Desert Secrets

“We met once in Timbuktu,” Colton said, looking at her with those unforgettable smoky gray eyes.

“You remember?” Her hands gripped the armrest as Joseph sped across the bumpy terrain that even with a seat belt on made her feel as if she were about to fly through the window.

“I do. Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked her.

“I think so.” She tried not to think about the bloodstained pants.

“How long have you been here?” Colton asked.

“They grabbed me yesterday morning outside Timbuktu.” She tried to suppress the wave of emotion that came with the memories. “Then brought me to the camp early this morning.”

A day earlier and he would have missed her. A day later—she hated to think what they might have done to her given more time.

Bret reached up and squeezed Colton’s shoulder. “You can’t imagine how good it is to see you. The two of us discussed your taking part in a rescue, but I honestly didn’t think it was possible. Where in the world did you come up with two million dollars?”

Colton turned back around, as the camp faded into the distance along with the sounds of gunfire. “I didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?” Bret asked.

“I didn’t have the money. Not real bills, anyway. It was counterfeit.”

Bret leaned forward. “Counterfeit?”

The surprise in Bret’s voice mirrored her own. Arriving without the ransom was a risk that could have easily cost not just her and Bret’s life, but Colton’s, as well. And yet the plan had worked. He had somehow managed to grab both Bret and her while the rebels had taken the fall with the army’s bullets.

“I decided to show up with the Malian army instead,” Colton said. “I know it sounds crazy, but when Becca and I couldn’t come up with the two million, it was the only real option we had.”

“You’re kidding me.” Bret shook his head. “If they’d opened those suitcases and discovered what was inside, or if those soldiers hadn’t shown up...”

“But none of that happened,” Colton said. “And now the army’s going to play cleanup and you’re safe.”

A shadow crossed Bret’s face. “How is Becca?”

“My sister’s a strong woman, but it’s been a tough few weeks for both her and Noah. The waiting and not knowing...”

“They’re what kept me going.”

“We’ll call her as soon as we can, I promise. Let’s just focus on getting out of here first and making sure we’re all safe.”

Lexi glanced out the window at the miles and miles of endless sand. Dunes loomed to the west then spread out flat in front of them and to the east. She was still breathing hard. Her heart still pounding. She wasn’t going to feel safe for a very long time.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention from behind them.

She turned to look out the back window as the Jeep bounced across the uneven ground. A vehicle followed.

“Colton...” She could hear the panic in her voice as she spoke.

“What’s wrong?”

She stared out the back of the Jeep. “There’s someone behind us, and they’re closing in.”

“I thought the army was supposed to clean up while we made a getaway,” Joseph said, pushing on the accelerator.

Lexi gripped her fingers tighter around the armrest. When she was a teenager and they’d lived in California, her stepfather had raced dirt bikes up the local sand dunes. He taken her out a few times and taught her about safety. Which was why she knew that this wasn’t the place to be running for their lives. She’d seen firsthand how easy it was to flip a vehicle. Or the potential of getting stuck in the sand. Add to that, if the tire pressure was too high, the handling ability of the 4x4 would be affected.

There were so many things that could go wrong.

“What do we do now?” Bret asked.

“We need to figure out plan B,” Colton said.

“Which is?” Joseph asked.

“Drive straight up the dune,” Colton said.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Joseph said.

“You’ve got to be kidding! That’s crazy!” Lexi grabbed the headrest and leaned forward. “It’s too easy to roll.”

“I’m pretty sure that other vehicle doesn’t have enough power to make it over the top,” Joseph said, apparently buying into the idea.

“And if we don’t make it all the way up?” Lexi asked.

“We’ll end up rolling back down the dune,” Joseph said. “But that won’t happen.”

Lexi frowned. “And this vehicle...you think it can handle it?”

“I’m not sure we have a choice. Which means everyone needs to grab on to something now.”

