“True, it did not go as planned or hoped, but Tahir says they are safe. Happy.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself. “For me, it is too much like Afghanistan.”
He slid her a look, the moonlight tracing her features, her full lips held tight as she continued on. Should he mention she would be on a fast-track trip to the States to face justice for her crimes? Nah, confrontation wouldn’t foster cooperation and this adventure had been fun enough already.
“I want to go as far as I can from this place.” She gave a breathy laugh as they climbed a small hill. “Maybe Alaska.”
Range snorted. “Too cold. It digs into your bones.”
She shuffled to catch up. “You have been there?”
He nodded. “Juneau. For a year. Terrific scenery, but the cold and fifteen, sixteen hours of daylight got to me. But being on the water …” He bobbed his head. “That worked for me.”
“Why were you on the water?”
“I served in the Coast Guard for nine years. Preferred patrolling the southern hemisphere where it was warmer.”
“So … you know how to swim?”
Range gave her a look at the way she said that, the longing in her words. “You don’t?”
She shook her head. “We have mountains and deserts, but no oceans. A few lakes, but I never lived near them. When I saw movies I wondered what it would be like to be on the ocean. It seemed so wonderful and open.”
“The ocean can be a temperamental goddess, jealous when you dare tread her waters. I’ve seen squalls rise out of seemingly nowhere and thrash fishing trawlers.” He shook his head, remembering the effort to pull drowned children from one such vessel.
“I think you have fought this jealous goddess many times and she has won.”
“Why’s that?”
“Your expression has turned very grave.”
Watery grave, that’s why. “Many of the rescue calls quickly turned into recovery missions.” He shook his head. “Not pleasant. And yet … I still love being on a boat. Nothing like it. Looking out and seeing clear blue to the horizon. It’s like I can finally ... breathe.”
“I would like to breathe,” she said softly.
“Well, you’ll likely get the chance.”
She startled. “What?”
“To get to the UAE, we’ll probably take a boat across the gulf.”
“Why not a plane?” She negotiated some boulders and avoided a smelly creek. “We will have documents.”
“Flights require passports—”
“Which we will have—”
“—and our names would be run through watch-lists.”
“Ah.”
“We should put more distance between us and Kandahar before we risk flights. I plan to hitch a ride on a cargo ship or fishing trawler to get across the gulf.” And even as he said it, he realized while that was all true, traveling via boat meantdaysat sea. He’d be stuck with her for at least another week. Dang, if that didn’t make him mad all over again.
He had to figure out what was going on. Not that he could really do that out here. “That name you’re harboring,” Range said, “How dangerous is it?” One of his dumber questions, but he had to get her to talk.
“I can tell by how you asked, that you already know the answer.”
He huffed. “I do. Just thinking if that name—that person is so important, why didn’t they kill you before now?”
Kasra slowed until she came to a stop. Then she looked to the south. Sighed. “I learned very quickly to be what they needed me to be. The men who bought an hour with me. The men who controlled my every move. If they wanted me to be compliant, I was compliant.”
