Chapter 2

When I awoke I felt like I'd slept for hours and was surprised that we were still in the air. I wondered into the galley to get something to eat, and couldn't help but see and over hear Mr. Burhan talking through his laptop on a videoconference.

"Look we had an agreement as we always have had, everything is set up and I can't back out of the deal now. We're landing soon so there isn't anything that can be done"

What was that all about, where exactly were we, and where were we going? I returned to the bedroom door then turned and making some noise went back to the galley.

"Good morning Miss. Plum, did you sleep well?"

"Yes thank you, but where are we?"

"On our way to my house in Cairo"

"Cairo, as in Egypt?"

"Yes Miss. Plum, I thought it was about time Mia got to know her roots. I'm from that part of the world, though her mother was American, so she can see how my world exists. I'm sure you'll enjoy it"

How the hell had I ended up on the other side of the world? If I had been asked would I have said yes? But I wasn't asked or even told. I was feeling nervous now, and I didn't know why, surely he wouldn't hurt Mia or me? Would he? When the doorway of the plane opened I was taken aback by the brightness of the sun and the heat, Mia was obviously a little nervous because she had my hand in a death grip. The ride from the airport was unreal, so many cars and travelling in all directions at once, and the buildings, some tall, some small and many didn't look as if they should stay up. People on the streets and wandering through markets, all looking a bit dirty and a bit scruffy, but the energy they portrayed was unreal. We then seemed to move out of the city and came to a beautiful area surrounded with palm trees, I assume an oasis, we moved through wide gates into an area surrounded by a white wall and inside was a single story house. I suddenly felt so alone, so vulnerable and my senses were telling me trouble was waiting for me. The house felt cool inside, all the walls were white with large paintings and motifs. The floor was a beautiful marble, the same design throughout. Mia and I were shown to a suite of rooms, two bedrooms with en suite and a large shared lounge that had access through glass doors to the garden, and not just any garden, there was a large swimming pool in the center with chairs and hammocks placed under the shade of palm trees. Okay, maybe this wasn't so bad, but I was still annoyed that Mr. Burhan hadn't let me know. Mia was in her element especially when she discovered swimwear for both of us in cases that just seemed to materialize. We spent the remainder of the evening by the pool and in our rooms, dinner was provided outside on the terrace and we were both so hungry. By early evening we were both tired so after reading Mia a story I went into my bedroom. I didn't know what the plans were while we were here but decided that I couldn't change anything so just to go along with what we were told and enjoy the experience.

Aden joined us for breakfast, a selection of breads, cold meat and cheeses and informed us of the plans for the day. In the morning we were to visit the Museum of Cairo, Mia was excited, me not so much. Though I have to admit once we got there and were inside I was blown away with the artifacts and the intricacy of the work that had been done so many years ago, I was enthralled with the inscriptions, mummies, sarcophagi, pottery, jewelry, and the way the ancient Egyptians had lived and died. Apparently the museum houses an unbelievable exhibit depicting ancient Egypt's glorious reign, and of course both of us were so excited when we saw the exhibit dedicated to Tutankhamen and the collection of treasure, gold and jewelry which was enclosed in his tomb for over 3,500 years before it was discovered in the 1920s when his tomb was excavated. The boy-king's death mask, discovered in its tomb, was made of solid gold and it has been described as the most beautiful object ever made and having now seen it I could certainly agree with that.

Next were the pyramids, I had imagined them in the middle of the desert but the houses of Cairo were almost upon them. The largest was Khufu's Pyramid, and is the greatest pyramid of the complex: it was a truly overwhelming sight. Being one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, it is the only one still standing to this day! When I gazed at this colossal structure, there's no way to escape the feeling of being dwarfed. The two smaller - but still huge - pyramids were Khafre and Menkaure. The car took us to the furthest point and I was told that we would be picked up at the bottom of the complex. It was at this point that I realized just how many men were surrounding us, all of them armed. As we slowly followed the road down I actually appreciated our male company, the locals were like bees to a honey pot, trying to sell their trinkets or in one instance just about picking me up to hoist me onto a camel. Needless to say they soon got the message to leave us alone. Mia thought the whole thing was a hoot, until Aden told her that they'd take me away and sell me. Not funny. We talked about the magnificence of the pyramids and how hard it must have been to build them. Mia wanted to go inside one so Aden went with her, inside the small tunnel leading inside, I declined, no way could I cope with such a small space. Down on the Plateau, we came to the Great Sphinx and the Solar Boat Museum. This was the site where the Light Show at Giza took place. I could never have imagined that the Pyramids were that big; it was breath taking. I'd had an amazing day, seeing things I would never have dreamt of seeing.

