Chapter 5
Running from the main harem room, Adrienne slid into the nearest bedroom, watching as one of the harem eunuchs walked by. He stopped and peered into the main room, aware of what was taking place, but unaware she was no longer there. For that matter, no one was aware she was no longer there. Who knew! If one of the other women took it into her head to lie down next to Isak Ibn Musa, maybe he would be occupied long enough for her to get away without the others realizing she was gone.
The see-through clothes in the closet near her were big for her, but she didn't care. Adrienne slipped on three pairs of huge green harem pants, hoping the layers would not only help to keep her warm, but would hide her body somewhat. Then she put on two vests, and quietly slipped into the hallway again.
The nearest stair door was unguarded. She ran to it, threw it open, and started running down the steps. A loud alarm went off. There were alarms on all the doors. She knew now why Ibn Musa allowed the eunuchs away from their posts at night.
Fire filled her lungs as she continued down to the next floor and then the next. Soon she was below the top four floors, but she didn't slow down. She kept on running.
Two flights down, she ran into a carpeted hallway and scurried for the elevator. She knew she would never make it to the ground floor on foot. She realized the elevator at the far end of the hall didn't go to the top floors, since it was obvious the sheik didn't want anyone else in the building accidentally stumbling into his quarters.
Pressing the button, panting uncontrollably, Adrienne waited, and when the elevator arrived, she was grateful to find it empty. She pressed the L button, knowing once she got out of the lobby, she would be safe. But as the elevator moved slower, lethargy slowly overcame her, and she found herself slipping into unconsciousness, as she had that day in the taxi. Gas! He was using an odorless gas, as he had used in the taxi, and she was trapped.
When she awoke, she was back in her harem bedroom. Peggy was seated in a chair by her bed. Adrienne realized the other clothes had been removed from her, and her cleansed body had been put back into blue harem clothing.
"That was foolish of you," Peggy told her. "Don't you know the lord and master has control over every means of exit in the building? Even if you had taken the stairs all the way down, eunuchs would have been waiting for you in the lobby."
"I'll get away from him yet," Adrienne snapped.
"You're even more rebellious than I was when I first came here," Peggy told her. "That's a shame, because now you have to be punished. One thing I learned early enough was, if you can't change things, learn to accept them and make the best of them. Besides, living with the sheik, I have more sex than most women do with a man who has only one wife. He keep all of us sexually content. Those of us who want more, are free to seek it amongst ourselves."
"That's disgusting," Adrienne insisted. "Living in this place is like living in a country under a dictatorship, where we're all subject to the whims of a madman. He can punish me all he wants, but I'll get away. You'll see."
"No you won't," Peggy sighed. "And by the time you think yourself capable of getting away, you won't even want to. You'll see."
"Never!" Adrienne insisted.