Lexi leaned back in her seat and felt the pull of gravity fighting against the vehicle as Joseph took a sharp left and headed up the dune. What if they didn’t make it to the top? And even if they did go over the hill unscathed and lost whoever was behind them, they still weren’t out of the woods yet. There could be other insurgents coming after them, and then there was Colton’s brother-in-law. He was weak after two months of captivity and needed to be checked out by a doctor.

Joseph had his foot on the accelerator, fighting with the engine to keep up the momentum. If he tried to turn or cross the slope, they’d end up popping a tire or flipping the car. And if they didn’t maintain their speed they’d never make it.

Lexi turned around just in time to see the other vehicle rolling back down the steep hill. There was still a chance they would meet the same end as they weren’t at the top yet.

Finally they crested the top of the ridge. Joseph had been right.

“I think your zany plan worked,” Bret said.

Lexi let out a lungful of pent-up air, and realized she’d been holding her breath.

“We’re not out of here yet, but we’re close,” Joseph said, reading her thoughts. “Your Cessna’s parked about ten minutes ahead.”

Lexi caught the worry in Colton’s expression as Joseph sped across the desert. All they had to do now was make it to Colton’s plane and take off before anyone else tried to stop them.

* * *

Get them in the air and fly them out of here.

A piece of cake, Colton thought, still trying to convince himself they were out of danger as the Cessna took off from the runway fifteen minutes later. Thanks to Joseph’s skilled driving, they’d made it to the plane.

There was no human settlement for as far as he could see. Nothing growing in the harsh desert sands except for a few scraggly bushes. Nothing to stop them. They might actually make it out of here in one piece after all.

Colton felt the muscles in his shoulders begin to relax as the six-passenger aircraft continued climbing toward its cruising altitude. He drew in a deep breath, then glanced down at the familiar terrain below him from the pilot’s seat. Endless ripples of orange shimmered in the afternoon sunlight.

He glanced behind him at the seat where his brother-in-law had his head back and his eyes closed. Colton took a moment to study Bret’s profile. His beard had grown, his face was tanned and he’d lost a significant amount of weight. But he was alive. And for now, that was all that mattered.

Besides the loss of weight, he still looked fairly strong, though there was no way at this point to measure the emotional effects of what he’d gone through. Now he just needed to get Bret home.

Colton shifted his attention to the passenger sitting beside him, letting his gaze linger longer than necessary before turning back to the controls. Lexi Shannon had intrigued him during the one, brief time he’d met her. First impressions had revealed she was smart, compassionate, adventurous and, on top of that, beautiful. Not that he was interested in pursuing anything at this point. A broken relationship was one of the factors that had sealed the deal on him taking a job flying missionary bush planes across North Africa. There was no way he was ready to hand in his pilot’s license for another rocky romance.

“You okay?” he asked her through his headset, deciding that a bit of conversation couldn’t hurt. He needed a distraction, and he was pretty sure she did, as well.

She turned and smiled at him with a mixture of both determination and fatigue in her gaze. “Besides the fact that my adrenaline’s still pumping, and I will probably forever be leery of men in fatigues...yeah. Or I will be...eventually.”

Colton laughed. “I don’t blame you.”

Her dark eyes intensified. “Thank you. You risked a lot to get us out of there.”

“All in a day’s work.”

“Something tells me that today was anything but normal,” she said. “At least I hope so.”

“I don’t know. Rescuing a damsel in distress isn’t a bad way to spend my time if you ask me. And on top of that you can’t beat the view from up here,” he said. And besides, after today’s flight, the chances of him seeing her again were pretty slim.

“Absolutely stunning.” She shot him a smile that somehow managed to melt away one of the outer layers of protection he’d built up around his heart.

“See that row of camels?” Colton ignored his heart and pointed toward a thin line of camels that looked like a trail of smoke against the sand.

Lexi leaned forward, searched the landscape below them, then nodded. “Wow. One of the things I want to do before I move back to the US is camel trekking along with a night spent in the desert. I’ve heard that both the night sky and the sunrises are incredible.”

“They are,” Colton said. “Though here’s an interesting fact. Did you know that camels really don’t store water the way most people think? Their humps are actually made of fat, allowing them to keep their body temperature down.”

