“Hey! My rapping is not that bad. And it was just a flat tire. No other damage.”
“Just a flat tire. Just. A flat tire. Because you drove the jeep into a ditch. I’m not letting you drive again.”
Emma crossed her arms. “Fine by me.”
Xander sighed as he turned on the engine. “Can we focus, please?”
Hoping his tire-changing job would hold, he let the car roll. The wheels crunched over the gravel, picking up speed as they continued on their way toward El-Misbah.
“Before we start to think about rapping and interpretive dance, let’s find Leila, all right?”
“Absolutely. I am totally focused.”
“We’ll need to assess the situation first. Make sure she’s in good health. Etcetera. I appreciate the optimism, but we don’t know what we’re going to find and—”
“Xander, don’t think about it. You won’t do her much good if you’re a hot mess yourself.”
“Right. Thanks.” Emma didn’t get it, did she? He was scared. Scared of what he would find. Scared she wouldn’t be okay. Scared he might have lost her forever.
“Just saying.”
The drive to El-Misbah lasted another hour over the rocky terrain. Undeterred, Emma continually tried to make conversation. He had to admit, she was right. In a way. Her ramblings distracted him, kept him from imagining all the awful things that could have happened to Leila. Though he still dreaded finding her sick, hurt, or worse, Emma kept him from losing himself in those dark thoughts. Whether she was doing it on purpose or not, he supposed it didn’t matter. She didn’t seem to have any intention to stop.
It was shortly after noon when they saw their first glimpse of the village between the mountains. The road opened into a valley, giving him free reign to steer where he pleased. This task mostly consisted of avoiding potholes while keeping as straight a shot to the buildings as possible. After two minutes of flinging rocks behind the tires, he guided the vehicle onto one of the cobblestone streets. The stones roared beneath the jeep, though he drove slowly past the run-down buildings.
“By the looks of it, I don’t think they’re here,” Emma said, her lips curling down.
Xander glanced over the dark buildings. It looked like the mummy apocalypse had passed through. But there still could be a chance that Leila was here. Of course she wouldn’t be hanging out in the open. She’d be keeping low. And there was no doubt a plethora of hiding places.
“Keep an eye out for any camels. They should be easiest to spot. Check barns, stables, what not.”
“Or whatever the beasts leave behind.”
“Precisely.”
He drove through the narrow streets until he reached a square, situated in the center of town. They climbed out and slammed the doors, the sound strangely foreign in the sleeping village.
“We’ll cover more ground if we split up. Half an hour and we meet back here,” Xander suggested, pushing a new clip into a handgun. He held it out for Emma. “Don’t be a minute late.”
She reached for it with a grimace, then held it out as if it were a slimy fish. “You’re not seriously giving me an actual gun.”
“I’m serious,” he said, even though he could hardly believe it, either. Especially after that bizarre dance. “I don’t like the looks of this place. But please, don’t shoot me.”
“I’ve never held one before, let alone fired one.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He holstered his own gun. “Keep it on you. Don’t put your finger on the trigger unless necessary.”
Emma gripped the handle, weighing the gun in her hand. Lips scrunched to one side, she stuck it into her waistband. “Will do. Half an hour?”
He nodded.
She nodded.
After she vanished down a side street on the left side of the square, he turned his attention to his right. He scanned the area, checking the shadows under the overhang that wrapped around the plaza. A gentle breeze blew sand over the ground. Something plastic rolled across the cobblestone near the uncovered well at the center of the square. He walked over and picked up the stray water bottle. A light brown film lined the inside, though the outside was fairly clean. It hadn’t been exposed to the elements for very long.
He tapped the palm of his hand with the bottle. Someone had been here recently. His eyes fell on a dark spot on the ground. Frowning, he walked over. Splatters, pooling… blood. He knelt down at the spot, examining the discolored area. It wasn’t that old, a few hours, maybe a day, judging by the dark brown color.
He swore quietly and stood, ice forming in his stomach. It was a lot of blood. And whoever it was from was badly wounded. Or dead. His head lightened.
Just keep searching.
Ignoring the painful twist in his gut, he studied the structure in front of him. The plaster on the walls crumbled, the windows had been boarded up. But unlike the other buildings, the door was open.
His heart hammered against his ribs. Creeping toward the doorway, he pulled out his gun. If someone was inside, they would have seen his arrival. Had they slipped out before he could notice? If it was Leila, she would have already made herself known.
So he kicked the door. It thudded against the inside wall and started to swing shut again. Holding his gun in front, ready to shoot, he slipped inside before it closed.
Except for the dust that danced in the beam of light shining through the window, the front room was empty. He took the stairs, two at a time, up to the second floor.
After a quick glance into the room upstairs determined that it was also empty, he climbed the ladder on the landing. A dark streak on the side of the ladder halfway up caught his eye and he stopped. There was no mistaking the red stripe. Someone going up or down had smeared it on the coarse wood.
He swallowed and climbed the rest of the way, dread stirring in his chest. He pulled himself onto the roof and stood, then walked across, head throbbing as he processed what he was seeing. More splotches of blood. Not as much as what he saw on the ground in the square, yet enough to get an idea of what happened.
His body went cold as the realization hit him. His knees scraped the floor. He choked on a scream. He was too late. The enemy had gotten to her first.
CHAPTER 35
Xander wasn’t sure how long he knelt there in the cold, watching the clouds roll past through his blurry vision. His mind left El-Misbah and replayed moments he never wanted to forget. Moments he wanted to keep as crystal-clear in his head as possible. It could be the only way he’d be able to spend time with Leila again.
