“Sylvia, we don’t have time to argue. We can’t let them see us. Get in!” Damien orders.
Sylvia huffs before climbing into the trunk.
Damien’s gaze meets mine. “Keep us safe, please.”
I nod, and he gets in.
Davis closes the trunk. “Let’s go,” she says.
We get back into the car, and now I’m in the middle of the backseat between Moose and Rover. Hopefully, this will be a short ride.
Harding turns around and returns to the highway. She’s driving us to the extraction point, wherever that is.
Davis makes a call. I can’t hear the other side of her conversation, but I get the feeling things are not going right.
She ends the call. “Shit!”
“What?” Harding asks.
“The pilot can’t get here tonight. We have to wait until tomorrow,” Davis says.
“Why? I thought you were very clear with him we needed a pickup, too.”
“I was, but we’re running an hour later, remember? Instead of waiting, he left.”
Harding pounds her hands on the steering wheel. “He left? Did you not explain the severity of the situation?”
“Trust me. I did,” Davis says.
After we’ve driven a few miles, Harding makes a call.
She speaks fast, and I’m struggling to catch every word, but I’m pretty sure she’s trying to find a place for us to go.
Once she’s done, she tosses her phone at Davis. “We are sleeping in the woods tonight,” she says. “Fortunately, it’s summer, so it won’t be too bad. We’ll take turns keeping watch.”
We drive past the field where the plane landed and into another wooded area. Finally, Harding turns off the highway onto a dirt road. It’s dark, and there are trees on both sides. Once we are out of sight of the highway, she turns the car around, facing us toward the way we came.
“This is it,” she announces as she gets out of the car.
The rest of us get out and stretch as Harding is at the back, helping Damien and Sylvia out of the trunk.
“Durango, you get first shift with Damien. Rover, you are watching his wife,” Harding says.
“My name is Sylvia,” the woman says with a thick British accent.
Harding nods. “All right. Rover, you are watching Sylvia. Moose, you watch the road. Davis and I will take the first shift of sleep. In four hours, Davis will relieve Moose, and I will relieve you two.”
No one argues.
“See you in four,” Harding says. She steps farther into the trees, and Davis follows her.
I help Damien sit on the ground.
“Thanks,” he says. “The more I move around, the better I feel. I think I was just sitting in one position too long.”
“Your English is good.” From what I’d read about Damien, I didn’t expect him to speak English at all.
He shrugs. “It’s gotten better since we’ve been together.” He nods to his wife. “She doesn’t understand Russian.”