As the sun sank behind the desert we were chaperoned back to the cars, it would be a longer journey back to the house. Sat in the back Mia was curled against me asleep, but my spidey senses had me wound up tight, it was pitch black except for the stars with no other traffic when suddenly the car in front seemed to spin out of control. We stopped suddenly and all hell let loose. Shots were fired into the car doors, thank god they were bullet proof, but then my car door was yanked open and I came face to face with a man wearing a keffiyeh pulled around his head and obscuring his face, in his hand was a revolver and it was pointed at me. I froze, pushing Mia behind me, but to no avail, he grabbed hold of my arm and started to drag me from the car. I screamed and I kicked until he backhanded me across the face; I realized too late that another man away from the car was carrying Mia. I stopped the struggle; I needed to stay with her. There was a lot of movement as cars were pushed to the side of the road, I had no idea how many men were in the group, maybe only about seven and some seemed to be women, but looking round all I could see were men dressed in Arabic clothes and scarves. Now was definitely the time to panic. My hands were tied with cloth in front of me and a hood placed over my head and that was what panicked me the most.

"Please no, I'll do anything you ask, please don't put me in the dark"

Either he didn't understand or he wasn't interested in how I felt, as the cloth closed around my face the panic started to overtake me. My breathing started to increase, I felt dizzy and then I felt nothing.

It was the feeling of moving and a strange sound that woke me; I opened my eyes to discover that the hood had been removed. Physically I felt fine, but mentally I was still in a state of shock. Why had this happened, surely this had nothing to do with me. My first instinct was to look for Mia; my eyes darted around the confines of my prison, thankful that I could see Mia laid across some old blankets. We seemed to be in the back of a jeep, with cloth covering the top and the sides. I crawled over to Mia, I needed to touch her, make sure she was unhurt. She turned as I approached and we met in the middle, I lifted my still bound hands over her head and pulled her to me.

"Steph, what do they want?"
"I don't know, but we need to make sure we stay together, okay?"

"Okay"

The sound was coming from the tires so I lifted the cloth at the back of the jeep and peeked out. Sand, that's all I could see, miles and miles of sand. It was the sound of the tires on the sand that I had heard, and from the look of where the sun was it was early morning. No point in trying to escape, there was nowhere to escape to; we'd die of thirst or heat stroke before we found refuge. I needed to wait for the right opportunity before I made my move. So with that in my mind I sat against the side of the jeep and pulled Mia onto my knee and into my arms. Having spent what seemed like hours travelling the jeep eventually stopped and someone opened up the back of the jeep, throwing in some clothes.

"Put these on"

Stay calm Stephanie, do as they say and hopefully we'll be safe, maybe we were being held for a ransom so they'd need to keep us safe, wouldn't they? With a sigh I picked up the clothes and sorted through them to find the ones for Mia. The larger items, which I assumed were meant for me, was like a large grey kaftan, that fell to below my knees and long sleeves, and a pair of baggy elasticated trousers there was also a scarf for my head. Mia changed into similar items and then we made to get out of the jeep. I was stiff and needed to walk to stretch my muscles. No one stopped us and in fact one man held out a bottle of water to each of us. The men seemed to be watching and waiting, what for I wasn't sure. We both tipped back the bottle, relishing the feel of the liquid on our throats. Then I realized my mistake as the view of the men in front of me began to shimmer and I began to sway, the bastards had drugged us.

This time when I came awake I felt more comfortable, shifting I realized I was laying on cushions, with Mia curled up next to me. I stayed still listening for any movement or talking. There didn't feel to be anyone near so I opened my eyes slowly to find that we were inside a tent, the floor was covered with rugs and cushions. I slowly moved so as not to disturb Mia and peeked underneath the cloth of the tent by the floor. More sand, where the hell were we? Then I saw two men walking toward the tent, was I seeing things or was one of them Aden, how was he here, why was he here, was he part of us being kidnapped? I quickly returned to where I was and pretended to still be asleep. I was aware of sunlight on my face and decided to move as though I was waking up. I looked up into the face of Aden, at least his face showed some sign of regret.

"Aden, what the hell is going on?"

"We needed to get you and Mia out before you were hurt"

"Hurt by who?"

He looked at Mia, then returned his gaze to me.
"The house you were in was bombed last night, we knew an attack was imminent, but we're not sure who planned it"

"Mia's father?"

"He wasn't there"

"Aden where are we?"

"Saudi"

"How?"

"After you slept"

"You mean drugged"

"Okay, we had to drug you to hide you to get onto the ferry"

"But why?"

"It seems you don't do well in small dark spaces"

"No, I don't, a past experience"

"You'll be safe here"

"For how long?"

"Not sure, just trust us please, we have no intention of hurting you or frightening you"

"Can we go outside?"
"Yes, but do not go beyond the camp, there may be people out here who would attack us, and Steph, wear a scarf around your head to hide your hair and please don't look directly at anyone"

I understood what he wanted me to do, I just didn't understand why. Mia was stirring so I went to her.

"Mia, Carino, I'm here with you, we're safe"

How I wished those words were being spoken to me by Ranger, it's what he would have said to me, so now I needed to be strong for her.

"Steph, where are we?"

"In the desert, but I think we're safe"

"What did you call me?"

