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“Our friend in the truck?” Gideon asked.
“He should be good for another day or two. It’s March. He won’t freeze or die of heat stroke before someone gets to him.”
Gideon nodded, then turned back to his computer.
“Let’s move on down the road,” Jase said.
6
I feel worse than when I was in the wreck on the Capital Beltway.
Leila tried to push herself up from the metal floor, but she just didn’t have the strength in her arms.
“Easy.”
Leila shook her head, trying to pinpoint who the voice belonged to, but before she could, the floor shook and her arms went out from underneath her and she landed hard on her chest and face. She didn’t even have the strength to cry out.
“Leila, don’t move until I come over and help you.”
Katherine. It was Katherine Cole.
“Where are we?”
“In a truck. We were both thrown in here,” the woman paused. “Three hours and twenty minutes ago.”
A soft hand pushed back her hair and probed her cheek.
She moaned.
“Dammit, I should have done this when you were passed out. Hold still, I want to see if your cheekbone is broken.”
“I don’t think so. I can talk.”
Katherine actually chuckled. “My son used to ride dirt bikes. Trust me, it doesn’t matter if you can talk, your cheekbone can still be broken.”
Leila took in a deep breath and held it. She thought of the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., and imagined herself under one of the trees as the petals drifted down on her.
“Let me get you into a seated position, then I can check the other side of your face.”
“Katherine, it doesn’t matter. What matters is getting the hell out of here. Do you still have the phone?”
“I turned it off. There was hardly any charge left.”
Leila nodded, then hissed at the pain in her neck that radiated throughout her body. “Okay, you’re already hurting. Let’s get this done.”
Katherine pulled her up and, with her help, she could scrabble backward and sit up against the hard metal of the moving vehicle. She could barely make out Katherine’s visage.
“How many men are we dealing with?” she asked.
“At first I thought it was one of the terrorist groups, but there’s this man in a suit,” Katherine answered. “He doesn’t make sense. He’s being driven in a Mercedes behind the truck. The others all look like militants.”
“How many?” Leila asked again, trying to consider their options.
“I’m not sure in this truck, at least the driver. But there were three others besides the suit in the Mercedes.”
“Can you please give me the phone?” Leila asked.
Katherine chuckled. “I love the please during this shitshow. Somebody raised you right,” she said as she pressed the phone into Leila’s hands.
