Pushing Up Daisies (16 page)

“I hate to assume that,” House said as he kept his goggles trained on the trail of the two Rovers.

“We can save time if we go straight here.” He held out a map. “The road goes east toward this here village of Garoowe and then jogs back to the northwest. If we just go straight toward the coast and that village, we'll save time.”

House shook his head. “They have to be close. Even driving like maniacs and taking no breaks, they have to stop to refuel. Their maximum range has got to be a thousand klicks which puts their destination right around here somewhere.”

They continued searching and the pilot finally gave House the bad news. “We're gonna have to refuel.”

“How long have we got?

“Less than a hundred klicks.”

House grabbed the laptop and pulled up a map of the area. “Laascaanood, it's our only chance to refuel and get back in this chase.”

“That town is controlled by al Shebab. We have to cut and run for Hargeisa. We can buy fuel there without getting blown to hell.”

House nodded. “At least that's the direction we're traveling. We might be able to reacquire.”

The pilot leaned forward and pointed. “Well I'll be fucked. I guess we don't have to worry about that after all. There they are.”

Sarah heard the helicopter. It sounded big, bigger than the little birds House used to evacuate them from the pirate stronghold. She bent to look out the window. When she stared up at the night sky, she saw nothing. If there was a helicopter out there, they were running dark, no lights. How could they see?

The pirates heard the chopper as well and started chattering rapidly in Somali. Sarah understood most of it. They spoke so fast, she had to remember large chunks of conversation and mentally translate. That made her translation sketchy, but what plainly radiated from them was fear. The pirates were afraid of the helicopter.

The wind from the rotors suddenly churned up dust and gravel all around them. “Roll up your window,” Sarah screamed at the girls as gravel and flying sand stung their cheeks.

Dimah wound the crank on their window until it was shut. Sarah couldn't get hers because of her bound hands so she and the girls ducked low to avoid being peppered with sand. Just the one open window created a stifling heat and stench inside the vehicle. The men in the front seat smelled like sweat, garlic, goats and cigarettes.

Sarah wished she could see, but it was so dark and the idiots driving had killed their headlights without slowing. They argued and chattered constantly as they struggled to keep the Rover lined up behind the one in front.

When the Sikorsky flew low over the two racing Rovers, the drivers of the vehicles killed their headlights. The headlights had been a handicap to House and the pilot. They'd avoided looking at them because it caused their night vision goggles to white out. So when the pirates turned them off, they could see as well as if it was daylight, but the pirates were driving blind and for no reason. The lights would have made things more difficult for House, now they could see without having to avoid looking at headlights. House was able to see into the two Rovers. He saw the girls sitting in the back seat of the rear vehicle.

“Open up on the first Rover,” he yelled over his shoulder to Bombshell and Rabbit,

They slid open the side door. Rabbit leaned out holding a fifty-caliber machine gun and fired into the first Rover. It suddenly veered off the road, hit a huge embankment, flipped, skidded for twenty feet upside down and came to a smashing halt against a bolder, crumpling the front end.

“Down, down, down,” House yelled to the pilot who immediately dropped to a level spot close to the road.

House turned to find Nasr leaning out of the door. “Out,” House yelled. He turned to the team in the bird. “You guys need fuel. Take off. I got this.”

Freakshow shook his head. “No, man, let us come with you.”

“This is my mission,” House insisted. “Go. After you guys refuel, you can find me later.”

House leaped out of the Sikorsky, ducked under the swishing rotors and found Nasr. “I'm going for the women. You take care of any survivors of that wreck.”

The Sikorsky slowly rose sending a hail of sand and gravel everywhere. House and Nasr turned their backs to it and waited while the helicopter slowly lifted and took off to refuel.

Nasr nodded. They raced behind a dune, shifted and took off in two different directions. House had to run as fast as possible to catch the Rover. When the chopper landed, the driver had switched his headlights back on and cut hard to the right, running across the desert. That gave House a tiny edge. If the driver had just kept heading straight, House might not have been able to run fast enough to catch them.

As it was, when he caught up to them, he was almost out of breath. He felt a sudden surge of energy and a whisper in his ear. “I'm with you.”

