Edge of the Heat 6

by Ladew, Lisa

“You can open your eyes a little,” Dani said. “It’s not so bad now.”

  Sara and JT looked around. Sara nodded. “We just need to get a little farther.”

  They walked out of the dust cloud, or it gradually dissipated, and finally they found themselves able to open their eyes wide and draw in a deep breath. Dani looked back over her shoulder and couldn’t see anything but a massive dirt and dust cloud extending from ground to sky. Almost like a bomb went off, she thought stupidly, and then giggled at the ludicrousness of the thought. Sara cocked an eyebrow at her. Dani bit her lip to stop herself. She had a bad habit of thinking inane thoughts in bad situation, and then giggling at them like a schoolgirl. It was almost like her brain was trying to break the tension of any situation that made her nervous.

  “Whose missiles were those?” JT asked, sounding dazed and worn out.

  “The Navy,” Sara said. JT nodded and looked over the desert in the direction the missiles had come from, like he could maybe see the ships, or worse, more missiles.

  “Let’s sit down here,” Sara said. “If either of one of you hear a helicopter let me know and I will pop the flare.”

  JT’s eyes narrowed. “A Marine helicopter?”

  Sara studied him thoughtfully. “No, an Army helicopter — does it matter?”

  “It could,” JT said in voice that sounded both hard and sad to Dani. Then he nodded, seeming satisfied.

  Dani’s shocked brain tried to process his question and statement. She knew it was important. But her brain felt in danger of giving out. She looked around at the desert in three directions and the dust storm blocking all vision to the last direction. At the mountains looming on all sides, at the wide open sky. “Are we safe here?” she asked.

  Sara nodded. “Yes, I think so. It’s always smart to keep our eyes open, but there’s not going to be any terrorists wandering around out here to deal with.”

  Dani’s weary brain accepted this eagerly.

  Without warning, Sara pulled her black dress up and over her head. Beneath it, she was wearing light colored shorts and a white tank top. She had a lumpy black bag tied completely around her middle. But instead of that, Dani’s overworked brain noted the holsters strapped to each ankle, thigh, and arm. So she was Rambo after all. All she was missing was the bandoliers.

  “Who are you?” JT asked, delight shining from his voice.

  Dani felt a flare of what could only be jealousy burst through her chest. Jealousy? Really? You are in the middle of the desert, you just saw 50 people get incinerated by a missile, you barely escaped with your life and you are jealous of the woman who saved you for hardly any reason? Her weary brain then turned its vicious teeth on JT. And who in their right mind gets excited by guns and knives and holsters anyway? Dani frowned, aiming the frown at JT like a flashlight. Your dad, her brain whispered. Your sisters, it offered up. Your Unc— but that one hurt so she shut it down. You too, the little voice said, getting braver. You get excited by weapons too. Every good killing machine does. Dani’s frown slid off her face. Killing machine? Her eyes rolled to JT and wondered if that applied to him. Of course it did, he was a marine, wasn’t he? In fact, he’d already proved it.

  “It’s a long story,” Sara said, cutting through Dani’s thoughts. “I work for the government though.”

  Dani’s gaze was pulled to Sara’s feet by a splash of red on her right boot. She nodded to Sara and pointed to the ankle. “Is that where you’re shot? We should clean that up.”

  “It’s not bad. It barely even hurts now. I’m more worried about my back.” Sara told her, a slight waver of pain in her voice. She unwound the ties on the bag around her middle and pulled it off of her body.

  “Your back?” Dani asked, her mind playing scenarios of Sara falling to the ground, paralyzed.

  Sara turned around and showed it to Dani. “What does it look like?” Dani stood up and put a finger to a hole the size of a cell phone in Sara’s tank top. The edges were charred and blackened. Much of the skin below was also charred and blackened.

  “I’m not sure. It doesn’t look like a gunshot actually, but more like a burn. A bad burn.”

  Sara stood motionless for a moment and then said, “Oh shit.” She dropped quickly to one knee and laid out her dress as a kind of table on the sand. She rummaged through the bag and started pulling items out and placing them on the bag itself. A first aid kit, some sort of multi tool, a flashlight, a small black piece of what looked like electronics equipment. And then out came some sort of a phone, but way bigger than a cell phone. Sara flipped it over and examined the battery. It was twisted and blackened and charred just like the hole in her shirt. Sara studied it then pressed some buttons on the phone.

