manner.
“Apologize,” the rogue said.
Jenna scoffed. “I really don’t have time for this. You don’t even have the manners to introduce yourself before you come on to me. I don’t care if you are the hottest men in the entire kingdom, I still wouldn’t have a threesome with you two baboons.”
“Baboons? What is a baboon?” the handsome one asked his friend, who scowled at her.
“I suggest that you look it up and you’ll see that their way of approaching females for sex is very similar to yours.”
With a snort she turned and walked away. She would wait for Meme in the safety of the office; at least there she wouldn’t be accosted.
Jenna had only been back in the office for less than fifteen minutes when Coun Meme came storming back in, making a dramatic entrance with the door slamming against the wall. Behind him were two guards with mean expressions and drawn weapons.
“You!” he shouted and pointed accusingly at Jenna.
She stared with wide eyes and felt fear grip her heart. They were so angry, and she had no idea why. She wasn’t used to people shouting at her, and she had never in her life had a pistol pointed at her.
Nick pulled her up from the chair and backed away from the three men. “Wha… what is this about?” he stammered.
“You insulted king. You call him ape,” Coun Meme sputtered.
Nick looked at her in shock. She had told him about her run-in with the rude men, and now they both understood whom she’d been speaking to.
“But I didn’t know who he was,” she pleaded; in fact she still wasn’t sure which one had been the king.
Outside the door they heard further commotion and the two runners came in, with more guards following them.
“Baboons you say?” the man with the scar shouted at her. “And you say we have no manners. We showed you a deep honor by offering our company.”
Okay, so he must be the king then.
Things were said in Spiri and the guards drew closer to Nick and Jenna.
“This is a misunderstanding. We are here to help you, not argue with you – and I thought you were guards, I didn’t know you were the king,” she pleaded to the man with the scar.
He gave the guards instructions, and they pulled her from Nick in a harsh manner and pushed her out the door.
Jenna craned her neck to see Nick and called out to him. “Call the American embassy, get me out of here.”
“I promise,” he shouted back and then a door was slammed between them.
“There is no American embassy in Spirima,” the guy she had thought was handsome said in a cold voice, and he had the audacity to smirk. “I’m afraid you’ll have to feel the consequences of your actions for as long as we choose to punish you.”
“You male chauvinistic asshole,” she shouted before she could stop herself. Hopefully there wasn’t a stupid law against insulting the king’s friend too…
Because of her struggles with the guards, two of the buttons on her shirt finally popped open and left her exposed. She couldn’t reach the floor, and was helplessly carried between the two strong guards down hallways and stairs before they finally entered a small room with only a rubber mattress on the floor, a bucket in the corner, and a sink on the wall.
The two guards pushed her down on the mattress and started searching her body. Jenna felt violated and was sure this couldn’t be legal in any civilized country. She hadn’t done anything to deserve this rough treatment.
When they found her cell phone they took it and then they left, slamming and locking the door after them.
The sound of the door was loud and scary, and Jenna felt vulnerable and alone in the cold place. She sat down on the bed, wrapping her arms around her legs, and wishing she had her phone to call Miranda and tell her what a disaster it had been to send her here.
If Miranda thought a bit of male chauvinism was all Jenna would meet, she was wrong. These people would never accept working with a woman – and honestly, she
Jessica Conant-Park, Susan Conant