The white Rolls led the way and was stopped at the first barricade outside the airport complex. Four soldiers harassed the lead drive, then without warning, the point of machine gun was levelled in the driver’s window. The chauffer bolted out with his hands up, very frightened look on his face.

As Sora watched, one soldier tossed his weapon into the Rolls and got inside. Nassif leaned out his passenger-side window, hollering at the ousted chauffeur. Then he jerked back in and threw open the car door, shouting and waving.

The dispossessed driver ran and threw himself into the front seat. Rivulets of sweat coursed down his face from his limp kuffiyah. Both chattered excitedly, moving their hands in frantic pumping motions that told Sora the Rolls driver wanted her diver to step on it.

With royal flags snapping, the white Rolls peeled out of the checkpoint, bounced over the median and sped off down the broad avenue. The hijacking floored Sora. Diplomatic status was sacrosanct the world over. Not in Kuwait, apparently. 

Her driver wasted no time evacuating the scene of the crime. The small flags of the sedan’s fenders didn’t seem to inviolate to Sora anymore. Clearly, concessions from the Iraqis came from bribes, not international law.

She was relieved when they entered the Saudi embassy compound. The concrete walls and guarded entrance gave some protection against outright takeover from the outside. But for how long? How many hours were left before the border shut and total anarchy reigned?

She found Leeteuk before her car stopped under the sally port. He was in the open yard, surrounded by a cluster of wild-looking men, volatile, untamed and well-armed. Their robes were not the refined garb of the Saudis. A few were bareheaded, but most were kuffiyahs secured by black ‘iquals. Sora’s eyebrow quirked. Bedioun bandits? Kuwait resistance? She didn’t want to know. Maybe he sought word from his father.

She felt a flare of pride at the news she was bringing him. She felt he should know she was back. That he should sense her presence and be able to find her just as she was able to instantly locate him.

Her driver stopped under the ambassador’s shaded entrance. Both drives leaped out the sedan, shouting news that the ambassador’s Rolls had been stolen. That raised another growl of angry Arabic amid the citizenry.

Her driver turned back, opened her doo with a flourish. Sora gathered her abba and emerged from the car. Because of the driver’s news, people had gathered closer, their chatter escalating.

She turned slowly, marking the size of the throng. The men she’d overheard speaking English earlier was in the next caravan. She could see that there were no women or children left to evacuate.

A strong gust of hot wind swept across the yard. It tugged at her abba, flattering the veil against her face and throat. The same gust of wind sent the tails of Leeteuk’s kuffiyah flapping behind his shoulders. It did not blow the cloth away, but it did make him turn and look at the archway where Sora stood.

Concealed by veil, she couldn’t be certain that he could tell that her eyes were locked on his. But he stared had at her, not moving his eyes while a man in shorts pleaded some case in his ear. His shoulders stiffened, and his eyebrows raised in a manner she knew was a characteristic of his. She wondered what he was thinking.

She inclined he head, acknowledging his regard, then turned to the door Nassif held open for her. This entrance opened to a stairwell that rose to the second floor only. On the landing, she passed the young aide she had first spoken to. Sora nodded to him, but passed him without speaking. His mouth sagged open in total shock.

A servant led her to the women’s quarters. Here, in splendid privacy, the diplomat’s wives and children had been luxuriously housed, judging from the remaining buffet set out on a broad table. The spacious room was littered with personal items – forgotten toys, games, packages of diapers and luggage. It was all so sad, Sora thought.

Though it had large windows, the room was not brightly illuminated by natural light. Each pane of glass had an intricate, detailed screen fastened to it. She knew what kind of room it was, this secluded portion of the house. The harem.

Sora removed the abba and confining silk headpiece, kicked off her shoes and sat to strip her stockings from her legs. As she neatly folded the clothing, she considered her hunger. She was ravenous. She had to think when she had last eaten. A bite or two while she waited for the Saudi aid and officer to make up their minds and accept her offer of the plane.

She fixed a plate of chicken and salad. There were crisp round crackers, fruits, several casseroles, fool and mutton and various breads, as well as soft cheese, sharply flavoured and tangy.

She made coffee and let herself sink onto the most comfortable looking divan as she ate. When she finished the meal, she was a little on edge because Leeteuk had not come.

