No Place for Females

Chapter Twenty-Three

Amir felt ecstatic. He had found her, almost by accident, and now she was his. She had come willingly. It was meant to be. He'd been meant to find her.

Despite the fact that she was leaning against one of the buildings, bleeding from various places and smelled like hot garbage and sweat, she looked beautiful. Tough. A warrior who held her head high, even though she'd been dragged to hell and back.

He would have her cleaned up before the execution. She deserved at least that for surviving thus far. But first, it was time to make arrangements. He had to get her out of the city.

He recalled the look on her face when she first spotted him. She'd looked relieved. Happy, even. She hadn't asked for his name. She had simply taken his hand and gone with him. It had almost been too easy.

A pair of men was walking toward him. Both were looking directly at him. They stopped right in front of Amir.

"Who are you?" the taller one demanded.

"Why do you care?" Amir said.

"That girl there--we demand that you give her to us. People throughout the city have been looking for her. She is the white-haired girl who brought this misfortune on us."

"Really. This sad, pathetic creature has caused all of this."

The men exchanged glances, and this was all the warning Amir needed. He shot them in turn. The American gasped. She appeared startled.

"It's okay," he said to her.

She looked into his eyes. Her gaze was searching and doubtful.

"Come," he said.

She lowered her head, and they continued walking. She was holding a pistol, and he thought about taking it from her, but they weren't quite close enough yet to the car for him to carry her the rest of the way there.

"Why did you shoot those men?" she asked him.

"They wanted to kill you. Apparently you've pissed off quite a few people."

"I can't leave here yet. There's a little girl who helped me. I have to try to find her."

Amir looked the American in the eye. "She's dead," he said.

"Wait, what? How do you know that?"

"I saw their bodies on the street. Hers, and her brother's."

The American had seemed strong, despite how frail her body looked. But after hearing this news, her shoulders sagged and her steps slowed. Tears rolled down her face. Although she kept walking and looking straight ahead, Amir could see that she was sobbing.

He was surprised. It seemed that those children had meant something to her. He'd only told her this lie to prevent her from going back to search for them. As they

approached the car, her expression changed from one of grief to one of confusion.

"Wait," she said. She stopped walking.

What now? They were a couple of yards away from the car. Amir bit his lip in frustration.

"How do you know she had a brother?"

Amir's eyes widened as he realized his error.     "Um, excuse me? I don't understand," he said, stalling for time as he tried to come up with a plausible explanation.

"How could you know exactly which little girl I was talking about? Do we know each other?"

Amir didn't know what to say. Time stood still as he moved his hand toward the gun in his pocket.