It was the message she needed to send, and Creed understood perfectly.
Creed’s eyes opened. It was still dark, but the sounds of sand-filled sheets of wind no longer rocked the villa. He sprung to his feet and hurried to the front door in three long strides. He unlocked the bolt and looked outside. A fine haze of sand powder still hung in the air, blocking the stars and moon, but that was to be expected. The storm was over.
He looked at his watch, debating the hour, but decided it was more important that he share the news of Meg than to let the family sleep.
Absently, he wiped at the joyful tears leaking from his bright-blue eyes as he hurried to wake the parents. Now that the storm had let up, Williams was just as mobile as they were. They had to keep moving. Besides, they had a plane to catch!
36 Kid-Speak Doesn’t Come Naturally to Everybody
“Alik, how do sandstorms happen?” Danny had been watching the still dusty air as they drove through the early morning to meet Jacobi and Trainer at the airport. Their flight had just received clearance from the tower. The family was up and mobile thirty minutes after Creed woke the house with the news of Meg.
Theo had put Alik and Farrow in charge of Danny, positioning them together in the back seat with Maze. Before they’d loaded up, Margo had donned gloves and carefully covered the seats with several layers of cloth, worried residual oils from Alik’s pepper spray would find their way to cause more harm.
The drive had started with everyone talking at once, reinvigorated by Danny’s gift and the five hours of sleep they’d managed to get the night before. Danny’s question came as everybody was quieting down, lost in their thoughts.
“Well, in desert regions, during certain times of the year, strong winds are created when the lower atmosphere heats, causing it to become unstable. The heated air mixes with the upper atmosphere in the troposphere where it’s pushed downward. Even stronger winds are produced, kicking up the sand until there is zero percent visibility and a massive amount of destruction to both nature and structure,” Alik quoted lines of a text he’d read years ago.
Danny stared wide-eyed at his brother before blinking once—confusion clear on his face.
Having listened to the exchange, Farrow slugged Alik slightly in the ribs.
“What Alik’s trying to say is that sometimes it gets very windy in deserts and the wind makes the sand fly into the air.” Farrow looked pointedly at Alik. “Isn’t that right Sergeant Search Engine?” She was fighting hard to hold back her laughter.
“Well—sure. You could say it like that, I guess,” he said sheepishly.
Danny smiled at Farrow’s version before continuing his inquisition.
“Why does Maze snore?” he asked, reaching out to stroke the soft, silver fur between the coydog’s ears.
Maze, who had been quietly panting, huffed resentfully once before letting the little boy continue.
Alik grinned at his sister’s best friend before reaching down to pat him affectionately on his side. “Well, Danny. Canines depend on their respiratory—”
“He means Maze has been around a lot of dirty air that bothers his breathing. Remember the bad pepper spray all over Alik—and the sandstorm—?”
“Right,” Alik blushed and cleared his throat self-consciously. “He’ll stop snoring once we’re back home in the clean Texas air.”
The brakes squeaked loudly as Theo pulled into a parking spot at the moderately busy airport.
“Okay, everybody. You know the drill,” Margo said lifting Danny onto her hip. “Move fast, stay together and keep an eye out for any bad guys.”
“Or girls,” Farrow added under her breath.
“Especially those.” Margo winked.
The family moved like a well-oiled unit toward the building. Waiting for them just inside the sliding doors were their pilots—heads together, deep in conversation.
Jacobi caught sight of the family first and stared slack-jawed at Margo.
“What?” Trainer frowned as he turned to see what caught his captain’s attention.
Both men stood abruptly.
“Dr. Winter,” Jacobi stared at the woman who had been wheelchair-bound last he saw her.
“Captain, Trainer,” Margo shook hands with both men who continued to openly stare.
“You’re walking!” Jacobi announced.
“I am,” Margo smiled but offered no further explanation.
An empty pause hung in the air—the pilots expecting to hear what happened and Margo unwilling to go into any details right then.
“Right, so,” Jacobi broke through the juncture with humor. He motioned to their traditional Egyptian clothing and grinned. “So I see you had time to go shopping. Did you get us T-shirts? Coffee mugs? Hats?”