He had seen her, recognized her. What’s holding him? Was she going to have to hunt him down? Sora stood in the windows, watching another caravan return from the round trip to the airport.

Time was running out. People dolefully watched those given higher priority get in the cars to go to the airport. One lousy plane wasn’t enough. They needed fleet. She could see the Persian Gulf. See fires burning in the city. The glass and scrolled screen didn’t keep out the sporadic sound of gunfire.

The last car departed and soldiers closed the gates. The embassy quieted more with each departure. Sora stayed by the window watching what she could, munching idly on a cracker now and then.

Finally, there was a soft rap on the door. The same servant that had led her to those quarters peeked in, searched the room for other occupants. Seeing none, he stood aside, holding the door wide open. Leeteuk nearly knocked the man down when he strode angrily inside the quarters. He came to a rest at the corner of an exquisite red, black and yellow Persian carpet. With one flick of his hand, the servant was dismissed.

Until the door was firmly closed, Leeteuk held himself rigid, glaring at her not saying a word. Then his hands moved to his headpiece and he yanked it off, tossing both ‘íqual and kuffiyah onto the nearest piece of furniture, the gesture said quiet a lot to Sora. She grimaced and wiggled her bare toes against the carpet.

“Explain what you have been doing behind my back,” he snapped.

No, “Hello,” no, “Gee, it’s good to see you alive and well.” Just his unreasonable furry. Sora faced him squarely, the ornate window at her back. Her head was bare, she had removed her robe and felt a hundred degrees cooler wearing just the beautiful silk dress that swept down he toes. A woman needed a suit of steel when confronting an arrogant pig like him.

“Do I have the permission to speak?” She couldn’t resist the gibe. She knew a touched of wickedness lit in her eyes, sending him a different message loud and clear.

“You spoke enough when you were forbidden to. Enough to have word spread like wild fire through the embassy of the American woman who can fly airplanes and would rescue all the Saudis. How stupid can you get? Don’t you realize there are spies everywhere?”

“Which question do you want answered first? Obviously I am stupid enough to try to help you. Though why I bothered I’ll never know.”

“Heaven help me, I am going to strike her!” Leeteuk spun around, eyes and hands beseeching the powers above.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Sora etreated as he advanced, his gold trimmed robe parting over his legs.

“Oh, wouldn’t I?” Leeteuk snarled, pushed to the maximum.

“I haven’t caused any trouble,” Sora insisted. “I found a way to get people out of this country, which is something nobody else in this forsaken place has manage to do in days. I cannot believe that people just stand around, wringing their hands, doing absolutely nothing, letting those goons with rifles take everything they have.

Leeteuk planted his fist at his sides. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The hell I don’t,” Sora declared. “I’m mad as hell, and I refuse to act like a helpless twit. I effuse to passively wait for an ax to fall on my head. Nobody intimidates me.”

“Oh, I understand now. You got a rush, didn’t you? A great big ego boost to your head all because you flew a forty-year-old plane jammed with a hundred frightened children out of Kuwait. How fortunate we third worlders are to have Americans to our rescue!”

“You’ve no need to be sarcastic,” Sora replied, stung.

“I want you to know, Princess Haaris, that over ten thousand people, and more than half of those, very young children have passed through this embassy in the past five days. All have been transported safely out of Kuwait and into Saudi Arabia without risking a single life.”

“Oh?” That statement took Sora down a peg. She held the urge to ask for proof. He was livid enough already. “Well, sorry it didn’t look like that to me. According to the desperate Canadians and Australians downstairs, nobody was going anywhere.”

“Canadian who gave up on their own diplomatic corps. Australian who heard a rumour that the Saudis were getting people out quickly and safely. You listened to gossip and came to your own conclusions.”

“Okay, call me a bloody fool, so I did.” Sora thought her admission ought to turn his anger aside. “I also did something you might have some appreciation for. I got into our company’s hangar. You’ll never guess who happened to be there. Jack, my father and your father had turned it into a bunker.”

“What?” Leeteuk’s hands clamped onto her upper arms.

“They’re all right,” Sora said quickly. “Everybody, Jack hid them all in the shipping containers inside the DC-7. When the Iraqis came in to strip the place, he kept your family and my father safe. I flew them all to Saudi Arabia in the goose. They are safe.”

