Annie and Katie: Two Lives, One Journey

By Karen Jennings

Annie and Katie met in college, and started working in their respective fields of endeavor. They met two men who would change not only their lives, but they would all learn the importance of communication. Annie and Katie came very close to losing not only their true loves, but their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796077568

Karen Jennings

to be followed

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Katie walked into the dorm room and saw a blonde-haired cutie sitting on her bed just staring at the wall. When she approached, the girl slowly turned her head, looked Katie in the eye, and said, This is too real, and it scares the shit out of me!

Katie asked, What do you mean? She said that she had worked so hard for scholarships to get into college, and now she was here. She wondered if she could maintain her grades as well as work to buy all the other necessities to get through the days.

Katie assured her that she also was there on scholarships, and they could share the load, help each other out, and get their degrees together. And that’s how Annie and Katie met and became best friends.

The ladies were about as different as people could get with Annie blonde, slender, and petite while Katie had red hair, was tall, athletic, and slender. Annie had always loved the stories from the Mediterranean countries, primarily the Arab Emeritus, and Katie wanted to be a journalist.

Annie lost both her parents in a car accident when she was nine years old and had been in the foster system since she had no other family. Her escape was reading, and she loved all the stories of the nomadic desert people.

Katie had her mother who loved her dearly. Her father had abandoned the family right after Katie was born, so she never had the opportunity to meet him. Her mother always talked about him fondly but explained that he was too young for a family, so they parted amicably. Katie never understood how anyone could just leave a family behind and resented not having a father in her life.

Annie and Katie both understood how important their educations were and excelled in their respective fields graduating summa cum laude. Annie’s double majors were Middle East and African studies, which included languages, a bachelor of science degree in business, and a minor in geology. While Katie studied journalism and got her master’s in education.

After graduation, they spent the summer just relaxing, lying in the sun, and talking about future plans. Annie wanted to move to the Middle East and was looking for positions she could work at and still get some traveling done. She was fluent in several Arab languages as well as business, so she could work as an interpreter or business associate.

Katie had talked to several local papers about employment, but they required experience in the field. She wondered how to get experience without working in the field and after several frustrating months of looking for work decided to go freelance and submit stories that she found interesting.

Katie found herself at Boeing Field one afternoon looking around the Museum of Flight and noticed a blimp drifting in to land on the airstrip. People were wandering around, so she took a walk out to look at it.

While looking, she bumped into the captain who had flown the blimp. He was a very attractive older man that loved to talk about his blimp, so Katie turned up the charm and asked if he ever took people up for flights.

He said that he had a group going up in about an hour, and would she like to join them as his guest. To say that she had an amazing afternoon soaring over Seattle would be an understatement, so when she returned to the apartment, she started to document her adventure.

When Annie got back to the apartment, she told her the story, showing her the document she’d written. Annie suggested that she send it to the papers, so the next day she submitted it to all the papers in Seattle. Every local papers bid on publishing the story, and Katie was on her way to look for more adventures to share about the Northwest.

Several weeks later Annie found a job offering in Mauretania working directly for Sheikh Zayed bin Al Sharqu Aziz. The primary language is Berber, which Annie is proficient in and that sounded like a good fit for her, so she sent her résumé in hoping to hear back from them. She was getting tired of working at odd jobs around the area and wanted to start using her education. Besides Katie was frequently away traveling to different parts of the country, so it was lonely in the apartment.

Two weeks after sending her résumé in, she received a call from Raj Al Khalifah Aziz. He is the sheikh’s head of security asking her to meet with him the following week so he could talk to her. She thought it was odd that security would interview her and asked him why.

He stated that he did the background checks and advised the sheikh on all personnel hired to work at the palace. He also said that he would be doing a thorough security check on her and asked if she was comfortable with that. Annie was a little surprised but agreed to meet with him, but only at a public restaurant of her choice. He agreed, and they set the meeting and time for the following Monday.

