Night Of No Return. Eileen Wilks
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too narrow and too exposed. A perfect place for an ambush.
He continued along the top of the wadi, his thoughts much darker than the gradually brightening air around him.
Nora was in danger. She didn’t realize that there were people who didn’t want her here routinely used mutilation or death to express their opinions. The thefts that worried Nora had reassured Alex. They had indicated that El Hawy hadn’t wanted to draw attention with anything as overt as murder.
But the open act of sabotage was a warning. The terrorists were getting nervous. The arms were on their way, and the buyer of those arms—the traitor named Simon—would be arriving once they did. El Hawy didn’t want outsiders nearby.
It was not healthy to be camped near a bunch of nervous terrorists.
The worst of it was that he couldn’t tell Nora she was in danger. He couldn’t even mention the watcher, much less tell her what was going on. He couldn’t afford for her to become too frightened or discouraged, because he needed her to continue to work the dig. He had to have a reason to be here, where few outsiders came.
Tourists didn’t venture into the Sinai’s interior. Religious pilgrims visited Mount Sinai and St. Catherine’s Monastery, while pleasure seekers stayed at resorts scattered along the coasts. Foreigners weren’t even allowed to leave the few main roads without special permits.
No, he couldn’t say anything, couldn’t even—
Alex’s thoughts stopped as suddenly as his body. He froze, head up, listening. Footfalls, coming this way down the wadi. Fast.
He moved quickly behind a boulder that overhung the dry waterbed. A perfect spot for an ambush, yes. Which was fine—as long as he was doing the ambushing.
Nora had finally managed to run her mind blank, free of all the problems that had beset the dig—and free of the man who kept invading her dreams. Her whole being was focused on the challenge and exhilaration of moving swiftly over rough terrain, in spite of the aches that still plagued her from her fall.
She was breathing hard and sweating lightly. A tight curve loomed ahead where the wadi narrowed drastically, banked by a huge boulder on one side and crumbling rock on the other.
The ground was littered with gravel and loose stones. She slowed, not wanting the complication of a turned ankle.
Something hit the ground, hard, right behind her.
She stopped dead.
A hard voice demanded, “Why the hell didn’t you keep running?”
She spun around.
Alex. He stood four feet from her. There was no mistaking him now for civilized. From the savage readiness of his stance to the beard stubble on his cheeks to the glittering anger in his eyes, he was everything wild and unpredictable.
Her hand went to her throat. “Good grief! Where did you come from?”
“You’re a fool, you know. I could have slit your throat before you turned around. You would have been dead before you hit the ground.”
Chapter 4
Nora took a step back, fear balling up in her stomach. “You need a new line, Alex. That one won’t impress many women.”
“You think I’m trying to impress you?” He closed the distance between them, stopping close to her. Too close. “That’s as stupid as coming out here alone.”
She licked suddenly dry lips. “I’ve been out here alone almost every morning ever since we set up camp. So far, you’re the only thing that has happened to worry me.”
His mouth twisted in what looked more like a threat than a smile. “At least you’ve got the sense to be worried now.”
Should she try to get away? Somehow, in spite of the way he was acting, she couldn’t believe Alex meant to hurt her. But fools seldom recognized their folly while they were busy committing it, did they? “What are you doing out here, anyway? Did you follow me?”
He hesitated. “I was following someone, but not you. I must have lost him.”
“Did someone come messing around the quarry? And you took off after him!” Anger licked in, freeing her from the fear. “And you’ve got the gall to call me stupid! I knew I shouldn’t have let you camp away from the rest of us, but I didn’t realize you’d turn into a one-man vigilante squad!”
“I wasn’t in any danger.”
“But I am?” She shook her head, disgusted. “You went chasing after someone who is either a thief or a vandal or both. I’m out here by myself, yes, but I’m no threat to anyone.”
“You could be, if you see something you’re not supposed to see. The Sinai is a major drug smuggling route.”
And he had been nearly killed—by bandits, maybe, as she’d first guessed. Or maybe by drug smugglers. That might explain his odd behavior. “Is that what happened to you?” she asked more quietly. “Did you see something you weren’t supposed to?”
He turned away abruptly and started down the wadi, heading back the way she’d just come. “I’m not supposed to talk about it.”
Nora fell into step beside him. She supposed that talking about whatever he’d seen might be dangerous. The authorities wouldn’t want their investigation jeopardized, either. “Look, I appreciate your concern, even if I don’t like the way you went about expressing it. But most smugglers aren’t as bloody-minded as the ones who stabbed you.” A grin flickered. “Take Mahmoud, for example.”
He frowned. “Your driver? You think he’s connected to smuggling?”
“Probably. This odd quirk he has about driving at night—he claims he doesn’t like the heat, but I suspect it’s habit. He’s used to driving after dark to avoid patrols. Smuggling is an old, honored tradition among many of the Bedouin, you know. They don’t consider it wrong.”
“It’s a tradition that has become tainted by the drug trade.”
She sighed. “I suppose so. So many of their ways have been changed, and often not for the better, by what passes for modernization. But that’s another subject.” She reached out to stop him, laying a hand on his arm.
He was warm to the touch. And hard. She pulled her hand back quickly, because her blasted heart started thumping again. “Alex, I’m not claiming that I’m perfectly safe, but I’m probably safer on my dawn runs here than a lot of joggers are in big cities. I do take precautions.”
“Precautions.” One lifted eyebrow loaded the word with a wealth of skepticism. “Such as—?”
“Why do you think I always run in the same place at the same time?”
“Do you?”
“Yes. If I’m predictable, I’m less likely to surprise someone who wouldn’t appreciate it. So I run at the same time, along the same route, every day. I made sure Mahmoud knows this, just in case, and I’ve mentioned it to people in Feiron Oasis, too.”
Grudgingly he nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. But…” His glance slid down her body, then back up to her face. “Let’s keep moving. You could use some cool-down time.”
Nora bit her lip. She ought to ignore him and finish her run.
She went with Alex instead. “We’ve talked about my safety. Now let’s talk about yours.”
“My safety isn’t your concern.”
“Not personally, no. But professionally—”
“Let’s not pretend, Nora. You and I will never have a truly professional relationship.” He said that coolly, as if he were mentioning the weather. “There’s too much heat between us.”
That messed up her breathing, even