Chapter 1 #3
“It bothers you, doesn’t it?” Midas asked.
Lexie shrugged and let Midas lead her away from the patch of sand she’d called home for the last few months and deeper into the desert. “They weren’t exactly nice, but they didn’t hurt me. Didn’t rape me.”
“They just held you against your will, belittled you, and made you feel as if you were worthless.”
Lexie stumbled, but Midas made sure she didn’t fall. “How did you know that?” she asked quietly.
“I know the type,” Midas said dryly. “When they got the first five million, they could’ve let you both go.
Instead, they got greedy. Probably told you that it was your fault you weren’t already free.
That if you were a better employee, if you were more important, the other five mil would’ve already been paid.
Even made it seem as if it was your fault that they were greedy assholes who wanted more money. ”
Lexie kept her eyes on the ground as they walked across the sand, toward where she guessed the helicopter would be landing to pick them up.
Midas wasn’t wrong. She’d been thrilled when the ransom was raised so quickly, had thought they’d be released.
When they were informed that the price on their heads had increased, Dagmar had been furious.
He’d lost his cool for the first time, lashing out, demanding that they let him go at least, since his family was the one who’d raised the five million.
Their captors just laughed at him.
And Lexie had felt terrible. Because he wasn’t wrong. It was her fault he was still stuck in the desert.
“Don’t,” Midas said.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t let them get into your head. It didn’t matter where the money came from or how much it was. Once they got anything for their demands, it was only going to make them want more.”
Lexie supposed that was true. But she still felt guilty.
“When the chopper arrives, close your eyes so sand doesn’t get in them,” Midas ordered.
“How will I be able to get to it if I can’t see?” Lexie asked.
“I’ve got you.”
The longing those three words invoked was immediate and intense…and surprising.
She’d always been a loner. Perfectly happy moving from place to place, country to country, all on her own. She didn’t have close friends or family. Hadn’t had a serious boyfriend in years. She liked being single. Liked being able to travel the world.
But after what she’d been through in the last three months, Lexie fully understood just how alone she was in the world.
Her dad hadn’t been the best father, and he was gone now.
They’d moved around too much when she was growing up to build any close friendships.
She hadn’t gone to college, and the people she’d met through Food For All were great, but they were busy moving around and helping others, just like she was. And she was fine with that.
Therefore, over the years, she’d forgotten what it felt like to lean on someone.
Maybe she’d never known the feeling.
But those three words coming from Midas made her long to experience it.
“Lex?” he asked.
“Sorry, yeah, I heard you,” she told him quickly, doing her best to throw off her melancholy. As soon as she got a shower—and drank a dozen huge glasses of cold water—she’d feel more like herself. “But if I trip over sand, I’m gonna be mad at you.”
Midas chuckled. “I seem to remember you being very even keeled. Have you ever been mad at someone in your life?”
Lexie was amazed all over again that this man remembered anything about her.
He’d impressed her in high school. He was popular back then, but he hadn’t been an asshole about it.
He’d never looked down on other kids and he’d stuck up for them when they were being bullied.
He was friendly…and had even mostly hid his disappointment when he’d been paired with her for a project.
She shrugged. “Being mad doesn’t really help the situation.”
“True.”
It was shocking how one second they were standing in the dark desert, chatting about nothing in particular, and the next it was like they were engulfed in a wind tunnel. A helicopter appeared as if out of nowhere, its rotors sending sand flying in all directions.
Lexie immediately closed her eyes against the onslaught and couldn’t help but lean into Midas.
She felt his arm go around her back as she huddled closer to try to keep from being pummeled by the sharp grains of sand.
She had no idea how he was able to see, but when she felt him move forward, she didn’t hesitate to shuffle alongside him.
“Hold your hand up,” Midas said loudly in her ear after a minute or so.
Keeping her eyes squeezed shut, Lexie did as he ordered. Immediately, she felt her hand being grabbed by someone else. Before she could adjust, she felt as if she were flying through the air—and then the sand was gone.
She squinted her eyes open and saw that she was inside the chopper, and Midas was climbing in behind her.
A man dressed exactly like Midas pointed to the other side of the helicopter, and Lexie immediately went to where he’d indicated. She slid to her butt and watched as Dagmar was loaded and half a dozen other soldiers climbed onboard.
Someone handed her a headset and she slipped it over her ears, sighing in relief at the immediate silence.
Midas came over to sit next to her, and he adjusted the mouthpiece closer to her lips. “Can you hear me?”
Lexie nodded.
He smiled at her. “Good.”
She wanted to ask where they were going and what would happen next, but suddenly she was incredibly exhausted. The adrenaline that had coursed through her veins when the shooting had started was waning and she was finding it hard to keep her eyes open.
When Midas put his arm around her shoulders and tugged her closer, she went willingly.
Her head landed on his shoulder and she sighed.
She heard the soldiers talking to each other through the headphones.
They were concerned about Dagmar’s condition and were discussing the stop they were going to make in Galkayo.
But Lexie only vaguely listened. Once the door to the chopper closed and she felt the huge machine lift off, it was as if her body and mind completely shut down.
She was safe. Her kidnappers were dead. Nothing else mattered.
Abshir Farah watched from his hiding spot about a half mile away, teeming with frustration, as the two helicopters rose into the night sky.
He’d left the camp to hunt at just the right moment.
He knew without a doubt that his friends and comrades were dead.
He’d heard the shots and came running to assist, but by the time he’d gotten close to camp, it was obvious the soldiers had already killed everyone.
They’d waited too long to get rid of their captives. They should’ve taken the five million dollars and released them. But instead, his comrades had insisted they could get more.
Anger filled Abshir. He needed that money. His family was starving. Living in filth. He’d been counting on the cash to get them out of the slums and into a proper home. His wife was pregnant with their sixth child, and there was no way he’d be able to feed one more person without that money.
But maybe there was still a chance to get their captives back…
The helicopters were headed toward Galkayo. If he was lucky—and he was obviously lucky, since he was still alive right now and not lying dead in the sand with his friends—they’d go back to where it all started.
He’d heard the rumors that the Danish man’s family had flown in his personal doctor. There was only one hospital in town, and if they took him there, perhaps Abshir and some of the others could get him back. And this time, they’d take the five million dollars.
It was worth a shot.
Abshir knew time wasn’t on his side. He needed to get to camp and see if one of the trucks was still working.
He had no idea if the soldiers had disabled the vehicles or not.
If possible, he would go back to town and tell the others what had happened.
They’d want to avenge their friends, and his dead comrades’ families wouldn’t be happy that foreigners had come into their country and killed their loved ones.
Yes, with luck, they’d have both the man and woman back in their grasp, and this time they’d be smarter about their demands.
Smarter about where they hid. Maybe they could beat on the woman a bit and see if they couldn’t get the American government to pony up some money for her as well as get the five mil for the man.
They had a second chance to salvage this operation, but Abshir had to work quickly. Spread the word about what had happened.
Deep down, he knew what he was doing was wrong. But his world was every man for himself. And Abshir needed money to feed his family. If that five million disappeared, they were all screwed.