The sun grilled them as they trudged across the valley, dust, sand, and clothing sticking to their damp skin. After an hour’s hike through the wilderness, they came to a two-lane road.
Finally, civilization.
Too bad that could mean they were more likely to get caught. But he’d rather not turn to a life off-grid here. Maybe somewhere with a water source. They followed the sandy shoulders until a sign came into view.
EILAT - 10
They wordlessly strolled along the side of the road. Xander wiped his brow with his forearm. The occasional car zipped past, paying no heed to the two wandering backpackers. After a mile, they passed a cluster of farmhouses and came to a covered bus stop. After seeing one hopeful glance from Leila, he agreed with a nod. They sat and waited for the next bus.
Xander fiddled his thumbs between his knees. Tel-Aviv, Haifa, and probably a hundred smaller seaports in between. Which one would be less likely to be watched by SIS? This was outside his jurisdiction. If only he’d done more to study the surrounding countries.
Leila sat next to him, arms crossed, lost in her own thoughts that she seemed to have no intention of sharing with him. He didn’t ask.
Twenty minutes later, a bus rolled down the asphalt toward them. He paid their fares, and the bus carried them toward the red mountains rising in the distance.
As they stepped off the bus in the city center, Xander took a moment to pause. Eilat was another touristy town that boasted white sandy beaches, turquoise water, and great weather all year round, and it showed. Market stalls lined the streets, crammed full of swimsuits, beach bags, and sun hats. Flashy advertisements and thick palm trees dotted the main roads. With no destination in mind, Xander and Leila pushed through the crowds.
A tourist office would probably supply them with the information they needed, but probably wouldn’t be able to help them with how to sneak their way to Athens.
They came to a stop at a crosswalk. As a delivery truck roared past, leaving behind a cloud of diesel fumes, Leila released a sigh. “So, what do we do now?”
“Right now?” He checked his watch. Seeing it was just after noon, he said, “We find something to eat.”
• • •
After they were full of falafel and a shawarma sandwich, Xander decided to skip the tourist office and commit to an hour of research in an internet café. After a quick check in, they had almost free pickings of the fifteen computers that were set up in the large room. Only two others were currently occupied.
Xander settled in front of a computer in the second row. Leila grabbed a chair and set it next to him while he typed in searches in a few tabs. With their eyes glued to the screen, he scrolled through the results.
“Well,” Xander sighed, “there are no ferries traveling from the Middle East or Northern Africa to Greece. The only option would be to fly.” He rubbed a hand over his scratchy chin. Drake had mentioned stealing a boat. Maybe she was onto something.
Leila groaned. “Great. That’s exactly what we don’t want to do.”
“Nope. They’ll be watching airports. We could risk it, but the airport checks here are… rigorous.” Xander clicked around the web search for a few more minutes, hoping inspiration would strike. Their options were looking dismal.
“No way we’re driving, either,” Leila added.
Xander laughed grimly. “Nope. Without stops, that would be at least a thirty-hour drive through Syria and Turkey. You’d have to be one lucky bloke to survive that road trip.” Being on the run was much harder than it looked in the movies. Stealing a boat was sounding better by the second. “We’ll take a taxi to the train station and take the train to Haifa.”
“Haifa? Why Haifa?”
Xander shrugged. “More options, and less obvious than Tel Aviv.”
“Okay.” She narrowed her eyes and tapped her chin. He’d almost forgotten how adorable she was when she was thinking. “Haifa is a seaport. So, you think we’ll be able to go by boat?”
“Sure. There are thousands of boats in Haifa. We’ll find a vessel suitable for our mission.”
“And what sort of vessel do you have in mind?” Her lips thinned.
“Something big enough to cross the sea without getting crushed or capsized out there. You know… a boat.”
“We don’t know the first thing about navigating the Mediterranean in a boat, on our own.”
She had a point. “Then I guess it’s a good time to learn.”
“So your plan is to rent a boat and sail across the Mediterranean?”
“I said nothing about renting.”
“No.” Her eyes widened. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?”
“Think about all the things that could go wrong. A stolen boat means someone would call the police. What if the boat can be tracked? Then we still have to sail said stolen boat. What if we get lost at sea? What if we lose control and capsize?”
“All right. Do you have a better idea?”
Leila crossed her arms and looked around the room, that adorable, thoughtful look crossing her face again.
“We could hitch a ride?” She gave him a sideways glance.
“A ride with…?”
“On a ship. Even if there aren’t any ferries, there are still cargo ships, right?”
“A cargo ship?” That wasn’t a terrible idea. Xander turned back to the computer and typed in a new search. Bingo. Ten minutes later, he had a plan.
“All right. We go to Haifa. There are two ships leaving tomorrow for Athens. We’ll sneak on board, there will be a plethora of hiding places—”
