It took almost an hour to cover the distance, but they were rewarded when the valley road ended in a compound for service vehicles. “Pay dirt.” The fenced-off area was full of backhoes, heavy-duty trucks, flatbed vehicles for hauling pipe, and small specialized vehicles used in construction. “Let’s take that one.” Thorne indicated a dusty, battered-looking pickup truck at the other end of the lot near the gate.
Dog tired, he jimmied the driver’s-side door lock with a screwdriver he’d found when they’d passed an unlocked tool chest. He hiked Isis up into the seat. “See if you can find anything useful while I get her started.”
“You have the most unusual, yet useful, skill set,” she said with an accepting smile.
Getting up into the cab was a feat in itself, but Thorne used his arms and his good leg to get the job done.
Isis knelt on the seat rummaging through a compartment behind it, as Thorne peered under the dashboard and yanked out the wires.
“My namesake is smiling on me right now. I just found a Coke!” Isis said with a tired laugh. “There are a couple of bottles of water, and one PowerBar. A feast. We’re all set.” At the deep purr of the engine, she plopped her arse down on the bench seat, her treasures in her lap. “Oh, you did that quickly! I’m impressed by your hotwiring prowess, Thorne. If Lodestone or MI5 doesn’t pan out for you, you can always take to a life of crime. I’ll share my Coke with you…”
“I’m impressed that you’d share. Water’s good.”
Isis twisted the cap off a bottle of water, handing it to him as he headed for the locked gate. She popped the tab on her can and took a long drink. “Ahhh, ambrosia… Should I get out to open the gate? How will I open it, though?”
“I’ve got it.” Thorne revved up the engine, slammed the gas pedal to the floor, and hit the gate at sixty per, then drove over the metal, smashing it into the dirt. He floored the engine and shot down the road in the semidarkness.
“There is something very satisfying in that.”
He smiled, finishing off another bottle of water. Their headlights bounced over the road as he pushed the lumbering vehicle to its maximum speed. Isis laughed. “Dirty Harry has nothing on you, Thorne.” She drank half her cola in one long draft, curling her feet up beneath her on the seat. “How are we going to implement Operation Striking Cobra?”
“Striking what?”
She gifted him with a wide smile. “Striking Cobra. Our plan to bring down these thieves and kidnappers needed a name. I thought it had a nice ring to it.”
He chuckled. Striking Cobra. The boys back at MI5 would be rolling on the floor with that one. “I don’t suppose you found a phone back there, did you?”
“Unfortunately not. Here, honey, I made you dinner.” She handed him three-quarters of the protein bar.
He didn’t argue, eating it in two bites. He glanced into the mirrors just to be sure Yermalof didn’t have eyes on them. “We need to ditch this and find something else in case someone sees us.”
“Ew! That was disgusting.” Isis pulled a face, hastily washing down the bar with her drink. “I’ll make you a real dinner, Thorne, when our lives are back to normal. Something much better than that mummified protein bar.”
“I promised you room service, remember?”
“It’s all that keeps me going. Oasis in an hour.”
“Sooner if we see anything we can help ourselves to.”
There was nothing available to steal any sooner than the oasis, and since the truck was gassed up, and they were halfway there, he decided to keep going. They made good time, reaching the center of Cairo right in the middle of the early morning commute.
“Where now?” she asked, using both hands to push her hair off her face. It was a lost cause. The mist and sweat had sprung her hair into wild curls, which Thorne found both charming and sexy.
“We need to ditch the truck and find a phone.”
“I didn’t see anyone, but is there any chance we were followed?”
“No one was behind us on the road from the hydroelectric plant to here. I kept a close eye out. No one is that good at tailing, especially when we traveled fifty miles with no one in sight either way. I think we escaped undetected. Why?”
“Husani probably hasn’t left for the shop yet. And even if he went in early,