Lexi laughed. “I didn’t know I was getting a rescuer, a pilot and a tour guide today.”

“Camels also have three eyelids,” he added with a grin. “Though don’t get too excited. That’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge.”

Lexi laughed again. “When I first flew here, I arrived at night, then we drove in the rest of the way, so this is my first up-close view of the desert from the air. But I know you make these flights all the time. Does it ever become routine? At least when you’re not rescuing damsels in distress?”

“Routine?” He shook his head. “Hardly. This is the third largest desert in the world after the Arctic and Antarctica. Some might call it barren—and a lot of it is—but I find it fascinating. Have you ever been up in a Cessna before?”

“My grandfather’s a pilot, though he doesn’t fly as much as he used to. I always wanted to take flying lessons myself, but for some reason I’ve never taken the time to learn.”

“It’s never too late.” Colton said. “What does your grandfather fly?”

“He used to have a 1979 Super Viking.”

Colton let out a low whistle. “I flew one of those once. Loved it.”

“He named her Abigail after my grandmother. She—well, both the plane and my grandmother were his pride and joy.”

“I can imagine. At least for the plane, that is.” Colton chuckled. “Single-engine, four seat, high performance. The one I flew handled like a dream.”

“I have a feeling you and my grandfather would hit it off. He’s a veteran with dozen’s of stories to tell. I keep telling him he needs to write them all down.”

“I’d love to hear them sometime—”

The sound of an explosion drowned out their conversation. The entire plane shook and started veering toward the right.

Lexi pressed her hand against the window to hold herself upright. “What in the world just happened?”

He glanced out the window, his own heart hammering as the plane started to dive.

You’ve got to be kidding...

“Colton?” Bret grabbed his shoulder from behind.

“Looks like we’ve been hit,” Colton said.

“What?” He caught the panic in Lexi’s voice as she spoke. “You can’t be serious?”

“Trust me, I wish I wasn’t,” Colton said, managing to pull them out of the dive.

At least for the moment.

“Hit with what?” Bret asked.

“I don’t know, but whoever followed us must have brought some firepower with him.”

“How serious is it?”

“Let’s just say, I’m going to try to keep this bird in the air as long as I can, but eventually I’m going to have to find a place to land. And probably sooner rather than later.”

He picked up the radio to contact his base back in Timbuktu, but all he could hear was static. Whatever hit them must have knocked out the antenna. Glancing out the window again, he saw smoke coming out the side of the plane.

“What do you see down there?” he asked.

“I think there’s a vehicle. Maybe the one that was following us. I don’t know,” Lexi said.

“Whoever’s down there has to have some kind of surface-to-air missile,” Colton fought to keep the plane in the air. He needed to get them as far away as he could from the men on the ground before he brought the aircraft down.

He let out a sharp huff of air. Actually landing the plane could turn out to be least of their worries. If they managed to survive the landing and avoid whoever was after them, they were still going to have to deal with the harsh elements of the terrain below. With its shifting sand dunes, barren plateaus, and limited water and vegetation, most people couldn’t even fathom the actual size and dangers of the desert that engulfed northern Africa. He scanned the horizon. All he could see was the miles and miles of sand that spread out around them. The nearest town was hours away by foot—if they could even find it—and when night fell the soaring temperatures were going to drop.

Colton tried to shove back the worst-case scenarios flooding through his mind in order to deal with the emergency at hand. “I need you both to tighten your seat belts. This is going to get rough.”

Thirty minutes later, the engine sputtered and died. He reacted automatically thanks to hours of practicing emergency scenarios and began planning his approach. Because no matter what happened in the next few seconds, he had to be in control of the aircraft. Full flaps, gears down, wings level...

God, I could really use your help right now.

Colton held his breath, straining to keep his plane just above the stall speed as he dropped in altitude and made his approach. The theory of landing an aircraft on a soft surface was fairly simple. Control the airspeed of the plane so the wings could support the weight of the craft as long as possible, then touch down at a minimum speed with the nose at a high pitch as the wheels made contact with the ground.

