Page 65 of Defenders of Jawhara

Amir removed several items from the packs the donkey carried and tossed her a paper-wrapped package containing some dried meat, dried fruit, and a piece of bread. He also tossed her a water skin, saying, “Drink sparingly. That is all the water you will get until we reach the first town inside Sumari.”

“And when will that be?” Erin asked, taking a careful sip of the life-giving water.

“Sometime late tomorrow afternoon. We will reach the caves first, and nomads are known to leave supplies there for those passing through. If we are lucky, we will find some hidden vessels of water in the caves, but it’s better to plan without them.”

“Caves?” Erin asked, cringing at the thought of being underground, which could make rescue more difficult, especially if Amir knew his way around them.

“Do not worry about it! Eat.” Amir sat down and proceeded to follow his own advice, ignoring her as he ate the same food she had.

Erin had so many questions and silently debated asking him, but then finally her curiosity won out over her caution. “Amir, about your mother.”

“What about her?” He stared at her while he finished his meal.

“It’s just that you left her alone in the refugee camp. Is she planning to return to Sumari?” Not that Erin would be able to identify her if she ever saw her again, since she’d been covered from head to toe in black.

Amir folded up the wrapper from his food, twisting it between his fingers. “My mother is a devout woman, and she knows what is at stake. It was she who came up with the plan for me to infiltrate the palace guard. It was stupidly easy. With the sheikh so enamored of you, no one was monitoring the new young guard eager to protect the future sheikha.” Amir spat towards her before taking a drink of water.

Well, it’s good to know that his mother helped plan this.But Erin needed to know more. “So how did your mother end up with the refugees?” She fiddled with the waterskin, wanting to take a deep drink but knowing that she shouldn’t.

Across from her, Amir laughed, his tone humorless. “When the others were fleeing my country, she knew it was the only way to cross the border without scrutiny. It was easy enough to hide among them and bide our time. My mother was a formidable woman and will always be remembered as a child of Islam.”

“Was? Has something happened to her?”

“Enough talking!” Standing up, he retrieved two lengths of rope from the donkey’s pack. “Give me your hands and feet,” he commanded her.

Holding her hands behind her back, Erin pleaded with him. “Please! I promise I won’t try to escape. That would be suicide, even if I weren’t pregnant. Please don’t tie me up.”

Amir crouched down in front of her, holding the rope tight between his hands. He stared her down as if he could read her mind, and Erin tried not to flinch away from his stark gaze. She was in no condition to be tied up again, and she certainly had no plans to attempt an escape when she had no idea where she was.

Finally, he seemed to see her sincerity, and he stood up. “Fine! I will not tie you. Sleep now. As soon as the sun comes up, we will begin again.”

He retrieved a bedroll from the back of the donkey, and spread it out, and then lay down on top of it, not offering anything to aid with her comfort. Not that she expected him to, but it would have been nice.

Erin had never been in the desert at night, and she was starting to be thankful for the hateful outfit Amir and his mother had made her wear. Once the sun went down, the temperature dropped rapidly, and she knew that before morning came, she would most likely be shivering with cold.

Using the veil as a pillow, she lay down on the sand, appreciating the small amount of food and water she’d been given. She lay there for several minutes, wondering if her stomach was going to act up, finally breathing a sigh of relief when it stayed calm and quiet.

As she drifted off to sleep, she dreamt of Kamal, of her parents, and of Shira. So far, Amir had only threatened to harm her. If she could just keep him calm until they reached civilization, surely she would have a chance to get away from him or get a message out to Kam about where she was. All she needed was a small window of opportunity to save herself and her baby. She would rest now; tomorrow was bound to offer a variety of escape opportunities, and she needed to be ready to act on the spur of the moment.

11

PJ

PJ watched as the sun finally disappeared below the horizon. The moon had risen on the other side of the desert. It now hung high in the sky, bathing the sand in moonlight, creating the illusion of a vast sea, filled with rolling hills and shadows.

“We’re not going to stop for the night, are we?” she asked Talib, who had been fairly quiet since her teammates had made contact with him.

The team had updated them on the satellite feeds, telling them that the travelers had stopped for the night and appeared to be heading for the nearest cave system. Unless Talib and PJ traveled into the night, there would be no way to intercept them before they went underground. That was unacceptable to either of them.

“Of course not. I will not allow him to take her underground.”

PJ shifted on the padded saddle. “I’d love to get off the camel and walk for a bit. We’ve been traveling for more than four hours now, and my legs and back are not happy.” Not to mention the motion of the camel and the height had combined to cause a small case of motion sickness, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.

She leaned forward in the saddle, trying to stretch her back out and was pleasantly surprised when Talib began rubbing it.

“Oh! That’s perfect. Don’t stop.”

He chuckled at her response but didn’t stop. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he began massaging down her spine, digging his thumbs into her muscles and making her groan.

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