  “My satellite phone got shot. That’s what caught on fire – the battery. I guess I’m just lucky it wasn’t my spine. But now we can’t call anyone.” She stuck her hand in the bag again and pulled out a small, twisted red cylinder and examined it.

  Dani’s heart fell “But a helicopter is coming, right?”

  Sara scanned the sky again. “Yes, they know where we are. They should be here soon.” Sara put aside the red cylinder and pulled more things out of the bag.

  “Is that food?” Dani asked, referring to the rectangle-shaped bags that looked like MREs.

  “Yes, here, eat up.” Sara tossed both JT and Dani an MRE. JT juggled his and dropped it.

  Dani ripped her bag open and felt saliva gush into her mouth. It was almost painful. She winced and waited for the cramp under her tongue to pass and then tore the plastic off of the spoon and opened the bag marked cheese tortellini. Not that she cared what it said. She would have eaten just about anything.

  Sara watched her carefully. “You know you can heat that up right?”

  Dani shoveled three spoonfuls of tortellini in her mouth and shook her head. She tilted her face to the sky, squinting against the sunlight. Had anything ever tasted so good in her entire life? She didn’t think so. She opened her eyes and looked back at the bag of tortellini so she could get another spoonful and noticed that JT was still fumbling to get the outer covering off his MRE.

  “Oh hey? What’s wrong JT? Are your hands still giving you problems?” she asked.

  JT nodded. “I can’t get my right hand to close. The fingers don’t want to work. And it’s numb.”

  For the first time, Dani noticed the bruise covering JT’s neck on the right side. She sucked in a breath. In her mind, she wondered how big that bruise really was. How much was his shirt hiding. The ugly purple splash on the right side of his neck ran from his trachea to his ear.

  “Is that where they hit you?” She asked. JT nodded and touched his collarbone with his left hand. Dani’s fingers twitched. In her over-active mind she saw herself gently touching his collarbone.

  Sara walked to JT and knelt down in front of him. “Can I take a look?”

  Dani watched Sara run her fingers lightly over JT’s chest. Occasionally she stopped and pressed her fingers into his skin. Dani felt that flare of jealousy run through her again. Why did this woman have to be so damn beautiful and dangerous since obviously JT liked that combination?

  Dani shook her head and tried to will the emotion away. This is just stupid, she told herself. It’s not like JT was her boyfriend or anything. And besides, they were in the middle of the desert trying to survive. What the hell was she thinking?

  “It doesn’t feel like you have any broken bones,” Sara said. “You may have some nerve damage though, from that injury and your hands being tied behind you for so long.

  “Yeah that would make sense.” JT said, rolling his neck and looking into the sky.

  Dani snatched up JT’s MRE and opened it for him. She read the biggest package. Shredded barbecue beef. “What do you want me to open for you first?”

  “Anything. Open anything. I’m going to eat every bite.” JT said. “Maybe even the toothpaste.”

  Dani smiled. She knew exactly how he felt. She ripped the top off of the bag of beef and
handed it to him. He took it with his left hand, and awkwardly tried to hold the spoon in his right.

  “I could feed you?” Dani offered, feeling like a pervert.

  JT shook his head. “No I think I got it, thanks.” He flashed her a boyish grin and Dani felt her heart package itself up in a little box with a ribbon on it and head for JT. Mentally she pulled it back.

  Sara scanned the skies again. “The helicopter should be here by now. Something’s wrong,” she said almost absently.

  Dani’s heart sunk, but she went on shoveling food into her mouth. If they were going to die out here in the desert, she intended to do so on a full stomach.

  Chapter 21

  Silence fell over the small group as each contemplated the lack of rescue in their own way. The only noise that Dani could hear was a slight breeze whispering over the sandstone. She noticed the sun was setting and anxiety began to creep into her chest. They were supposed to be saved already. They were supposed to be whisked away to civilization in a helicopter already. And now what? Were they going to die out here under the terrible sun at the hand of dehydration, instead of some maniac with a knife?

