No Saving the Woman Who Killed My Daughter

The phone rang in the middle of the night.

I hadn't been asleep. I let it vibrate for a long time until it finally stopped.

Less than ten seconds later, it started again.

I didn't know how long it rang, but eventually, I picked it up.

"Mr. Porter?"

It was a familiar female voice.

"This is Ruby Shaw."

The moment I heard her name, my grip on the phone tightened.

"Name your price," she said, cutting straight to the point.

"If 10 million dollars isn't enough, I'll make it 20 million dollars. Cash. Wire transfer to any account you choose, within 30 minutes."

I said nothing.

"Mr. Porter? Are you there?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"20 million dollars, cold hard cash. If that's still not enough, we can negotiate."

"It's not about the money."

"Then what is it about?" Her voice spiked.

"Aren't you supposed to be the best guide in this desert? The entire dispatch network recommended you. They said you're the only one crazy enough to go out there. If you don't take this job, my brother will die out there."

"Find someone else," I said coldly.

"Find who? Dispatch said you're the only one who can make it in during this weather window. The other guides won't go past 30 miles out. Any further north, and they won't make it back alive."

I knew that.

I had spent eight years risking my life to map this desert.

Every hidden current, wind shear zone, and quicksand trap was etched into my mind.

I was the only person alive who had the navigation data for this sector.

Ruby asked, "Mr. Porter, don't you have anyone you care about? You should understand what it's like to wait for death in the desert."

I fell silent.

Of all the people in the world, she was the last one who should say those words.

Joey's final satellite signal had pinged at 3:00 am. It lasted for exactly 11 seconds before vanishing forever.

Later, a slip of the tongue from a dispatch worker revealed the truth. Ruby had paid a million dollars to reroute the only fully equipped rescue team in the opposite direction to rescue her brother, Howard.

That grown man had managed to get lost outside a five-star hotel.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in the deep desert, Joey was out of water, completely delirious, and burning up with a fever over 104 degrees.

Her last voicemail to me was only a few seconds long.

"Dad, it's so hot… and… I love you…"

Those few seconds had played on loop in my head for eight years.

"Mr. Porter?"

Ruby's voice snapped me back.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"I'm listening," I replied.

"If 20 million dollars won't do it, 50 million dollars then."

She paused, letting out a cold laugh.

"Have you ever even seen that much money scraping a living out there? 50 million dollars is enough to buy a house, a car, and marry a beautiful wife in the city. You can't be stupid enough to turn this down."

"Ms. Shaw," I called out.

"What?"

"You're right. I've never seen that much money."

"Then—"

"But I've also never seen anyone haggle over human life like they're at a flea market. Your brother's life is worth 50 million dollars to you. But how much was my daughter's life worth to you?"

The line went dead silent.

"W-What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. Find someone else."

I hung up, and the tent fell dead quiet again.

When I closed my eyes again, the dream returned.

Joey was kneeling on the parched earth, the skin on her arms peeling away and her knees scraped raw.

She looked up at me, her eyes bloodshot and dry, her lips badly cracked.

"Dad… why isn't Mom coming to save me?"

I crouched down, my hand shaking as I reached out.

How could I answer her?

How could I tell her that her mother had diverted her rescuers to save a useless man who got lost at a hotel entrance?

Joey waited for a long time.

Then she smiled, her split lips oozing drops of blood.

"I'll keep waiting. Mom will definitely come."

I bolted upright in bed, drenched in a cold sweat.

The tent was pitch black, and the wind rattled the corrugated iron sheets.

"Zachary? You alright?" Arthur asked.

"I'm fine."

I reached under my pillow for my water bottle, unscrewed the cap, and took a heavy swig.

"Go back to sleep," I said to the darkness.

I wasn't sure if I was talking to Arthur or to myself.