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THE SHAKING JOLTED her awake.
Leine groaned and tried to shift position to alleviate the pain in her arm, but there was some sort of restraint across her chest and she couldn’t move. She forced her eyes open. The night sky juddered above her, filled with brilliant stars. Gas fumes clogged her throat and nose. A cough welled up deep within her but was lost to the sound of an engine’s sputtering whine.
Where am I? She closed her eyes to counteract the nausea climbing her throat. Focusing on the throbbing in her arm and working to keep her head still against the heavy jostling, she tried to remember what happened. Snippets came to her but then evaporated before she could grasp their significance.
There’d been an explosion.
And death.
The sound of the engine cutting in and out matched the jolts of pain, so she assumed she was being transported. But by whom? And where were they taking her?
She attempted to speak, to get some kind of clarity, but her desiccated tongue wouldn’t let her. Shouting above the noise of the engine took too much effort. Fighting to remain conscious, she finally gave up and sank back down into her murky dreams.
~ ~ ~
“EAGLE ONE TO BASE, come in.”
Ahmed jerked awake, rolled off his cot, and raced to the radio. He keyed the mic and answered, “This is base, Eagle One, over.”
His older sister, Habiba, joined him at the table and turned on the lantern so Ahmed could see the controls.
“There’s been an accident. We need Doctor Dahmani, over.”
Ahmed widened his eyes. “Who is it? Who’s hurt?”
“Just tell Assistant Director Hakim to bring the doctor to the club. An American woman’s been hurt, over.” They’d decided to call the orphan’s hiding place “the club” in case anyone was listening.
Habiba took the mic from Ahmed. “How badly is she hurt? The doctor will want to know what kind of supplies she needs to bring with her.”
There was a pause. “I think she’s been shot in the arm, and she has a deep cut on her head. There’s a lot of blood...” Yusuf’s words trailed off.
“Roger that. Where are you?” she asked.
“At the club. Please hurry.”
Ahmed took the mic from his sister and asked, “Is it the American woman who came to the camp tonight?”
“Probably. I don’t know. How many Americans have you seen lately?” The annoyance in his older brother’s voice was obvious. Ahmed released the mic and got up from the table.
Habiba grabbed Ahmed’s coat off the back of a chair and tossed it to him. “Go get the assistant director and tell him to bring the doctor. And don’t arouse suspicion.”
Ahmed nodded as he threw on his jacket and ran out the door.
It was past curfew and he shouldn’t be out, but Ahmed knew a shortcut that would avoid security. Careful to stay hidden, he raced through the camp toward the assistant director’s quarters. Everyone else was in their homes, except for the security guards who roamed the streets at night. Normally, he would make a game out of avoiding them, and he hadn’t been caught yet. Running through the camp at such a late hour gave him a little thrill, as though he was a superhero off to help someone in trouble.
He rounded a corner and spotted the assistant director’s tent. A light glowed from inside—the only lamp still on throughout the compound, not including the streetlights.
He ran to the tent’s entrance and paused for a moment to catch his breath. Keeping his voice low, he whispered, “Mr. Hakim? It’s me, Ahmed.”
There was a rustle of paper from inside, and a moment later Kadeem Hakim opened the door. He stood aside to let Ahmed enter.
“What are you doing out so late?”
“The doctor. You need to bring...the doctor to the club.” He leaned over, clutching his side.
“Is someone hurt?”
“The American lady. The one who was here earlier tonight.”
“The reporter?” Kadeem froze. “She’s at the club?”
Ahmed nodded, wondering why he looked unwell.
Kadeem sank onto his cot. Little beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
“What’s wrong? She’s very nice. She won’t tell.”
A look of annoyance flashed across the assistant director’s face. “She’s a reporter. Do you understand what that means?”
“She only wants to help.” Had he done something wrong? All Ahmed wanted to do was help.
Kadeem’s expression softened. “You’re right. She does.” He rose from the cot and strode to the door. Ahmed followed him outside. “Thank you for coming to get me. I’ll take things from here.”
“Can I go with you?” Ahmed asked.
“You can accompany me to Doctor Dahmani’s, but after that, you must go back to your home and keep your sister safe. Can you do that for me?”
Ahmed nodded. “Yes, of course.”
“That’s good. She needs you.”
~ ~ ~
DEEP IN SHADOW, OMAR watched the two leave the assistant director’s tent and fell in behind them. The security guard kept his distance so he wouldn’t arouse suspicion. Curious as to why Habiba’s little brother would be out this late at night, he wasn’t surprised when Kadeem Hakim emerged from the tent with the child.
Probably just taking him back to his sister. Still, he decided to follow them in case there was cause to file a report. The missing children had everyone on high alert, and he didn’t want anything problematic to happen on his watch.