Annie was nervous, not knowing what to expect, and dressed in her best business attire to meet with him. She arrived at the restaurant early so she could see who was coming in. If she didn’t like what she saw or felt uneasy, she would leave. While sitting there sipping her coffee, and watching the door, she heard Hello, Annie right behind her. She jumped, turned around to see the largest man she had ever seen. He had chocolate-brown eyes in a very intense face that made her want to bolt and run, but he blocked her exit.

He moved around the table and managed to sit down in the chair that she was surprised was able to hold him. She stared at him for a few seconds and decided that although he was intimidating he was a very handsome man.

He looked to be at least 6’5" with broad shoulders, a trim waist, and legs that went on forever. His suit was obviously tailored and very expensive, so she relaxed a little. She asked how he knew it was her and how he managed to sneak up behind her. He just smiled and then said he had already done most of his background checks on her with pictures but just wanted to speak to her about what she and they should expect with her job.

They drank coffee, then ordered lunch, and talked for about three hours. He told her they were very impressed with her résumé and congratulated her on graduating with honors on what was a very difficult field of study. Finally, he asked her when she would be available to leave for Nouakchott, the capital city of Mauretania. He said he would be in town on business for the next four days and would prefer to have her accompany him back to start work rather than sending the jet back to pick her up.

She was told she would be working and living at the palace so no need to worry about lodging, just to pack light business attire and wrap up her obligations in the States. This job would require that she live and work in the palace for a minimum of three years, unless the sheikh didn’t find her work acceptable, at which time they would send her home.

When she got back to the apartment, she Skyped Katie who was now in Texas on a job with the news. They were both excited, but Annie was worried about abandoning Katie and leaving her with all the apartment expenses.

Katie assured her that she would be just fine with the bills since her writing stories were taking her all over the United States and paying her extremely well. Besides, she was rarely home.

And so four days later Annie found herself in what she thought might be a 737 private jet ready for takeoff.

CHAPTER TWO

Annie looked around the cabin and couldn’t believe how big and beautiful everything was. They had converted it into an office with what appeared to be reclining sleeping chairs for at least ten people, a full bar, kitchen dining area, two bathrooms with showers, and a conference room. She suspected that it had several sleeping quarters in the rear of the plane but didn’t venture back to see.

Before the plane took off, Annie again Skyped Katie so she could show her the inside of the plane. While talking to her, she noticed Raj looking at her screen from the other chair. He was staring, and she asked him if it was okay to show Katie the plane, and he said, Yes, of course, but who is that woman?

Annie explained it was her friend Katie. Raj didn’t ask any more questions, so she continued to talk to Katie. Annie noticed that Raj never took his eyes off the screen, and when they concluded their conversation, Raj got up, shook his head, and walked off. Katie thought that was strange but didn’t think about it any further since they were about to take off.

The flight was extremely long, and thankfully Annie could sleep anywhere, so when they arrived she was well rested, fed, and ready for work. When they got off the plane, Annie was stunned by how hot it was. She was glad that most of her work clothes were lightweight but knew she would have to do some shopping soon.

They walked across the tarmac to a waiting vehicle. The driver had thoughtfully turned on the AC, so they rode in comfort for about half an hour through the desert. There was a magnificent golden color coming off the sand, and the dunes actually sparkled in the sunlight. Annie knew this was what she had been dreaming about for as long as she could remember.

Off in the distance she could see what appeared to be a very large building, and as they got closer, she realized that it must be the palace. It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger till they pulled up to the front. Annie thought she was prepared for a palace, but not one like this. It probably covered several acres of land, and she wondered if she would get lost inside.

The driver opened the door. Raj stepped out, reached back offering his hand, and helped Annie get out. She stood there just looking, until Raj said, Impressive, isn’t it? Annie looked at him and said, That’s an understatement, if I’ve ever heard one. Raj chuckled and said, Come on, let’s get inside. Annie followed him and was not surprised at how large the atrium was.

Raj said, Follow me. I will show you to your private quarters, so they walked for what could have been a half mile till they approached two large ornate doors. Raj opened them, and Annie was shocked at how massive the room was.

It had a bed that was at least the size of two king-size beds pushed together, with four posters, and a sleeping net surrounding it. The comforter looked like it was silk with a gold tone that reminded her of the desert colors.

