"Then they'll leave. They'll know I won't survive out here." The prospect chilled her, even in the burning heat of the morning sun.
The throbbing of the rotors echoed the pounding of her heart. Someone out there wanted Zadir dead and didn't care if she lived or died. Anger flashed through her and she wanted to yell at the dark copter, but she managed to keep her head, and her tongue.
"There's another helicopter." Zadir's low voice rumbled out from beneath the wing. "I can't see it from down here but I can hear it. Scan the horizon."
She spun and instantly saw a pale helicopter approaching from the North, the opposite direction of the other. "It's white. With a red tail."
"Those are the good guys."
Without a second's hesitation she jumped on the wing, glad of her shoes on the burning metal, and started to jump up and down, waving the ivory pants. "Help! Help me!!" Unlike the dark helicopter, the white one changed course and headed straight for them. "Help! We need help!"
She scanned the horizon for the dark copter and saw it disappearing off to the south again. "The first one is leaving."
"They don't want to be seen near the scene of the crime," Zadir said grimly.
"Come on out. They're heading right for us."
Zadir jumped up on the wing next to her as the helicopter approached, circled the site and landed about fifty feet from the plane, kicking up a sandstorm to rival last night's and making them clutch their impromptu flags to their faces to keep the dust out of their eyes and nose.
Men in overalls came running across the sand, calling out in Arabic. Zadir responded, and the men helped them down from the wing. She was tempted to go jump directly onto their waiting helicopter, but Zadir reminded her she might want her computer and phone, if not her clothes, so once their vital signs were checked and they'd drunk some water, they retrieved their possessions from the plane and boarded the helicopter.
The propeller was so loud that it drowned out all noise in the Spartan interior. She could probably have told Zadir she loved him and wanted to bear his children, and he wouldn't have heard her. Since they were both in good shape, the medics agreed to take them to a base in Dammam, near Bahrain, so they could drive to their destination.
"I'm not sure I'll ever get on a plane again," she admitted, as they climbed down onto blissfully hard tarmac.
"Then you'll have to live your life in this part of the world." Zadir grinned.