Stone didn’t answer but the muttering started again.
Indie jerked forward. “Let’s check the map. That should help us figure out where we are.” When Stone made no move to hand it to her she spoke louder. “The map, Stone. In fact, both of them. Let me look at them while you drive.”
Still no answer.
That made her suspicious. Then she spoke again and her voice was calm and steady as if she had no concern in the world. “You don’t have the maps, do you?”
He shook his head as if to get rid of some annoying gnats and kept his eyes on the road.
“Do you, Stone?”
“No, I don’t, all right?” His voice was an angry bark. “I didn’t think I’d need them.”
“You didn’t think…” Her voice trailed off as she stared across at him. Then she continued with a scathing rebuke. “The operative words being, ‘I didn’t think’. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Just be quiet, will you?” Came his biting retort. “I need to concentrate.”
“You need to concentrate,” Indiana muttered. “Concentrate on getting us lost is what you’re doing. No map. And now we’re lost all the way out in this wild countryside.” He shot her an angry look and she shut up. Pissing him off was not going to work. Better to spend her energy thinking of a way to get them out of this mess. She did a quick calming exercise, breathing in and breathing out three times and only then did she speak again. “How long ago did you realize you weren’t on the right track?”
There was a delay of about ten seconds then Stone responded. “About twenty minutes ago.”
“About twenty min-” Indie stared at him in disbelief. “But you didn’t say anything.”
“I thought I’d just drive some more, see if a familiar landmark showed up.”
Indie wanted so badly to blast him but she held her tongue. He was a man, after all. He couldn’t help it. For some reason unknown to humankind men could never be influenced to ask for directions. Or, in this case, to get a damn map. Okay, Indie, stay calm. Blowing your top is not going to help anybody.
She looked ahead at the sun sliding toward the horizon. “Okay, we have about forty to fifty minutes of daylight left. How are we on gas?”
“Good,” he said, visibly relaxing now that she’d changed her tone. “A little over half a tank.”
“Okay.” She raised herself up and leaned over to where her backpack lay on the back seat. She dug around till she found her notebook then pulled a pen from the outside pocket. She looked around ,surveying the terrain, then began to sketch. “Immediately you had a doubt you should have said something to me,” she said, not looking up. “There’s no shame in asking for help.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Stone said, his tone sarcastic. “Ask for help from a girl. Everyone knows that women have no sense of direction.”
“What? Don’t let me slap you upside your head. And I would do it, too, if we weren’t in such a dangerous position. We’re on the African continent, in case you’d forgotten. The land of lions and hyenas.” She glanced to the back of the Jeep. “Speaking of which, does this Jeep have a cover?”
He glanced at her then focused again on the road.
Oh Lord, that obviously meant no. They were in big trouble. She rose up again and reached over to slide her hand into her backpack. She pulled out a curved dagger with jagged edges. It was almost a foot long.
Stone glanced over at her and did a double take. “What the hell? Where did you get that?”
“My backpack,” she said, her tone casual. “You didn’t think I was coming all the way to Africa without protection, did you?”
He still looked stunned. “But…do you even know how to use that thing?”
She slid her thumb along the thin edge of the blade, testing its sharpness. “Who? Sylvester? He's served me well over the years. Skinned many a rabbit, gutted lots of fish. Great at peeling the hide from a deer.”
His eyes widened as he stared at her. “You’re a hunter?”
She grinned. “Let’s put it this way. I hunt a lot better than I cook.” She slid the big knife beneath her thigh and picked up her paper again. “The sun sets in the west so Johannesburg is that way as the crow flies.” She pointed in the direction exactly opposite to where Stone was heading. “You need to turn around and head back the way you came.”
He gave her a doubtful look. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.” She didn’t take her eyes off him until he began to turn the Jeep around. “Tell me something,” she said, "are you carrying a weapon?”
He glared at her as if she shouldn’t have had to ask. “Shotgun. It’s on the floor in the back.”
She gave him a brusque nod. “Good. If any animals decide to come sniffing around we can scare them off with that.” She gave a snort. “God help us if a whole pride of lions decides to take us on.”
He was looking over at her again, seeming bemused. “Aren’t you scared?”
“More than I’ve ever been in my life.”
“You don’t look it,” he said, lifting an eyebrow.
“Yeah, well I’m good at hiding my emotions.”
“You can say that again.”
After that they fell silent, he concentrating on the trail and she watching for signs of animals in the distance. “Do you have any binoculars?” she asked.
“Dashboard.”
She reached over and pulled it out and immediately began perusing the brush and trees in the distance. “It’s going to get dark soon,” she said, her voice low, “and I want to know what I’m up against when the sun goes down.”
He didn’t say anything for a while then he blew out his breath. “See anything?”
“Nope. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.” She dropped the binoculars. “Pull over for a sec. I want to check something.”