Desire In The Desert. Ryshia Kennie

behind them. It was a race as to who would get to the gun first, but just as suddenly as Emir swerved, the man pulled a revolver from his belt. Kate was hanging out of the window now and all Emir wanted to do was to pull her in to safety. Instead he had to trust her.

      A shot screamed off the side of the Jeep and another echoed off the hood.

      “Got him!” she shouted.

      The words had barely left her mouth before the remaining dirt biker came ripping over the dune, full throttle, as if he’d been waiting for this moment.

      Emir swerved the Jeep, gunning the engine as much as he dared, angling, making them less of a target while Kate kept their remaining attacker busy having to swerve right and then left as he dodged her shots.

      No matter her difficulty in the Berber village, here, Kate was good. It was a rogue thought and one he couldn’t entertain as he veered again, shadowing the maneuvers of the biker, making them a more difficult target.

      He could see Kate, both hands on her handgun, her eyes narrowed. She pulled the trigger. The bike skidded, throwing the rider as the bike rolled down a small sand dune.

      “He’s not moving,” Emir said, looking in the rearview mirror at the fallen biker.

      He looked at Kate. Her face was flushed and there was a troubled look to her eyes as she glanced at him, and he realized the earlier smile had been all about the joy of the chase. The kill was another matter. He gripped the wheel as he turned in the direction of the first downed biker.

      As they approached, and the Jeep slowed, Kate was out, crouching, her handgun raised and ready to fire. The biker lay sprawled thirty feet ahead.

      Emir threw the Jeep into Park and followed Kate, his gun in both hands. But the biker still wasn’t moving.

      Kate looked back, nodded when she saw Emir in position just behind her and shifted to her left, carefully moving forward until she reached the body. She pushed the biker’s shoulder with her foot—nothing. She squatted and turned the body over. It was a man, thin, with a scruff of dark beard, maybe thirty years old. “He was at El Dewar. I remember him standing between the houses. It was just a moment and then he vanished.”

      Emir could see the man’s rifle was thrown five feet away and that his body lay in an awkward position. It was clear without bending to check that his neck had been broken.

      “There’re no more answers here,” Kate said grimly. She strode over to the bike that lay eight feet away from the corpse. A worn leather bag hung over the seat. She opened it, her expression grim, and pulled out a water bottle and a cell phone. “A disposable phone,” she said, turning it on. “Nothing.”

      Emir came up beside her. “What are you saying? That he’s not one of the kidnappers?”

      “I don’t think so, but he’s obviously not innocent. He knows something and it seems like he was trying to prevent us from going any farther.”

      “We’re not finished here yet,” Emir said grimly. “Let’s go back. Maybe there’re answers there.” He shrugged in the direction of the other downed biker.

      Five minutes later they were at the body of the second biker. Like the first, he was dead. But, unlike the first, they didn’t recognize him at all and he carried nothing but his pistol, a water jug and an extra magazine for his weapon.

      Kate stood and took a step back.

      The wind was quickly picking up and already it was whipping at their clothes and driving sand into their faces. Emir slipped his sunglasses on and she did the same.

      “We’re going to have to leave him here,” he said with a final look at the body. “I’ll alert Zaf when the satellite connects again.” The satellite had been down since they’d begun this leg of their journey.

      His heart was pounding. No matter how many times he was in a gun battle, he never liked them because the outcome always meant someone was going to die. Yet, when he looked over at Kate, he saw the flush on her cheeks and a slight curve to her lips, as if she was about to smile.

      As the wind whipped a strand of hair across her face and she turned to look at him with eyes that sang with excitement, he realized that, no matter how much he disliked killing, there was one thing he’d never admitted. That it was eclipsed by the heady power of the afterglow, of being the one still alive. They might have killed two men but the alternative was that they would have been killed themselves. The silent communication between them had reminded him of that and he knew in that moment he couldn’t have asked for a better partner.

      They drove in silence for a while. Their only goal was to get as close to the oasis undetected as they could before night came or the storm hit—whichever came first.

      The ringing of the satellite phone made Kate jump. “We’re back in business,” she said with relief in her voice.

      Emir picked up the phone before the second ring ended. “What do you have?”

      “Ed hasn’t been working security like he led us to believe. In fact, I’m not sure what he’s been doing. I’m doing more digging. Two things. First, I think Tara’s kidnappers are on to us,” Zafir said. “They haven’t followed up with any additional demands. I’m getting worried and I think it was a mistake to go after them.”

      “We didn’t have a choice,” Emir said and frustration wove through the words.

      “Okay, look, keep your eyes open. You’ve got bigger trouble coming. There’s a sandstorm forecasted. You need to take shelter. Weather reports look like you might have another clear hour, maybe less.”

      “Less. It’s starting up already.” Emir’s tone gritted. He told Zafir what had happened and about the bodies they’d left behind.

      “Give me your coordinates,” Zafir growled. “I don’t like any of this”

      A minute later Emir turned to Kate. “We’re going to have to camp for the night.” It was something they’d both known for a while now. “If we didn’t suspect we were heading into a storm, Zaf’s confirmed it.”

      The earlier excitement was gone. Kate’s full lips were tight with tension. She gripped the dash, staring out over the desert with a grim look as if he’d sentenced her to life instead of one night.

      And he knew her worry, knew it tenfold, for it meant his sister must spend one more night alone with her kidnappers.

      His jaw tightened as he navigated a rut. The Jeep bounced and the tires spun as they hit hard, flat sand. As they came out of the dip, the wind began to whip around them. They had no choice. They didn’t stand a chance in unfamiliar terrain in a sandstorm.

      Emir shifted the Jeep down a gear and veered left, taking the dune that loomed ahead at an angle, as it was steeper than any of the others they had yet to encounter. Straight-on and he could visualize the rollover that would follow. They were close to the oasis. According to Kate’s last coordinates, less than ten miles away.

      “We need shelter!” Kate yelled five minutes later over the roar of the wind. “We can’t go any farther.” Sand pelted the vehicle and it was getting more and more difficult to see. But, according to the map, there were sandstone cliffs on the other side of this ridge. Before they’d been attacked, they’d been taking it slow, scouting the area—noting the weaknesses, the strengths, buying time. Now they were about to be swallowed in the storm if they didn’t get to shelter quickly. Just as that thought ran through his mind, the first shot rang out.

      “What the—?” Kate bit off the rest of her comment as she swung around in the direction of the shot, her gun in her hand and crouching in her seat, taking what cover she could.

      Emir swerved right then left, taking them dangerously close to a rollover. He looked over at Kate who was on her knees as she put herself in a position to defend them both. He couldn’t have asked for a better person to ride shotgun.

      “Go left,” Kate shouted over the din of the Jeep’s