Page 8 of Sands of Sirocco
Abdullah held out his hand for the bag.Noah gave it to him, thankful to have his hand free if he needed to reach for his gun.Abdullah opened it and sifted through the contents, then lifted dark eyes toward Noah, a satisfied look in them.He pulled out a rolled paper from his robe.Sucking air through his teeth, he unrolled the paper on his desk, revealing a map.He gestured Noah to stand beside him.
The map was of the entire Palestine and Transjordan region and Arabia, as well as Syria.Abdulla pointed to some shaded areas, which had names and dates written above them.Noah had spent so much time staring at maps of these regions he could practically draw them from memory.“These are the concessions granted, to the best of my knowledge.There are two areas of interest not represented here.”
He pointed to an area near Mosul.“There are rumors of good conditions in Kirkuk.”
“Seepages?”Noah scanned the map.He’d heard of oil seepages in Kornub, and recently, but not of that area.He’d have to send a message to Gertrude Bell in Baghdad.
“Perhaps.”Abdullah shrugged.“The rumors conflict.”
He pointed to another area, much further south in the Arabian Peninsula.“The second area of interest is here.My men tell me Ibn Saud granted a secret concession to an Englishman—a Lord Braddock.I can’t tell you more of it, but I have someone who can.”
An icy feeling hit him in the core.Lord Braddock had been granted a concession?What had happened to it?
As Noah tried to process Abdullah’s claims without reacting, the door creaked open behind him.Abdullah looked over Noah’s shoulder and straightened.“Karim.Let me present you withOberleutnantStephen Fisher.”
Noah froze.Of all the people who might be in Jerusalem, only Stephen could give him away instantly.Several thoughts assailed him at once, his eyes glued to the map in front of him.He’d have to remember as much of it as possible in case it didn’t make it out of this room with him.
Whatever Stephen was doing here, Noah had only seconds to react.Abdullah and his men would easily overpower him.No candle would help.And if he left, they’d alert the Turks to his presence.
Noah pulled his gun from its holster.He fisted the map in his other hand, crumpling it, then fired three shots toward the window.The glass splintered and burst, shards tinkling against the stone street below.
Abdullah cried out and Noah glanced back.His eyes met, for a split-second, with Stephen’s icy blue gaze.Then Noah hurled himself toward the window, arms over his face.Shots rang out behind him.
ChapterThree
Dusk settled on the streets of Alexandria as the wooden tram rattled forward on the steel tracks in the street.The windows of the narrow streetcar were open, and Ginger leaned toward them, waving air onto her face to deter both the heat and the smell of body odor from the packed car.She’d been fortunate to find a seat on a bench.Men and women, mostly European, left standing room only.
Ginger wanted to attribute her unease to the dark, but ever since she’d gotten off the train in Kantara the evening before, a taut feeling had gripped her in the chest.The sides of her neck hurt and she rubbed them under the bottom edge of her boater hat.
The lieutenant from the train had failed to reappear, but his threat lingered.She couldn’t force herself to feel the fear he’d intended, though.She’d make the same choice.Again and again.She had to live with her conscience.She was too tired, too weary of the agonized bloodshed she’d witnessed these last three years.Enough.
Still, it was a wretched way to end her time at the clearing station frontline hospital.She’d kept her head down for several months now, gone about her business without bringing notice to herself.With the deaths of her brother and father in the spring, her meager wages had transformed from pocket change into a necessity.Her mother and sister depended on the money she sent them each month while they stayed in Egypt.
The breeze from the window pushed her hair into her eyes.
A terrible crack.Henry slumped forward.
Ginger startled, grabbing the arm of the wooden bench seat.She searched the street for the source of the sound but saw nothing.Just street traffic, horses, wagons … yellow light from the streetlamps.
What had made her jump?Had the sound been in her mind this time?
She gulped a deep breath, trying to steel herself into composure.As she’d done so many times over the last few months, she pushed the images out of her mind.Bury them deeply.Where she couldn’t find them.
Her eyes darted past the other passengers on the tram.In a far corner, a man caught her attention.He didn’t look out of place for this quarter of Alexandria—though he didn’t wear a uniform and he appeared to be European.His suit seemed expensive, and he smoked a cigarette.
He looked up, his eyes meeting Ginger’s.She glanced away.
An unsettled feeling rose.He seemed to watch her.Then she laughed at herself.Ridiculous.Her imagination must be as exhausted as she was.
The tram turned onto the main street in front of the Eastern Harbor, which curved beautifully along the sea.When the rains and storm were fierce, the waves came right onto the street, stopped only in some places by a sea wall.A promenade, called the New Quays, stretched alongside the seawall and was a popular location for tourists to stroll.Tonight, the mild weather and moonlight cooperated with the soldiers attempting to court the women they’d met while on a pass.The corners of Ginger’s lips turned up and she was glad to see them enjoying themselves.
In Egypt, the British soldiers had much to celebrate—after the victory at Gaza in early November, General Allenby had pushed the army closer to Jerusalem.The campaign seemed to be the sole bright spot in what had been a terrible year for the Allies in the war.
A strong, fetid odor crept into the tram, and she wrinkled her nose.Lovely as the promenade was, with the swaying palm trees, the Mediterranean views, and jeweled sand—the stench of dead marine life and the rubbish produced by humans marred the space.
They passed the Kait Bey side of the promenade, heading toward the residential area of the cosmopolitan city.Ginger strained her eyes, trying to see the old fort at the end of the promenade.No matter how many times she passed the location, she thought of it with a sense of admiration.Thousands of years before, the area had been the site of the famed lighthouse at Alexandria—one of the Seven Wonders of the World.Now, what little remained of it had been incorporated into the fort.
Something about Alexandria broke her heart.So much rich history of the city seemed crumbled and faded—but the knowledge that she passed landscapes viewed by Alexander the Great and Cleopatra gave her chills.
