Page 113 of Sands of Sirocco
That wouldn’t have been unusual, if it weren’t for the prone body of an Egyptian man in the courtyard.
Noah brought the car to a stop, and Ginger hurried from her seat to check on the man.His limbs were stiff, jaw and eyes open, lifeless.
A bullet hole in his garment revealed his cause of death.
We’re too late.
Noah crouched beside her.“Whoever did this might still be here,” he whispered, pulling her upright by the elbow.
“He’s been dead for at least a couple hours.Probably longer.”She stood straighter.She’d been around enough dead bodies to know how long it took for a body to stiffen.
Noah led the way toward the house, where they found the front door broken.Bullet casings littered the ground, along with a trail of dusty footprints.
Whoever had come for Sarah most likely hadn’t come alone.Had Osborne done this?Or, worse still, Stephen?
She gritted her teeth as they found an Egyptian woman dead near a staircase.Ginger tightened her grip on her gun, wanting to restore the fallen woman’s dignity.The dead servants were innocent.They’d done nothing wrong.
Where was Sarah?Ginger should never have involved her, but how could she have known?Worry crested in her mind as they searched the house.Sarah was nowhere to be found.Ginger hoped she’d fled.
Or had she been captured?
They started down the stairs and Noah paused.His brows furrowed.He leaned toward her and whispered almost inaudibly, “Go down a few steps.”
The heels of her boots thudded softly against the wooden steps.Then she stopped, turning to face Noah.
Noah signaled that she should continue, then he moved to the top of the staircase, watching her closely.
She did as he asked.
Noah went to the middle of the staircase.Tapping the risers with the backs of his knuckles, he listened closely.He paused, then ran his fingers over the corners of each step.Finding what he appeared to be looking for, he lifted the flat edge of one stair to reveal a hidden space under the stairs.
There, blinking in the dark, was Sarah.She held a gun out toward Noah, hands steady.“Don’t you dare think of touching me, you son of a bitch.”
Oh, no—she thought Noah was after her.Ginger rushed to Noah’s side.“No!Sarah, wait!”
Sarah looked from Noah to Ginger and lowered the gun.
“What in the hell is going on?”She pushed her way out of the dusty crawl space.Her face was wan, and she wore a thin satin dressing gown.“You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you.”
“Sarah, this is my husband, Noah Benson.”
Sarah picked a cobweb from her hair.“Ah.I’m sorry to have greeted you this way.I didn’t know.”
She must have been terrified.
“How long have you been in there?”Ginger asked.
Sarah rolled her shoulders and winced.“A few hours.Paul built the damned thing.Comes in handy, but there’s no way to let yourself out.Not the smartest design.I was counting on one of my …” She spotted the body of the woman at the bottom of the stairs.“Oh …”
She bolted past Noah and Ginger, taking the stairs two at a time.“Nenet!”She reached her, then tried lifting the woman into her arms.“No, Nenet!”
Stumbling away, Sarah set her back against the wall and slid down toward the floor.She hugged her knees against her chest, her face stricken with grief and tears.“She died protecting me.”
Ginger exchanged a look with Noah, then left his side to go to Sarah’s.Crouching beside her, Ginger set a gentle hand on her shoulder.“Sarah, I’m so sorry.”
She wiped her cheeks.“I heard shots but didn’t know what had happened.I didn’t know it was her.”
Ginger didn’t have the heart to tell her about the others right then.To Ginger, they had been innocent bystanders, which was bad enough.To Sarah, they were no doubt like family.