"Carino, it's Spanish for sweetie, sorry Mia I was thinking of a friend who speaks Spanish"

"That's okay, it sounds nice"

"Shall we go outside and stretch our legs?"

She nodded, but I know she was frightened, I held tightly to her hand as we bent down under the flap of the tent and into the bright sunlight. She instantly saw Aden and left me to jump into his arms. I was just hoping he was one of the good guys; I'd never had any doubt about him before now. An old woman came up to me and led me to a camp chair to sit down. I did as Aden had said and didn't look at her. She removed the scarf, combed and braided my hair then placed a black band of cloth around my head, tied at the back so that my hair was out of sight.

"Thank you"

She replied but I'm not sure what she said, and then her hands were on my jaws raising my face to hers. I'm sure she saw my eyes, but I'm not sure what she was shouting to the other women. I stood up quickly, going over to Aden.

"What did she say?"

"She was beguiled by the blue of your eyes"

"Why?"
"In Islamic tradition, blue often signifies the impenetrable depths of the universe, and turquoise blue is thought to have mystical qualities, as a result, Muslims imagine that a person with blue eyes has divinely endowed qualities, similarly, indigo or dark violet-blue has mystical qualities in certain regions. I know that your eyes change color depending on your mood, she saw it too"

"What did she shout out to the others?"

"Euyun zurqa', euyun zurqa' 'iilhia. Blue eyes, divine blue eyes"

"Oh, is that a bad thing?"

"Depends, if others hear her saying that they may work out it's you, or maybe not"

"Aden, why are we in Saudi, and not still in Egypt?"

"We were being followed, we can get lost from sight once we're over here, not so much in Egypt"

"So what now?"

"We're going to head toward the capitol, Riyadh"

Mia stirred at that and looked at Aden with a frown.

"How far Aden, I want to go home"

"About 1200km, so maybe 12 hours staying off the main roads"

Mia let out a moan at that, yeah, me too kid, that was a long time travelling in this heat.

I turned and noticed that the tents had been taken down and every where people were packing, I suppose we were leaving now, though I had no idea what time it was, my watch was still tuned in to American time.

"Aden, what time is it here, now?"

"9am, time to go"

I altered my watch and followed Aden who was still carrying Mia to the front of the jeep. He opened the door for us to get in.

"Thought you'd prefer to be up front?"
I think we were both relieved with that. Aden drove, following another jeep; I noticed that we had two much larger trucks behind us in our convoy. The scenery never seemed to change and although the seats were reasonably comfy, I was hot, sticky and felt the sand on my skin. What I wouldn't give to have a long hot shower. Mia slept and at some stage I dozed but every jolt would shake me to being fully awake. I noticed up ahead that the route we were taking wasn't very clear; I looked over at Aden.

"Sandstorm, we'll need to stop and bunker down till it passes"

All of the vehicles converged and formed a circle; I suppose to give some protection, then the men and women just squatted down against a vehicle and covered themselves in a blanket. I looked at Aden and realized he'd picked up Mia and was getting out of the jeep. I quickly followed and realized he had several large blankets. I took one and arranged it so half was on the floor, then took Mia and sat with my back to a truck wheel and Mia snuggled between my legs and across my chest. Aden then pulled the blanket around us, tucking it in at all the edges.

"Stay like this until I get you out"

It was an order, and one I would follow. I could already hear the sound change as the storm approached, then I could feel a hammering against the blanket, I tightened my hold on the edges and prayed that we would survive this. I wasn't exactly frightened, this was a force of nature not of man, and for some reason that made a difference to me. I was more afraid that someone else would be hurt.

We sat quietly waiting for the storm to pass and after a short time the howling and battering on the blanket began to ease. The sound of silence was almost as terrifying as the sound of the storm.

"Can we go out?"

I whispered back against her ear, giving her a hug.

"Not till we're told it's safe"

"Is anyone still there?"

"I'm sure they're just waiting to make sure the storm has all gone"

I could hear voices now, low murmuring and then grunts, shit what had happened, then I heard my worst fears come true.

"Find the woman and the girl, tie the others up and leave them to the desert"

Shit, now what, I kept perfectly still as the voices came nearer.

"We'll take the trucks and jeeps with us, the supplies may come in handy"

Closer and closer, I could feel Mia tense up, she'd heard them as well, then the blanket was being pulled away, until both of us were revealed. The sun was behind the two men who had uncovered us, I didn't look up, aware that Aden had said not to, plus the sun was too bright to look into. Mia was dragged away from me, she was kicking and screaming with every ounce of energy she had. I was annoyed by that action and to hell with being demure, so I stood up and walked up to the man holding a writhing child and took her from him. She immediately went quiet, and clung to me with her arms around my neck.

"I'll hold her, not you"

He made to come at me but then another man stopped him.

