“We have to get out of here!” exclaimed Joe. He and Sam were whispering to Ethan, trying desperately to avoid being overheard by the guard in front of the tent. Brad was snoring, which offered some cover noise. They were lying on reed mats laid out on the dirt. The tent didn’t have the luxury of a canvas floor.
“So, what’s your plan?” asked Ethan skeptically.
“We sneak out underneath the back wall of the tent. The stakes there can be pulled up easily. I already tested it. Then, we quietly make for the edge of camp. If any guards get in our way we just have to overpower them.” Joe made it sound like child’s play.
“Sure, we just overpower guards with automatic weapons. Get real,” Ethan replied in a whisper.
“Well, what’s your idea then if you don’t like Joe’s plan?” asked Sam.
“I’m not the one who started this, remember?” Ethan said.
“Shush, keep it down,” Joe admonished.
“Well, I’m telling you that either we find a way to escape or we’re as good as dead. That’s what I heard them saying this afternoon.” Sam understood Arabic fairly well, though she only spoke a little bit. “They said that after the ransom was paid, you, Joe and Brad would be turned over to Colonel Ming. Wendy and I will be sold into slavery. I’d rather be shot than sold into slavery. Do you know what happens to women who are bought as slaves?”
Ethan didn’t want to think about that.
“Who’s this Colonel Ming, and what would he want with any of us?” Ethan asked, mostly to change the subject.
“I don’t know. But everyone laughed when they said you would be given to Ming, so it can’t be good.”
“So, what do you want to do?” Joe asked, counting on Ethan to come up with a better plan.
After a brief pause, Ethan said, “Okay. You’re right. The only way out of the tent is under the back flap just like you said.” Joe smiled briefly at the recognition. “But we go one at a time. If we all go together we are more likely to be seen or heard. Then we need to make it to the trees along the wadi where there’s cover.”
Joe nodded agreement. “What about Wendy and Brad?” They were both asleep… or at least pretending to be asleep.
“You heard them last night,” whispered Sam. “They don’t want to go. They think they’ll stand a better chance staying put and don’t want to risk getting captured and beaten. If even one of us can escape from camp, we’ll have to find a way to get help and rescue the others.” The concern in Sam’s voice was evident.
“All the more reason for us to go one at a time—it increases the chances that at least one of us gets away to call for help,” Ethan acknowledged. “Just remember, if any of us gets caught the guards will surely beat the hell out of all of us, right?”
“Yeah,” replied Joe somberly. “So don’t get caught.”
Ethan nodded. “Sure thing.”
“Sam, do you have any idea where we are?” Ethan asked.
She shook her head. Ethan thought they had ridden in the truck for about two hours. The dirt road had been very rough and he estimated that they averaged about ten, maybe fifteen, miles per hour. But since the truck was covered, it was hard to tell what direction they had traveled.
“Okay. Then we need to go in different directions because we don’t really know which direction will bring us to help. Right?”
Joe and Sam nodded agreement.
“That will also lessen the chance that we all get caught once the guards figure out we’re missing,” Joe added.
“Sure,” Sam agreed, “they’ll probably assume we’d stay together for safety.”
“Okay. Unless one of you has a better idea, I’d say that Sam goes west, toward Chad. Joe, you go east—I remember looking at a map in the mess tent and there should be several villages to the east assuming we haven’t traveled more than 30 miles from the refugee camp. I’ll go south. North would only bring me further into Darfur where several villages have already been raided; south is likely to land me in the Central African Republic. Agreed?”
Sam and Joe nodded again.
“I know how to find west when the sun is up, but what about at night?” Sam tried to hide her concern, but it crept into her voice nonetheless.
“It’s easy,” Joe replied confidently. “Just use Polaris to locate true north.”
Sam hesitated. “I don’t think I know how to find the North Star.”
“Do you know how to find the Little Dipper or the Big Dipper?” Joe asked.
Sam nodded. “Yes, I think so.”
“Okay. It’s the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper. Or you can follow the two stars on the edge of the ladle of the Big Dipper. Just imagine a line through those two stars and follow it past the opening of the ladle; they connect to the North Star.”
“Can you do this, Sam?” Ethan asked.
She nodded again. “Yes, I’ve looked at the Little Dipper a hundred times, never knowing that I was also looking at the North Star.”
“What if one of us gets caught?” asked Joe.
Ethan was grim. “Don’t let it happen. Best case is they move us to a different location. They’ll beat all of us for sure. Worst case is they kill us. I just hope that at least one of us makes it out. But if one of us does get out and calls for help, and yet they’ve already moved the rest of us to a new camp…” Ethan didn’t need to finish, Joe and Sam understood.
“But if what Sam is saying is true,” Joe whispered, “then we really don’t have any choice, do we? We’re as good as dead if we stay here.”
Ethan knew that Sam and Joe were staring at him in the darkness, but he couldn’t make out their facial expressions.
“Sam, what time do you think it is?” Ethan asked.
The Janjaweed militia had stolen all their watches, cell phones, and jewelry when they were captured. Apparently, the militiamen believed they could be both good Muslims and good thieves at the same time.
“I can’t be sure; maybe 3:00 a.m.,” she answered.
“Yeah, that’d be my guess, too,” Joe agreed.
“All right then. Let’s rest for another couple hours. The guards will be getting tired so they may fall asleep, or at least not be paying as much attention. The relief guards won’t take over until after dawn. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes, ten at the most, to get away from camp. So we should stagger our breakouts by about five minutes. That will give the first person time to disappear into the darkness. We’ll have to estimate time, that’s all we can do. Who wants to go first?”
“It’s your idea, you should go first,” said Joe.
“My idea? You brought up…” Ethan couldn’t see Joe’s smile, but knowing he’d been played, Ethan agreed. “Fine. I’ll go first. Sam, you go second—and Joe, you go third. Now, let’s try to get some rest.”