Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Noah awoke to the scorching afternoon sun bearing down on him, his head throbbing with a violent headache.
He opened his eyes and found himself upside down, his body draped over something hard.
His face was pressed up against a leather surface that his disoriented mind couldn’t identify.
His mouth tasted of dust, and his body ached. And he was moving.
He startled, jerking his head as he tried to sit. But someone had tied his torso down. And the thumping movement came from a camel beneath him. They had strapped him to it.
Up ahead was another camel with a rider wearing Bedouin robes. From the position he was in, it was impossible to see much of anything and blood had rushed to his head. Noah swore, then called out. “Who’s there?”
The camels slowed, and the rider brought both low to dismount. Noah struggled to keep his eyes open, his lids heavy as the rider came toward him.
The face he recognized. Stephen.
Dread crept into him as Stephen approached. “You’re awake.” Stephen crouched beside him and untied the rope that held him. To Noah’s surprise, Stephen helped him from the camel.
Noah stumbled onto the hard ground, not caring that a rock dug into him as he sat. He felt light-headed and flecks swam in his vision, the pain in his head like a spike in his skull. He fingered the side of his head and found a large contusion crusted with dried blood. “What the hell happened?”
“A group of Turkish soldiers came into the Bedouin encampment. Whether the Bedouin informed them we were there or they happened to come by, I don’t know.” Stephen took out a canteen. He uncapped it and held it out to Noah.
Jack’s canteen.
Noah licked his cracked lips. He turned the canteen over in his hands, but didn’t take a sip. “Where’s Jack?”
Stephen’s eyes were cool. “When I last saw him, the Turks had him.”
Noah struggled to get to his feet, but his footing evaded him and he collapsed on his hands and knees. With a heaving breath, he managed, “We have to go back.” An earsplitting sound pulsed through his head.
“He’s dead, Benson. They executed him as I escaped with you. You would be dead too if it weren’t for me.”
Stephen delivered the news without ceremony, without pity.
Noah’s fingertips curled into the rough ground. It can’t be. Not Jack.
“No.” The word ripped from his mouth, fierce and full of venom. “No.” He glared at Stephen. “You’re lying.”
Jack was a fighter. He would be the type to go down screaming in a blaze—not at the hands of a firing squad.
It wasn’t possible.
“What could I possibly have to gain by lying about this?” Stephen smirked. “We detest one another equally, Benson. I have no reason to spare your feelings.”
Why? The sand shifted under Noah’s fingers, his temples throbbing. “Because you know I won’t go anywhere without him.” Noah’s thirst was overwhelming, his headache unbearable. He sat once more. “I’m going back for him, even if it’s to retrieve his body.”
“Retrieve his body? Don’t be a fool. You think you’ll be able to get anywhere near Jerusalem again?
They’re looking for you, Benson. And I’ve put everything on the line at this point.
They’ll be looking for me too. Even if he were alive, it would be suicide.
But he’s dead, I tell you.” Stephen nodded toward the canteen.
“Drink some water. Rest. We’re nearly to Beersheba. ”
Noah leaned back against the camel, using its warm body to prop himself up. He allowed himself a sip of warm water, then another.
Jack …
He couldn’t trust anything that came out of Stephen’s mouth.
But could Stephen be right? Could his closest friend be dead?
His mind wouldn’t accept it. Wouldn’t allow for it. Jack had been more of a brother to him than even his own brother. Noah didn’t trust anyone the way he trusted Jack.
He slung back the canteen, downing more water, then wiped his mouth. Putting one foot up, then the other, he struggled to his feet. “I don’t care if it’s suicide. I’m going back for Jack.”
Stephen pulled a pistol from his robes … the one Fahad had given Noah. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t allow it. I’m not going back for that carcass.”
Of course.
“You won’t shoot me. I’m your ticket to Cairo.”
“Actually, we’re out of Ottoman-held territory now.
I could easily go and surrender to the closest battalion, have them arrange my trip to Cairo.
But, frankly, I don’t want to have your death as another crime I’m responsible for.
I have enough trouble facing me as it is.
” Stephen had no sympathy in his voice as he went on.
“And Jack is dead. There’s no point in either of us going back.
You’re injured and likely to die attempting it.
They’ll hold me responsible for your death, and then where will I be? ”
Whatever Stephen was playing at, he was fully in control now. He showed a restraint Noah wouldn’t have returned were the situation reversed.
“I want proof he’s dead.” Noah winced and touched the wound on his head. What had struck him? And who? “Did you do this?”
“I had to.” Stephen tapped his foot. “You were calling attention to us. Reaching Darby was already a lost cause. He was surrounded.”