"Leave her, I'd rather they were together, anyway I'm not riding in a truck with that noise"

He took my elbow and put us in the front of one of the trucks, then got out handcuffs and handcuffed my arm to the handrail above the window, then slammed the door shut. I closed my eyes, trying to get a grip on myself, where were the others, Aden and the women? What did this group want with us? Why us? I felt a nudge on my shoulder and noticed Mia looking in the rear view mirror, I leant over as far as I could, and when she changed the position of the mirror I could see what had happened to the people we were with. They were all hog-tied, faces in the sand, black bags over their heads and there were some men shoveling sand over them. I turned away and pulled Mia against me.

"Mia, we have to be strong and we have to believe that they'll get out of there once we set off"

"Do you think so?"

"Yes, Carino, I have to believe that" or I will not be able to survive.

I was crying inside from what I'd seen, how could someone do that to another human being, I couldn't imagine how they must be feeling, and to die like that? Be angry Stephanie, turn your fear to anger, for Mia's sake. Oh god Ranger, where are you now when I need you, will I ever hear your voice again? I wanted desperately to feel his arms around me and tell me he was there and everything would be all right. Why hadn't I told him how I felt, at least I could die knowing that he knew, even if he didn't love me in the same way. Maybe if I got out of this I could live with him being just a friends, please god even if it's just as friends, let me see and hear him again, please.

I wasn't aware of the truck moving, I was still lost in my thoughts, I kept my eyes closed to make sure there was no evidence of crying, I wouldn't give these bastards that satisfaction. My arm was aching being held up by the cuff for so long, Mia was asleep again, which was probably a good thing. I think we'd been travelling for about four hours and I was at my limit.

"Where are we going?"

The man turned as if he had forgotten I was there.

"Somewhere safe"

"How long, I can't travel like this for much longer"

"30 minutes, maybe, then we'll make camp"

True to his word we began to slow and moved from the sandy track to stop on the other side of a sand dune. Mia came awake as we stopped, and stretched.

"I need a toilet"

Great, well maybe now she'd mentioned it so did I. The man sighed and released the cuffs and pulled us both across to the drivers side and out onto the sand. He rummaged in the back of the jeep and came to us with a rope and a shovel.

"You've got the length of this rope, use the shovel to dig a hole then cover it over"

The rope was fastened to Mia's ankle; he knew I wouldn't leave her, another reason to hate him. We walked across the sand, trying to find a place that couldn't be seen by any of the men.

"Mia, see if you can count how many men there are while I dig a hole"

Mia smiled, pleased that I'd asked her to do something positive. Once the hole was dug I helped Mia to squat over the hole, then did the same myself. Once I'd filled in the hole we slowly walked back toward the truck.

"How many Mia?"

"I saw six, I don't think there are any women here this time"

"Well we need to bide our time, no point in getting lost out here in the desert"

"What do they want with us Steph?"

"I don't know"

But I needed to find out. The problem was that the only person who would come near us was the man who had driven us, the rest kept their distance and I wasn't sure why. After we had returned to the truck he brought two metal dishes and two bottles of water over for us, maybe now was possibly a chance to ask some questions.

"If you're the one who's in charge of us, what name do I call you?"

He looked up from his dish as though thinking of how to answer. He looked young, maybe mid twenties, with brown eyes and hair to his shoulders. His eyes were assessing us and he had no particular expression on his face.

"Sami"

"Why have you taken us Sami?"

"Bosses orders, didn't ask, I just do as I'm told"

"Why won't any of the other men come near us?"

"They don't know what to make of you"

"What do you mean?"

"Your eyes, they are superstitious, so they stay away from you"

"Oh"

How could I respond to that? But maybe I could use it to my advantage, what was it Aden had said? Muslims thought that a person with blue eyes had divinely endowed qualities, and mystical qualities. Maybe there would be an opportunity to see if it worked, I know Ranger often said that he could tell my mood by the color my eyes were. Ranger, I wonder where he is now? Will anyone even notice that I'm gone? I hadn't told anyone where I worked or who for, dam my independence, no one would even know I was missing let alone be looking for me. Even Tank would be non the wiser, he'd only get worried when I got myself into scrapes with my skips, he'd probably just assume I had a new job so nothing to worry about. I think Mary Lou was the only one I'd even hinted at as what my job was, but not where. I turned back to the slop I was trying to eat, it was some sort of stew with chickpeas and lots of rice, in fact we were supposed to just use our fingers in order to eat and then use the bread to wipe up the remnants. It wasn't too bad, a bit spicey, but at least they were feeding us. The darkness came quickly and Sami told us to sleep in the back of the jeep, there were some extra blankets as the air was beginning to feel cold. Mia and I snuggled together, both of us quiet, probably trying to mull over everything that had happened in the last two days.

"Do you think daddy will be looking for us?"

