“Never,” she said, unable to hide her awe, but then it was sliding out of sight. “Oh, wait wait—I can’t see it.” She strained to peer from the back window.
Range sniggered.
“Stop! Please, just for a moment.” When he ignored her, she slumped in the seat, defeated. “What could a few moments hurt?”
“In the open? Plenty.”
Used to disappointment, Kasra settled. He said they would be on a boat, so she would see it eventually. They negotiated a series of turns and rises, then he did a U-turn, pulling in behind a house. With an embankment on the left and the two-story building on the right, the car was hidden. That was a good thing, even if she could not see the water. Yet, to be so close and not see it …
“Grab the gear.” Range climbed out of the vehicle.
Kasra stilled, then did as instructed. She joined him, feeling very conspicuous with her battered face, though it was the dead of night. “What are we doing?” she whispered, donning a hijab.
He led her down the street a bit and then around a building. A dozen paces more and lights glittered in the distance.
Kasra drew in a breath, slowing. Saw massive cranes and ships sitting in the water. “What is this?”
“Bandar gah Gwadar,” he said. “Gwadar port. Hopefully, we find a ride out of here. Stand guard.” He took the gear and bags from her, then stuffed them beneath some stairs up into a building, the shadows concealing it well. “Okay, c’mon.”
She marveled at the expanse of the water. “It’s so dark.”
“The color depends on the light we see it in.” He kept moving, their feet sinking into the sandy stretch.
But it took everything in Kasra to not stop and gape at the sea. What was it like in daylight? She could only imagine … They made their way to where giant ships were berthed, their decks covered with enormous steel containers. Light glared at them, but did not help her see the water better.
“Back,” Range hissed.
Backing up, Kasra felt her heart hitch, wondering what he saw. Her gaze wandered down the long, seemingly thin dock that had ships berthed on each side. Strolling languidly, an armed guard was coming this way. She drew in a breath.
Range turned, took her hand, and led her off the dock. To the steps. Crouched there, watching up the dock as the guard came closer … closer.
* * *
He hadn’t expected Pakistani Naval personnel to be guarding the port. Armed guards complicated this. Hunkered out of the sight on the steps to the beach, he set Kasra behind him. Felt her hand on his spine. He checked the guard. Two meters and they’d be discovered.
Yet if they left this spot, they’d be in the open. He scanned the beach. Thought about the guard’s line of sight, the way he was sweeping back and forth. When he went to the far side, they might make it to that first boat.
Was the guard—
Light struck his eyes from across the way. Range jerked his attention back to that spot. Where had that light come from? It seemed left of center on the far side.
“Is he gone?” Kasra whispered.
His gaze probed the other side where trawlers and merchant ships were docked. The light came again from the left. His gaze bounced between a reefer and a trawler. Which one—
A flash. There and gone.What …?
Range diverted his attention right as the light blipped again. Watched and saw a pattern to the blipping. S-O-S. From the reefer.
A dozen thoughts hit his brain at once—someone was signaling him. Which made no sense. How would they know to signal him? Was it for someone else? What were the odds …?
“What is wrong?” Kasra whispered, hunkering closer and glancing over her shoulder in the direction he looked.
Could he trust the source of the signal? That question held the most potential for danger. Clearly they had eyes on him, even if he couldn’t see who was sending the morse code.
And he’d be stupid not to check it out. He slunk down the steps. “This way.”
“I thought …” Her voice trailed off but she stayed with him as they darted to a fishing boat waiting in the night for its crew.
