Again, Leeteuk suppressed a smile. So she wouldn’t tumble easily for a serious look. She was bold enough to give tit for tat. He couldn’t help admiring her bravado, misplaced or not. It added to her charm and increase his desire for her. He would offer her more explanation.

“War? I do not think so. There have been threats from Washington that we must shutdown Iraqi pipelines through Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Your governments’ assistance in this problem has been refused, but should your government go through with its threats to place soldiers in Saudi Arabia, there will be grave repercussions. This is Arab land and we will not surrender it.”

Sora help up her palm. “Wait a minute. This is confusing me. Which are you, Kuwaiti or Saudi?”

“Neither, I am nomad. I am Muslim. Though my mother was a Korean, I am my father’s son. I am Bedouin and my home is in Summan, the Rub’ al Khali, Mecca, Baghdad, Al Kuwait, Cairo, the Sinai, Jordan. No matter where I go my heart faces Mecca and I heed the Prophet’s call. I listen to what is good for my people.”

“I don’t want to get into political argument,” she said. “I’m ambivalent about governments. One’s as good of as bad as another. All I want to know are the facts. What’s happened and what needs to be done next from my standpoint. That certainly cannot be sitting here, doing nothing.”

“Were I to take your statements at face value, I would still be unable to allow you to leave,” Leeteuk replied. “There are certain strategic constrains you have to unwittingly stumbled upon.”

“At face value? What does that mean? What do you mean by strategic constraints?” Sora rubbed her fingers against her forehead. He was giving her a migraine. “Are you referring to that military base I have landed at in the desert? Surely you don’t think that the American armed forces didn’t know about it. You can’t be that naïve to think I’m a spy. Good Lord, the military has satellites that can read license planes on moving automobiles. You can’t keep a secret of a hidden ballistic base, not even in the desert Sheik Leeteuk. And you can’t think I’m a spy. I was out of gas. My Mayday call was real. I can prove it.”

“We have already ascertained that your call for help was necessary,” he agreed. “The tanks in your jet were dangerously depleted. Had that not been verified immediately upon landing, you would never have the opportunity to be my personal guest. Instead you would have been a guest of Saudi Intelligence.”

“How lucky can a girl get?” Sora roam her eyes around the room, wondering if she is indeed lucky to be here; restraint was restraint.”

“Well,” she demanded finally. “What’s next?”

Leeteuk allowed overwhelming silence to intrude between them. Her insults mirrored her desperation. In the battle of wits, she was losing and knew it.

“You are an astute young woman, Miss Kang. Surely you will have no difficulty figuring out what comes next.”