The room was twice the size of her entire apartment, and off to the side were two doors. Annie opened one to find a large walk-in closet, and the other was a bathroom with a huge shower, a claw-foot tub to accommodate at least four people, double sinks, and counter space for every toiletry Katie and Annie had, and would still have room for towels.

Back in the main room, it had a love seat, couch, and coffee table with an open-air patio that had a round table set up for meals or work. Beyond the table was what appeared to be a private walled-in flower garden, with an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Annie slowly looked around then turned to Raj who had been quietly standing there and said, Is this all mine?

She knew that sounded silly but was still partially in shock about everything. He smiled and said, All yours. He went on to say he would leave her to settle in but would check back in later today. He also said that he would introduce Annie to His Highness in the morning so she could get started with her job.

Annie wandered about the room shaking her head when someone knocked softly on the door. It was a lovely young woman who had several of Annie’s bags. She asked if she could come in and told Annie that she would be her wasifa and would be taking care of all her needs. Annie asked for her name, and she said, Yamina.

Someone knocked on the door again, and Yamina said, I will get it, I’m sure it’s the rest of your luggage. Two men dressed all in black tactical gear, with scowls on their faces, entered the room dragging Annie’s bags behind them.

Yamina spoke to them in rapid Arabic telling them to put the bags in the closet. They hesitated, and Yamina stomped her foot, pointing to the door, and they reluctantly moved to put the bags away.

After they left, I asked who they were, and she said they were the security detail and didn’t like moving luggage. She said they were not used to taking orders from her, but knew better than not to do as she asked. I thought, Oh, dear this could be a long three years if they already don’t like taking orders.

Yamina insisted that she unpack all her clothes then said she would take Annie on a tour of the palace. Yamina was obviously very proud to be working at the palace and took a great deal of pleasure in showing Annie around.

While touring, she pointed out all the ancestral portraits and artifacts. This palace had been in this location since the seventh century and, of course, had gone through many families and changes. She took me down so many corridors that I got lost and hoped that I wouldn’t have to ask for directions too many times before I was able to figure out where to go and more importantly not to go.

I finally told Yamina I was interested in how to get between my living quarters and office, but I would also like to see if they had equipment I could exercise on besides swimming. She showed me a huge room that not only had exercise equipment but also was set up for yoga and martial arts.

I personally loved to do yoga and knew that if Katie visited she would be thrilled with the martial arts setup. She had been doing Krav Maga several times a week since Annie knew her. Katie and Annie had also worked out an intense yoga routine that they only did once a week, given the fact that it kicked their butts, so she was looking forward to a visit from Katie after she got settled.

While heading back to her quarters, they passed a room with dozens of monitors on the wall. When Annie inquired, Yamina told her that that was the security quarters. They monitored the entire palace twenty-four hours a day and employed about one hundred elite palace security guards to protect the sheikh and the palace.

Annie looked up and noticed for the first time discreetly placed cameras. She asked Yamina if they were in the private quarters as well, and Yamina said, No, but just outside the doors so security could see who had entered at all times.

They walked around for another hour and then returned to Annie’s quarters. When they got back, Yamina said she would bring Annie’s evening meal and turned down her bed so it would be ready for her when she retired.

Annie had a lovely meal of lamb, couscous, and fresh fruit while reading about the history of the sheikh and his family. She heard a knock, called out to enter, and Raj walked in. He asked about her day, sitting down with her. They chatted for a half hour, and then he excused himself saying he had details to take care of.

Before he left, Annie asked about her schedule and was told that she should be in the office around 9:00 a.m. and Mustafa, the sheikh’s receptionist, would get her started on her assignments.

CHAPTER THREE

Annie woke up early the next morning to watch as the sun rose in the sky. She wandered about the garden, smelling the wonderful flowers, and then walked in to bathe before getting dressed for work.

Not knowing exactly what to wear, she chose a simple white blouse, black pencil skirt, thigh-high nylons, and killer black heels. She got to the office by 8:00 a.m. and looked around the empty room. To the left she saw a desk with papers strewn about and a door leading off to another room.

