As the sun sank farther away, a night sky scattered with stars appeared. One huge rising moon balanced on the horizon, and visible not far behind it, the top of a second, smaller one. He kept his bound hands resting on Ria’s and willed her to wake, all the while watching their captors. The Baker brothers clearly knew how to survive in this planet’s harsh climate. God only knew what they had planned for him and Ria. They needed to escape. He looked back to the unconscious woman beside him. There was no way they were going to do that until Ria woke up.
Full darkness descended, broken only by the moonlight, and the temperature dropped rapidly. The men’s fire popped and crackled, but Zayn was too far away to feel any warmth from it.
Suddenly one of the men came out of the shadows, silhouetted by the flames. He dumped two tin bowls filled with a gray gruel down on the ground. Some sort of animal skin landed beside Zayn’s bowl, topped at one end with a plas cap.
“Hare stew and water. Eat up. You’ll need your strength.” Clint gave a harsh laugh.
“Where are you taking us?” Zayn figured if they wanted him and Ria dead, they’d be rotting in the desert by now.
“We’re going to sell you both to Tumbleweed Bob.”
That didn’t sound good. “Who’s Tumbleweed Bob?”
“Owns a gold mine up in the hills. Always looking for workers he doesn’t have to pay.” Clint laughed again. The sound rubbed across Zayn’s nerves like barbed wire. “But he also likes to blow things up, especially his test subjects.”
Zayn’s gut tightened.
Not long after Clint left, Ria stirred.
“Ria? Baby? You okay?” Zayn leaned over her.
Her lashes fluttered and she turned her head toward the sound of his voice. Reaching out, he awkwardly brushed some strands of hair off her face. He felt the puff of her breath on his palm.
Her eyes opened. The green remained unfocused for only a second before he saw her work through the circumstances. “Zayn?”
“Yeah. We’re okay. For now.”
She sat up, raising her bound hands to her head. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere in the desert. On our way up to the mountains. Apparently Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumb are going to sell us to some mine owner who likes to blow people up.”
“Nice.” She lowered her wrists, studying the ropes. “Guess we’ll have to make an escape before that happens.”
“Sounds like a great idea.” He scanned the black of the desert around them. “And then what?”
“We’ll have to take a horse and some water. Lay low until sunrise, then find our way back to Bedlam.”
He tugged on the ropes. “And these?”
She lifted her hands and he watched as the ropes fell away.
His jaw dropped. “How the hell did you do that?”
She crouched beside him and with a knife she took from her boot, cut his bindings. “Assassin, remember? We’re taught all kinds of handy things.”
He glanced over at the fire. “We need to wait for them to fall asleep.”
“Yeah.”
“And we should eat some of this gourmet cuisine and drink whatever is in the skin.”
She glanced at the offerings and grimaced. “I’ve had worse.”
They ate and slowly the cold of the desert night had them shifting closer together, shoulder-to-shoulder. He felt the shivers she tried to hide and wrapped an arm around her. She held herself upright for a moment before relaxing into him.
Together they tied the ropes loosely around their wrists and watched the shadows of their captors as they prepared to rest forthe night. Sure enough, Clint came over one last time to check on them, leaving after spitting a wad of…something disgusting on the ground.
After Clint and Ray were horizontal on their sleeping gear, Zayn and Ria waited longer to ensure they were truly asleep. A long, eerie howl echoed through the night.
