In Part 1 we met Theresa. Theresa is a schoolteacher with long blonde hair and blue eyes from Germany. Theresa is spending her summer working on an archaeological dig when a revolution breaks out in that country and the airport is closed. She takes up an offer by the leader of a team of securitymen to try to get out of the country by the road south into the desert. The leader of the group who is twice her age protects her against marauding soldiers and keeps her warm in the cold nights when temperatures drop in the desert to near freezing. But all that seems to come with a prize. His hand dwelled all over her body and she was climaxing in his arms
As all of the characters in this story are non-native English speakers (like me) you might be warned for unusual English :)
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To Theresa it felled like she had just dozed off when she and Vasili were rudely awakened by Pavel. "Cars. Many cars coming. Hide behind the next sand-dune." said Vasili and she saw in shock the men grab their guns and get into position hiding behind the rock that sheltered their campside from view when someone would look their way on the road.
The sound of many engines came nearer. She felt her heart race in her throat lying face down in hiding behind the next ridge of sand. Searchlights swept through the night. The night was full of noises. Cars, trucks, motorbikes it seemed. Then the vehicles had passed. After awhile she heard Vasili saying her name nearby and she saw him standing near holding a large rifle. She got back to her feet.
"Many cars poppet. A whole caravan. Must be the elite of the country or even the rulers trying to get out the way we do. Come back to bed."
She let him put her in the bed as if she was a toddler. "What are we going to do now?" she asked.
"We cannot let them hear our engines. But we will watch the road. They might clear out roadblocks laying ahead of us. We will hear or see the fighting maybe when that happens near enough. But we have to wait in case they have people chasing them who want a piece of them."
He pulled the sleeping bag over her shoulders and stood up again to join his man on watch. She fell asleep in their still warm snug bed.
When the first sunlight warmed the desert they were on the road again. Dimitri had given her hot tea and some bar for breakfast teasing "Nice Tits." he had said with a wink and a grin. What had turned her bright red and had him laughing. Somehow the teasing of the young man seemed just harmless and friendly.
It seemed like they were driving in an oven. The sun flashing in the mica in the sand making it hard to see without sunglasses. Her eyes seemed to burn in their sockets. The two motorcycles riding point and the old army truck behind them. They tried to make it to the border in one go Vasili had said. His men rotated who was driving what but after awhile all got so tired that her offer to drive the truck was accepted so one of them could sit with her in the cabin and have a quick nap. They met no-one all day long.
At the end of the afternoon they slowly rode into the oasis-town that was also the border. It was good to see some trees again. Theresa had the feeling she had been sitting in an oven all day and her back was stiff from the less then comfortable trip in the old truck. The men seemed covered in dust and their eyes looked red-rimmed and tired.
Vasili ordered the group towards a crumbling roadside hotel where he ordered some rooms for them and space to park their stuff. He also asked the staff where he could find himself a guide who would bring them over the old salt caravan route and even further to the coast.
Theresa had noticed that the town and the road in this area of the desert were enclosed by long walls of rockformations that seemed impassible. Was that not called a mesa in the States? It would be hard here to travel unnoticed and no room for detours. But on the other hand was this not already the border? Was that not safety?
Vasili was given directions to the house of someone who seemed to be the person to talk to if you needed help crossing the desert. They entered a compound where they were hushed into a semi dark room where an old man was sitting on cushions on the ground smoking a water pipe. They were offered some cushions to sit on and the traditional cup of tea as a centuries old tradition of hospitality in the desert.
Vasili explained to the gentleman they needed a guide and some local protection as he knew that he had to cross a part of a neighbour country that had a lot of religious unrest the last few years and where some were less friendly to foreigners.
The old man heard him talk and then said in broken English: "I do not like men like you. You fighting men. You come to country and make war. I do not want help people like you." She noticed Vasili's jaws clench and his eyes go squint and ice cold.
The old man motioned to where she sat in the second row. "Who is this woman? Is she yours?"
"Yes" said Vasili "And she comes with us."
"No. I am not his. I worked on an archaeological dig and could not get out of the country on time," she said with a quick glance towards Vasili who seemed to want to throttle her. "I am a schoolteacher and I was digging up a Roman villa."
"Archaeologist ehh," said the old man. "Over the border are rockpaintings over 2000 years old."
"Yes I know. Are they not in the running to get listed as UNESCO Worldheritage Site?"
The old man shook his head sadly. "Miss teacher, they were painted before Jesus and Mohammed when this here was still green savanna. But the fanatics have been scrubbing them away." He made a move as if he was cleaning a window. After a brief silence he said: "You cannot travel with those military mercenaries. The religious rebels will kill foreigners when they see your group and they will use you for their lust."
"But I...we cannot stay here" she said. "Your country is fallen into chaos too. Our only hope is try to reach black Africa south of the desert."