"I'm sure he is Carina, he'll be worried about you"

"I know this sounds mean, but I'm glad you're here with me"

"Me too"

Mia was restless during the night and I tried my best to make sure she was comfy, as she seemed to fall into a deeper sleep I felt a pain in my calf muscle, shit I'd been so concerned for her comfort my leg was bent back behind me. I needed to move, to stretch out my leg and the truck was too short for that. I carefully detangled myself from Mia and slid out of the back of the truck, standing up and stretching my calf muscle, it was too painful and I ended up sat down trying to massage it. I felt someone near me before they appeared; Sami squatted down in front of me.

"Why are you out here?"

A tear fell from my eye and slowly ran down my cheek.

"I have cramp in my calf and I can't get it to stop"

He looked at me, obviously not sure what to do, but I could see some concern in his face.

"Here, let me try to work it through for you"

He placed my foot on his knee and slowly pressed hard onto the muscle, then moved his hands up and down, trying to get the muscle to relax.

"It's really tight, is this helping?"

I nodded, yes it did seem easier, but it was still sore. When he thought the muscle was more relaxed he pulled me to my feet and made me walk back and forth, when the pain subsided I stopped and turned to him.

"Thank you Sami, that helped a lot, I'll go back inside and try to sleep"

"Drink the water"

I looked at him, I could remember the last bottle of water I'd drunk and it had knocked me out. He sensed my unease.

"Why won't you drink it?"

"The last bottle I was given had some drug in it and it knocked me out"

"The water's safe, I promise"

I climbed back in to the jeep and found the bottle of water; I didn't realize how thirsty I was until the whole bottle was empty. I turned back to Mia, glad to see she was more settled and finding a comfortable position eventually fell asleep next to her. What woke me was the movement of the truck, it wasn't that we were being jostled around it was that peculiar sound again. As I looked around I panicked, Mia, where was Mia?

"Mia"

I saw Sami's eyes in the rearview mirror, was he smiling at me?

"Good morning sleeping beauty, Mia's up front with me, but you need to stay where you are"

"Why?"

"Too many people on the road, and don't even think about shouting out or screaming, they are not the type of people you would want to rescue you"

Mia turned in her seat to look at me; she had a very serious face on her.

"Steph, they've all got guns"

"Is Mia safe there?"

"Yes she is as long as stays below the level of the window. Twenty minutes and we turn off this road, then you can move"

True to his word I felt the jeep turn to the right and not long after Mia sat back up.

"We'll stop in a couple of miles"

"How long have we been travelling for?"

"Two hours, and before either of you ask, we've got about four hours before we reach our destination"

We did stop, but not for long. Another walk at the end of a rope with a shovel and we were on our way again, this time with me sat in the front next to Mia. Sami had gone quiet, in fact he reminded me of Ranger when he went into his zone. The terrain had started to change and there were rocky outcrops and I'm sure we were travelling higher. As we turned and slowly drove down a twisting track I could see a series of tents and a building. Yeah, a building was probably being optimistic, but at least it had walls and a roof and looked to be built from stone. We stopped in front of the stone building and Sami stopped the engine, I went to open the door but a man appeared from the building and I backed away from him, I didn't like the vibes I was getting from him, and my spidey senses were tingling, telling me to be very cautious around him. He yanked the door open and grabbed my arm and dragged me after him inside the house. I looked around for Sami, but he had disappeared. Mia kept close to me and as she caught up with me held onto my free hand.

"In there, both of you"

We were pushed through a doorway; with him slamming the door shut and I heard a bolt slide across from the outside. We both just stood there looking around, this was bad, one mattress on the floor was the only content, no windows, no natural light, only a bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"I don't like it in here"

"I know Mia, but let's just make the most of it and see what happens"

Now I was beginning to feel afraid, this looked like a prison and I'm not sure if Mia had seen them, but there were metal rings attached to the walls, surely they wouldn't fasten us up to those, would they? I went to the door and put my ear against it to see if I could hear anything, nothing but silence. I needed to divert Mia with something before she got scared.

"Come here Mia, let's sort out your hair and see if we can get those clothes a bit tidier"

We spent the next few hours mindlessly redressing ourselves and I let Mia re braid my hair and put the band of material back around my head. I had no idea how long we'd been there, when the bolt slid and the door opened. Two men came in; one was the one who brought us into the room, he was stocky and maybe a bit older than me. He had dark greasy hair and a beard and moustache, his teeth looked crooked and stained as he smiled, and not a pleasant smile.

"Take the kid out and feed her, get the women to put her in some clean clothes"

I hadn't looked up at this stage, but now I did, I looked at him and could feel my temper rise.

"Where she goes I go"

"Not happening"

Mia started to cry and was dragged out of the room, the door closing behind them. Oh no, what did he want with me, would he beat me, or worse rape me? I backed up against the wall as he moved closer to me.

"So you're the one the men won't go near. You're just a woman with blue eyes, nothing special, and I'll prove that to them"

As he reached for me I ducked under his arm and ran across to the other wall.

"Oh you want to play hard to get do you?"

