Wednesday, September 16th, 11:00 a.m.
“Let’s do this,” Kate said as she pulled out her gun, checked the chamber and holstered it. She turned to look at him with zeal for the assignment alive in her eyes. There was a confidence about her that was all about succeeding, and that confidence was contagious.
They’d spent the earlier part of the morning scouting the terrain backing into the oasis. There had been no sign of the last man who had shot at them, but they’d been prepared if he had showed up. When they got back to the tent there was nothing to show that it had been disturbed. No footprints, no evidence that anyone, other than them, had been there.
“Looks like our guess was right. I doubt if their sniper even knew what he was shooting at. He couldn’t see much in the storm,” Kate said. “They know someone’s here. I don’t think they had a visual, but sound travels. It’s clear that they had a watch.”
“I think you’re right,” Emir agreed.
“It’s rough terrain. I doubt if we’ll be able to make anywhere near the average 2.4 miles an hour. So...” She looked at her watch.
“We leave in an hour,” he said as he pocketed the compass, loaded his Glock and stuffed two spare magazines into his pocket. He shifted his knapsack where she knew he had another couple of magazines, just as she did in hers. They were both prepared to hold off an army if necessary.
“Let’s do it,” Kate said less than an hour later.
“Kate,” he said, taking her into his arms and kissing her hot, brief and full of promise.
They both knew this would be the only reference to what was growing between them. After, it would be all business.
And as if to confirm that, he let her go as quickly as he had pulled her against him. It was like they’d never been intimate. It was what they had to do, for they needed to be focused. One mistake could jeopardize everything and everyone.
For the moment it appeared they had the advantage. The kidnappers didn’t know that she and Emir were out here. At least so they hoped, for just ten minutes ago Zafir had contacted them to let them know there had finally been another ransom demand, this time with specific instructions. They wanted a helicopter drop with an unarmed pilot at an oasis thirty miles to the south of the location where they now had them pinpointed. That wasn’t going to happen. Now it was just a matter of getting Tara out.
Unfortunately, the kidnappers knew someone was here, it was only a matter of time before they put the pieces together.
“If we come in from the northwest corner, there’s what I believe is a crevice that leads to a tunnel through a cave and goes straight through and into the oasis, hopefully near where they’re holding her. I don’t know how big it is, but I know the children, when the oasis was a settlement, used to use it,” Kate said with an almost breathy excitement in her voice.
“How do you know this? You have no access to internet, no...”
“At the village. El Dewar. The women had more to say than what I told you.” She shrugged. “An old lady I met was born here, in these very hills, on the oasis we’re heading for.”
“Anything else?”
“No one uses the oasis anymore, at least, not to live. In fact, she said it was mostly forgotten. Dried up when she was a child. She thought that there was some water, enough for a traveler or two. I’d say that makes it about perfect.”
He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
The valley was narrow and surrounded by low-lying sandstone hills. The oasis was on the other side of the valley and, from what she had gleaned from the atlas, backed two steep hills at the end of the chain that served to protect it from outsiders.
“From what that woman said and what I’ve calculated,” Kate said hours later, “we should be close to the break in the rock that would take us in.” They’d been moving carefully through the valley throughout the afternoon. Now, the sun was setting and spilling a vibrant orange across the valley and up into the hills that stood like ancient sentinels, protecting the valley from intruders.
“We go up from here and through the rocks there,” Kate said a few minutes later as she pointed to her right and about two hundred feet up.
They began to make their way up the narrow, steep path that wound between the rocks. Within twenty-five feet the path became smooth, almost worn, making it clear that at one time it had been a well-traveled route.
“The tunnel that leads into the oasis shouldn’t be much farther,” she said.
The rock rose on either side as high as Emir’s shoulders, then the path narrowed and he found himself occasionally clipping his shoulders against outcroppings.
“They must have used this path to get water or maybe for defense. I believe they more frequently came in from the other way,” Kate said. “From the oasis.”
They both knew it was irrelevant what the path had been used for. What mattered was that it was there and that they knew of its existence.
He was glad that she had been in El Dewar to listen to the musings of an old woman. Between that and the other women who had spoken to her, in the end, despite her unease, she’d succeeded. In an odd way, the women had trumped the men. He wondered what Tara would say about that and, at the thought of Tara, the old fury rolled in his gut. They were so close.
We’re here, Tara, he said silently, as if his sister were privy to his thoughts.
“We’ll get her out, Emir,” Kate said. She stopped and took his hands in hers. “We’ll get her out,” she repeated and rose up on tiptoes to kiss him.
He took her in his arms and kissed her with all the emotion he was feeling. When he let her go, somehow he felt better, more centered and less angry.
That was something Kate did for him, among so many others. He felt like he’d known her forever and, as much as he wanted to find Tara, he dreaded the moment when he’d have to let Kate go. He pushed the thought out of his mind, for it was those kinds of thoughts that got one killed or worse, got one’s partner killed. That would never happen. He wouldn’t let it.
“Let’s go,” she said and they continued to make their way along the trail as it rose up and then began to go downward.
Finally they came to a dark hollow, a cave that Kate claimed the old woman had told her tunneled through the cliff and straight into the oasis. It was a long shot, but it was all they had. The light was scant as the penlight flickered off the rocky path. They had more powerful flashlights but this was all they could chance without risking the light might be seen.
“Cover me,” he said. “And I’ll go in.”
“You won’t fit,” she replied.
“You don’t know that.” The opening was five feet high by four wide, plenty of room. He bent and entered the tunnel, but within seven feet it became drastically smaller. He shone the light ahead to see that the tunnel curved and realized that he would never get through. This tunnel was made for a smaller person. Reluctantly he backed out.
