Lost in Arabia

"Thanks." Lana hung up.

Lana didn't relax when Sayed got to her door, nor when they took her things down to the waiting car, nor even when the car pulled out the palace gates. She didn't start relaxing until they were halfway across Abu Dhabi from the palace. She let out a breath with a hiss, feeling as if she'd been holding it since she woke up.

Sayed phoned in the order for her ticket, charging it to his own credit card despite her protests. When they got to the airport, Sayed had the driver bring in her bags, passing them off to a porter. He also insisted on procuring her ticket for her, shushing her rather effectively at the ticket counter. He was efficiency personified.

She still felt like she was in Wonderland, but at least she knew she was leaving now. She turned and smiled weakly at Sayed.

"Well, dear, it's been a slice. Do call if you're ever in Britain."

He blinked. "I'll do that." He looked beyond her. "Ah, this man will escort you to the plane so you are not detained by fans."

Lana turned and looked at a tall man with a rugged-looking growth of beard. She wiggled her fingers and gave him a nervous smile; he did not smile back.

"Have a safe flight, Miss Mitchell," Sayed said. With that, he turned and walked away.

"Please follow me," the man said in heavily accented English.

Lana struggled to keep up with him and the porter, both of whom zipped along. She was taken through something called the 'Express Security' which was apparently a separate gate for VIP passengers who didn't want to wait in line.

Just on the other side of the security gate, however, they were stopped by a group of three men, all of whom wore earpieces and had small radios attached to their candoras. They commenced an animated conversation in Arabic with her escort, and they all kept looking at her. Finally her escort shrugged.

"Go with these men, please," he said, not waiting for her affirmation before turning and leaving her.

"Please follow us," the shortest of the men said, gesturing with his hand.

Lana felt nervous, not understanding what was going on. Perhaps the airport had decided she needed three escorts? She grew really worried when they approached a door marked 'SECURITY' and she was motioned inside.

The room they entered was dark the only light being the glow of the security monitors which were being avidly watched. She was led down a corridor to a small room with a round table.

"Please, have a seat," the short man said again.

He turned and conferred with the other two in Arabic. The taller men left, and Lana was alone with the short fellow, who seated himself across the table from her.

He smiled pleasantly at her.

She smiled waveringly back.

"I'm afraid you cannot leave the country, Miss Mitchell."

Her smile vanished. "Pardon me?"

His smile grew even more pleasant, and his tone placating. "We have orders not to let you leave. We are supposed to escort you back to the Sheikh's home, which we will do as soon as we retrieve your baggage from check."

"You don't understand," Lana's mind worked frantically, "There's been a horrible accident! My mother's lying in the hospital and the doctors aren't sure whether she'll live. I have to go now!"

His gnome-like face softened with sympathy. "I'm very sorry, but our orders come from high," he said, lifting a hand to demonstrate. "You can discuss this with the Sheikh or whoever you are there visiting." His eyes flitted away, and Lana realized with shocked horror that this man probably had some idea that she was fucking someone in the palace.

"I WAS visiting the Sheikh, who is a very kind man and would not want me detained here while my mother dies!" she screamed.

The gnome winced, leaning back as if those few extra inches of distance could protect him from her shrillness.

His radio started chattering, and he turned his head to reply into the mouthpiece.

"All right, we must go. Please follow me," he said, rising and striding to the door.

"No."

He turned and looked at her tiredly. "Miss Mitchell, we have orders."

"Well, they're not my bloody orders!" she said petulantly.

His eyes narrowed. "We are taking you out the back way, so if we have to carry you, no one will be there to see."

Lana's jaw dropped. "Are you fucking joking? I'm a British bloody citizen! You're talking about kidnapping!"

His placating tone returned. "No, I am just following my orders. Once you are there, you may tell the Sheikh," he said in a studiedly neutral tone, clearly leaving off the 'or whoever you're fucking,' "That you wish to leave. Then you may come back to the airport and leave without any problems."

"I want to talk to the Sheikh now. Call him."

He sighed. He opened the door and called out something in Arabic. Another man came a couple of minutes later and handed him a piece of paper, which Lana gathered was a phone number as he took out a cell phone and punched it in.

