to the building. It was actually very modern and not that different from some of the stores back home. She pulled open the door and headed for the back left corner. After refreshing herself, she browsed the aisles.
The woman behind the counter was excitedly talking on the phone, her eyes flashing to the three Humvees. Midnight smiled behind her scarf. The woman was telling the person on the other end that a member of the royal family was there for gas.
“Yes, I am sure! There are three vehicles and a strange woman got out of the one with the prince. I don’t know who she is. She looks like a foreigner,” the woman was saying.
The woman looked over at her. Midnight acted like she didn’t notice. Opening a cooler door, she pulled out a half-dozen bottles of water. They had some in the vehicles, but it was always good to buy something from the locals if possible. She added a variety of snacks to her purchase and walked up to the counter.
“Please add this to the fuel,” she requested in Arabic.
The woman flushed, set her phone aside, and nodded. “You are American?” the woman asked.
Midnight glanced at the phone. The last thing she wanted to do was to have a conversation recorded. She nodded in response.
“The prince is very handsome, isn’t he? Is that Prince Junayd?” the woman continued, bagging the water and snacks.
“Thanks, have a great day,” she said, not answering the woman’s questions.
Maybe the woman would think she only knew a few words. She could see the disappointment in the woman’s eyes as she gathered the bag and left. Junayd was talking with Issa. She walked over to the group of men at the last pump and opened the bag.
“Water and snacks,” she offered.
The men looked surprised, but they reached inside, taking a cold bottle of water and a snack with a murmur of thanks. She stopped next to Issa. Ziya had walked back to chat with Junayd and Issa by then.
“Water and snacks,” she repeated, opening the bag again.
“Thank you,” Issa said, taking a bottle and a candy bar.
“Thank Junayd. He’s the one who paid for it all.”
The group chuckled at her retort. The sound of cars pulling in made her look around and she grimaced.