He followed them through camp, expecting them to turn down the street that led to the home Ahmed shared with his older sister and brother. But they didn’t. His interest aroused, the guard continued to follow the two of them to another tent belonging to one of the medical personnel who lived in the camp. Careful to stay out of sight, Omar watched the two pause near the entrance before Dr. Dahmani appeared at the door. The assistant director said something to her and she disappeared back inside. A few minutes later she reappeared carrying a large backpack, and the three of them headed farther into camp.
Omar continued to follow them, wondering which family was in need of the doctor’s services that night. At the corner of Ahmed’s street, the boy peeled off and headed toward home, while the other two made their way to the back of the camp near the maintenance area, bypassing the last of the housing that had been erected. They stopped at the back gate that led to the employee parking lot outside the camp. The doctor waited as Hakim produced his keyring to unlock the lock, and ushered her through.
Omar dug in his pocket for his keys as he strode to the gate and unlocked it to see where they went, but they were already gone.
Something odd in a section of fence a short distance from the door caught his attention and he walked over to investigate. It didn’t take long before he found several neat cuts through the metal. He pulled back on the wire, creating an opening wide enough for an adult to slip through. On the other side, there were tracks leading into the desert. Omar pushed through the opening and bent down to study them. The first were two tire tracks, one after the other like a motorbike, followed by a pair equidistant from each other, representing some kind of pull-behind cart or wagon. The latter cut deeply into the sand, suggesting a heavier load than the lead vehicle.
Nearby, an engine turned over. He looked up in time to see the camp’s all-wheel-drive passenger van emerge from the employee parking lot and speed into the desert, paralleling the tracks leading from the opening in the fence.
Where the hell are they going? Sprinting to his car, which was parked in the lot, he unclipped the radio from his belt and called Caleb, the other security guard on duty in his area that evening. He considered calling the director with his discovery but decided against it—not until he’d gathered more information.
“Busy tonight?” Caleb joked.
“Actually, I did find something that requires my investigation. Can you cover my sector while I check things out? It shouldn’t be too long. I’m leaving the premises.”
“Want some company? It’s been very quiet here.”
“That would be unwise, don’t you think? If Director La Pointe found out we’d abandoned our posts, we’d both be looking for new jobs.”
“Good point. As it is, only you will be unemployed if this late-night sojourn is discovered.” Caleb chuckled.
“Glad to know you have my back.”
“Always, my friend. Be safe.”
Omar keyed the mic twice, letting him know he’d heard him. He climbed inside his four-wheel-drive pickup and put on his security firm’s standard-issue night vision goggles to avoid turning on the headlights. Then he started the engine and followed the tracks of the van into the desert.
An hour later, he pulled onto a slight rise and turned off the ignition. Just beyond his vantage point lay a small village that had been the victim of intense shelling during the recent war between the Libyan Army and Izz Al-Din. All that remained were piles of rubble heaped around several burned out and crumbling buildings. Partial walls reached for phantom roofs no longer there.
Omar peered through his night vision goggles. The tire tracks of the assistant director’s vehicle led to one of the structures that still boasted a majority of its walls.
No lights were visible, and nothing moved. He waited a moment before he started the engine and edged forward with his lights off, careful to stay within the tracks left by the other vehicle. Leery of landmines and other deadly traps—likely if this had been an Izz Al-Din stronghold—he carefully maneuvered the truck down the gently sloping rise and closer to the burned out village.
He parked several yards from the nearest building and exited the vehicle. Now on foot, he slid the semiauto from his shoulder holster and followed the tire tracks around to the rear of the building. The van was parked outside next to a large door. There was no one inside the vehicle. He stepped back and studied the structure. From what he could see, the upper floor was missing its roof.
He continued around the structure to the other side and stopped when he noticed a flicker of candlelight shining through an open window. He edged closer to peer inside. Several children slept side by side on the floor of the large room. There was no furniture to speak of, but each child had their own bedroll. A second doorway led to a dimly lit room farther back in the building.
Was the assistant director involved in kidnapping the missing children? He’d always liked Kadeem, anxious though he was, and Omar had just assumed he was overworked. Especially as the person who reported directly to La Pointe. That woman would make anyone nervous. In light of this new development, Kadeem’s uneasy manner took on new significance.
There was movement inside the larger room, and he stepped back from the window. Although no streetlights were on in the village due to lack of electricity, the moon was bright enough to silhouette an adult male peering through a dark window, possibly alerting the occupants to his presence. Instead, he continued along the outside of the building, stopping at the window belonging to the room in the back. Light shone through the opening and he edged closer.
Inside, several people crowded around a mattress on the floor. The assistant director was there, as was Dr. Dahmani, who was in the process of bandaging the arm of a woman lying on the mattress. He recognized one of the onlookers as Ahmed’s older brother, Yusuf.
His heart beat faster with the excitement of discovery. He returned to his vehicle, satisfied he had enough information to bring to Director La Pointe.