Rosa Jardine peered from behind the large boulder a few feet from the ditched Datsun 280Z, squinting at the bright light from the large black helicopter and shielding her eyes from the sand blowing from the turbulence of the whirling blades. She could make out the figures of her longtime friend, Leanna O’Regan, standing in front of a tall man in a black uniform and wearing a black helmet with tubes that appeared to come from a face mask to a tank on his back. Rosa couldn’t make out the man’s face and couldn’t hear him talking to Leanna over the whipping helicopter blades. He was flanked by several other figures wearing light grey body armour from head to toe, with helmets that had visors obscuring their faces. The man in black gestured to the others, pointing towards the silver car stuck in the dry stream bed. Two of the armoured figures broke from the group and headed towards the vehicle and Rosa’s hiding spot.

Rosa ducked down behind the boulder, and grabbed her young son’s wrist, pulling him closer to her. The boy was holding tightly onto his white Husky, who was struggling to get free. He was also trying to hold the dog’s muzzle closed, to keep the small dog from barking and giving away their hiding spot. The dog’s bright blue eyes darted desperately around, looking to escape. 

“Theo! Keep Arfie quiet! They’ll find us for sure!” she whispered as loud as she dared.

They heard footsteps marching through the sand and rocks of the desert floor approaching them, and then stopping and moving around the car. They heard the doors of the car open and the sound of things being moved around and put on the ground. They were close enough that Rosa could hear what they were saying, in the harsh voices of soldiers or policemen.

“Only the one door is open… it looks like the girl was alone. I don’t see anything but this blanket in the front seat… what’s this in the back? A couple of suitcases and a jerry can… here take this while I look in the suitcases.”

At that moment, Arfie broke free from Theo’s grasp and ran into the desert night, a streak of white with black and grey markings. Rosa grabbed Theo around his mouth, to keep him from crying out to the dog running away.

“What the- What’s that?” Rosa heard one of the voices shout.

“Hold your fire… it’s just a stray dog or coyote,” the other voice answered, “But take a look at this!” The voice then called over the radio for backup, and Rosa could hear more footsteps running over to the car.

Rosa could feel Theo twisting frantically as she hugged him tight, and she whispered softly in his ear, “Don’t worry! We’ll find Arfie as soon as the coast is clear.” The additional voices were all talking excitedly, probably discovering the two suitcases filled with gold coins, bars and wafers. It sounded like they were working together to lift out the suitcases, and she could hear them shuffling away. When it got quiet, she cautiously peeked over the top of the boulder again, and saw that the men had rejoined the rest. The man in the black uniform and her friend Leanna were no longer in sight. The blades of the large black helicopter started speeding up, and all the armoured figures disappeared inside. The bright spotlight was turned off, and Rosa could see the dark outline of the helicopter lift into the night sky. It turned and flew away in the direction it had come, and soon Rosa and Theo were alone in the quiet desert.

Rosa let go of Theo’s mouth, and the boy immediately started screaming into the emptiness surrounding them, “Arfie! Aaarrfie! Come back, boy! Arfie!” Rosa didn’t try to stop Theo’s shouting, and instead headed back to the car, shining in the moonlight. The doors were all open and the hatch was up. The jerry can was on the ground, and the suitcases containing all the gold were gone. Rosa grabbed the blanket from the front seat and put it around her shoulders, slumping against the car. The tears started streaming, and she was soon crying uncontrollably, the palms of her hands pressed into her eyes.

Theo stopped shouting for Arfie, and came up next to his mother, tugging on the blanked wrapped around her. “Mom, please stop crying. What are we going to do? Where’s Leanna? Please…” Theo stopped tugging on the blanket on feeling a familiar wet nose nuzzle into his hand. “Arfie! You came back!” Theo picked up the dog and let him lick Rosa’s wet face. “See Mom! Arfie’s back!”

Rosa stopped crying and pet the white Husky, calming down. She started breathing normally again and looked at Theo, “I’m sorry, dear. This is all too much for me.” As she stroked the white and grey head of the little dog, she noticed the dog tags hanging from his blue and silver collar. She felt the silver pendant under her hoodie and pulled it out to look at it carefully in the moonlight. The pendant was a silver five-petal rose with a clasp that attached it to the silver chain around her neck. “This thing must be pretty important for Lee to leave with me.” She twisted the clasp to release it from the chain, and attached it to the ring on Arfie’s collar, concealing it behind his dog tags. “This is the last place anyone would look for this.” She smiled at Theo, and said, wiping the tears off her face, “So my little genius, what do you think we should do now?”

Theo pulled up his shirt, and pulled out the map that Leanna had given him earlier in the evening. “Well, Mom, I think we should try to find this Mr. Nobu that Leanna was talking about. See? She’s marked on this map where we can find him, and I don’t think he’s too far from here.”

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***