"Allo? Salaam alaikum," he said into the phone. He looked at Lana and switched to English. "This is Talal Mubaraq from the Abu Dhabi International Security. We received orders from the Sheikh's palace that we were supposed to stop someone here, but she says that if we talk to him, he will say differently. Is he available to speak to?"

Lana waited impatiently.

"I see. What is that number, please? Okay, thank you. Masalaama." He hung up, then began dialing another number.

He flitted through the introductions in Arabic, and Lana caught enough words to know he was talking to royalty. He kept looking at her, making Lana increasingly nervous.

"I see," he said in English, his tone pleasant. He said his goodbyes, then extended the phone to her. "He wishes to speak with you."

"Hello?" Lana said tentatively.

"I told you not to bother," Khalid said by way of greeting, his tone amiable.

"Listen to me, you son of a bitch," Lana said, ignoring the gnome's jaw dropping as she addressed a prince of his country in such a manner, "I need to go home. I am not staying here!"

There was a pause on the other end. "You have made a very big mistake, Lana. And you are going to be severely punished."

Lana was too far gone to stop. "No, you are going to be severely punished when I get a hold of the British Embassy. We crushed your little country before, and they'll bloody well do it again when they find out how you're treating one of their citizens."

Khalid laughed. "We'll see. Goodbye, Lana. I'll see you when I get home."

The line went dead, and Lana vibrated with rage. "Get me the number for the British Embassy here, please," she said to Talal.

He shook his head and snatched his phone out of her hand. "I'm sorry, the..." Talal paused, searching for the right word, "The Prince says we must take you back." He opened the door, motioning for her to go out.

Lana's last remaining pretense of calm evaporated, and she went into hysterics, running out the door and screaming at the security people who were manning the phones and TV monitors, "Somebody call the British Embassy! Please! Call the British Embassy!"

She was hauled backward roughly by a surprisingly strong Talal. He shoved her in front of him, walking along and pushing her through a doorway that led to a cement corridor. The two other gentlemen from earlier materialized as if from nowhere, walking alongside her stoically, ensuring her of no escape in any direction.

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached a door with a glowing 'EXIT' sign above it. Lana was escorted outside and roughly shoved into the back of a white Landcruiser, the two giant, silent security officers sitting one on each side of her. Talal moved to sit up front beside the driver.

Tears filled her eyes, and though Lana tried, she couldn't keep them from spilling over. She wept silently, wondering what had become of her life. She wept all the way back to the palace.

When they arrived, Lana was shocked to see a stone-faced Sayed standing there awaiting them. She glanced around; they'd apparently pulled up to a back entrance.

She was hauled out of the back, and they approached Sayed, who conferred with the men in their tongue.

"Sayed!" He ignored her.

He turned and walked into the palace, and Lana was pulled after him. They took her upstairs, and she noticed she was in a different wing of the house than she'd been before. They finally came to a room that Sayed went into, and gestured at a chair.

Lana was forced into the chair, while Sayed sat across from her. It was an enormous bedroom, even larger than the one she'd been in before, with three plush chairs nestled in corner of the room.

Sayed nodded at Talal and his men as they left. He turned to her. "I'm going to be frank, Miss Mitchell. My job is to look after the Sheikh's family, and sometimes that entails handling things which I find distasteful."

Lana stared at him blankly.

"Khalid's whores, for instance, I do not like taking care of, but I have to because it is my duty," Sayed continued in a tight voice.

Lana sat up straight, both in anger at being called whore and in fear at what was meant by 'taking care of'.

Sayed dark eyes drilled into hers. "You are Khalid's whore now, please make no mistake about that. You belong to him until he says otherwise, and you will not leave here."

Lana stood, walked over, and slapped him across the face as hard as she could.

In an instant, she was bent backward over the chair, her hand wrenched up and pinned against the wall. Sayed's face was just inches from her own, a mask of fury, stained red where she'd slapped him.

"Try that again, and I will beat you like the whore you are," he spat at her.

Lana's breath came in shallow pants. She was terrified. Terrified of the Prince, terrified of what was going to happen to her, and definitely terrified of Sayed.

His eyes trailed from her face to the curve of her neck, to her panting chest, of which a good portion was revealed by her low-cut tank top. He suddenly released her and turned to sit back down.