Leeteuk’s hand dropped from her arms. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Yes, I do. You expect me to believe the Saudis are running an underground railroad that moves people out of here faster than the New York subway system. You better believe me, because they’re out of here, gone like the wind.”

“Damn you, it could have been anyone hidden in those containers. Did you see them? Describe them.”

“I don’t have to describe my own father, you damned fool. Oh, I could kick you, you make me so mad.”

Hurt by his reaction, Sora turned her back on him and stalked toward the exit. “I’m leaving. I came back and told you your family is safe. If you don’t believe me, fine. Stay here! Get yourself shot. See if I care.”

She run to the door and almost succeeded in opening it wide enough to escape through, when his palm slammed into the wood and banged the door in her face. Sora spun around. His hands flattened against the door. His body tapped hers.

He growled in a harsh, menacing tone, “Answer me this, what the hell are you doing back here? All the women have been evacuated.”

A moment passed as a host of smart answers fought to make the first score on her side. She kept he mouth shut, refusing to retaliate. There was enough fighting going on all around them. They had to ty to get along.

Leeteuk’s hands grasped he shoulders, shaking her harshly.

“Answer me, damn you.”

He was worried about her. That was the problem. She squeezed her hands between their bodies and touched his face, stoking the sharp stubble of his shadowing beard. “I wasn’t sure you would believe a message that came word of mouth, without proof, Sheik Leeteuk Park Haji Haaris.”

Sora leaned into his hurting embrace and pressed to his.

“You decided!” Leeteuk growled fiercely against her yielding mouth. He pressed her painfully against the wall, his mouth slashing across hers in desperate hunger for something more. His hands shook as they moved up, grasping the sides of her head, imprisoning her.

“You decided!” He pulled his mouth away, his voice low thunder in her ears. “Woman, can you not understand the danger we are in?”

Sora’s mouth burned. She tasted blood and fury.

“Damn you!” His fingers, knotted in her hair, held her still.

His right hand dug into the fine silk clothing near . Her bodice split with a hash, loud rip down to her waist.

Sora gasped for a ragged breath of air, her heart pounded in her chest like a jackhammer on concrete. A second deliberate yank from his powerful hand and the dress gave away completely, pooling to a silken tumble at her feet. The room was private enough, but nowhere near private enough for what he had in mind.

“Leeteuk, Leeteuk, please, let me tell you…”

Her plea was cut off by his harsh mouth ruthlessly silencing her.

“No,” he growled against her lips. His fingers gripped her jaws, holding her face still beneath his. The coldness of his eyes silence her. “Did you like that?”

“No.” Sora tried to shake her head, but his hands on her jaw kept her as still as a mouse in a sprung trap.

“Do you know what the Iraqis will do to a female spy? A beautiful woman with a body as the one you have?”

Sora snapped open he eyes. “I don’t want to know.”

Leeteuk’s fingers slid down . The thin silk and lace of her slip was no protection. The ribbon straps tore loose with the slightest tug of his strong hands. She clutched at the bodice, vainly trying to hold the only garment she woe in place on her body.

“They will you. A hundred men will have you before one day in captivity has passed. You will be pawed at, held down, beaten and abused until madness is your only escape. That is what you have come back to, my stupid American princess.”

“Stop it! Stop trying to frighten me!” Sora pushed his hand away.

They both froze, their breathing harsh and rapid. Two powerful tempers throbbing in the sultry air.

Her heaved. Sora managed to keep them covered as she tossed her tangled hair off her shoulder. “I would kill myself before submitting to treatment like that.”

“Do you think so?” Leeteuk shook his head. “The will to live in such a misery is stronger than you can imagine. Women submit and become their captor’s . Would you like me to take you to infirmary on the third floor, where there are a score of women who swore the very same thing you just did.”

Sora stared hard at his dark, uncompromising eyes. “You don’t mean it.”

Though it took a great struggle to do so, Leeteuk drew a controlling and temperate breath. “I do. You could comforted some of those women. They are flight attendants who were kidnapped from the airport and taken to a hotel downtown and used brutally. Some of them might still harbour the love of flying that you have.”

“Oh, God.” Sora fought a well of tears rising in her eyes. “Why is this happening?”

“Because this is war.”

A sob escaped behind her hand as she covered .

“Sora.” Leeteuk reached for her. This time, his hands were very tender as he caught her shoulders and pulled her against his chest. He settled his arms around her as her head ducked under his chin. “You should not have come back. I was glad that you were gone.”