He didn't stop to consider what or who was with him. He knew it was Daisy.

He surged to a position beside the Rover. The windows were all down except one in the rear, the one on the left. He switched sides, put his legs on auto-pilot, scoped out the window and leaped through it. He hit the top of the window with his head, ducked and slid into the back seat.

Two girls screamed with terror. “Be quiet. It's House,” Sarah told them.

The screams died to whimpers as House shifted into a very large naked man. The man in the passenger seat started screaming when he saw the big wolf.

“Shoot! Kill him,” the guy with the gold tooth yelled.

Before the passenger-seat guy could get his handgun out, House had wrapped a huge arm around the passenger's neck. He broke it in a second and the driver began shrieking and swerving the vehicle left and right in an effort to disorient and disable House. It didn't work. House reached up, opened the passenger-side door and shoved the man in the seat out. He hit the ground hard and House climbed into the front.

* * * *

Sarah forced the two girls to the floor and lay over top of them. Terror gripped her. Her stomach was knotted so tightly she could hardly breathe, but she sheltered the girls beneath her, whispering into their ears. “We are saved. Stay quiet and House will kill them both.”

The pirate driving suddenly opened the door of the Rover and dived out. House yelled something unintelligible as he was forced to grab the wheel to stabilize the vehicle. He stopped the Rover and dived out the open door shifting in midair. Sarah saw him do it and marveled at the speed and fluidity of the change.

Sarah pulled the girls off the floor. “Untie me,” she told Dimah.

The two girls worked at the wire around her wrists, finally untwisting it. Sarah rubbed her sore wrists. Dried blood crusted deep gouges cut into her flesh from the wire. Purple bruises were already showing around the marks. “Out,” she ordered the girls.

They climbed out of the Rover and Sarah stared into the darkness. She couldn't see anything. “Come on.” She grabbed Dimah and Fayruz by the arm and started walking back across the desert following the tire tracks. She has no idea if she was doing the right thing, but there was no way she was hanging out in a Land Rover with a dead guy. What if his ghost appeared to her? She shuddered.

The helicopter House arrived in was gone. The quiet of the night was frightening. Dimah squeaked with fear when a wolf suddenly howled. They slowed their pace. Up ahead, Sarah saw the other Rover buried in an embankment, the front end crushed. She didn't see House anywhere. A figure climbed out of the wreckage carrying a pile of clothing. He struggled into some shorts and a T-shirt and pulled on a pair of shoes.

“That's Nasr,” Dimah said. “He's my cousin.”

Sarah sighed with relief. “Come on.” She lifted her hand and waved. “Nasr.”

The young man turned and ran toward them. Sarah saw him speak into a phone. Was he calling House? Why did he have a phone?

Nasr grabbed Dimah by the arm. “Why are your faces uncovered?” He demanded in a harsh voice. “You embarrass your family. You disgrace yourselves and me.”

“The pirates took them,” she whimpered. “Nasr, you're hurting my arm.

Nasr grabbed Sarah. “And you, infidel bitch, where is your burqa? You're practically naked.”

Sarah shook off his grip and backed away. “What's wrong with you, Nasr?”

He snarled and grinned showing long canines. “Nothing. Everything is as it should be.”

“I thought you were our friend.”

He ignored her as a small helicopter swooped over the hill and circled. For a moment, Sarah thought they were saved, but it wasn't a Company bird. When it landed, three heavily armed men wearing black robes and a black keffiyeh leaped out. Lights from the bird illuminated the men. Nasr grabbed her arm and pulled her toward them. “I have the woman,” he announced proudly.

The men's faces were covered with checkered scarves. Only their glittering black eyes were visible. Sarah struggled. “Who are you?” she whispered.

Nasr gripped her arm hard and pinched it. “We are al Qaida.”

Sarah gasped. Terror filled her as one of the men from the helicopter grabbed her arm and jerked her toward the chopper. Another of the al Qaida looked to an older man with a gray beard for orders. He pointed to Nasr. “Where is the man from Gray Thunder?”