Oh god, he was going to attack me, no way was that happening without a fight. This time I stood my ground and stared at him. You can do this Stephanie; remember how Hector taught you to defend yourself, not that I'd always taken much notice of him. Shit why didn't I do those lessons that Ranger was always asking me to do? As he reached for my shoulder I knocked his arm away from me and stepped in toward him bringing up my right knee with every ounce of strength I had. I hit the target hard and he went down to his knees, so I brought up my knee again and went to hit him under his jaw. At the last minute he flinched his head back so that my knee hit the end of his nose with a crack sending him sprawling backwards onto the floor. He didn't move, I couldn't see him breathing, oh no, had I killed him? I knelt down beside him, panicking now, and felt for a pulse on his neck. Nothing. My breathing hitched, what had I done? Surely he wasn't dead, I didn't mean to kill him, he'll be all right he's just out cold, I could feel myself shaking and began to hyperventilate. Get a grip on yourself, he was going to attack you, it was self-defense, I knelt over trying to control my breathing, trying to tamp down the feeling of absolute revulsion at what I may have done. When I felt more in control a second wave of panic overcame me, what would happen to me when the men outside found out what I'd done. I turned to the door and turned the handle, it had been left open, and so I slowly pulled it toward me and peeked out of the room into the area beyond. Too many men were in close proximity to make a run for it and I needed to find Mia. Now what, do I stay and wait for someone to come in or do I brazen this out? I went with being bold while I still had the courage and walked out of the building with my head held high, I wiped the tears from my face and took in deep breaths. I would out stare anyone who approached me. As I walked out I spied Mia at the far side of the area we were in and trying to look confident walked over to her. No one approached me, no one really looked at me, and I reached Mia without a problem and sat on the bench next to her. As she looked at me I shook my head, hoping she understood not to say anything. I took the opportunity to look around where we were. There was a flat area of sand and earth surrounded by rocky outcrops, giving it protection and enclosing the area in, except for an opening where tracks on the ground showed the track of tires, obviously the way in and out of here. There were a few small tents and structures that just had a canvas roof, with boxes and crates underneath. Another similar structure had tables and benches and what looked like open fires, presumably for cooking as there were pans and a kettle sat on the ground next to the fires. As I looked around I saw Sami and at the same moment he looked up and saw me. He showed surprise at seeing me, but didn't move; instead he looked toward the stone building I had been locked in. Another man looked over and then throwing a cup to the floor ran into the building, shouting in a language I didn't understand. That had more men running into the building. I'm not sure why but the four women who had been with Mia stood up and walked in front of me, their backs to me and faced the men as they came running out of the building toward us. There were five men facing the women, everyone shouting, until one of the women said something that had them all go absolutely silent. Mia had my hand in hers, obviously frightened by the uproar, moving her self to be next to me. Eventually everyone went quiet, the men whispered amongst themselves and then they walked away.

"Steph, what just happened?"

"I'm not sure, just stay put and try to look calm"

Yeah, like that was easy to do, I was almost shaking at what had just happened. The women turned and one by one came to me and placed a hand on my cheek before resuming their work on Mia's hair. Sami moved toward us and with his eyes indicated that I should go to him. I rose and turned back to Mia.

"I'm just going to talk with Sami, stay here"

"Well, blue eyes or should I call you euyun zurqa? You have them real worried, the man in the building is dead with only a drop of blood coming from his nose. The women told them that if he tried to attack you then your divine and mystical powers were what killed him, and you would do the same to them"

"They believe in all that?"

"If they didn't they do now, especially since the old women threatened them. Did he try to attack you?"

I looked down at my hands that I was holding in front of me and nodded. I didn't mean to kill him, but if people were afraid to touch me then maybe I could live with that, couldn't I?

"Don't doubt that what you did was justified, don't show them any weakness"

He turned and went back to the men. They were now dragging the body out of the room so I stood in front of Mia so that she couldn't see what I'd done. I felt ashamed but in the back of my mind I could here what Ranger would have said to me. "Proud of you Babe"

Two of the women stood and took both my and Mia's hands and led us to one of the small tents, opening the flap for us to go in. Inside the floor was covered with a rug and brightly colored pillows. They came in behind us followed by the other two women who were carrying jugs and a large bowl. The jugs were emptied into the bowl and we were given a bar of soap and towels, then shown clean clothes to wear, then they left us.

"Let's wash and change Mia, while we can"

"Steph what happened to that man?"

"I hurt him Mia"

"Because he was going to hurt you?"

