Jonathan looked at her in surprise. "I wasn't going to pick it up, Mom. I know it's poisonous."
Carmen wiped the perspiration from her forehead with the back of her hand. "Let's keep moving."
It wasn't Jonathan's fault that they were in this mess. He was simply trying to make the most of the experience. It wasn't Jonathan's fault that Alex was out there risking his life, either. They were in this thing together whether they wanted to be or not. It wouldn't make matters worse if Jonathan enjoyed the experience to some degree - not any more than it would make their situation better if she became a grump. They needed to keep moving, but there was no point in making the desert their enemy.
When she looked at Jonathan again, he was watching her with a sympathetic expression. "He'll be alright, Mom," he said gently. "He knows things that they don't."
His attempt to console her put a lump in her throat and moisture in her eyes. Maybe Alex knew things that his pursuers didn't but Jonathan didn't know that for sure. He idolized Alex. That was a good thing up to a point. Beyond that it became misplaced trust. Alex wasn't invincible and these people had probably been operating in this country for a long time. Alex was too confident. Riding skill aside, he had been extremely lucky evading the two riders. That was probably mostly due to the fact that they had underestimated him. That wouldn't happen if they met again.
Alex said he would try to meet them at the pass. He expected them to be there by now. Was he there waiting for them now? She looked up at the pass. There were two rugged rock peaks with boulder-strewn slopes between them. He could be up there in the rocks. For that matter, so could their pursuers. It was an eerie thought.
They began their assent of the slope to the pass as the sun was sinking on the horizon. It had been two days. Surely someone was searching for them by now. Yet they had seen no indication. Maybe the search was being conducted in the other direction. They had to disregard every rule of desert survival in order to avoid being recaptured.
She scanned the desert below them. From their vantage point, it looked like clumps of gray-green bushes on a red-yellow earth. In the background were the khaki-purple mountains. In places there were patches of yellow and purple where flowers were blooming. The sky was a deep blue, with wisps of white clouds. The desert had a lot of color.