"That’s good," Anya said, starting to drift off. "Just take it slow. I’ll take over after I get a little shut-eye..."
...
She didn’t know how much ti had passed when a sudden jolt from the car shook her awake.
"What’s going on?" Her first thought was that the car had broken down. "Did we get a flat?"
"No," Li Wei said, stopping the car and pushing the door open. "Looks like we’re stuck."
The ground in the high desert was deceptive. Combined with the bulletproof Cadillac Escalade’s four-ton weight, it was all too easy for a wheel to sink into the sand, getting them stuck.
Fortunately, Kaja had planned for every contingency. Li Wei pulled two traction boards from the trunk, ready to place them under the tires.
Once everything was in place, Li Wei looked around. Just as he was about to use his own brute strength to push the car onto the boards, a G-Wagen suddenly approached from the opposite direction and stopped in front of him.
The window rolled down, revealing Mark’s face.
"My car has a tow hook," he offered eagerly. "Co on, man. I’ll help you pull it out."
Li Wei considered it for a mont before accepting Mark’s offer.
With its 4.0-liter V8 and high torque, the G-Wagen quickly pulled the Cadillac Escalade from the sand. As Li Wei thanked Mark, he asked out of curiosity:
"Weren’t you guys heading south?" he asked. "Did you forget sothing?"
"Don’t even ask," Mark said, scratching his head in frustration. "The road ahead was washed out by a flash flood."
"What!" Anya exclaid, jumping out of the car. "I booked the top suite at the Aman!"
As she spoke, she picked up her phone and started to make a call.
"So we can’t get through?" Li Wei asked. "Is there a detour?"
"No," Sarah said from the passenger seat, her pregnant belly prominent. She shook her head. "There are huge canyons on both sides. A detour would an driving at least 1,000 extra kiloters."
Anya walked over, phone in hand. "I just confird with the concierge at the Aman," she said, clearly disappointed. "The flash flood happened last night. They estimate repairs will take over a week."
She looked at Li Wei, waiting for him to make a decision.
"I don’t think we’re getting around it today," Li Wei said, looking at Anya. "Do you want to head back or contact Kaja?"
"I’d rather not," Anya said with a miserable look. "We’ve only been out for two days."
"We saw a sign for a resort back in that little town," Mark said. "We’re planning to head there to rest for a couple of days before figuring out our next move. Why don’t you co with us?"
Li Wei glanced at the well-spoken Mark and the pregnant Sarah, then back at their rcedes G-Wagen. After a mont’s thought, he agreed to join them.
Anya then spoke up. "Sarah, if you don’t mind, you’re welco to ride with us."
She pointed behind her. "I have a G-Wagen too. They’re fine for short trips, but they get really uncomfortable on a long drive. It can’t be good for the baby."
Sarah looked at Anya, seeming tempted. After a quick word with Mark, she grabbed her small bag and got into Li Wei’s car.
The Cadillac Escalade took the lead with the rcedes G-Wagen following. The two luxury cars, each worth over 150,000 USD, headed back toward the town they had just passed.
About ten kiloters from town, they finally saw a huge boulder engraved with the words "Fan Yan Resort."
"I have to admit," Anya said, looking out through the bulletproof glass, much of her frustration about their disrupted schedule now gone, "this place has pretty good taste. It has a kind of wabi-sabi feel."
Li Wei looked ahead, where two huge, ramd-earth buildings that seed to grow naturally from the sandstone appeared at the end of the canyon.
The architectural style was imposing, with an almost religious severity. All the walls were made of micro-cent and special steel that perfectly matched the surrounding red rock. Huge, floor-to-ceiling windows reflected the azure sky and crimson cliffs, making the entire resort seem to blend invisibly into the natural landscape.
"Isn’t this just concrete, glass, and steel?" Li Wei comnted. "Looks like they forgot to paint it."
"What do you know?" Anya huffed. "Several Aman and Six Senses hotels use this exact design style."
Li Wei just smiled and didn’t say anything.
The cars pulled up before a minimalist, semi-open-air lobby, where several attendants in long linen robes imdiately ca forward to greet them.
"Welco to Fan Yan," a man whose na tag read ’Front Desk Supervisor’ stepped forward. "We are a mbers-only resort that operates by reservation. Do you have one?"
"No reservation," Li Wei said, rolling down his window. "The road ahead is impassable. We need a place to stay."
As he spoke, he sniffed the air. Beyond the typical scent of desert shrubs, a faint, mixed aroma of fir and frankincense lingered. It seed to have a calming, tranquilizing effect, capable of slowing one’s heartbeat.
Anya leaned over and showed Li Wei her phone.
No signal.
The front desk supervisor discreetly glanced from the Cadillac Escalade and rcedes G-Wagen to Anya and then to the blonde, blue-eyed Sarah in the back seat, before nodding.
"Of course," he said. "We still have so of our signature cave suites available. I can arrange them for you."
But Li Wei had noticed the supervisor’s line of sight.
He first swept his gaze over the two luxury cars, worth a combined three to four hundred thousand USD. His eyes then flickered across Anya and Sarah’s faces, pausing for an instant on Sarah’s protruding belly.
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