"Yes Mia, he thought he could hurt me"

"Good, I hope you hurt him real bad"

The simplicity of washing was heaven and I felt clean for the first time in days, though my hair felt a bit wild from the basic soap. The clothes we were given weren't new, but they were clean. How the women could get things so clean out here was beyond me. When we had finished I looked at Mia, her cheeks were pink and her eyes looked brighter, she looked comfortable in a black tunic and trousers with her hair braided down her back. My attire was very similar but the tunic was longer coming down to my calves and I had a clean black cloth to wrap around my hair and head. We left the confines of the tent and went to the large canvassed area where two of the women were sat cross-legged next to the fire. I sat on one of the benches while Mia went to watch what they were doing. She was trying to talk with them, but obviously they didn't understand, instead they constantly smiled at her. Mia pointed to herself saying "Mia" then pointed to them. Eventually after repeating this a few times they laughed and each one gave Mia their names, Sona and Alya. It was hard to age them, they obviously led a hard life and the head wear they wore covered their hair, but maybe in their forties, older than me but younger than my mother? They served up some kind of stew with bread which considering the amenities was really good; they must have used spices to give flavor to the food. We were then led back to our tent and the ties were tied together, meaning we were here for the night. I suppose the men wouldn't want to eat with us around. We both slept better that night, but Mia still insisted on curling up with me and I must admit I liked the contact between us. I awoke with the memory of a dream still lingering in the back of my mind, the faces of Ranger as he moved from being bounty hunter, CEO, friend and lover. Each face was looking into my eyes with his, and depending on his mood showing the depth of color and his feelings. I yearned to see those eyes to feel his touch.

The next two days were quiet, the only companions we had were Sona and Alya; they tried to teach us to cook, yeah even me, and showed us how to play a really old board game called Ur. The game was played using two sets of seven checker-like game pieces. One set of pieces was white with five black dots and the other set was black with five white dots. The board was composed of two rectangular sets of boxes, joined together by a "narrow bridge" of two boxes. The gameplay involved elements of both luck and strategy and movements were determined by rolling a set of four-sided, pyramid-shaped dice A single game could last up to half an hour and could be very intense. On the morning of the third day there was a lot of activity, Sona and Alya were busy cooking and cleaning up the place and the men were sorting through the boxes and crates. Instead of there being two men on guard there were three today, even Sami seemed distracted and told us to stay in our tent and keep out of the way. I felt that something was about to happen; something big, my spidey senses were humming .It was mid morning when the reason for all the upheaval became apparent, a large truck drove into the camp. Mia and I had sussed out a way to peer through sections of the tent and watched as three locally dressed men flanked another one as he walked into the stone building, but he was dressed in khaki trousers and a shirt, in fact he seemed more European than local, but I couldn't get a look at his face for the scarf around his head and face and modern sunglasses covering his eyes. Now I knew why Alya had been tasked with sprucing the place up. The three men stood guard outside the door and for all intents and purposes everything went quiet. An hour later, yeah I was keeping a check on the time; our peace was suddenly disturbed when Alya came into the tent mumbling something, Rayiys, what did that mean? Was that the name of the new man? She went up to Mia and taking hold of her hand led her from the tent with me in hot pursuit. Alya led her past the guards and into the stone building. I panicked, I had to get Mia out of there and I couldn't let her be separated from me. The guards blocked me from entering.

"No, I need to go in there"

They shook their heads and held up their hands to stop me. No way were they going to do that. I squared my shoulders and looked them in the eye.

"I will go in, you're not going to stop me, and I won't be separated from Mia"

As I said this I physically pushed my way past them, they didn't really want to touch me and I easily got to the door and through it. Inside Mia was sat at a table opposite that new man; she was sat silently just looking at him. She turned to me, got up and ran into my arms.

"Steph, he wants to take a video of me"

"Get that woman out of here"

The man had removed his scarf and glasses so now I could get a good look at him. He seemed to be about fifty, hard to tell, because his was going bald, probably on a good hair day it would be combed back, but today it was stuck out all over the place, auburn wisps of it. His face was narrow and he had the beginning of jowls under his jaw by his neck. It was his eyes though that struck me; small cold grey eyes stared at me, from his pale drawn face.

The guards came rushing through the door and looked from me to the man.

"Get her out, for gods sake she's only a woman, I don't want her in here"

I turned with Mia in my arms and walked out, no one tried to stop us; no one tried to take Mia from me. What had just happened, because if he wanted a photo of Mia was he going to be demanding a ransom for her, and who from and for what? But the weirdest thing was that he had spoken in English, did those men understand him and was he in fact the boss? As we approached the tent I got the weird feeling that we were being watched from somewhere high amongst the rocks, I turned and looked, trying to get my feelings under control, I swore I felt a tingle down my neck. Wishful thinking, I only got that feeling when Ranger was near and no way was he here, maybe my nerves were playing havoc with me. We went back inside the tent and clung to each other.

"Mia, I won't ever leave you, I promise"

"I know, but he scared me, he said that I would get him what he wanted, but I don't know what he wanted"

"Did he sound American to you?"

"Yes he did, why's he so far from home?"

"I don't know, but I know we have to be very careful. Mia I'm thinking maybe we should try and get away from here"
"But where would we go?"
"Well there must a town or something close because the women are constantly coming and going and bringing food here"

"You think someone will help us?"

