Chapter 417

• Soon the walls of the fortress were no longer visible, and the desert seemed vast and intimidating. The sun was sinking below the horizon, and the streaks of gold and red that stained the sky were fading to purple as night fell with surprising swiftness. Kate’s palms were clammy as she gripped the steering wheel. She switched on the headlights and stared intently through the windscreen. Zaid had said that Al Razir was ahead, but he hadn’t mentioned that the road forked, and she had no idea which way to go. She reasoned that it had to be straight on.She had no recollection of turning from one dusty track to another on the way to the palace, but if she was honest, the journey to Ahsan’s home had been an endless blur of sand.
• After driving for another half hour, it became obvious that she had taken the wrong road. The lights of Al Razir should surely be visible by now, but instead the blackness was thick and oppressive, and the road had changed from a reasonably flat surface to a narrowing track that twisted tortuously between boulders that loomed out of the darkness. Kate realized she was lost and that the only thing she could do was turn around and return to the fork where the road had split.
• She braked and selected reverse gear, but as she turned the steering wheel, she heard a sickening crunch of metal against something hard, and when she accelerated forward, the car did not move.