Whether or not their actual landing ended up to be that straightforward with a section of the plane hit was going to be a whole other story.

THREE

The impact jolted Colton forward as he touched down the plane, then managed to slide to a stop. Silence engulfed the cabin. His lungs let out a swish of air, but he wasn’t done yet. He needed to get the three of them off the aircraft.

“Are you two okay?” He glanced at Lexi as he undid his seat belt before moving to open the door. Her face had paled, but she nodded. Bret was also clearly shaken, but seemed okay, as well.

He waited for them to disembark, still needing to determine the damage to the aircraft. Frustration simmered to the surface as he made his initial assessment. Inside the cockpit, the radio was dead, which likely meant the instrument panel had been damaged on impact, and they’d lost their only way to communicate. Outside the plane, the damage was just as extensive. Beyond the hole left by the attack, one landing gear plus the nose of the plane had been sheared off. There was no way they were flying out of here.

He joined the others beneath the shadow of the wing, his forehead already beaded with sweat from the heat. He shrugged off his jacket.

“What can I do to help?” Lexi asked.

Colton glanced up at sun that had already begun its descent and ran through his options. There was still a strong chance that his team would be able to find them via the plane’s GPS tracker. But for the moment they were on their own. And from his military experience, he knew firsthand how quickly a situation like this could spiral out of control. If they were going to survive, it was going to take them working together and not panicking.

“It’s going to be dark before long,” he said, quickly taking charge, “which means we need to be prepared to stay here tonight.”

“What about going for help?” Bret asked. “There’s got to be a village nearby. Because if whoever shot us down finds us...”

“That’s an option, but we have no idea how far the nearest village is, and with the sun setting, we don’t have time to find it. At least here with the plane’s emergency rations, we’ve got shelter, food and enough water for the time being. And it’s better than heading out unprepared and getting lost. When my team discovers we didn’t make it to Morocco, they’ll start looking for this plane. And if they can track us via the GPS—”

“If they can track the GPS?” Lexi tugged at the bottom of her T-shirt.

Colton shook his head. “With no way to communicate with them, I can’t be a hundred percent sure they’re getting the signal. But if they are—and I’m assuming they are—we should be in Morocco by tomorrow.”

But if his team wasn’t able to receive the signal and track the plane, he knew that surviving the landing intact had been only one of many hurdles they were liable to face. Because statistically, the odds were against them. The average healthy person exposed fully to the sun in this environment wouldn’t last a day without water, and then there were other dangers, as well—like snakes, scorpions and dust storms that were as unpredictable as they were deadly.

“What do you need me to do?” Bret asked. “I could take a look at the radio. It can’t be much different from one of Noah’s science projects I’ve helped him with over the years.”

“Are you up to it?” Colton asked.

“If it’s a way to get help, I’m up for anything.”

“Just remember, both of you, that with the temperatures as high as they are, we need to conserve both our energy and our water, and stay out of the direct sun as much as possible. Covering your heads and the back of your necks will help, as well.”

“What about me?” Lexi asked.

“I’ll need help sorting through the emergency rations.”

“Of course.”

“But first...” He walked to the hold on the side of the plane where the emergency rations were stored, thankful nothing looked damaged, and pulled out a small suitcase from the side of the plane. “I brought a couple changes of clothes for Bret, figuring he’d probably lost some weight. And while they might not fit perfectly...”

He handed her the chocolate-brown cargo pants and a black V-neck T-shirt.

Lexi looked down at her own bloodstained pants. “Anything is better than what I’m wearing now. Thank you.”

Colton nodded, then undid the top button of his shirt, while she walked around to the other side of the plane to change. But he couldn’t shake the uneasiness that had settled over him. Because he hadn’t told either of them the entire truth. Their emergency landing had taken them way off course, which meant even with his maps, finding the nearest village in this barren terrain wasn’t going to be easy. And on top of that, every hour they were stuck here was another hour for the insurgents to find them.

