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The abandoned village in Syria is more ruins than town. Crumbling structures of stone so bombed-out, they seem to be dissolving into sand.
The truck rocks and jolts as Sandesh maneuvers it inside the remains of a deteriorated building with only three sides. My wound screams like a banshee. Holy hell, I thought it’d hurt last night.
Sandesh wisely parks with the truck’s grill pointed out the opening. That’ll make it easier to get out of Dodge should we need to.
I climb out of the cab and make my awkward way over rocks and around the building. Surveying the main street and the remaining buildings, I begin to plot how this operation should go down as the cold night air sends my teeth chattering. It’s downright chilly out here.
Sandesh joins me. “I’ve been here before. Managed to go through most of this place, but for a few buildings down here.”
I nod. “Let’s get to work.”
We walk together, making a quick sweep of the buildings. We split up, checking out different sides of the street, weapons drawn, and on high-alert. I make my way inside an official-looking building with little damage.
It’s as empty as it looks. Except…
“Sandesh.” He comes running, and I hadn’t even shouted for him.
“What’s up?” He’s scanning for danger, so it takes him a moment. Once he spots the ordinance, a smile stretches across his face.
“Will this work?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“Oh yeah,” he says, and we begin forming a plan, using not only the ordinance, but the one building left fully standing, as well as a blockage of rubble that damns up the other end of the street.
It happens quickly, the meshing of our personalities in this joint cause. We work well together. Sandesh is smart and considered, easily offering modifications of my grand ideas for simplicity’s sake. We don’t have time for much else.
Once we have a firm grasp of things, we get to work implementing the details. Even though I wish like hell I hadn’t dragged him into this, it’s great to have someone on my team.
When we’re done, sweating despite the cold, we head back to our hiding spot. I nearly twist an ankle on the rocks as I’m climbing over them to the truck. Yeah, I’m that tired.
“I’m taking first watch,” he says, picking his NVGs off the seat of the cab as he makes his way over rubble to the front of the building.
“No, I should—”
Glancing over his shoulder, he cuts me off with a look that will brook no argument.
I shrug acceptance. Too tired to fight with him.
With a winning smile, he climbs up another mound of rocks and sits in the empty husk of a blown-out stone window.
I take him in. He’s steady and practiced as he scans the darkness with night vision goggles. My heart warms more than it should looking at him. I have to get control, but I’m a ball of confusion—though not just about him.
Honestly, I’m not sure if I want Sandesh to see someone or tonotsee someone following us. If Walid’s thugs show up, it means they’ve followed my GPS, which then means that someone in my family gave them my location.
As hard as I’ll fight, as hard as I know Sandesh will fight, there’s no way to fight off the pain of knowing one of my one siblings has betrayed me. And not just betrayed me; they want me dead. Being stabbed in the chest would hurt less.
Sandesh looks down at me. “Nothing so far. Check your bandages.”
Even though I’d love to end this here tonight so that Sandesh can go back to his work, I’m relieved by his announcement. I follow his directions, checking the bandage on my wrist where Sandesh took out the tracker. He has some skill. My wrist doesn’t hurt near as bad as my damn side. Not shot? Really?
My wrist is worth every bit of pain to know no matter what happens tonight, these men won’t be able to follow us farther than this village.
Per our plan, we left the tracker in a building across the street. Even if they can’t pinpoint exactly where I am—though the cell service here is surprisingly good—that building is the most obvious for someone to hide because it’s the most intact.
“Justice?”
Damn. I feel the tendrils of his voice work through my body like a hook, latching on to me, pulling me toward him.
I look up.