To the right she saw a desk with a computer bank, printers, phones, and her name on a placard saying Annie Elder with Executive Personal Assistant below her name. Wow, that was quite a title. Katie will love it. She will tease me to death when she sees my new title. To her I am Annie, her best friend. Straight ahead she saw two heavily carved doors. They looked to be about two centuries old, and the carvings were exquisite. She approached to look closer at some of the carvings and noticed some were quite explicitly sexual.

Annie was chuckling when Raj walked in and was surprised to see Annie. He said, You don’t really need to be in this early, no one else ever is. Annie said she just wanted to start getting familiar with her work space, but liked to get in before everyone else so she could have some quiet time before the hustle of the day started.

He said he understood that and went into his office. He yelled out asking if she had had breakfast, and she said, No, but would kill for a cup of coffee. He said, Coming right up then came back out to show her what button to push for the kitchen.

He said someone was always in the kitchen who could make any meal required, so all she had to do was tell them what she wanted, where she was, and it would be delivered in about ten minutes. He also said he took the liberty to order breakfast for both of them. Annie thanked him and went over to look at her work space.

She was very pleased with the equipment. It was all state-of-the-art and top-of-the-line, so she shouldn’t have any problem getting used to this and all the other amenities she’d been shown so far. Not having to cook, clean, laundry, and the rest of the day-to-day stuff would be a blessing, one she appreciated very much.

Their breakfast arrived. They sat together in Raj’s office and talked about what she should get started with first. Raj said she would be in charge of setting up His Highness’s meetings, conferences, travel plans, and the hardest part would be keeping him on schedule and on time. She smiled and wondered again exactly what she had gotten herself into, but quickly dismissed it.

Finished with breakfast, she thanked Raj and returned to her desk to start looking over schedules and to see what needed to be done first. Shortly after 9:30 a.m. after organizing her work space and desk, she heard a commotion just outside the office.

Two men came in shortly after jostling about, talking rather loud. She stood to ask who they were and what they wanted then stopped short. The shorter one had a scowl on his face when he saw her, and it was quite apparent he wasn’t going to be pleasant to deal with.

The taller man was, well, he was breathtakingly handsome. He was at least as tall as Raj, with raven-black hair and tan skin, but his eyes—what the hell. They looked silver? He was very muscled but not as bulky as Raj, with a narrow waist, and long legs that also looked heavily muscled. His clothes were rumpled like he had slept in them, but you could still see that they were well made.

He was talking with the shorter man and almost walked past me, but then he stopped, looked at me, and smiled. He stuck his hand out and said, Hello, you’re new here. I said, Yes, I just started working this morning.

He still had a hold of my hand and started to bend over to kiss it when he nearly fell on the floor. I tried to catch him, and we both fell back against the wall. He again smiled and said, Ah, just where I like my women, against a wall. It was then that I realized he was intoxicated and tried to shove him off me.

Suddenly he was pulled back, and I looked at Raj, who did not look happy. He turned the man around and said, You need to take a shower, sober up, and come back when you are and apologize to Annie. She is your new executive assistant and not some trollop you picked up.

They stood nose to nose and glared at each other for a few seconds, and then the man laughed and walked back out of the office. Raj apologized for the other man’s behavior and hoped I wasn’t hurt. I said No, I’m fine and went back to my desk.

I looked across the aisle where the shorter man had sat down behind the mess of a desk, and he was still glaring at me. Raj introduced him as Mustafa, His Highness’s receptionist. Clearly the men did not like each other, and Mustafa did not like the title Raj introduced him as. Raj informed him that I would be handling all the appointments from now on and he was to defer to me. That did not go over very well, but I figured that they had their own history, and it did not involve me.

Later that morning the tall man came back into the office, looking much better, and started for the double doors. I walked up behind him and asked where he thought he was going. I also informed him that that was the sheikh’s office, and did he have an appointment?

He took a step back, looked me up and down, smiled, and said yes, he did have an appointment. I heard chuckles over my shoulder and turned to see Raj smiling. Raj said, It serves you right for not coming in properly the first time, Your Highness.

