Blood Ransom (17 page)

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 7:44 P.M.

RACHEL BOTELA’S APARTMENT, BOGAMA

Chad’s heart beat in his throat as he crouched in the corner of Rachel’s bedroom. He’d seen the photos and heard Joseph’s account of what happened in the village. He knew what these men were capable of doing.

An arrow of guilt shot through him. If they were found, they could all be charged with treason, including Rachel. His father had once had a friend who’d been arrested on political charges. The man had vanished without a trace.

Voices rose in the other room. Footsteps shuffled. Chad held his breath and started praying. Someone shouted. A sick feeling rose in Chad’s gut. If Rachel was playing for the other side…

Natalie sat beside him staring at the floor. He wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that everything was going to be all right, except he couldn’t promise that. He couldn’t promise anything. Instead he took her hand and squeezed it gently. She glanced up at him, some of the determination back in her eyes.

Joseph sat on the other side of her, a young boy who’d seen far more in his fifteen years than anyone should see in a lifetime. Even if they did manage to make it out of here alive, the emotional scars were going to take time to heal.

A minute later a door slammed. He heard a bolt slide into place…light footsteps down the hallway…The bedroom door creaked open.

Rachel stood in the doorway. “They’re gone.”

Beside him, Natalie trembled. He pulled her tight against his shoulder, careful not to touch her wound. “Thank you, Rachel.”

Rachel sat down on the edge of the bed and rested her face in her hands. “He’ll kill me if he finds out what I’ve just done.”

“He won’t find out. For all they know, you told him the truth.” Chad helped Natalie to her feet. “Which means we’ve got to get out of here now.”

“Wait a minute.” Rachel looked up at him. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to leave.”

Natalie coughed. “It’s certainly not safe here.”

Rachel started back down the hall in front of them. In the living room she drew the curtains closed. “They’ll be out there watching my apartment. If they see you leave, they’ll arrest you.”

“She’s probably right, Chad.” Natalie perched on the couch, her face still pale from their close encounter. “We probably should stay, at least for a little while.”

Rachel closed the second set of curtains. “They’ll give up waiting before morning, but by then we’ll have another thing to worry about. Patrick’s due to fly in tomorrow.”

“So what do we do now?” Natalie asked.

Rachel smiled for the first time all night. “How does dinner and a hot shower sound?”

“What about tomorrow?” Joseph asked.

“I don’t know.” Chad sat down beside Natalie. “I guess Jesus put it best: all we can do is let tomorrow worry about itself. I’d say we’ve already had enough trouble for one day.”

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 7:43 A.M.

RACHEL BOTELA’S APARTMENT, BOGAMA

Natalie pulled the cotton sundress Rachel had loaned her over her head, careful not to scrape the hem of the sleeve across the gash on her shoulder. The coffee-colored skirt was a couple of inches too short, but at least it was clean and in far better condition than the wrinkled outfit she’d worn the past two days.

She glanced into the small mirror above the sink and pressed her fingertips against her cheekbones. There were shadows under her eyes. Despite the decent bed she’d slept in, she still felt exhausted. The humid air, buzz of mosquitoes, and occasional gunshots hadn’t helped. Neither had the troubled dreams that had kept her tossing and turning half the night. She’d woken up in a cold sweat a dozen times, thinking they’d been found, each time someone banged on a door down the hallway or shouted from outside. She was getting tired of the bouts of panic, fear, and darkness surrounding her.

God
,
I simply don’t have any energy left.

Pulling her brush from her backpack, she tried to ignore the sting of pain that shot through her arm. Bringing any semblance of order to her hair was an impossibility. Instead she gritted her teeth and managed to stick it up in a ponytail.

Stepping out of the tiny bathroom into the living room, she pasted on a smile. “Good morning.”

Joseph nodded his greeting, then took his turn in the bathroom.

She glanced at Chad, who sat on the couch, and wished she looked half as perky. Even in his wrinkled T-shirt and shorts he looked more awake than she did.

“How do you feel this morning?” he asked.

She stifled a yawn. “Besides needing another eight hours of sleep, I suppose I’m okay.”

He chuckled. “Then I’m guessing you slept about as well as I did.”