She drew a deep, ragged breath and said, “I came back for you. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”

“Well, we are both in a fine mess, now, aren’t we?” Leeteuk produced a handkerchief and handed it to her, watching as she mopped her eyes. “I had begun to believe you have nerves of galvanized stell. You cry rather pettily when properly primed.”

“If you think I’m mopping my face so you’ll have sympathy for me, you’d better think again, Omar”

Leeteuk grunted. Her insult wasn’t delivered with the same stinging heat several days ago. He raised his head, spying the laden table. “Have you eaten?”

“I manage a salad and some crackers after I got here.”

“I haven’t eaten in ages. Come sit with me.”

Sora knotted a torn ribbon strap of her slip behind her neck. She reached down and caught up the fabulous dress, examining the damage done to it.

Leeteuk cocked his eyebrow at her. “I won’t apologize. You needed a lesson. Be thankful it only cost you a dress.”

“Oh, I’m thankful,” Sora agreed. “I just want to know which doo of Gucci’s Al Kuwait is still open.”

“I don’t think I will have any trouble providing you with another garment.”

Leeteuk’s mood had change. His rampant chauvinism was back. He gave her a cool, assessing look, which didn’t do a thing for her frayed temper.

“I’m going to have to pound you if you keep this up.”

“Then don’t call me Omar, unless you change your mind and want to be treated like a concubine I have purchased.”

“Point taken.”

He moved to the table and fixed a plate, pausing over selecting slices of cold cuts and cheeses to look at her as she smoothed her slip across her hips. She looked up from adjusting the lacy bodice and found his eyes very heated and telling.

“Have I told you since marrying you, princess what a beautiful woman you are?”

“No. That inspiring bit of flattery has been lacking in your dialogue so far.”

“Turn some music on, would you please? I can’t help feeling that this embassy has ears in every corner. Shall I fix you a plate?”

“No, I had plenty earlier.” Sora did as he asked, watching his eyes for approval of the volume as she adjusted it. He looked like a man who’d been to hell and back. Obviously, their frequent battles weren’t helping him.

She got a cup of coffee and joined him at a table placed near the window. She watched him eat. He was as picky as we was; it appeared he ate out of necessity and not pleasure in these stressful times.

“Where are the disks?” Leeteuk asked her after he’d finish most of the pita sandwich.

I handed them to Jack. He’ll get them to your father. They are safe.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

Sora’s forehead knitted. “My father look pretty grim. The boys and the two little girls looked in great shape. Your father was very straight and upright, just like you. There was a Korean women who seemed to have great deal of trouble moving, but I do not know if she was injured or ill.”

“Kyuhyun’s mother, Karen.”

“She wasn’t Arab?”

“We brothers all have Korean blood.”

“Oh, really?” Sora’s eyebrows shot upward then she stared at Leeteuk. “It’s true, then.”

“What is true?”

“That your father have a thing for women with pale complexion.” He popped the last bite of sandwich into his mouth and munched it thoughtfully. “Are you asking my own preference?”

“Possibly.”

“I have never thought of myself as being different from any other educated man. I like a woman with hair that I can touch. The color has never been important until recently.”

“Oh?” Sora decided not to pursue in that line of conversation. She propped her chin on her fist and change the subject.

“There is little time left before the borders are closed. How are we going to get out of here?”

“Now you want to talk straight talk, hmm? You have come into a trap. My exalted, protected diplomatic status has been revoked. When you opened your lovely mouth and identified your husband as Sheik using falsified documents, you added another price on my head. The Iraqis are not pleased. I am labelled as a spy and traitor. When I set foot outside these walls, I will be arrested and executed. And you, my dear princess will have to the fate I have just explained a length to you.”

Horror had increased in Sora’s heart with every word Leeteuk had so calmly said. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Oh, no. I am most certainly not.” Leeteuk lifted his shoulders in a mocking shrug. “Thus far, Iraqis haven’t shown any compassion. If we are caught, we will both die – for spying, for subversion, for defying the Iraqi will. What does it matter the change? Certain people have been marked for death from the onset. I am one of them.”

“Great.” Sora grumbled. “What’s that got to do with me? I haven’t done anything to the Iraqis.”