Now I took a step back, and the man again took my hand and said, Good morning, Ms. Annie. My name is Sheikh Zayed bin Al Sharqu Aziz, and I apologize for my behavior this morning. In the future please call me Zed, and feel free to admonish me if I ever act rude around you.

Raj said, Well done, Your Highness, now let’s get to work. They opened the double doors and started walking into the office. Raj turned and motioned for me to follow. When I got into the office, it had a massive desk between two floor-to-ceiling windows.

Over to the right was a full bar that appeared to be made out of teak, several couches, six wing-back chairs, side tables, a coffee table the size of my bed at home, and a massive fireplace. Everything was arranged so they could conduct business meetings while maintaining a comfortable atmosphere.

To the left was another arrangement of couches and chairs, but were set up around a large screen, with several smaller screens. Raj walked over, picked up a remote, and turned on all the screens. I realized that it was an entertainment area, as well as the security monitors.

You could see dozens of people walking around in the halls, working at various jobs. I also noticed security stationed outside the offices we were currently in. Raj saw me looking at the screens and said, Those are the palace guards. His highness doesn’t go anywhere without them. You will get used to it.

CHAPTER FOUR

It took a while, but yes, I did get used to having the guards around and acclimated to my job very quickly. What I didn’t get used to was Mustafa. He clearly didn’t want me in the office or for that matter anywhere in his country. I tried to talk to him but to no avail, so after a couple of weeks I gave up and simply ignored him. As the weeks rolled by, I was busier by the day with meetings, schedules, appointments, and looking over reports coming in from various field operations.

Iron, ore, gold, and copper are the main exports of Mauretania, which makes it one of the wealthiest small countries in the Middle East, even though 90 percent of the country is Sahara Desert. Raj and I would go over reports with the sheikh when he was available to work, which wasn’t often. He was a bit of a playboy, staying out most evenings, returning in the early morning hours often with a companion.

Raj and I were sitting in the conference room one afternoon looking at a report when the sheikh arrived. When he first came in, he was smiling, then looked at Raj and I sitting fairly close and his smile was replaced by a thunderous scowl.

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Zed couldn’t believe the flood of jealousy that he felt when he saw them and yelled, What the hell are you two doing?

Raj calmly said, Your job if you would ever show up.

I started to get up to leave, and they both said, Sit down! Raj turned the computer screen around to show the sheikh what we were looking at.

He came over closer and stared at the screen for a few seconds, then looked at us and said, What am I looking at?

Raj said, Annie is finding some information on these reports that doesn’t look correct. The mining reports are not correlating with what is actually being produced. She is currently in the process of pulling all the reports for the last year to make sure her accounts are accurate. This could be a very serious economic problem for our country, so we need to be discreet and keep our suspicions quiet for now. Raj looked at the sheikh and said, Are you going to work with us?

The sheikh nodded, and true to his word, he was in the office every day working side by side with Raj and Annie.

Six months later, they had narrowed the problem down to the border towns in the northern regions. That had always been a troubled part of the country with nomadic tribes constantly squabbling over territories.

Raj and the sheikh had gone to the location several times, but when they arrived, they could find nothing out of the ordinary. Talking to the locals, they were told that a large group of troublemakers were in the area, but prior to them arriving, they disappeared. Raj was beginning to suspect they had a spy in the palace and was determined to ferret them out.

They returned to the palace and started quietly investigating. In the meantime, the sheikh found that he craved Annie’s attention more and more. He made excuses to spend time with her, but she always kept it professional and wouldn’t return his flirtatious comments. He was not used to women rebuffing him. He did catch her looking at him occasionally with a funny expression. She was a gorgeous woman, with an amazing brain unlike most of the women he had spent time with in the past.

It got to a point where all he could think about was Annie. He dreamed about her, thought about how he could get her to loosen up, and hopefully he would talk her into joining him in his bed. He had a sneaking suspicion that underneath all those business clothes was a tiger that he would like to set free.

CHAPTER FIVE

During the day, he found it hard to not stare at Annie and asked her to dinner almost every day, but she refused. Finally, his frustration was getting out