She sat down beside him and handed him the first-aid kit. “Do you mind?”

“Of course not.” He started removing the old bandage. One side of the adhesive stuck as he pulled on it.

“Ouch!” She glanced at the reddened wound. “It’s not getting infected, is it?”

“No, but I need you to hold still.”

She wiggled as he ripped the bandage off the rest of the way.

“Natalie.”

“Sorry, but it hurts.”

Chad shook his head. “You know, you’re not a very good patient.”

She stuck out her lip, pretending to pout. “And you have terrible bedside manners.”

“I wouldn’t go there if I were you.” He unscrewed the lid to the antibiotic cream. “You’re lucky I’m on call this morning. I haven’t had my coffee yet.”

Natalie forced herself to sit still. “Have you talked to the embassy yet?”

“Changing the subject?”

She shot him a wry grin. “Yes.”

He chuckled as he dabbed on the ointment before putting the clean bandage in place. “Rachel let me use her phone. Someone can meet with us at nine.”

“It’s about time.” Natalie glanced at the window. Rachel had kept the curtains closed as an extra precaution, but Natalie knew none of them would relax until they got to the embassy. “Rachel said she’ll meet us there with the relevant files from her office later this morning, but do you think it’s safe for us to leave?”

Chad’s smile faded. “No, but it’s not safe to stay here, either.”

Natalie shoved the ointment and extra bandages into the bag. “I’ve been thinking about something. We need to split up.”

“Not a chance. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

She blinked at his refusal. The two of them on the streets together would be a bigger target than a pair of elephants walking down Main Street. “We’d be crazy to go out there together.”

He grabbed his tennis shoes off the floor. “Maybe it is crazy, but I didn’t come this far with you to leave you to fend for yourself now.”

She yanked her phone from the cord where she’d plugged it into Rachel’s charger the night before, thankful she’d at least have a way to communicate. Chad would have to buy a charger that fit his phone off the street. “I’ve been fending for myself for the past eighteen months—”

“You’re not going alone, Natalie.”

“You know, there is more to this than you playing the hero.” Forty-eight hours of stress, frustration, and anger seeped into her words, but she didn’t care anymore.

Chad frowned.

“I know this is none of my business, but she’s right, Chad.” Rachel shook her head. “They’re looking for two Americans. Your chances of getting to the embassy are far greater if you go separately.”

“Forget it.” Chad slid on his shoes as if the conversation were over.

It wasn’t.

Natalie glanced at where the sleeve of her dress grazed the bottom of the bandage, and her resolve strengthened. “Stop thinking with your heart, Chad.”

She strode into the kitchen, shaking. He hadn’t deserved her
harsh words, but neither did she want her opinions dismissed like a bad idea. No way out of here was without risk, but surely he could see the foolishness in them leaving together.

“You know, Natalie, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life.”

Natalie glanced up at Rachel, glad it was her and not Chad who’d slipped into the room behind her. “Like I just did?”

“Right now it looks as if Patrick might be one of my biggest mistakes, but Chad’s different. You need to hold on to him.”

Natalie’s gaze dropped to the beige-colored tile. “He’s not mine to hold on to.”

“Not yet, maybe, but if you let pride get in the way, I can promise you’ll end up regretting it.”

Natalie bit her lip. There were simply too many variables in an equation that had become impossible to solve. “Have you ever felt like you were drowning in some hopeless situation and there was nowhere to come up for air?”

“Yeah, I have.” Rachel twisted her engagement ring.

“I’m sorry.” In all that had transpired, she’d ignored Rachel’s heartache. And the heavy risk she’d taken in hiding them. “I’ve been completely insensitive.”

Rachel grabbed a rag and started wiping down the counter. “No. It’s okay. If I’m honest, there have been plenty of signs I shouldn’t have ignored, but it was always easier just to look the other way.”

Natalie reached for the slight ray of hope that still lingered. “There’s still a chance Patrick isn’t involved in all of this.”

“Part of me would like to believe that, because despite everything I can’t help but love him.” Rachel leaned against the counter and caught Natalie’s gaze. “Patrick offered me the life I’d always dreamed about. I love the way people treat me when I’m with him. I like the apartment, the presents, and the trips he’s taken me on…”

“So what are you going to do?”

