“How close are we?” she asked, and for a second Lach wasn’t sure what she meant. He shook himself out of this foolishness and dropped his hand. While she took out her colored contacts, he hit the button on his watch, hoping the sandstorm wasn’t blocking the signal. The face lit up, illuminating the cab in an eerie glow that didn’t extend past the windshield but showed a nasty crack right down the middle. God knew what the storm had tossed at them, but one thing was for sure—they weren’t safe where they were.
“We’re almost on top of it. About three hundred feet straight ahead.”
“Awesome! We did it.”
Lachlan shook his head in disbelief. “We can’t go out there. We’ll be sandblasted into nothing.”
Gina pursed her lips, her golden eyes glowing like twin suns in the light of the watch. “We can’t stay here, either. Windshield’s cracked. If anything else hits it, it’ll shatter and that’ll be it for shelter.” She looked behind them as if she could see into the storm. “And what if our friends back there are brave enough to try and find us? I don’t know if they saw us go off the road or not, but if they did, they might find us.”
“No way they’d be out in this. We can’t either.”
“Wehaveto, Soup.” As if agreeing with her, the windshield made another sound as cracks spiderwebbed across it.
“We could hunker in the back,” Lachlan said. “Put up a blanket between.”
“We still risk being found when the storm lets up. Come on.”
Dammit, he knew she was right. They were just close enough that if they covered up completely and hung on to each other under a blanket, the GPS would take them straight to the second SUV.
Barring any large flying debris, choking to death, or getting so weighed down by sand clinging to the blanket that they couldn’t move.
Not to mention the remote—but not zero—possibility of armed guards searching for them.
“What’s stopping you?” she asked, as if they were looking at running across the street in a little rainstorm.
“What’s not stopping me?”
“Is it because I’m not a big tough SEAL and you think I’ll blow away like a kite?”
“It’s a strong possibility, Sunshine.” The nickname slipped out before he could stop it. Sunshine fit her from her golden eyes to her unstoppable optimism. This close, she even smelled like sunshine—something bright and citrusy and warm.
“You won’t let that happen to me.” Her breath caressed the shell of his ear and he suppressed a shiver at how good it felt. Was she flirting, or was she only this close to him so she’d be heard over the storm?
Then Gina pulled away. “So let’s go. I’m ready.” In the dim light, Lach watched her pull the hijab down and wrap a scarf around her face.
It occurred to him much later after he’d gotten to know her that being cooped up in a tiny space, unable to pace back and forth was worse for Gina than facing down a killer storm, and that’s what drove her to push for their escape.
“Hang on,” Lach said. He grabbed the bottom edge of his throbe and took out a knife. He cut a long strip of cloth into sections and tied them around her sleeves to try and keep the sand out of them. She did the same for him. He wished to God they had a blanket—something to throw over themselves that would allow him to see the GPS. The best he could do was get them going in the right direction and steal a glance at it as he kept his wrist close to his face.
“Ready?”
Gina nodded then pulled the scarf over her eyes, trusting Lachlan to lead her to safety. He put on a pair of sunglasses—the best eye protection he had—pulled her close, then forced the truck door open against the wind and driving sand. It acted as a shield from the worst of the storm. They dropped to their knees. It was either that or risk being blown over. Sand blasted over their clothes and found its way to their skin in moments as they crawled along the ground toward shelter. Gina clung to Lach with one hand. He slung his arm around her, promising himself he’d never let her go, not until she was safe.
Inch by agonizing inch, they crawled as the sand clung to them and grew heavier. Lach’s face stung where the scarf and glasses didn’t cover it. The glasses quickly became useless as sand etched the lenses opaque. He did his best to protect the watch face, glancing at it as little as possible. So far, so good. All they had to do was keep going straight ahead, but it was easy to get turned around in the storm. He had to make a slight course correction the first time he looked. Then a bigger one the second time. It was like swimming in an ocean full of riptides, only it was wind instead of water pushing them off course.
He gave Gina a squeeze, hoping she was all right. They kept moving forward until they reached the first little bit of the outcropping. A jagged rock poked out from the sand and Lachlan gripped it like a man reaching an island after being shipwrecked. He squeezed Gina again to let her know they were almost there, just a little farther.
He thought the wind was bad before, but it nearly doubled in an instant. They instinctively turned toward each other and huddled, faces together, backs against the world. Lachlan wrapped both arms around Gina and she clung to him, her face buried where his neck met his chest. The gust of wind eased and Lach took advantage of it to move forward again, now moving faster in desperation. Gina kept up even though she was coughing badly now. Lachlan was coughing too—the sand and dust threatened to fill his lungs, even through the scarf.
The boulders grew bigger and smoother. The SUV had to be here somewhere nestled among them. The camouflage netting would help if they could just get under it. Lachlan felt around for it. It had to be buried, and they’d have to dig under?—
His hand hit a mound of sand and he dug in. He felt the rough netting and damn near cheered. They were on the leeward side of the storm and the sand had piled up; little chance of digging in before they were sandblasted. He needed to get them to the other side of the SUV and hope that the boulders and the truck itself had blocked most of the sand. He squeezed Gina and turned them to the side, doing his best to use his body to block the wind for her. Slowly, they made their way around the mounded sand and squeezed between it and a boulder. Once they did, the wind was partially blocked. Lach felt the coarse netting under his gloves and chanced a look. The driver’s side was clear, with only a few inches of sand piled up around the front tire.
Lachlan lifted the netting and pushed Gina under it, shielding her while he unlocked and opened the door. Then they were inside, covered in sand but safe.
For now.
Lachlan took off the sandblasted sunglasses and turned on the cab’s overhead light. Gina was coughing hard as she removed her sand-coated hijab but her smile was unmistakable. They had survived and she was high on adrenaline. So was he. He quickly looked around and saw that only a little sand had seeped in through the other doors. The netting and boulders were doing a fine job of protecting them. They’d brought in much more sand on their own.