  Dani kept eating mechanically because her body wanted the food, but her brain could think of nothing but what would happen to them now.

  She looked at JT. He sat relaxed and happy, chewing his food like it was a 5 course meal from his favorite restaurant. His calm demeanor relaxed her a little bit. He didn’t seem to think they were about to die. She took a deep trembling breath and picked up another one of his packages of food. Energy bar, she read off of the bag. She ripped it open and placed it next to him. He gave her a smile that whisked away the rest of her anxiety in one swoosh. She felt her mouth smile back. God, he’s handsome, she thought.

  Sara’s voice cut through her thoughts like a knife, making her jump a little bit. “We have to get out of this sun.” Sara stood up and shaded her eyes, trying to see the mountains better.

  Dani looked at her, anxiety immediately slamming back in to her body as soon as she looked away from JT. Her hands spasmed into claws and her back tensed. “But if we move, will the helicopter be able to find us?” she asked, her shaky voice betraying her fear.

  Sara didn’t answer. Instead, she got up and walked in a widening circle around them. Dani stopped looking at her. It made her too nervous. She looked at JT instead and saw he was almost done with his food. Dani wished for some water and eyed Sara’s bag wondering if there could possibly be some water in there.

  On one hand Dani knew Sara was right. She could feel the sun baking her as they sat there, but on the other hand the helicopter was their only hope of getting out of this desert alive, wasn’t it?

  Sara returned and sat down. “We’ll wait here for another 30 minutes, and if we don’t hear the helicopter by then, we have to move.” Dani suddenly wondered if she and JT had any say in what they did next. Was Sara in charge?

  Dani looked at JT to see what he thought of Sara’s declaration. He nodded like it was a good idea. Dani wondered how much either one of them knew about surviving in the desert. Because she didn’t know crap. She looked down at her MRE. All the food was gone. Tears burned the back of her eyes, but she willed them away. This wasn’t the time or the place.

  30 minutes later they were on their way. As they walked in a line, Sara told them to watch out for snakes. “The black spitting cobra is the most dangerous snake out here. If you get too close it will bite you, but it prefers to spit venom at your eyes. Don’t step over anything. Always go around.” Dani nodded, trying to look in every direction at once, and painfully aware of the sneakers she was wearing. JT and Sara both wore boots, which probably provided much better protection against snakebite.

  The mountain grew bigger in their path, and Dani grew more fatigued. She had fallen behind. Sara was in front, JT next and Dani bringing up the rear. JT kept falling behind to check on her, then speeding up to check in with Sara.

  Sara’s wounds didn’t seem to slow her down much. Occasionally she stopped and picked up a thick green plant, the only thing in sight for miles that wasn’t colored sand-brown. Dani hoped Sara knew what she was doing and that the plant wasn’t poisonous.

  Dani trudged on, her eyes on the ground. Eventually she noticed the light was changing. Dusk was falling over the desert and that meant it was going to get cold soon, didn’t it? She didn’t know very much about the Sinai desert. All she knew was you weren’t supposed to go without a guide because no one could survive out here who wasn’t an expert.

  Dani heard a shift in the footsteps ahead of her. Sara had turned around and came back to them. “I’m going to run up to the mountainside and see if there is a good place for us to hole up tonight. You two keep walking this way. I’ll be right back.” She ran off without waiting for an answer.

  Dani’s anxiety had been waning, but now it came rushing back. JT slowed his pace enough to fall in next to her. He looked carefully at her face. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m scared,” she said simply.

  She felt JT’s left-hand close around her right hand, comforting in its warmth and strength. A zinging sensation flashed down her spine. He’s just being sweet, she told herself. But again, his very presence calmed her, gave her courage.

  “How’s your hand?” she asked him.

  He lifted his right arm and flexed the fingers into a fist, watching it curiously. She could see it didn’t close all the way. His first and second fingers seemed to stutter and wouldn’t touch his palm.

  “It’s still numb. It’s weird, you know? It’s like it doesn’t exist at the end of my arm, but I can still make it work. It’s strange to see my fingers move but not be able to feel them move. I don’t know if that makes any sense.”