Rachel squeezed out the excess water into the sink and shrugged. “If Patrick is involved, I don’t think I have a choice but to play along
for now. Then after the election—after all this mess is over—I’ll have to find a legitimate reason to break things off.”

Natalie hated the fact that they’d both been presumably wrong about Patrick. “I am sorry.”

“Better now than later, I suppose.” Rachel looked up at Natalie. “I know he loves me in his own way, but maybe he simply isn’t capable of loving the way I’ve always dreamed of.”

“Then you deserve more.”

“Maybe.” Rachel laid the rag across the dish rack and leaned against the counter. “Somehow I thought I could keep my faith and have Patrick, too, but the past twelve hours have shown me just how far I’ve gone the wrong way. Makes me wish my mom was still alive to tell me what to do.”

Natalie caught the deep heartache in her friend’s voice. “About Patrick?”

“About Patrick…and the fact that the Ghost Soldiers aren’t just some crazy myth. If Patrick’s involved, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to forgive him. Or how God will forgive me for all the compromises I’ve already made.”

“All you have to do is ask, Rachel. God loves you, and He wants you back.”

“I know.” Rachel wiped her cheek, then nodded in the direction of the living room. “Go talk to him.”

Sensing Rachel needed a few moments alone, Natalie gave her a hug, then headed back into the living room. Forgiveness might not be easy, but the first thing she had to do was ask Chad for his. He was sitting on the couch, going through the photos again.

“I shouldn’t have snapped at you,” she started.

“I deserved it.” He looked up at her. “I was being unreasonable. We’re all under a lot of stress.”

“That’s no excuse.”

“For either of us. I guess it’s impossible to erase the influence of
the past. It’s given me this determination. If anything was to happen to you…”

She shook her head. “You don’t have to be my hero.”

“Maybe I want to.”

He stood and bridged the gap between them, his gaze holding hers.

Natalie’s defenses fell. “I suppose it is kind of nice having a knight in shining armor come to my rescue.”

She drew in a deep breath and held it for a moment. All the stress of the past few days vanished for an instant until all she could see was Chad’s face hovering in front of hers. He was close enough for her to feel his warm breath against her face. Close enough to let him kiss her.

And suddenly she wished he would.

Joseph stepped into the room, slamming the bathroom door shut behind him.

Chad cleared his throat and took a step back. “We need to go.”

Natalie’s gaze dropped. “Yeah.”

“When this is all over…”

She shook her head. She wasn’t ready for any promises or expectations. For now all she could handle was getting through the next hour and making it to the embassy in one piece.

She turned to Joseph. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes.”

Natalie gnawed on the corner of her lip. She didn’t want another fight, but she hadn’t changed her stance on leaving. “I still don’t think we’ll make it out of here together without getting caught.”

“I know. I just wish things were different.” Chad combed his fingers through his hair. She’d obviously struck a chord. “I’ll go first, and then you leave with Joseph in fifteen minutes. Walk half a mile as inconspicuously as possible, and then get a taxi to take you to the embassy.”

“You’re sure about this?”

“Yeah. You’re right. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

He held her gaze, and her breath caught in her throat. She wished they had time to explore what was happening between them, but that would have to be saved for another day.

“I’ll buy a charger on my way there.” He dropped his phone into his back pocket, then reached for her bag. “And I’ll take the photos.”

“Chad—”

Pressing his finger against her lips, he shook his head.

“Okay,” she conceded.

He shoved the photos into the side pocket of his cargo shorts, then looked up at Rachel, who’d just entered the room. “I think we should pray before we leave. Do you mind?”

She shook her head and joined them. They stood side by side with different cultures, different levels of faith, and started praying.

Natalie looked up as Chad said amen and smiled. A sense of peace washed over her for the first time in days. In the presence of her Creator was where she should have started this morning. She’d needed to be reminded that God was her protector, and that somehow He could use even this situation for His glory.

Chad reached out and grasped her hand. “Be careful.”

“I will. I promise.”

He leaned forward, brushed his lips gently against hers, and walked out the door.