Confused, she passed it to him. Xander kept his lips pressed together as he rummaged through the bag and pulled out a first-aid kit.
She sucked in her breath as she noticed the bruising on his ribs. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve had worse.” He placed the kit on a table next to the backpack, then sat in a chair. “Check my right shoulder. There’s a little gray dot.”
Leila stood behind him and glanced over his shoulder. “A gray dot? You mean this?” She ran her finger over a speck just below his shoulder blade. At first glance, it looked like a large freckle, but the coloring was off. It did look grayish.
“Yeah. That should be it. It’s a microchip. I need you to cut it out.”
Her stomach dropped. “What?” Why the heck did he have a microchip in his shoulder? And why would he want her to cut it out? “I’m not going to—”
“Just do it.” He twisted in his seat and glared at her. “They’ll be able to track our movements if you don’t.”
“I… I can’t.”
“Do it. I want it out.”
“It’ll hurt you.”
“I don’t care.”
She put the knife down. Horror, shock, and terror welled up inside her so fast she couldn’t hold it back. A cry escaped and she sank to her knees.
“Leila.” Xander dropped to the floor in front of her. “I need you to do this for me.”
“I can’t,” she said between sobs. This whole ordeal just kept getting worse and worse.
Xander took her face in one hand and lifted her chin, his hold deliberately firm. He pressed the knife back in her hand. “We have about five minutes until we dock.” His voice was dangerous. “If you don’t cut that thing out and throw it into the river, they’ll arrest us and we’ll both be beaten to a pulp until we’re dead.”
Her gaze locked on his. He was terrifyingly serious. She didn’t know this look. She didn’t know this man in front of her. She took in a shuddering breath, not sure what to think of this revelation. “Okay.”
A moment later, Xander was back in his seat. She placed her finger just under the gray spot, then laid the blade against his skin. Her stomach gave a nasty twist. Eyes closed, she took a few slow breaths through her nostrils.
“Just get it over with.”
Think of it as a big splinter. It’s got to come out. Her hand shook as she sliced into his skin. She wanted to throw up. His body stiffened and a trail of red ran down his back. One sickening minute later, a tiny silver cylinder lay in her bloody hand.
Xander released his breath through his teeth as she wiped the blood off his back and placed a compress and bandage over the damage. That was the best she could do in two minutes.
While Leila wiped the blood off her hands with another moist towelette, Xander shrugged his shirt back on. He threw a glance out the window.
“We’ve got company.” A smaller boat cruised in the dahabiya’s wake as they floated toward the shore, heading for a dock. He tossed the backpack to Leila. “Get on the bike.”
Still shaking, she carried the backpack out of the dining area. She emerged on the upper deck where the motorbike was parked.
Xander swung his leg over the bike and settled into the seat, motioning with a jerk of his head for her to do the same.
Leila pulled the backpack straps over her shoulders and climbed on behind him. Careful not to touch the wound, she rested against his back, arms finding their place around his waist. He might have acted strange in the dining room, but at least he still felt like the same person.
One of the shipmates tossed a rope onto the dock, anchoring the boat into place. Xander kicked the motorbike to life. Once the planks were lowered, he hit the gas and they roared up the ramp and sped down the dock. Neither of them bothered to look back.
The next five miles rushed by in a blur of road signs and vehicles weaving in and out of lanes. Xander took an exit for a highway, heading east. Houses and buildings began to thin out, and soon, there were no buildings at all, only rough cliffs towering above them on either side of the steaming asphalt. Xander slowed the bike, then pulled onto the shoulder and cut the engine.
Silence filled her ears and panic returned as another terrifying mission loomed. They were alone in the middle of nowhere, not being pursued…
Now was the time to talk.
CHAPTER 12
Where could Leila even start? Oh hey, so I joined this shady group that breaks into houses at night and steals artifacts, but it’s not really stealing because the artifacts were already stolen. Oh, and it’s led by our boss, Soliman—yeah, the guy those jerks are after.
No. That could wait just a little bit longer. Instead, she took in their surroundings. The highway stretched on for miles, the cliffs flattening as she looked east, the golden desert swallowing the horizon. Quite literally, the middle of nowhere.
“Why did we stop here?” she ventured. Now that she would like to know. Did Xander have another trick up his sleeve?
“Out of petrol.” Xander slid off the motorbike and, without a glance at her, walked along the shoulder, peering over the guardrail.
Leila sighed and lingered by the motorbike. Okay, their situation hadn’t improved much. Sure, there wasn’t anyone behind them, but even without the microchip tracking them, how long would that last? Where could they go from here?
Xander pushed away from the guardrail and strode toward her, his mouth set into a thin line of determination. Realizing his focus was on the motorbike, she stepped away from the machine. He grabbed the handles and pushed it along the shoulder.
Frowning, Leila followed a few paces behind him, wondering what was going through his mind. He had hidden a key in the road in Cairo, so maybe he had hidden gasoline out here too.
Instead, he dragged the bike to a break in the guardrail and let it roll off the asphalt. Crashes echoed across the rocky ground as the vehicle bounced, rolled, and flipped down the hillside. Once it came to a stop at the bottom, they climbed down after it. After Xander’s instruction, Leila helped lift and drop rocks on top of it until it was covered. It was a sloppy job, but it didn’t matter if it would be found. It just shouldn’t be found immediately.
When Xander was satisfied with their cover up, they settled in the shade of the cliff, drenched in sweat and coated in dust. With exhaustion weighing down on Leila’s shoulders and eyelids, she leaned against Xander. He remained stiff and silent, his eyes locked on the motorbike’s grave.
Neither of them seemed to want to be the first to speak.
