Prince Incognito by Rachelle McCalla Read Free Book Online

won’t be any way out.”
    Lillian panted slightly, clearly wrestling with what he’d told her.
    He felt the need to devise a plan. “Do you know anything about North Africa?”
    “Not much,” sheconfessed. “Hasn’t North Africa been in the news for years now because of violence and fighting and militant groups?”
    “You’re right. It’s a very unstable part of the world, with an inhospitable desert climate.” An image shifted through his thoughts, blowing like desert sand, and he felt the sting of it, the oppressive heat, the thirst, the desolation. Like the mirage of a desert oasis, itevaporated as he tried to focus on it, leaving only the lingering image of what once was, or might have been. He grasped at it, but it slipped through his fingers like so much blowing sand.
    He opened his eyes to find that Lily had straightened up, pulling her face close to his, watching him.
    “Did you remember something?” she whispered as though afraid her words might scare off thewisp of memory.
    “I think—” he swallowed, trying to chase the thought, but the sand filled in the footprints more quickly than he could follow them “—I think I’ve been there before.”
    “That’s good.”
    “Is it?”
    “Maybe you’ll know your way around.”
    “Maybe.” He swallowed, his thirst intensified by the mere thought of the desert. He wanted to believe Lillian was right, butfrom the cold clenching of his gut, he was pretty sure his last visit to the northern coast of Africa hadn’t been good at all.
    Lily told herself to focus. The mystery of the soldier’s identity teased her imagination, pulling her thoughts away from forming a plan. But she didn’t have time to waste wondering who the man beside her really was. He’d proven himself to be trustworthy—more trustworthythan her parents, and far more than her uncle. So it didn’t matter, then, who he was. He was her only ally, and they needed to work together.
    He must have been thinking along the same lines, because he whispered, “It would be helpful if we could get these zip ties off our wrists. We won’t get far without the use of our arms.”
    “You’re right. I didn’t get a very close look at what theyused, but I think they’re a basic zip tie like any other, with a ratcheting mechanism that keeps them closed tight. I did an internship at a veterinary clinic and a lot of our supplies came zip tied together. I got pretty good at backing the ratchet out.”
    “Do you think you could work my hands free?”
    “It’s worth a try. Can you get your hands where I can reach them? Don’t let the soldierssee what we’re doing.”
    Shifting subtly, Lillian managed to get her hands aimed at the soldier, who’d turned his body at a similar angle toward her. She found his fingers, and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, distracting her for a moment with the comfort he offered in that tiny gesture. It reminded her that she wasn’t alone—that even though they were no longer facing one another, hewas with her, working for her freedom as much as his.
    She found the nylon strap of the zip tie he’d been bound with, and located the ratcheting mechanism with her fingers. If it was like the ones she’d encountered at the vet clinic, all she had to do was squeeze the head to open up the ratchet box, then depress the engaged ratchet enough to slide it out from the rack. In concept, the stepswere easy enough for her to envision.
    But with her arm muscles already cramping from their awkward position, and unable to see what she was doing, coaxing the two sides apart proved to be a difficult trick. She squeezed the stubborn plastic box with her fingernails, trying to apply just the right amount of pressure to weaken its hold on the strap.
    Finally, it slipped back the slightestbit, and her heart rejoiced for a moment before the box caught on the very next ratchet.
    It would take her all night at this rate!
    They didn’t have all night. In fact, she suspected they