Chapter 6 - The First Bullet
Khalid threw Maya down.
“Stay low!”
Another shot tore through the wooden door.
Laila screamed.
Security guards rushed the corridor.
“Your Highness!”
Khalid dragged Maya behind a marble column.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“Laila?”
“I’m here!”
A flashlight appeared.
Samir lay on the floor.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Maya crawled toward him.
“Samir!”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Get the card.”
Maya looked around.
“What?”
“The memory card.”
Laila checked her hand.
Empty.
“It fell.”
Everyone searched the floor.
Nothing.
Khalid swore.
The emergency lights came on.
Security Chief Rafiq entered with six guards.
“Khalid, move!”
Khalid’s expression turned cold.
“Who fired?”
“We found one shooter in the service hall.”
“One?”
“He’s dead.”
“Dead how?”
“Single shot to the head.”
“Who killed him?”
Rafiq hesitated.
“We don’t know.”
Khalid stared.
“You don’t know who fired a weapon inside my private residence?”
“We’re checking cameras.”
Laila laughed bitterly.
“Good luck.”
Rafiq looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Half the cameras on this floor stopped working at seven.”
Khalid turned.
“You knew?”
“I complained to security.”
Rafiq looked confused.
“No report reached me.”
Laila stared.
“Then someone erased it.”
Maya pressed a cloth against Samir’s wound.
He grabbed her wrist.
“Listen to me.”
“You need a doctor.”
“Listen.”
She leaned closer.
He whispered, “Don’t trust the first blood test.”
Maya blinked.
“What?”
“If they test you to prove your identity, don’t trust the palace laboratory.”
“Why?”
Samir’s eyes moved toward the guards.
“Too many people can reach it.”
Maya’s stomach tightened.
Khalid crouched beside them.
“What did he say?”
Samir repeated it.
Khalid nodded.
“We’ll use three independent labs.”
Rafiq heard him.
“For what?”
Nobody answered.
His eyes went to Maya.
Then the necklace around Khalid’s hand.
For one second, Rafiq looked confused.
Then disturbed.
Khalid noticed.
“You recognize this?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Maya felt it.
Khalid stood.
“Take Samir to the medical wing.”
Rafiq ordered two guards forward.
Samir grabbed Maya’s hand again.
“Do not leave Khalid alone.”
Khalid frowned.
Samir looked directly at him.
“And do not leave her alone.”
The guards carried him away.
Maya stood shakily.
Laila searched beneath a chair.
“It’s gone.”
Khalid looked at the floor.
“The card?”
“Yes.”
Nobody had entered or left except security.
Khalid slowly turned toward Rafiq.
“You were the first person through that door.”
Rafiq stiffened.
“I was doing my job.”
“I didn’t accuse you.”
“You were about to.”
Silence.
Khalid stepped closer.
“I trust you.”
Rafiq relaxed slightly.
Then Khalid added:
“But tonight, trust means nothing.”
He ordered every guard searched.
Rafiq’s face darkened.
“You cannot seriously—”
“Everyone.”
Ten minutes later, the card was still missing.
Maya looked toward the broken door.
A thin trail of blood led into the service hallway.
Not Samir’s.
She followed it.
“Khalid.”
He came beside her.
They walked through the service door.
The dead shooter lay twenty feet away.
A palace maintenance uniform covered his body.
His face was unfamiliar.
Maya noticed something clutched in his left hand.
Red fabric.
Her dress.
She looked down.
A small tear was visible near her hip.
“He grabbed me?”
“No,” Khalid said.
“You were never near him.”
He opened the man’s hand.
The red cloth was not silk.
It was velvet.
Khalid frowned.
Maya remembered something.
Princess Noura had been wearing a dark green gown.
Laila wore black.
Samir wore white.
But one person at dinner had worn red velvet.
Minister Kareem Al-Sayeed.
Khalid’s eyes met hers.
Then a guard shouted from the end of the hall.
“Your Highness!”
They ran.
A side door stood open.
Beyond it, a black car was speeding through the palace gates.
The license plate belonged to Minister Kareem.
Khalid reached for his phone.
Before he could make the call, Maya noticed something else.
A small black object beneath the dead gunman’s shoe.
She picked it up.
The missing memory card.
Laila stared.
“How did it get there?”
Maya turned it over.
A smear of fresh blood covered one side.
Khalid looked toward the disappearing car.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
May you like
One sentence appeared.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO MAYA REALLY IS, ASK YOUR WIFE WHY SHE REFUSED TO ATTEND DINNER.
