All Chapters of No Saving the Woman Who Killed My Daughter: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Zachary Porter, have you lost your mind?"My partner, Arthur Mueller, caught up from behind and grabbed my arm.I shook him off and pushed through the door curtain.Arthur lunged outside, cutting me off and planting both hands on my chest to block my way."That's ten million dollars. Did you hear me? Ten million dollars.""I heard you.""And you're still walking away? Think about it, man. Is your life even worth that much?" Arthur asked."I told you, I can't save this guy."He stared at me for a few seconds, his eyes wide with disbelief."You've been eating dirt in the desert for eight years. You can't even afford next month's gas. Now ten million dollars is staring you in the face, and you're just turning it down?"I glanced at him, stepped around him, and kept walking.He hurried after me again."Zachary, you don't have to pay me back what you owe, but look at yourself!"It's fine that the guys live in a shack leaking wind and sand, but the transmission on your truck is

Chapter 2

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 wil

Chapter 3

At noon the next day, a helicopter landed just outside the camp.The rotor wash kicked up a massive cloud of dust, nearly ripping the corrugated iron sheets right off the shack.Arthur cursed under his breath and ran back inside. "That Ruby woman is here. She brought a whole crew with her."I sat in the tent without moving. My fingers traced a frayed piece of red string.It was the string tied tightly around Joey's wrist when I finally found her."Zachary, do you want to hide for a bit?" Arthur asked, poking his head in."No need."I stuffed the string into my pocket and stood up.By the time the tent flap was pulled back, Ruby was already standing a short distance from the entrance.Her oversized sunglasses covered most of her face, but they couldn't hide her heavy makeup, which looked absurdly out of place in this desert.She glanced my way, then turned her head and frowned in disgust."This is him?" she asked her assistant.The latter nodded. "Zachary Porter, 43 years ol

Chapter 4

Ruby didn't leave.Before long, four black SUVs rolled into the camp. The number of bodyguards instantly doubled.Ruby's assistant sat at a table, making phone calls loud enough for the entire camp to hear."...Yes, make sure they all get the message. Any guide who refuses this job gets blacklisted immediately. Use every resource to ruin them. Yes, everyone. No exceptions."Arthur walked over, holding a tin mug, his face dark."Is she insane? She's going to ruin everyone in this camp."I said nothing.David emerged from his tent and walked up to me, hesitating. Kieran followed closely behind, his face flushed red."Zachary…" David spoke, his voice strained."I know you have your reasons, but… Kieran and I don't have any other skills. We need this job to put food on the table. His wife is giving birth next month, and our family—"With a heavy thud, Kieran dropped to his knees. His knees sank into the loose sand, leaving deep ruts."Zachary, please. Just agree to it."David t

Chapter 5

"Who the hell are you?" Ruby asked.She took a half-step back, and her assistant instantly jumped in front of her."Ms. Shaw's brother is basically royalty. He might be a bit of a wild child, but he would never waste his time messing with low-life scum like you. If you're going to invent a story, at least make it believable. Have you even looked in a mirror lately?"Ruby stayed quiet for a long while before she finally managed to piece her composure back together."I don't care who you are, but I believe any grudge can be settled."She slipped her sunglasses back on."Figure out what your terms are and tell me directly. My brother's life isn't going to wait around for you to throw a tantrum."With that, she turned on her heel and began walking away.Arthur was finally let go from the blazing sun. His lips had already cracked. He downed half a flask of water before he could even catch his breath.He walked over to me and whispered, "Zachary, were you serious about that?"I did

Chapter 6

But my answer changed the next morning. It wasn't because of the money, and it wasn't because of the threats.At dawn, Arthur pushed open my tent flap, holding a weather report. He spread the map out in front of me and pointed to a line tracking across it."A category 12 sandstorm is expected to hit the deep interior within 48 hours." His voice was heavy."If Howard is still alive, given his current dehydration rate, he has three days max. But once the storm hits, even satellite tracking will be useless."I closed my eyes and thought about it for a moment."This storm looks exactly like the one eight years ago," Arthur added.Those words cut deep into a place I had kept locked away for eight long years.I pushed the map aside and walked out of the tent.Ruby's people had set up a row of canopies outside the camp, filled with folding tables and a mountain of laptops. The outdoor air conditioning units hummed loudly.She was sitting inside, sipping ice water.As I walked over,

Chapter 7

The wind picked up with a sudden vengeance, raining fine granules of sand down from the sky.Ruby stood ten feet away, clutching her phone with a death grip.Her assistant shielded her by half a step, and the bodyguards closed ranks around her once more.I looked at the wall of people, then spoke slowly. "Since you all want to know what happened eight years ago, I'll make it perfectly clear."No one interrupted."My daughter Joey was 22 years old, a graduate student in geology. Eight years ago, she went into the deep interior of Taklaven Desert with her professor's team to collect sand samples."On the third day, they were hit by a once-in-a-century sandstorm. Their GPS went dead, their vehicle sank into quicksand, and their supplies were only enough to last 36 hours."Ruby's lips began to tremble."She managed to send out one final distress signal. The coordinates were 39°12' N, 94°47' E. Dispatch received it and activated an emergency response, deploying the only fully equipp

Chapter 8

In the end, I never made it into the deep interior.It wasn't because I chose not to go but because time ran out.This sandstorm was far more unusual than the one eight years ago. The wind and sand moved with a terrifying, unnatural speed.The category 12 sandstorm hit at least a day ahead of the weather forecasts.In conditions like this, vehicles were useless, and neither man nor camel could stand against it.When I returned to the camp, I was met with a scene that brought me to a sudden halt. Over 40 SUVs were lined up in a column. Their engines roared, and their roofs were strapped tight with water barrels and supply crates.The crowd was a chaotic mess. I recognized a few faces from the past few days, but most were complete strangers.Arthur was standing in front of the convoy, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Are you all out of your minds? A category 12 sandstorm is about to hit! Going in now is a suicide mission!"Nobody listened to him.Ruby's assistant was sitting

Chapter 9

That night, I sat alone in my tent.Joey's red string lay on the table. The knot was tied tight, and the thread was frayed and rough, broken in several places and holding together by only a few remaining strands.I sat there until the sky began to turn.A faint light gradually bled through the tent walls.The sandstorm had dropped to a category 4. It would die down completely on the next day.Arthur didn't disturb me.The entire camp was dead quiet, save for the occasional, distant groan of a wounded man.I pulled Joey's photo from my pocket.It was taken on her 18th birthday. She was smiling sweetly behind a birthday cake.On the back, she had written a single line. "I'm going to be a scientist and turn the desert into an oasis."Half of her wish came true.At 22, her paper was published in a major academic journal. And then, she died in a place where no one could find her.At daybreak, I filled all my canteens—the same three flasks of water, a knife, and a compass.I did

Chapter 10

I found Ruby at dusk the following day behind a wind-eroded rock near 39°N.The rock resembled a broken wall, blocking part of the wind. Behind it, a half-human-shaped depression was pressed into the sand.Ruby was curled up there.Her knees were drawn up, her hands tucked against her chest as if she were merely asleep.Her skin had dried to a pale ash, and her lips were split into deep, jagged cracks.I folded her fingers inward, curling them closed one by one.Then, I wrapped her in a sleeping bag, secured her to the stretcher, and loaded her onto my camel.We walked for over ten hours through the night until darkness swallowed the landscape.I didn't know what to think during those hours. It felt like something inside me had finally reached its end, leaving behind a profound emptiness.I couldn't sleep much that night. We hit the trail again just as the sky began to gray.By the time we cleared the desert, night was falling once more.Arthur was waiting at the camp entran

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