Lana slowly slid back down into the chair.

Sayed seemed to compose himself. "Please attempt to look at this positively: you will be staying in a palace, you will have the attentions of a prince, and you will be free to go in no more than two or three weeks. It will not be a terrible imposition on you, I'm sure," Sayed continued in a conversational tone, as if he were talking about something as simple and pesky as her flight being delayed.

"Sayed," she said carefully, "Do you understand that you're aiding a kidnapping?"

Sayed stared at her blankly. "Miss Mitchell, do you understand that royalty is above the law? I was educated in your country, so I happen to know it's the same way there. It's a fact. The rich and powerful do what they like. You can either go along with it, or be left in the wake of it." He leaned forward, his voice dropping, "I suggest you go along with it."

He straightened, and his voice returned to normal, "Are you hungry?"

Lana was stunned. How could someone be so matter of fact about something so sinister? Well, we're going to kidnap you and use you for a sex-slave, but would you like a snack?

She shook her head dazedly.

Sayed looked at her pointedly. "You didn't have breakfast this morning. I think you'd better eat. I will order some food for you, and we'll see if that rouses your appetite."

He picked up the phone, and Lana tuned out, lost in her own little world of thought. No matter which direction her thoughts started in, they always ended up in the same place: this couldn't be happening.

Sayed hung up the phone and looked at her. "They will bring some eggs and toast for you," he said.

"Don't you feel bad?" Lana asked bluntly.

He blinked. "Pardon me?"

"Don't you feel bad, helping your boss to kidnap women?"

"May I be blunt?"

"Well, you've already kidnapped me, may as well say what's on your mind..."

Sayed looked at her dryly. "Right. I used to feel badly. I used to think, 'What am I doing? These women are innocent, and I am helping to do this to them?' But do you know what? Not a single woman wanted to leave when the time came." His black eyes raked over her.

"Not one. These women, whom I'd felt so bad for aiding in the corruption of, did not want to go. They ended up loving it. Whether it was more the grandeur of the palace, or being the focus of a prince, or whether they simply enjoyed the sinfulness of the things they were doing, none of them wanted to go. So I stopped feeling badly. I also came to a conclusion; would you like to hear it?"

Lana nodded dazedly.

"I decided that Christian fanatics had it right to begin with: women are sinful. Each and every woman, regardless of culture or religion, you all seem to have the capacity to sink into depravity with the slightest push. Why should I feel bad for helping you to do what you secretly want to?" Sayed asked in a superior tone.

All she could do was gape at him. Finally she stood, deciding on a shower.

"Misogynistic asshole," she muttered as she walked away.

Sayed shrugged as she walked away. The truth hurt, he supposed.

***

Lana took her time in the shower, leisurely soaking away the stiffness that had invaded her body.

She would get through this. She would keep cool, and she would get through this.

She stepped out and toweled off, then slipped into the outfit she'd brought in the bathroom. It comprised of a more conservative cotton blouse and a plain pair of jeans. While she was figuring out her course of action, she planned to look as unalluring as possible.

When she emerged from the bathroom, Sayed was still sitting there, but her tray of food had arrived. Her stomach rumbled hollowly in response to the breakfast laid out before her.

Lana walked over and sat, digging into her food while ignoring Sayed. For his part, Sayed didn't seem to give a shit whether she talked to him or not. He simply perused the paper and paid her as little mind as she paid him, although with seemingly much less effort than it was taking her.

Lana bit back every snide remark and ignominious plea that came to her tongue. He wouldn't care. It was a waste of effort and a pointless strain on her still sore vocal cords.

His cell phone rang, breaking the silence. A rapid-fire conversation in his tongue followed, of which Lana could only catch a few pronouns. Her travel guide to Arabic had apparently been a complete waste of money. Although, in their defense, there probably wasn't too much demand for more phrases relating to being kidnapped by princes.

Sayed hung up and turned to her just as she finished her last hard-boiled egg. "Finished?"

She nodded.

"I trust the meal was to your satisfaction?"

She nodded again.

"Good. Please take off your clothes and lie on the bed."

Her jaw dropped. "Pardon me?"

