Chapter 1: The Promise in the Dust
Chapter 1: The Promise in the Dust
Heat radiated off the desert asphalt in shimmering waves, cutting straight through the dunes where gusts of wind swept fine sand across the two-lane road. Overhead, the afternoon sun beat down from a clear blue sky.
Three black SUVs moved down the highway at full speed.
Sandwiched tightly between the lead vehicle and two pursuing cars, a heavy motorcycle tore through the heat haze. Avir leaned low over the handlebars, his teeth set as automatic gunfire broke over the engine's whine. Muzzle flashes flickered from the windows ahead and behind, kicking up spurts of pavement near his tires.
He veered the bike side to side, dodging the incoming fire from the front car.
Gunning the throttle, he pulled into the blind spot of the lead SUV, matching its pace along the rear passenger door. Through the tinted glass, his eyes locked onto Mira.
Her wrists and ankles were bound with rope. Her face was pale, but her eyes were fixed on the window, her mouth forming his name the second she saw him.
Beside her, a heavily built man spotted Avir and barked an order to the front seat: "Kill him!"
Two rifle barrels thrust through the open window, lining up on Avir’s chest.
Steering with his right hand, Avir reached into his jacket with his left and drew his sidearm.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three shots shattered the side glass. The men went limp, tumbling out of the frame and slamming onto the asphalt. The trailing SUVs didn't swerve—their tires ran straight over the fallen bodies as they maintained the chase.
Slowing down, Avir dropped behind the lead car, shifting to its driver's side to put the vehicle between himself and the gunfire behind him. He pulled beside the driver’s window and drove the heavy steel grip of his pistol into the glass.
CRASH!
The window caved inward, crumbling into the cabin. Avir leveled his weapon at the driver, but automatic fire erupted from behind at a sharp angle. A stray round tore into his rear tire.
BLAM!
The tire blew, sending the frame wobbling wildly. Abandoning the bike, Avir lunged forward, throwing his upper body through the broken window frame just as the motorcycle tumbled into the dust.
Inside the cabin, the surviving passenger scrambled to raise his handgun toward Avir’s head. Before he could clear the holster, Mira threw her weight forward, driving her forehead into the man's nose. The strike stunned him, giving Avir the window to slam his fist into the man's wrist, dislodging the weapon.
While the man fumbled at his feet, Mira struck him repeatedly with her bound wrists. Avir hauled himself further into the cabin.
Outside, one of the trailing SUVs accelerated, pulling alongside the passenger door. A shooter leaned out the window, aiming for Avir's back. Avir turned and fired two shots toward the vehicle.
The driver of the trailing SUV swerved, ramming his heavy bumper straight into the side of the lead car.
THUD!
The collision broke Avir's grip on the door frame. The car surged forward, leaving him hanging out the window, his lower body dragging in the open air.
The trailing driver hit the brakes, dropped back, and floored the pedal, aiming to pin Avir between the two bumpers.
Seeing the grill coming for him, Avir planted both boots against the window frame, flexed his knees, and launched himself backward. He cleared the gap and landed flat on the hood of the charging SUV, his fingers hooking under the edge of the metal.
Avir dug his fingers into the hood's edge, leveling his pistol straight through the windshield at the driver.
Before he could pull the trigger, the driver slammed his foot onto the brake pedal.
SCREECH!
The sudden stop hurled Avir off the hood, sending him skidding across the hot asphalt. He rolled with the momentum, coming up on one knee.
The doors of the SUV threw open. Three armed men stepped out, raising their weapons. Avir swept his arm low, firing three quick rounds into their legs.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The men collapsed onto the road. Before they could recover, he shifted his aim—BANG! BANG! BANG!—putting a round into each of them.
The driver stepped out of the vehicle, looking at the bodies, then up at Avir. He made no move for a weapon. He just stood under the sun and began to laugh—a low sound that carried across the highway.
"You can kill as many of us as you want," the driver said, wiping a speck of dust from his collar. "It changes nothing. You’re too late, Avir. You're never going to find her now."
The noise around Avir faded into the steady thrum of his own pulse.
He dropped his empty gun onto the dirt, covered the distance in two steps, and grabbed the driver by his collar, pinning him against the SUV.
"Where is she?"
Avir brought his fist across the man's jaw.
THUD!
"Tell me where he's taking her!"
Another right hook hit the man's face. Blood splattered against the metal door, but the driver just spat red onto the pavement, his smile lopsided and swollen.
"Tell me! TELL ME!"
He kept hitting him, long after the man stopped reacting.
"Tell me! Tell me! TELL ME!"
His knuckles split, and the driver's head sagged against the dented metal, but Avir didn't stop until his arms grew heavy and his breathing turned to shallow gasps.
The man was still.
Avir stood up from the pavement, wiping his brow with the back of his bloodied forearm. He turned toward the open highway, looking down the empty road where the lead SUV had vanished with Mira.
His hands curled into fists. He looked toward the sky and let out a long, ragged scream that cut through the silent dunes:
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!..."
The sound faded, turning into the quiet ticking of a wall clock.
The heat gave way to cool morning light filtering through a bedroom window, smelling of clean cotton and hair oil.
Six-year-old Avir stood in front of his mirror, watching his reflection. He was a quiet child who flinched at loud noises and kept his hands tucked close to his sides.
His mother knelt beside him, smoothing the collar of his stiff uniform before running a yellow comb through his hair, parting it neatly to the side.
"Mom..." Avir whispered, his eyes wide. "Where are we going.