“We can go around...” he began.
“And let them know we’re here. Ring the doorbell before entering—so to speak,” she said and didn’t tone down the sarcasm. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Let me, Emir.”
“No...”
“Think of it, if the kidnappers are there, they’re protected. If we come in from the oasis, we’d be in the open with no idea as to what their setup is. We’d be sitting ducks. No help to Tara. I can make it through the tunnel. At least, I can try,” she whispered frantically. “I need to do this, Emir. We have no choice. You know that.”
Reluctantly he nodded. “If she’s not near, or if she is and you can’t get her attention, come back. Any trouble at all...come back.”
“Don’t worry.” She adjusted her holster, moving it to her back so she could more easily crawl on her belly if necessary.
She took the small penlight then gave him a kiss.
He pulled her against him, his lips ravishing hers, opening her mouth, bending her back as if the passion in the kiss would somehow protect her. When he let her go, they stood looking at each other as if it was the last time they’d get to do that. He pushed that thought from his mind. It wouldn’t happen. She was too skilled, too smart, and he cared for her too much.
“Be careful.”
“No worries,” she said, her lips red from his kisses.
She turned and ducked into the tunnel. He shone his light on her until she disappeared and all he wanted to do was follow her.
He was left to wait. He couldn’t leave his post. He had to remain there, waiting in case she might need him.
He paced.
* * *
THE TUNNEL NARROWED almost immediately and then opened up so that Kate was able to walk with her head down. The rock was cool and the passage narrow enough that her shoulders occasionally scraped rock. She could hear faint scratching and movement from somewhere within the tunnel and her flashlight caught sight of a black beetle that froze and then scurried away. She could see why children used this route, but a grown adult wouldn’t as at one point she was doubled over and her knees were bent.
The low ceiling and the narrowness had her fighting feelings of claustrophobia and wrestling with the idea of retreating. A minute later she came around a turn and then another going right and then left. Suddenly she could hear male laughter and saw a flicker of light. She turned off the penlight.
The smell of cigarette smoke wafted around her and was intertwined with the smell of burning wood and of what she guessed might be the smoke from a campfire. She squatted, knowing she was near the exit, and waited. If she were able to smell the cigarette smoke over the fire, then the smoker wasn’t far from her position. She waited, sniffing the air. Five minutes passed before she could smell nothing but the fire. Whoever the smoker had been, they’d either put it out or moved away. She had to take her chances and hope it was the latter.
She got down on her hands and knees and crawled the remaining distance as the tunnel twisted before she saw another flicker of light. There was a palm tree growing up against the rock, partially hiding the opening. She could see the snap of flames about fifty feet away and as she looked down there was a movement. But she couldn’t make out anything in the dark. She squatted back on her heels. As she contemplated what to do next, the night sky cleared and the moon shone bright and revealing. She looked down and met the terrified eyes of Sheikka Tahriha Al-Nassar.
Kate put her fingers to her lips and the woman nodded while avidly watching her. She pointed at Tara and then back at the tunnel where she crouched so that it was clear what she wanted her to do and where she wanted her to go, once she managed to free her. It was a backup plan, nothing else. So that if anything happened to her, as long as she was untied, Tara could still get out and to safety.
Kate looked toward the campfire and saw that there were three men. She could hear their voices and laughter and, as the flames danced, she could also see that they were sitting with their backs to her. The tricky part would be getting Tara free, for they could see in the moonlight as easily as Kate could.
She slid down the path that wound steeply from the tunnel to the hill. She kept low and used her feet to control and steer her way while remaining hidden from the men by the shrubbery growing up against the hill.
With a bump she was on her butt on level ground and the only thing that stood between her and discovery was a grassy bush and another palm tree. She looked over and Tara was watching her. Kate shook her head and the woman looked away.
She could see that Tara’s hands were tied behind her back and secured to the trunk of a palm tree. She could also see that they’d only used rope. They obviously hadn’t expected much resistance and she hadn’t expected that it would be that easy. She fished the knife she always carried out of her pocket. It couldn’t be called a pocketknife but it couldn’t be called a hunting knife, either. All she knew was that it could slide through any kind of rope with ease.
She held her breath, watching the men. They were caught up in their conversation, and none was paying attention. She’d be in the open for a minute, the time it took to get to Tara. She just needed Tara to back up against the palm tree. She waited until the woman glanced at her and she motioned to the tree. Tara moved until her back was pressed against it.
Smart, Kate thought. So far she was following every cue with ease.
Kate moved in swiftly, keeping low to the ground. Within a minute Tara was free and Kate had given her whispered directions and she was off.
Kate turned on her heels, moving to face the kidnappers; it only took a second but it was enough. As she went to follow Tara she was grabbed roughly from behind.
“What are you doing?” the male voice snarled in Arabic.
“Run!” she yelled at Tara and saw her scramble up the last few feet and disappear into the tunnel.
His grip on her arm was so tight Kate bit her lip against the pain as he twisted her around.
“Where’s the sheikka? Where is she?” he roared, his face half hidden by a shaggy beard, his eyes wild, not focusing on her as his hand bit into her arm.
Her other arm was free and with it she quietly moved to reach her gun without drawing his attention to what she was doing.
But as he looked up toward the tunnel, he yanked her arm hard, ramming it up between her shoulders and making her bite back a shriek of pain, causing her other hand to drop from where she had been inching toward her weapon.
“Get her back! Get her now!” he shrieked into her face.
“Run, Tara!” Kate screamed and it was the last thing she did as her captor’s fist connected with her jaw.