Page 2 of Finding Lexie
Elizabeth Lexie Greene lay on her back under what she considered “her” tree and stared up at the stars. It was amazing how bright they were without any light pollution getting in the way. The desert was pitch dark when the moon wasn’t full, like tonight. Their kidnappers had lanterns and flashlights, but it was late, and most of the men guarding them were asleep.
There was a fire over by the men’s two trucks, but it had mostly burned down to embers. Dagmar snored lightly a few feet away, and Lexie turned to look in his direction. She couldn’t see more than a vague outline of his body on the ground, but she was reassured by the fact she could hear him breathing.
More than once she’d thought that he might be dying. He’d most definitely had a stroke at some point, as his words were slurred now and his left side was weaker than it had been. She hadn’t known the man very well before they were kidnapped. She’d been in Galkayo almost six months before Dagmar had arrived to do a review of processes and to make sure everything was running up to Food For All’s standards.
She was fairly used to the inspections. After years of working for the organization, Lexie was well aware that the board regularly sent in auditors to review the various operations around the world. Dagmar had been there for just a week, and they were heading out to inspect one of the organization’s gardens in a nearby neighborhood when they were snatched off the street.
It was the scariest thing Lexie had ever experienced. One second she was enthusiastically telling Dagmar about everything they’d done to help the locals and how well the garden was working out, and the next, she was thrown into the back of a truck and looking down the barrel of a rifle.
The first few weeks had been the worst. Trying to get used to living in the open desert, trying not to say or do anything that would get her beaten, and hoping against hope they’d be released.
But after hearing how much the kidnappers were asking for ransom, Lexie was slowly beginning to resign herself to the fact that it was likely she wouldn’t make it out of the desert alive. Dagmar might be able to convince their captors to let him go. He had money. Lots of it. And his twin brother had been doing everything in his power to get him released.
But Lexie? She was expendable. She was one of thousands of Food For All employees. And she had no family to speak of. No one was going to pay five million dollars for her. No way in hell.
She was shocked when the original ransom amount had been raised within days by Dagmar’s brother, but instead of letting them go, the kidnappers had gotten greedy. They’d changed the terms of their release, demanding five million for each of them—and declaring that neither would be freed until the entire ten million had been handed over. They’d obviously been confident that if five million could be raised so quickly, another five million would be easy.
They were wrong.
Lexie felt guilty as hell that she and Dag were both still in the desert after his brother had raised the original ransom. Especially considering Dagmar’s health. He needed to see a doctor. Needed a hospital. And instead, they were lying on the hard, sandy ground with only a dying tree above their heads to protect them from the elements, praying something would happen to make their kidnappers finally set them free.
A noise in the distance caught Lexie’s attention.
Normally, she wouldn’t have thought twice about odd noises, but she’d been in the desert long enough to know what was ordinary and what wasn’t. She lifted her head and stared in the direction where she thought the noise had come from, but because of the darkness, she couldn’t see much of anything.
Then suddenly, all hell broke loose.
What seemed like dozens of men began yelling all at once. Telling everyone to stay down. To put their hands in the air.
She even heard someone calling out her name, telling her and Dagmar to stay where they were.
“Oh my God,” she breathed.
It was hard to believe this was happening. She’d dreamed about being rescued just about every night since she’d been taken, but never actually thought it would happen. Since Dagmar was somewhat powerful in his country, her only hope had been that the Danish government might send someone to their aid.
But the voices she heard were definitely speaking English.
“What?” Dagmar asked, startled awake by all the commotion going on around them.
“Stay down!” Lexie whispered loudly, sidling over to where he was lying nearby. “I think we’re being rescued!” she told him excitedly.
“Please, God, let it be true,” Dagmar whispered.
Over the last three months, Dagmar had become more and more depressed. He wasn’t used to roughing it in any way, shape, or form. And being sick hadn’t helped. At first he’d been optimistic, sure they’d be released within days. But with each week that went by, his attitude had changed for the worse. Lexie could hardly be upset with him for becoming despondent; she’d had her share of bad days. And it wasn’t his fault he’d been born rich, never having to struggle for anything in his life.
As their kidnappers awoke amid all the shouting, they didn’t do as they were ordered. Instead of putting their hands up and surrendering, they immediately grabbed the automatic rifles they kept by their sides day and night. They fired indiscriminately into the darkness around the camp.
Lexie squealed and buried her head in her arms and tried to make herself as small as possible. The sound of gunfire was loud in the otherwise quiet desert, and all she could think about was how much it would hurt to be shot. She wanted to curl up into a ball, but figured it was better to stay flat.
The sound of gunshots echoed in the desert, sounding loud in the quiet of the night. The kidnappers were yelling at each other and trying to figure out who was shooting at them, and from where. Lexie’s heart was beating a million miles an hour. She was terrified that at any second, one of the kidnappers would haul her or Dagmar up and use them as human shields to try to escape.
She couldn’t tell the difference between the bad guys’ and good guys’ bullets, had no idea if she and Dag were about to be rescued or if their kidnappers would win the battle. If that happened, they wouldn’t be happy about the ambush…would maybe even kill her and Dag.
She knew she was breathing too hard but couldn’t calm herself. She kept her eyes squeezed shut as the sounds of gunfire slowly tapered off. She could hear men yelling to each other in English, and prayed that was a good sign.
“Lexie?” a voice called out.
Lexie slowly lifted her head. She winced as a beam of light nearly blinded her. She squeezed her eyes shut.