Sayed's face remained impassive. "Please take off your clothes and lie on the bed. That was Khalid and he wants you tied up and awaiting punishment."

"Well, there's no fucking chance of that happening so you can just call him right back and tell him to go fuck himself."

Sayed grimaced. "You're going to make this difficult, aren't you?"

In response, Lana stood and headed toward the door. She was yanked backward by her hair, and when she spun around to confront him, she was shocked to be picked up and slung over Sayed's shoulder.

This was not a tall man. Lana stood five-eight, and best as she could make out, Sayed was either the same height as her or maybe even an inch shorter. Fairly tall for an Arab, fairly small to be picking up a woman her height so effortlessly.

He dumped her on the bed, and quickly dropped down on her, trying to pin her with his weight. Lana swung and connected with his jaw, only to have her hands yanked above her head and forced to the bed. Left with no other option, she resorted to struggling with her body, trying to kick him off of her. Sayed deftly slipped between her legs, and pinned her whole body to the bed.

Lana screamed her rage, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Miss Mitchell, the more you cooperate, the sooner this whole ordeal will be over," Sayed said, his tone completely neutral as he reached down one hand and ripped her shirt open.

"I am going to give you a piece of advice that I have not yet seen put to use. Perhaps you will be the first to actually want to use it. Khalid enjoys breaking women, bending them to his will. It is a challenge for him. Accede to everything from the start and he will have no challenge and grow quickly tired of you." Sayed was working the fastenings of her jeans now, dexterous fingers releasing the button and sliding the zipper down.

Lana's hysteria calmed. Her analytical mind began rapidly dissecting all the information it had yet to process. Sayed was right. Take away the challenge and Khalid would have no use for her. Then she could go. If she was left by herself for two seconds though, she was calling the British Embassy and getting the hell out of there.

As her mind relaxed, so did her body.

Sayed sensed this. "I can release you now?"

She nodded.

"Please finish taking off your clothes," Sayed said, rising from the bed.

Lana sat up, feeling a tumult of emotions wash through her. Though somewhat calmed, she was still angry and scared, nervous at taking off her clothes in front of this man and being tied up, and a small, obviously insane part of her even felt a little offended that he didn't want to do it himself. Sayed released her at the first sign that she would cooperate, as if touching her was somehow distasteful.

Oh, that's right. He thought she was a whore.

She slid her jeans down over her hips, then kicked them onto the floor. Feeling both ashamed and curious as to what Sayed was thinking, she glanced up and found him watching her, his face was expressionless, but his eyes seemed alight with a banked fire, as if trying to conceal his interest.

"Everything," he said dispassionately.

Lana reached her trembling hands behind her back to unclasp her bra, noting with mixed nervousness and satisfaction that Sayed's eyes tracked her movements. She undid the clasp, then allowed her bra to slide down her arms. She flung it on the floor as well, then turned back to look at Sayed.

She felt oddly removed from the situation, feeling her emotions, but as if through a filter. Her body was racing with adrenaline, her breath coming in shallow pants, her nipples hardened into tight little peaks.

"Well?" she asked as Sayed continued to stare at her panting chest.

"Well, what? Take off everything." Sayed seemed to snap back to his autocratic, dispassionate self.

Lana lay back and wiggled the panties down her hips, kicking them onto the floor as well. This time Sayed did not look at her, simply went over to a night table and rummaged in the drawer until he found what he was looking for: a pair of handcuffs.

He grabbed one of Lana's wrists and brought it up to the headboard, which was white-painted metal with a design of curling vines. She obligingly brought up her other hand, and Sayed snapped on a cuff, looped the short chain around a metal vine, and brought the other cuff to her free hand. As the metal clicked shut around her wrist, Lana wondered just what the hell she was doing. Shouldn't she fight or scream or something?

"I would really prefer not to have to gag you, so please remain quiet, and neither of us will have to experience that unpleasantness," Sayed said, turning and rising from the bed.

Lana was absolutely stunned when he simply walked back over his chair, sat down and picked up his newspaper again.

Tears sprang to her eyes. She didn't know what the hell was wrong with her...she didn't want Sayed to rape her, but she also didn't want him to sit down and read the bloody paper! She sniffled. She was clearly losing her mind.