  Dani had never felt the sensation, but she could still imagine. She nodded “It does.”

  Suddenly, Dani was aware that she could smell herself. She moved slightly away from JT, terrified that he could smell her too. She could smell five days worth of acidic fear and pungent sweat rising off of her. What she wouldn’t give for a shower.

  “I’m just glad we got out of there,” JT said.

  “Me too,” Dani said feeling the weight of his statement. It was a simple statement, but only the two of them would ever know exactly how much terror and pain were underlying in the sentiment.

  JT smiled at her again and looked her in the eyes. “Sara is pretty amazing, huh?”

  Dani’s heart sunk to her shoes even as she nodded and tried to smile back. She had to agree, Sara was amazing but she didn’t have to like the fact that JT thought so.

  “What are you going to do when we get back to civilization?” he asked her.

  Dani studied him. “So you’re not scared that we’re going to die out here?”

  JT raised an eyebrow, like he hadn’t even considered it. He shook his head. “No, there may have been a complication, but no one is going to leave us out here in the desert. We will be saved. I’m sure of it.”

  Dani felt his conviction rush into her and give her strength. He was right. The government had sent Sara out to save them and Sara had done an amazing job. They’d sent missiles to destroy the compound and eliminate the terrorist threat. And now they would be found. No one was just going to leave them here to die in the desert. Dani felt her anxiety fall away, like shedding hair. The sunset in the desert suddenly took on a new light, a new beauty. Her mind felt clear, and somehow fresh and light.

  She smiled again at JT, feeling her face crinkle and her her eyes shine. “I’m going to shower,” she said.

  “What?” JT asked her, grinning that gorgeous grin that she thought made him look like a fresh-faced college boy who’d never had a gun pointed at him or a knife held to his throat.

  “You asked me what I was going to do when we got out of the desert. I’m going to shower. For at least an hour.”

  “Ahhh,” he said laughing. “Me too. And I’m going to drink some soda and ice cold water until my stomach sloshes.” His f
ace grew serious. “But no coffee.”

  Dani uttered a surprised laugh. Nope, no coffee. No coffee shops for her for a while, either.

  “I have something to take care of too,” he said, his voice suddenly hard.

  Dani’s eyes grew wide as she remembered everything he had said before they had escaped. Uncle Kevin had killed his squad. Uncle Kevin wanted them killed. And JT knew Uncle Kevin. Anger and rage clotted her insides. Her hand clamped down involuntarily on his. Before she could relax it, JT looked at her, surprise in his eyes.

  He opened his mouth, but never got to speak. They both heard running and looked forward into the deepening gloom. It was Sara, had to be, but even so, Dani dropped JT’s hand and placed her hand on the gun at her hip. JT crouched and did the same. As the figure got closer, they could see it was indeed Sara. Dani dropped her hand, watching dust puff up around Sara’s boots as she ran.

  She stopped a few feet from them to catch her breath. “I found a cave, this way.” Sara motioned for them to follow and walked back the way she had come.

  Dani’s mind saw a cave full of snakes and spiders and God knew what else. She shuddered involuntarily, but kept walking.

  As they approached the cave in the side of the massive mountain Dani looked at it curiously. “Someone built this!” she exclaimed, pleased with the carved look of the doorway.

  “Yes, it was probably a home for some Bedouin for a little while,” Sara said.

  Dani examined the curved doorway closely. It was only about 4 feet high, and a few feet wide. They would all have to stoop to go in. It even had a step to keep small animals out, she presumed. And just inside the doorway, she could see wood boards that had been lashed together to make a kind of door. But what did it look like inside? Was it full of cobwebs and animal bones?

  “I’ve got a flashlight,” Sara said. “Hold on.”

  Sara untied the bag from around her waist and shoulders and rummaged in it. She pulled out the multi tool that Dani had seen earlier and took a cover off of one end. She pressed the button and a bright blue light flashed on. Sara crouched and stepped into the doorway. JT gave her a look, eyebrows raised, then followed. No spiders, please no spiders, Dani chanted in her head, then stepped inside to see for herself.