“Ah, but you have. Those disks are vital, and you know where they are. This is not a game princess.” Leeteuk didn’t stop there, speaking so softly she could barely hear his accusations, but she did. “Had you not opened you mouth and given away your identity, the spies in this embassy wouldn’t have learned of my identity. Now it is too late. Everyone knows you are the wife of Sheik Leeteuk Park Haji Haaris.”

This is not good news. Sora raised anguished eyes, searching his. “Leeteuk, I couldn’t stand back doing nothing with all the children so frightened. What were the options? Weren’t their lives worth it?”

“Certainly.” He exhaled. “But they would have been moved within a few hours, regardless of your interference.”

Was it worth it? Had she done the right thing in the long run? She had to think of the men, women and children who were now safe because of the Kang DC-7. Her own father’s life was definitely worth it for her.

For a second or two, worked up and down with several unspoken rejoinders.

Leeteuk’s eyes bored into her. His answer was both condemning and damning. You could have waited until I was summoned from the ambassador’s office. Have you done so, I would have manage an explanation for Iraqis that would not have compromised our identities.”

He was right. Sora wilted against the back of her chair rubbing, aching temples with both hands. “I swear, I only wanted to help,” she said in a low voice.

“And so you did,” Leeteuk concluded. “The sentiment of your actions has not escaped me. You have made your decision to stand by your Arab husband. Now you will live with the consequences of your decision.”

Leeteuk left the teble. He had to figure out how to rescue her. He went to the divan to stretch out, tired and weary from the days of running and maneuvering and doing. Sora watched him, confused by her crazy urge to comfort him. She couldn’t get anything right.

She eased around the divan and knelt on the floor, leaning over to massage his neck and shoulders. “You look so tired. You haven’t slept in days, have you?”

“No.” Leeteuk opened his eyes and caught both her hands, holding then away from his head. “Don’t mother me.”

Her slip gaped. His eyes ranked her s. Sora worried the corner of her lip, expecting another explosion of temper.

“The minute I saw you, I knew you were dangerous.”

“Oh, really?” she wiggled he hands free of his and began rubbing his shoulders anyway. “What makes me dangerous?”

“You have a ready answer for everything. My country is dissolving before my very eyes. There are more people who must be evacuated before I can think about myself.

“All right, I’ll buy that,” Sora said as she worked at the tense shoulders at the back of his neck. “So how are we going to accomplish this evacuation?”

“I do not recall using the word we.”

Sora looked at the clock, biting her tongue as she wouldn’t argue. “In eleven more hours the border closes.”

“You think I don’t know that!” Leeteuk shot to his feet quickly Sora didn’t have the chance to back out of range. “Don’t press me and don’t argue with me!” 

The great Oz have spoken. He just drawn the proverbial line in the sand and dared her not to cross it. Sora rose, feeling the balance of power waver between them.

It was now or never to play any trump card she held. She could bluff. Let Leeteuk take his anger on her, tomorrow. She would survive. More important, if her bluff successful, so would he. Fair or foul, she determined she had the right get him on the goose and out of Kuwait, alive.

“The Vixen One is gassed and ready to go,” she lied. “I checked it out when we went into the hangar. It had some damage done to its body when my father landed in the middle of the invasion, but Jack repaired it.”

“You did what?” All colors ran from Leeteuk’s face. He came around the divan and his hands locked into her wrists.

Undaunted, Sora he chin at him in direct challenge. “It’s not what I did. It’s what I want to do. Get the hell out of here! The Vixen will carry ten easily, more if there are no luggage.”

“Answer my question. Did you start the plane while there were Iraqi soldiers watching every move made inside that hangar?”

God forgave her, but Sora wasn’t going back on her lie. “I didn’t start it. I said I checked it out. All you have to do is let your people in resistance know the time to be at the airport.”

“Oh, princess, princess.” Leeteuk said in exhausted voice. “You really think things are that simple.” Abruptly he released her and turned away, pacing, more agitated than ever.

“We have to get in the next caravan and go to the airport. That’s all, we can be out in an hour time.”

“Do you really think you can march into that hangar, start the Vixen and fly off into the sky? Are you that blind… that naïve? Can’t you see that there is a war going on here? My country is being annihilated. I can’t just fly off into the sunset without even looking back.”

Sora sighed. She had to convince him. “Yes, you can, Leeteuk. You can and you must. You haven’t any other choice.”