Window of Time--Mission: Oasis de Huacachina

Window of Time--Mission: Oasis de Huacachina Part 2

By the time Lucy walked back up to the bar area, it was no longer deserted. There was a man, a woman, and their teenaged daughter sitting at a table next to where Lucy's backpack was setting. None of them looked very happy. The girl seemed on the verge of tears, which Lucy found odd. While she was here working, most everyone else should've been on vacation.

Then she saw Dan at the bar. His tall frame was dressed out in knee-length multi-pocketed shorts, complementing the safari shirt that had just as many pockets. He was leaning back on one elbow with a glass in his hand. He wore sunglasses and a blank expression, but Lucy knew he was watching her weave through the tables and getting closer to him. She sat on a barstool without acknowledging him.

"Not a cloud in the sky, but I hear a storm's headed this way," Dan said, taking off his sunglasses and setting them down next to his drink.

"An umbrella would be useless," Lucy said just loud enough for him to hear her answer his ridiculous acknowledgment code while tightening her ponytail. But the whole point of the dance was to let him know she wasn't compromised.

"You look thirsty." Dan caught Sara's attention and tapped his glass as he moved to a stool next to Lucy. "One of these for the lady."

"A bottle of cold water—unopened," Lucy said, correcting Dan when Sara gazed at her with her blonde eyebrows raised. Not many men ordered for women anymore. She'd be getting a big tip for double-checking before listening to him.

Dan smiled like he'd been challenged. Between the heat and the ridiculous location of their meeting, Lucy's sense of humor felt as depleted as her energy. Who wanted to party in South America during the height of their summer?

Dan ran his hand lightly along her arm until his hand touched hers, and then slipped something small and flat between her knuckles, which she quickly palmed with a swipe of her thumb. It felt like a tiny camera memory disk, not bigger than a half inch wide.

"You need to loosen up, sugar," Dan said, running his fingers back up her arm until he reached the sleeve's edge. "This is Peru's wine country. They make the most delicious Pisco Sours—"

Lucy stared into his mischievous brown eyes wondering how much was an act, or if he was really coming on to her. It didn't really matter. He irritated her. "How would you like me to ram my fist through your face?"

He dropped his hand away, but not his grin. "You don't know how to have fun."

"You're probably right." Lucy slipped the small object into a slit on the top of her leather belt specifically designed to hold items the size of micro SD cards.

"Mac's been gone a year. You don't have to mourn any longer," Dan said as he slowly turned his drink around in a circle, leaving a watermark beneath the glass.

Her mouth suddenly went dry when he mentioned her dead husband. She didn't expect him to bring up an old memory. The wound in her chest throbbed momentarily while she kept the tears from clouding her eyes. "That's none of your business."

"You don't have to be alone." He nodded toward her. The smile was noticeably absent. "I haven't seen you wear anything but black. Lucy, Paris can be beautiful again."

The look she gave him should've pinned him to the floor, but it didn't stop him from leaning closer to her.

"We all know what happened." Dan lowered his voice. "There isn't an agent who didn't hear about what went down—how Mac took the bullets that would've killed you. He gave his life to save you, Lucy. He wouldn't have wanted you to be alone—"

"Here you go, sweetie." Sara set a small bottle of Dasani on the bar in front of Lucy, and Dan sat back.

Lucy squeezed the bottle while rotating it upside down. If it had been punctured with a needle, then the water would escape through the tiny hole.

"You're paranoid," Dan whispered.

"I'm cautious." The lid clicked as she twisted it off, and she drank down the whole bottle while gazing into the mirror behind Sara. It gave her a good view of two Asian men dressed in khaki pants and button down shirts approaching the man sitting with his family, while a handful of smiling young guys, carrying backpacks and covered in sand, dropped down in the chairs at a nearby table.

"Let me borrow your sunglasses."

Dan reached for the Ray-Bans.

To get a better view of the family, Lucy put on the sunglasses and swiveled around on the stool, leaning back on her elbow. If anyone looked, it would seem like she was just getting closer to Dan. His smile grew larger. "I can still take you down with one blow," she whispered.

His brows scrunched. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure ..." She watched as the father, and Lucy was assuming that was who he was, stood up and spoke with the two Asian men, all the while they stared at the girl. She couldn't have been more than fifteen, if that. One of the men grabbed her chin, lifting it and making the girl gasp. Lucy couldn't hear what they said, but after the father had her stand up, one of the Asian men gave him an envelope. "Oh, cripes ..."

"What?"

"Look in the mirror at the table with—"

"I see them—"

The father looked inside the envelope, and after he fingered the contents, he nodded before turning to the woman.

"Do you have a child prostitution ring operation going on?" Lucy asked softly as the parents left their daughter crying with the two Asian men.

"No. Lucy—don't. Just mind your business. You're a courier, and you have an assignment," Dan whispered, his voice taking on a harsh edge.

"I don't usually ignore crimes in progress."

"You don't know that's what you saw—"

One of the men took the girl by the arm and started walking. The other man fell in step behind them.

Lucy unzipped her purse and took out a twenty-dollar bill to pay for her water. Now she needed her daypack, but as soon as she stood up, Dan's hand went around her elbow. Her anger instantly flared, and she jerked away from him. "Don't do that again."

She tossed down his sunglasses onto the bar and retrieved her pack, keeping the trio in sight as they made it to the hostel entrance. Lucy didn't like that. She didn't like any of it.