sanctuary of the endless plains.
Ethan scrambled down the slope and plunged into the depths of the wadi. He heard the jeep’s engine turn over as he hit the floor of the canyon.
Rachel was looking nervously over her shoulder as Ethan leaped into the passenger’s seat.
“Go!”
“What about Ayeem?”
“He’ll be fine as long as we’ve got this!” Ethan held up the camera. “Now drive!”
Rachel slammed the throttle down, the jeep lurching forward and bouncing violently across the uneven ground. Rachel jerked the steering wheel from one side to the other, swerving around boulders and thorn scrub as they hurtled toward the wadi’s entrance and the open plains beyond.
Ethan reached behind him into the backseat, shoving his camera into his rucksack and grabbing his cell phone. He struggled to dial as the jeep leaped and bucked, covering one ear as he listened to the dial tone in the other. Aaron Luckov’s voice sounded muted against the roar of the engine through the canyon around them.
“Ethan?”
“Aaron, get the plane started!”
“What’s happened?”
“No time to explain, just do it! We’re on our way!”
Ethan cut off the connection as the jeep burst from the wadi and followed the ancient river course that Ayeem had tracked on the journey in.
“Once we get back to the plane,” Ethan shouted above the wind, “we’ll be just fine.”
“Is this what you call looking for my daughter?” she shot back. “Those people could have helped us for all you know!”
“Those people,” Ethan replied, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder, “aren’t inclined to help anyone but themselves. The farther we get from them the better.”
“They’re the authorities!” Rachel protested, swerving the jeep with more violence than was necessary to avoid a scattering of rocks. “If we run away from them, we’ll become fugitives.”
“If we go back, we’ll become victims. They’re hiding something out here.”
“What on earth would they be hiding from anyone?” Rachel shouted. “This is insane.”
Ethan reached into his pocket and produced one of the explosives he had found in the camp’s tent.
“Do you know what this is?” he demanded. Rachel glanced at the device and shook her head. “It’s an improvised explosive, the type that terrorists use. All you have to do is call the number and boom, people die. You tell me what a company like MACE is doing storing boxes of these?”
Rachel, flustered and confused, shook her head.
“I don’t know, but it could be nothing to do with Lucy or what’s been—”
“The remains that Lucy found are back there!” Ethan shouted. “Whatever happened to her, MACE knows something about it. We need to get back and inform the Israeli Defense Force and Ambassador Cutler!”
Rachel turned back to the wheel and squinted in the brilliant sunlight that now streamed across the horizon as the sun began to set in the west. Ethan shoved the explosive devices into his rucksack and held on tightly as the jeep bounced through a shallow gulley and leaped up the other side, Rachel driving at near breakneck speed.
A deafening crack split the air above them like thunder. The windshield of the jeep flared with splintered fractures and exploded inward, showering Ethan with sparkling shards of glass. Rachel screamed, the jeep careening wildly before she brought it back under control.
Ethan turned in his seat, his bowels clenching reflexively as another rifle shot zipped past the jeep. Behind them in the distance, two Humvees bounded along the desert plains, trailing billowing clouds of dust into the evening sky.
“They’re shooting at us!” Rachel shouted above the howling wind.
Ethan felt a sudden concern for Ayeem Khan as well as for himself and Rachel as the possibility that he had severely miscalculated how far MACE would go began to weigh upon on his shoulders.
Ethan looked at Rachel as another shot zipped past overhead. Her face was ashen.
“Still want to go back?” he asked her.
Rachel shook her head as Ethan glanced over her for any signs of injury, but all that he found was a creeping veil of shock.
“Get out of the driver’s seat,” Ethan commanded, moving to try and exchange places with her.
Rachel’s head whipped around to look at him, the wind flinging her black hair out behind her. Ethan froze as two clear green eyes glared at him.
“Like hell.”
Without another word, Rachel turned back to the barren plain ahead and accelerated the jeep until the engine wailed in protest.
Ethan slid back into his seat, straining to look behind him. Another two shots rang out, both of them striking the earth close to the jeep.
“They’re trying to shoot the tires