Basra, Sou

Person-Nu

since she was twelve-since her brot

d a hard hand on her

ur tears are for Allah." Since then, Nura

Rafiq, an Iraqi oil baron and alleged arms smuggler, she

ars were from shame, fear,

as a compound of opul

t to legacy-granite towers, silk curtains,

y servant had a camera in their buttonhole. Every garden walk

e. He was well-mannered, careful with hi

r," he said once. "You'

she answered that d

d and replied, "Y

has stopped as

ndstorms-dull, repetitiv

cial documents, and old case files the

umenting the shifts of guards, the blinking patterns

dow haunted

r bedroom monitor-a half-second delay be

ical. It was intentiona

Kazim's men. Then she found t

in a week earlier: folded and slipped insid

one. No sign

n. No punishmen

lse was r

ted. Wa

different book-a false copy of The Art of

g. Three days later,

ent, disguised as a Moroccan seismi

with professional charm

alace's structural viabilit

nt of the guards,

ards turned to check the b

ing. Collapse Pro

ow. "What does t

a queen on the wrong board. And some

ster, but she masked

e you r

ng to ensure you'

Bolt? Is s

t her with ren

connected

nd walked to

he fences was the real world-the desert, the blood-soaked

an encrypted flash drive. Cross-referenced with arms deals and human

She just reached into her bag a

When you're ready to bu

ens then?"

pse be

beneath the silk sheets, st

webs. She felt the weight of her family name-A

e, and now strangers were using he

to be a pawn i

CIA's. If she was going to be part of the Co

itter coin and placed it

," she w

ng, somethin

sim, a loyalist from Kazim

arewell. Just disapp

an with aviator glasses and a pa

ed for

"Call m

blink enou

eeded-he simply followed her, ey

essage on her secure tablet, di

He works for the Directorate.

being

il they blurred, and this wa

ust the princess in the priso

ewhere-was gath

nst her bedroom wall. It moved slig

tered again-no

mic blade disguised as a hairpin, a gift smuggled by her forme

o her feet, silent as a whisper,

ame th

angerous than

hint of military precision. The sil

sed the

t here to hurt you. In fa

actical suit, face half-covered, but his eyes-stee

no ordi

you?" she

a preview. The real extraction, if it happen

ade a fraction. "Y

to deliver

't blink

Protocol i

e term. "I don't k

d to. But you're in the center of

nemies. Always h

d, stepping closer,

n the blade t

he said, al

the collapse begins, no one will be able to te

was raised for war in a house that pretends i

e people coming? They don

tretched be

" she sai

ll see you aga

er shoulders. The kind of escape route that only

clearance...

nk back onto the bed, the ceramic blad

se Pro

e before-spoken by her husband

didn't understa

ook-empty pages filled not with poetry, but surveillance notes. Her

a fresh page an

Then

lap

in careful scri

from embassy corridors, blacklists exchanged between dip

back to this woman. And i

the only princess trap

arble floor, Nura Al-Khaled no longer felt afraid. She felt ready.