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Stella
Ali meets me back at the car, just as the convoy carrying all the tents, supplies and volunteers starts making a move to the next destination. The second stage of the race has started and, strangest of all, Boones wasn’t the one who launched it.
It sets my teeth on edge. I don’t think too hard about how that might signal the end of the Ampersands. Maybe bequeathing them to Blixt and this Henry guy is his succession plan. I can’t imagine him handing it over to a corporation. But then again, I’ve never thought like my father.
Ali has good news. ‘A friend of mine has a phone.’
I could almost kiss him. ‘You’re a lifesaver. Where is it?’
‘Come. I will drive you to him.’
Ali and I pass the line-up of cars until we catch up with his friend Rachid, owner of the precious phone. With a couple of toots of his horn, we signal for him to pull over. We wait for the other cars to proceed until we’re certain that we’re alone. Rachid looks furtive when we approach his car window. He and Ali speak in Arabic, which I can just about follow: he’s worried that we’ll be caught.
‘I won’t be long,’ I say.
He nods, so I jump into the back seat, taking the phone with a grateful smile as he passes it to me, and I dial Pete’s number as fast as I can.
It rings several times before he answers. ‘Hello?’
‘Pete, it’s me – Stella. I’m calling from someone else’s phone and I don’t have much time.’
‘Babe, thank God. It’s so good to hear your voice. It’s been chaos here, since the news about Nabil hit. I can’t believe it.’
‘That’s what I’m calling about. I need you to get to the hospital. Find out what you can about what really happened to him. If you find out anything, send a message to this phone. It will get to me.’
‘What? Why? Do you know something?’
‘Just – please. Do this for me. Find out if there’s anything suspicious about the way he died.’
Ali taps on the window. He gestures to a car in the distance that has turned and broken away from the convoy, which is now driving in our direction.
‘I gotta go. I’ll check in later.’
‘But –’
I hang up before he can say anything more, then hand the phone back to Rachid, who quickly slips it into a compartment between the driver and passenger seat.
‘Thank you,’ I say. ‘Chokran.’
Ali and I walk back to our Jeep, trying to keep our movements casual.
The random car pulls up. It’s Henry.
‘Everything OK here?’ he asks, leaning out of his window.
‘Yes, my fault,’ I say. ‘I thought I’d left my shot list in the back of Rachid’s car. But I must’ve been mistaken.’
He nods. ‘And now? I’m driving to the first checkpoint if you want to get some images of the fun runners passing through.’
My breath catches when I see Emilio in the passenger seat. He leans across Henry to talk to me. ‘Feeling any better?’ he asks.
It takes me a moment to realize what he’s talking about. The painkillers he gave me last night. The legitimate ones.
I force a smile. ‘Yes, much, thanks.’
He sits back, satisfied, which helps me relax. If he’s noticed the missing ketamine, he doesn’t suspect me. Though the same can’t be said for me, about him.
‘Sure. We’ll follow you,’ I say.