* * *

Lexi finished changing into the cargo pants Colton had just given her, pulling the drawstring as tight as she could. They were too long and even cinched tightly they were still too big, but she didn’t care. She was just glad she didn’t have to wear the bloodstained clothes any longer. And grateful to be alive—though the thought of being stranded in the middle of the Sahara terrified her almost as much as being kidnapped had.

She shoved away thoughts of dehydration, heat stroke and scorpions as she came back around to where Colton was already working.

“Cute outfit,” he said, looking up from the pile of supplies he’d pulled out of the plane.

“Funny,” she said, returning his grin. “How long will these supplies last?”

“Several days, but my mission will find us before then,” he said, grabbing the last jug of water.

“At least you’re prepared,” she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

“Our entire fleet carries survival kits appropriate to the region,” he said. “First aid, food rations, water, blankets... “

“Sounds as if you’ve been through this before.”

“Two tours in Afghanistan taught me a thing or two about survival.”

“I’d like to hear some of your stories.”

If they got out of here.

She pushed aside the negative thought. Of course they’d find a way out. They had to.

“How cold does it get out here at night?” she asked.

“It’s possible to drop below zero after the sun sets, though thankfully it’s not that bad this time of year. It’s the heat we have to worry about right now. Dehydration can set in quickly.”

He pulled out a narrow box filled with packaged ready-to-eat meals—and set them next to the blankets. At least they wouldn’t go hungry.

“We need to pull out everything we’ll need from now until morning,” he told her. “Primarily sleeping bags, food and water.”

She worked beside Colton, remembering details from the first time she’d met him. It had been a quick introduction made by mutual friends at a local restaurant. They’d spent a couple minutes chatting before going their separate ways.

She’d dreamed of the sandy-haired pilot that night, but at the time she’d ignored the attraction. She thought she’d ever see him again, and figured that the chances of them running into each other were slim on this vast continent. And besides that, any feelings of attraction she might feel toward him were completely unwanted. Long-distance relationships didn’t work. She’d discovered that firsthand after falling for the last guy she dated.

At first she thought the six-foot three hunk she met through a mutual friend was perfect. Evan was funny and smart and could always make her laugh no matter what her mood. But after they’d been dating for eight months, Evan took a job in London working as an internal communications manager for a US bank, and it quickly became clear that his communication skills—at least when it came to a relationship—were severely limited. In the end all he’d managed to do was break her heart.

That had been at least part of her motivation to take a year away from her job as an environmental engineer and spend it in Mali. It had taken her family a while to embrace her decision. Her stepfather in particular was convinced she’d left for the ends of the earth. And in a way she had. But in her mind that wasn’t a bad thing. Living here had given her time to catch her breath, refocus her goals and start to figure out what she wanted out of life. And beyond that grassroots desire to make a difference, it had helped her with another thing she’d been looking for.

Closure over her mother’s death.

Today’s events, though, had quickly overshadowed any progress she’d made in figuring out her next step in life.

“Lexi.”

She felt his hand against her arm and took in a deep breath.

“You sure you’re okay.”

“Sorry.” She blinked back the unwanted tears. “A couple hours ago, I was trying to wrap my mind around the possibility of spending the next few months in some insurgent camp, and now this...”

“Help is on its way. Even if Bret can’t get the radio fixed, there’s still the GPS tracker.”

“So what happens until then?” she asked, forcing herself to push the past back where it belonged. “We spend the night here, then head to the nearest village first thing in the morning?”

Colton hesitated as he pulled out the last Kelvalite blanket.

“Colton...what is it?” She saw the worry in his eyes. There was something he hadn’t told her.

He hesitated a moment longer, then caught her gaze. “While what I said is true, I think you need to know that getting out of here might not be that simple.”

Lexi was scared. He could see it in her eyes. But at the moment there was nothing he could to do change it. He hadn’t seen any villages from the air. The only thing he had seen as they made their rocky landing was mile after mile of endless sand.