Great. Her head sagged against her arms on the useless steering wheel and she felt despair welling up inside her once again. So much for escape. She was bogged down, stuck fast, up to her axles in sand in the middle of a desert, and she wasn’t going anywhere until she dug herself out. If she could dig herself out. What a mess!
She pushed open her door to climb out and the car groaned and tilted, as if the weight of the open door had somehow pulled it over. It seemed to rock unsteadily for a moment then, for a moment in which she wondered if she’d imagined the movement, and whether the knock on the head was affecting her balance, and then she saw it—the almost imperceptible movement in the sand below her, the slip and suck as it embraced the car’s tyres and drew the car even deeper, the slow vortex that made clear its deadly mission.
And a new and chilling horror unfurled in her gut.
CHAPTER FIVE
HE WAS as angry as hell, and it wasn’t all directed at the woman behind the wheel in the car ahead. Sand showered his windscreen, making it even harder to work out which way she was going. Who the hell had taught her to drive? She was all over the place, making no allowances for the rough terrain, least of all with the accelerator. Anyone would think the hounds of hell were after her.
He’d like to have a few words with the person who’d taught her to drive. Most of all, though, he was looking forward to having a few choice words with her. What the hell was she thinking, taking a car and driving off into the desert like that? What did she think it would solve?
Nothing.
All he’d done was deliver a few home truths and, like the spoilt society princess she was, she’d bolted. So maybe the truth hurt. Well, he had news for her: he had a few more home truths to get off his chest before their time together was over. And if she’d thought him angry before, she hadn’t seen anything yet. Once he got her to stop he’d show her just how bad his temper could get.
She had that car all over the place, the vehicle bouncing and sliding from side to side, but it was when she suddenly veered off the rutted path and took off across the desert sands that fury turned to fear. He jerked the wheel around to follow, the heel of his hand hard against the horn, trying to get her attention, trying to warn her. But there was no stopping her, just as there had been no reasoning with her. She kept right on going.
What the hell was she thinking? She’d roared past a warning sign as if it had been nothing. But he’d seen the map. He’d seen the warning not to leave the road, and he’d seen the hatched areas that signalled the danger zone.
Sinking sands.
The desert around here was full of them, their appearance indistinguishable from the surrounding desert, traps for unwary travellers or wayward beasts.
He’d learned that lesson the hard way. He’d seen one swallow an entire camel during his month in the desert—the doomed animal’s neck and head flailing hopelessly, its limbs already stuck deep within the remorseless sucking sand, its eyes wide and desperate, its panicked bleats sounding more like screams. The unnatural sound was what had drawn him to the pit’s edge, and the noise had continued while he fought to save the doomed animal. But there had been no saving it, and soon, despite his efforts, both the camel and the sound had been swallowed up, and the desert had fallen silent but for the howl of the empty wind.
Oh, God, he’d seen first-hand what those sands could do.
The car in front screamed up a dune, launching itself into the hot, thin air, disappearing at a crazy angle over the other side and sending his gut lurching. He wanted her to stop—but not because she’d rolled the car!
It seemed to take an eternity to get there, until he topped the dune and could breathe a sigh of relief. He was in luck. She’d stopped at last. Maybe she’d come to her senses. Or maybe…
His blood chilled as he drew closer and skidded to a halt, sending a cloud of red sand into the air. There was a reason she’d stopped. Her tyres were buried deep in sand, the car stuck fast.
And then he saw her door swing open and the car tilt ever so slightly with it, shifting ever deeper to one side, and something curdled in his gut.
‘Sera, no!’ he yelled. ‘Don’t get out!’
She turned her head, her eyes wide, but it was surprise he read in them first and foremost, as if she thought it odd that he should be here. What did she think? That he would let a lone woman drive off into the desert by herself? She didn’t know him at all if she thought that.
‘Stay there. Close the door.’
She looked at him as if he was mad, and he could understand why. She no doubt wanted to get out of the car, not lock herself inside while the car worked its way into a sandy grave. There was no point trying to explain to a society princess and no time, but the last thing he wanted was for the car to slip sideways and make it even harder for her to climb out.