“This will hurt.”
“No shit. Do it.” Nomar grits his teeth and braces his hands on the trunk.
I pull the headscarf until he groans and his ruddy cheeks pale in the starlight. The knot will hold—for a time—but will it be long enough to get us to safety?
If not, I pray my death will be quick.
* * *
Nomar
“We’re blown. On the move in five.” The call drops before I can end it. Ford has the sat phone and my mobile barely has a single bar. I don’t even know if Trev heard me.
How the hell did they find this place? It’s little more than a shack on a goat herding trail. From the dust the caravan of vehicles is kicking up a few miles away, Faruk’s men are heading right for us.
“Do you have a phone?” I snap. “Hand it over.”
“I do not. He would never let me…” Lisette pulls Mateen closer to her, trembling where she sits against one of the crumbling walls.
“Check your pockets. Your clothes. They have to be tracking you or the kid somehow.” I angle a glance up the hill. Ten minutes, max, and they’ll be on top of us.
“He will never let me go.” A sob wells up in her throat. She’s about to lose her shit, and that’ll put us all in danger.
“Lisette?” I soften my voice. “Faruk’s men have been on our tail for hours. We’ve traded cars twice, and we’re not following roads on any map. I need you to check your clothes. Mateen’s too.”
Reaching for my go bag, I lose my breath and crash into the wall next to them. The fever set in not long after we left the compound, and my whole body aches. If I don’t get medical soon, I’ll be in a world of hurt.
“Nomar!” Lisette’s delicate fingers flutter over my cheeks. “You are burning up.”
“I’ll live. Unless they find us. Please…check your clothes.” Getting up exhausts me, but I have to keep it together or we’re all dead.
“Mon chou, come here.” She drops to her knees and starts running her hands over Mateen’s sleeves and down the sides of his little tunic. “Do you have anything in your pockets?”
“Just my rocks, Mama.” One after another, the little boy pulls out half a dozen smooth, black rocks. “See?”
“Is that why you weigh so much?” I wink at the kid—as much to distract myself from the pain as to reassure him. “Or is it all those muscles?”
“My muscles! I’m Superman!” He raises his arms over his head, fists clenched like he’s about to fly.
“There is nothing in his clothes.” Lisette squeezes her loose sleeves, brushes along her neckline, and reaches for the hem of her abaya. “Merde!”
“What?” I pop two ibuprofen and take a long swig from my canteen. We need more water. And food. But I can’t risk stopping again until I know Faruk won’t be able to find us.
“Here.” She pulls up her abaya, revealing a pair of loose blue pants underneath the flowing material, and points to her left ankle. “Feel.”
Something hard—and smaller than my fingernail—is sewn into the hem. Using my knife, I slice through the fabric and force the piece of plastic into my palm.
“Is that it?”
“We’re about to find out.” I tuck the tracker into a hole in the wall, then stagger to my feet with a groan. “Let’s go. The moon’s about to set. If we’re lucky, they won’t be able to see us until we’re close enough to civilization to blend in.”
* * *
Lisette
“Mama? My head hurts.” Mateen rolls over on the blanket and rubs at his eyes. He has been so good since we fled the compound, but he is getting sicker. Nothing I do gives him any relief.
We have been running for more than twenty-four hours. Three stolen cars, short rests in abandoned houses and once in a tent with four old men. They did not speak to me or Mateen, but gave us bread, rice, and water as we hid from the heat of the day. Nomar paid them. A fat wad of cash from deep inside his duffel bag earned us six hours of refuge. Now, we are on our own again.