Nasr looked around. “He went after Omar.” Nasr pointed at his cousins. “What do we do with these two women?”

“Leave them.”

Nasr protested. “But they are my cousins.”

The older man lifted his arm and waved. Immediately, Nasr was gunned down where he stood. Two shots were fired into him from six feet away. He dropped to the ground. Horror filled Sarah and she gasped but had no time to reflect.

Omar, the pirate who had killed Daisy, arrived huffing with exertion. He grinned showing his gold tooth and leaped aboard the aircraft.

Nasr lay in a crumpled heap on the ground in an ever-widening pool of blood. Sarah glanced back at the two girls once before she was jerked into the chopper and thrown to the floor on her face. Her hands were grabbed, held together and tied in front of her, this time with plastic ties. A filthy burlap bag was slipped over her head.

The whine of the rotors increased and Sarah sobbed. This was either al Qaida or al Shebab. Who knew where they were taking her?

* * * *

House loped after the pirate who had killed Daisy. Skinny Mr. Goldtooth was fast, but when he was in his wolf form, a man on foot, alone without a weapon, was as good as dead. Lights suddenly erupted from behind a hill. He heard the familiar sound of helicopter blades. The chopper was not one of theirs. It landed and three members of al Qaida in their signature black robes leaped out. House was at least three miles away. He switched directions and started running toward the bird.

As he ran, he saw Nasr get gunned down. He saw the pirate he'd been chasing show up and leap into the bird as the pilot pulled Sarah on board and the men in black robes followed her into the helicopter. He put on a burst of speed, determined to reach the bird before it took off. House was only fifty feet away when it lifted and took off toward the coast.

Filled with determination, he put on a surge of speed, gathered his legs and leaped for the open door. His front paws grasped for the edge of the door. His claws scrabbled for purchase, but couldn't hold on. He fell, landing hard on the rust-colored sand of the desert floor. He shifted, his heart bursting in his chest. “Sarah!” he called to the sky.

The two girls huddled over Nasr who lay bleeding his life out on the ground. Beside him was the I-Phone and it was on. Nasr had called al Qaida. He'd been playing them all along. House crawled to him. “Shift,” he ordered Nasr.

“Too hard,” the young man gasped.

“Concentrate,” House growled. “You're hurt, but not that badly. Shift you fuck.”

Nasr closed his eyes. The air around him shimmered and his body began to contort. Because he was injured, it took longer for him to assume the form of a golden wolf, but he did it. When he was a wolf, the two bullets slowly emerged and fell to the dirt. The holes healed from the inside out and Nasr panted softly.

“Shift back,” House ordered. “I got some pretty important questions and you need to answer them.”

House wasn't just mad, he was furious. Anger filled him to the point where all he could see was red. Oblivious to his nudity, he grabbed Nasr by the arm and jerked him to his feet. “You did this,” he snarled and jerked Nasr close. House could visualize Nasr dying right in front of his face. He wanted to kill him so badly his teeth ached with the need. He wanted to extinguish the light in Nasr's eyes. “Where are they taking her?”

Tears leaked down Nasr's face and House threw him to the ground. “I don't know,” Nasr whimpered. “They didn't tell me. Please don't kill me. I was supposed to go with them but they shot me.”

House glanced around and saw the two girls. Their eyes bulged and their mouths hung open with shock and horror which was not being helped by his and Nasr's nudity. “Find some fucking clothes,” he growled. “You're scaring your cousins.”

House found a pair of khakis big enough to fit but a little short. Snarling and growling, he pulled them on. Fuck the shirt. The wrecked Rover was fifty feet away. He strode towards it, cursing under his breath. He had to find out where they were taking Sarah because he would find her and save her if it took his last breath.

Four men were still inside the Rover. He knew instantly three of them were dead. But one pirate was alive. The crushed front end of the vehicle had him pinned. He was struggling to free himself.

The passenger door hung by one hinge. House snatched it off and threw it away. He grabbed the crushed dash and grunted as he forced it up. The pirate looked up at him with terror in his eyes. When House was able to bend the dash with only his hands, the pirate cringed in his seat. Fear filled his wide-opened eyes.