"I hope so Mia, I hope so"

I made Mia lie down and try to get some sleep while I kept watch as to what was going on outside. I had a funny feeling that I couldn't place, but shrugged it off, putting it down to nerves. The three guards were now positioned at the door to our tent so getting out was going to prove difficult. It was late in the afternoon when I heard the truck engine over by the building and looked out to see that the three guards and their boss were leaving. I had to get us out of here I didn't believe that we were safe. During our meal everyone was quiet and I noticed that Sona and Alya weren't there, they'd obviously left food for us and the men, so with no one really watching us I squirrelled away some bread, fruit and bottles of water under my tunic, I had the beginnings of a plan that had to happen tonight. When I thought that it was very late at night, and to be honest my spidey sense was screaming at me, I knew it was time to get away from here, I began to unpick the material at the back of the tent, and made a hole big enough to squeeze through, then I gently woke up Mia. We had the supplies that I'd smuggled from the food tent, and I had put them all in a cloth and tied the ends up to make it easy to carry across my shoulder. I went first, staying on my stomach, and pulled Mia with me. The sky was a myriad of stars; fortunately there was no moon tonight. I waited, listening intently, no sounds were coming from any of the tents, and so we slowly started to crawl toward the first outcrop of rocks. Half way there and I heard the unmistakable sound of guns being fired, automatic guns at that. I froze, laying partly across Mia to protect her, and looked back. There were men coming through the entrance and from some of the rocks and they were firing at the tents and anyone that moved.
"Mia, we have to get out of here"

I half stood and lifted her in front of me and then stood and ran with her into the rocks. I felt a jolt against my shoulder but my adrenaline was flowing and I didn't feel any pain, we had to get away from here. The way forward wasn't easy; the rocks were sharp and at times loose making it hard to keep up a fast pace. I finally realized that the gunfire was some distance behind us and was now only spasmodic. Was this another group? Who were they after? Us? The American had left just as the sun was setting, were they after him? Did they know we were there and would anyone come after us?

"Mia we need to go a little further then find somewhere to hide, can you do that for me?"

She nodded her head, she looked as shell shocked as I felt, tears were running down her face and her hands were shaking. Dear lord she shouldn't have to experience anything like this. After a short while I found an overhang in between some rocks and sat down pulling Mia to me. I think we were both silently crying now, totally exhausted and devastated at what had just happened.

"Steph, you're bleeding"

"It's nothing, just a graze"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, try to rest, we'll need to move in the morning"

Once Mia had settled I crept to the mouth of the overhang, my shoulder was hurting like a bitch and I needed to see what the damage was. Pulling the tunic down I felt a graze in my skin just above my shoulder bone, shit I knew I'd been hit from behind. Well at least I didn't have a bullet inside me, now to try and stop the bleeding, maybe Mia would need to help me when she woke up. I tore some of the cloth from my makeshift bag and tied it tightly over my shoulder and under my arm, not an ideal place to tie a bandage to. Back with Mia I dozed on and off until daylight showed, then woke up Mia.

"Mia, can you help tie a bandage around my shoulder please?"

"You got shot?"

"Yeah, but it's only a graze, so it's not as bad as it looks"

"Does it hurt?"
"A little. If I hold the cloth at front can you make sure it's covering the top, that's it, see, all fastened up. Job well done"

"Are we going now?"

"Yeah, lets go out and see what's out there"

It wasn't quite light which was how I wanted it, to our right we could see lights coming from buildings and the tell tale sign of smoke from kitchens getting food ready.

"That's where we'll head, okay?"

"Okay"

We kept to the rocks as much as possible, but eventually we had to go out into the open, I just prayed that if anyone saw us they'd assume it was a mother walking with her daughter. At least if someone could see us we could see them. Yeah Stephanie a lot of good that would do, I had no idea where we were, or what we were walking into, would people help or did we still need to stay hidden? At least we were doing something and we had to get out of here, failure was not an option. The place we came to was bigger than I had first thought, and to be honest I was feeling so tired, we had only walked slowly but it felt like we'd been walking all day, I just needed to sit down and rest. We'd seen some women walking, but by keeping our faces covered and eyes down they didn't take a second look.

"Mia can we find somewhere to hide?"

She looked at me and looked around.

"Over there, it's an old fallen down building, we can go in there"

"Well spotted Mia"

She helped me to where she had seen, an old building indeed, there were only two half walls left, but it shaded us from the road and the sun and was out of the way. I collapsed by a wall and sat leaning against it.
"Mia, do you want to get some food out and water?"

"Sure, how you feeling Steph, you don't look so good?"

"Tired but okay"

I didn't want to tell her that I felt like shit, my shoulder was throbbing and I felt weak and slightly nauseous. I leaned my head back against the wall while Mia handed out some food and water. I couldn't stomach anything so when she wasn't looking I slipped it all back into the cloth bag.

"Steph, wake up, you're all hot, Steph?"

I could vaguely hear her but couldn't move, my shoulder really hurt now and whilst I knew it was hot I was starting to shiver. No, I can't let Mia down, I have to beat this, but even as I tried to talk myself around I felt the world slowly shrink and closed my eyes.