Sands of Time (Out of Time #6) Read Online Free

the others hurried toward the blanket.
    Simon strained against their grip. “What are you doing?”
    They raised their guns and pointed them at the small mound in the middle.
    Simon’s heart thrummed in his chest again. Dear God, were they going to shoot her? “Please—”
    The sound of the metal bolts of the rifles sliding the rounds into place echoed in the quiet oasis. One of the men gripped the edge of the blanket and nodded to his men. Simon couldn’t help but surge forward, in a desperate attempt to help her, to stop this madness, but the two men held him back.
    “Don’t! Don’t shoot!” Simon pleaded with them as the man flipped the blanket back. The men leaned forward in anticipation only to find Elizabeth curled into a tiny ball. Slowly, she lifted her head and the men lowered their weapons.
    “She…she was resting,” Hassan said, trying his best to cover for them. “It was a long—”
    “ Iskit !” the leader called out and Hassan fell silent again and bowed his head obsequiously.
    The leader nodded to his men and two of them grabbed Elizabeth by the arms and roughly tugged her to her feet.
    Elizabeth blinked against the sudden bright light, confused and frightened as she saw the men surrounding her with guns. She caught Simon’s eye and the fear and confusion in her expression was like a hand squeezing his heart.
    “Simon?”
    Simon started to move toward her, but the men still had a grip on his arms. “Leave her—”
    Hassan stepped toward him and put a hand to his chest and whispered. “Do not make things worse than they already are, Mister Cross.”
    Simon’s chest heaved with the effort to remain where he was as the men dragged Elizabeth forward.
    “What’s happening?” she asked, trying to take it all in.
    “It will be all right,” Simon reassured her. He would find a way out of this, he promised her silently. Some way.
    The men dragged her to stand in front of the leader who leaned forward in his saddle and smiled. This time he spoke for himself. His accent was thick. “Beautiful woman. Very valuable.”
    “Please,” Elizabeth said. “We’re just travelers.”
    He ignored her and nodded to his men who dragged her toward the horses. Elizabeth squirmed in their grip and called out to Simon, her voice on the edge of panic.
    The sound of it cut through him and he struggled in vain against the men that held him. He clenched his jaw and glared up at the leader who finally pulled his attention away from Elizabeth and turned to look at him. He sized Simon up through narrowed eyes and then spoke through his young translator once more.
    “Your clothes, your accent, they are from wealth. You could have returned to Cairo and paid dearly for the safe return of your wife.”
    Could have? Simon’s heart and mind raced. He tried to twist out of the grip of the man that held him, heedless of the dagger pressed into his ribs.
    The men bound Elizabeth’s hands and then hoisted her up onto a horse, shortly followed by a man who sat behind her. Simon could see her searching desperately for any means of escape. His mind raced for something, anything he could do.
    “I can see you would be a problem, however, should I take only the girl,” the younger man translated.
    The leader stared at Simon for a long moment and Simon couldn’t help but wonder if it would be his last. He glanced over at Elizabeth. She’d stopped struggling, and now was focused solely on him. The fear in her eyes no longer for herself but for Simon.
    Simon could feel the leader’s eyes on him, but he would not look away from Elizabeth. If this were to be his last moment, it would be with her.
    The leader said something to the translator, who, for the first time, replied back in Arabic. After an eternity, the leader spoke again and after a pause the translator said, “You will come with us as well. Two will fetch twice as much as one.”
    Elizabeth sagged forward in relief. Simon exhaled. He’d been spared. For now. Simon