Noah examined the tips of his fingers. A trace amount of fresh blood tinged his skin. What had Stephen hit him with? A rock?
Stephen’s confession disconcerted him. He knew Stephen to be a liar, and yet, during their interactions in the last day, nearly everything he’d told Noah had seemed true, or at least partially so. Noah was certain he obscured or omitted things for his purposes.
But would he lie about Jack’s death?
Stephen still trained the gun at him, his stance unwavering. The cracked lines of the dry earth beneath his feet were harsh, the sun relentless.
“I’m going after Jack.” Noah stepped forward, toward the camel.
The pistol in Stephen’s hands discharged, the earth beside Noah’s feet sending up a spray of pebbles.
Noah froze and swung his gaze toward Stephen.
“I missed on purpose.” Stephen’s eyes were flat.
“Next time I won’t. Don’t try my patience, Benson.
I truly don’t need one more reason to shoot you.
Get up on that camel, please, and let’s go to Beersheba.
From there you can send a message to Lord Helton and find everything is just as I’ve said it was.
You may even inquire as to Jack’s death. ”
Noah didn’t doubt he was lying about shooting him. His frustration had nowhere to go, his hands tightening into useless fists at his sides.
Then it occurred to him that Stephen must have searched him to take the pistol.
The map.
He searched the pouch inside his tunic for it.
Relief relaxed his shoulders as he felt it there.
A glance at Stephen showed him watching.
He smirked. “You see? I didn’t take your precious map.
In fact, I’m more useful to you than any chit Abdullah could have given you.
” He motioned toward the camel with the barrel of his pistol.
“But please. Get on the camel. Then we’ll talk. ”
Noah couldn’t will his feet forward. Leaving here meant giving up on Jack.
Jack, who would never give up on him and saved him more times than he could count.
Yet if he didn’t, Stephen would likely kill him. Leave him here to become a feast for desert vultures. And then where would Jack be?
Stephen sighed. “I don’t know what she sees in you, truly I don’t.”
Noah’s heart gave a painful thump. More frustrating than not knowing one was being manipulated was knowing yet being powerless to prevent the manipulation. Stephen had mentioned Ginger to remind him of what Noah risked by being careless.
He climbed onto the camel slowly, pulling it upright. Stephen also mounted and then brought his camel to Noah’s side. “You see, Benson? Just like the times of old. You and I riding two dromedaries across these deserts. I simply cannot wait to return to proper society once more.”
Noah scoffed at him as they started forward. “In what world do you live, Fisher? If I’m taking you to Cairo, it’s to have you executed for treason.”
“Perhaps. You may find that the information I have to offer the British government is reason enough to keep me alive—perhaps even negotiate a pardon.”
A pardon?
Stephen was from the world of the unbelievably rich and influential. Noah had spent half the war watching how the actions of some of the rich and influential could impact millions. “Because of Lord Braddock’s oil concession with Ibn Saud?”
Stephen removed a package of Turkish cigarettes from his robe. He offered one to Noah, who shook his head. A mistake. His head ached too much to move it much.
“Among other things.” Stephen pulled out a lighter and lit his cigarette, looking cool and collected as the camels pushed forward. “You are interested in that matter, aren’t you? I’m certain Cairo Intelligence will be as well.”
And once Cairo Intelligence knew of it, Ginger’s family would probably lose the only possible way for them to find wealth again. “Is there actually a concession?”
Stephen shrugged. “I was there when both men signed it. I believe Captain Shakespear arranged the meeting.”
The idea of Lord Braddock signing an oil concession with Ibn Saud seemed far-fetched. “But what were the terms?”
“Don’t remember the particulars. Lord Braddock was interested in financing oil explorations to the area—hence my involvement.
The man had all the ideas but none of the funding.
I’m uncertain what came of it all. I didn’t have the time to track everything the man did.
But I would imagine he made some arrangement for the concession in his estate—wouldn’t you think?
” Stephen released a stream of smoke from his lips.
Noah’s hands curved over the riser on the camel’s saddle. He didn’t know what to think of it all. That Lord Braddock would have been involved in oil dealings wasn’t wholly surprising. He’d been desperate to restore his former fortune. But what had come of the concession?
He may have to call on Lady Braddock after all.
They crested a hill. In the hazy lines of the horizon, the advancing army of the British came into view. Had anyone other than Stephen been with him, Noah would have felt relief to see his countrymen. But, as it was, Jack’s voice rang in his mind, about how they’d made a deal with the devil.
Noah glanced over his shoulder, in the direction he’d left Jack. And though there was nothing he could do, he whispered a plea for forgiveness.