Liberation Read Online Free PDF Page A

it.”
    “Understood.” 
    “You’re both…familiar to me.” 
    One side of Nuri’s mouth lifted and this time, she noticed a dimple in his cheek.  “We were part of the team assigned to you.” 
    Absently, she said, “How dull that assignment must have been.  We are…close in age.” 
    “Excitement is found where you search for it, Miss Canfield.  I am three years older,” Fahad said before nodding to his cousin. “Nuri is two.”
    She rubbed her temple and flipped through her memories of the long-ago trip.  They’d been locked up for so long that they weren’t easily accessible.  Her family had been in Dubai for two weeks when a horrific series of events overshadowed the joy she’d found half a world away. 
    Had forced her to forget the friends she made there. 
    Glancing back and forth between them, she was stunned at how much she’d forgotten.  In a whisper, she told them, “You’re Near and Far .”

Chapter Five
     
    “You remain the only person in our lifetime to give us nicknames,” Fahad replied softly.
    Fifteen years before, Marci had been taller than both of them.  They were young men struggling with puberty who were underweight, prone to acne, and had voices that consistently cracked. 
    “You look so different.  You…grew up.” 
    At the same time, they replied, “So did you, Marci.” 
    She had forgotten so much that suddenly rushed back. 
    Reaching out, Marci moved the collar of Nuri’s shirt and stared at the scar that slashed across his collarbone.  Taking Fahad’s hand, she turned it over and traced her finger over the raised flesh dissecting his inner forearm. 
    It was physical evidence of the severe injuries they’d taken for her the day before the Canfields boarded their plane and returned to New York. 
    She had never returned to the Middle East.  She’d never even asked if they’d survived.  One afternoon, she left her bed and pretended it never happened. 
    “You could have died and I put all of it out of my mind like a selfish child.” 
    “You were in shock .” 
    “We understood, Marci.” 
    There was a clench in her chest.  “I didn’t understand.”
    Inhaling carefully, she closed her eyes and forced her mind back to the day when her exploration of beautiful Dubai had gone horribly wrong. 
    * * * * *
    The young men had been kind to her from the moment she arrived and the three of them were introduced.  The girls her age were so ladylike and subdued that she’d felt awkward in their presence. 
    Instead, she’d found kindred spirits in the cousins.  Close in age and naturally charming, they’d appointed themselves as liaisons within the high walls of their grandfather’s castle. 
    They asked her about books and movies, peppered her with questions about her days in the United States, and made her laugh when they told her what they imagined life was like in America.
    Being around them made her happy, made her heart race, and she recognized that she felt differently about them than other boys she knew.  Raised in the sort of wealth that was incomprehensible to most people on the planet, she recognized the vast difference between her existence and the majority of the world population. 
    Near and Far understood how she lived but the violence that had surrounded them from birth provided a different aspect.  Some of the experiences they shared with her gave her some much needed perspective at the time.  It gave her a new appreciation of wealth, freedom, and what good she could accomplish with both. 
    During her time in their country, the pair frequently entered her thoughts unexpectedly.  She’d been thinking about them, a small smile on her face, as she exited a store that sold blankets. 
    It was the last truly innocent moment of her life. 
    A tall man with bright red hair stepped up on the sidewalk and shot the security men on either side of her in the head.  He grabbed for her but she dodged his hand and ran hard. 
    Staying on