Love Inspired Suspense September 2015 #2 (28 page)

“It's okay. He emailed me a dozen times the first couple months, convinced I'd just got cold feet and would be back. It was the hardest thing I ever did, because I truly loved him, but... I don't know. I was sitting across from him talking about the impact that fund-raiser had on me, and what I could do if I went, and I realized he didn't get it. And that's when I knew I couldn't marry him. We were at different places in our lives, and had different goals. He was on the fast track in a Fortune 500 company, and I realized that wasn't the life I wanted. I was tired of having everything and still feeling like something was missing.”

“It must have been hard to let go of someone you'd planned to spend the rest of your life with.”

Maddie caught the emotion in his voice as he finished securing the tire. “You sound as if you're speaking from experience.”

“That's a whole other story.”

“Try me,” she said, wondering how she'd managed to find herself in the middle of nowhere, sharing her heart with a handsome superhero, who'd risked his life to save hers. Because in the process, despite the uncertainty of their situation, he'd managed to make her feel safe. Like nothing bad could happen as long as he was with her.

“Long story short, her name was Micah. I was planning to propose, but it never got that far. She couldn't handle my job, how much I traveled and the fact that every time I went out I was risking my life. She thought it was foolish and selfish of me. Told me that to my face. I don't know, maybe she was right.”

“It's hard not to understand her fears.”

Despite the attraction between them, she couldn't imagine a life with him. But neither could she stop herself from being drawn to his courage and lack of fear—a direct contrast to her struggle to control her own terror. She'd learned to mask it by slipping into her professional role, but she didn't know how to escape it. Not completely. And especially not today.

“I hope you know that whatever happens here, the risk you take every day with people like Ana...it's worth it.” Silence hovered between them as he stood up and brushed off his hands.

“You about ready? I'll put the jack and flat tire away if you want to get Ana back in the car.”

Maddie walked away from the car to where Antonio and Ana were sitting in the shade. Moving here had been worth it. But losing her heart to a man who took too many risks? That was an entirely different situation.

“Hey, sweetie.” Maddie crouched beside Ana. “How are you feeling?”

“Antonio told me I could meet his twin daughters, Lucia and Julia.”

“That sounds wonderful. Listen, the car's fixed, which means we can go now. And as soon as we get to the boat you can sleep, okay?”

Ana nodded as they helped her back into the car and made sure she had her seat belt on.

Antonio closed the door and turned back to Maddie. “How do you think she's doing?”

“Her fever's climbing again.”

She didn't want to worry him, but she knew that not only did symptoms tend to come and go in cycles, they also could progress rapidly and become fatal within twenty-four hours if not treated. They needed to get to the mainland, where she would ensure Ana was cared for properly.

“But that's not all, is it?” he prodded.

“She's showing signs of jaundice.”

“Which means?'

“She needs medical attention. If left untreated it can affect her brain, kidneys and lungs.”

And not only was there nothing more she could do for Ana, they still had to find a way around the washed-out road and get to the ferry before they were found.

“Grant?”

She turned around when he didn't answer, then froze. A black mamba snake had reared up off the ground, inches away from where Grant stood.

EIGHT

G
rant barely heard Maddie's voice above the pounding of his heart. An adult black mamba, at least six feet long, slithered in front of him. His neck pulsed as the snake reared two-thirds of its body up off the ground and stared him straight in the eyes.

Seconds ticked by in slow motion. Grant held his breath. Frozen.

He'd seen his share of snakes while removing land mines, but never a black mamba. Two drops of venom could kill a person. And without antivenom, one bite was enough to be a death sentence.

The gray-skinned snake spread its cobra-like neck flap, opened its mouth and hissed, then vanished into the bush as quickly as it had appeared.

Grant expelled the air out of his lungs.

“Grant?”

He turned around to where Maddie stood, his heart still racing. The encounter might have only lasted seconds, but those few seconds had felt like a lifetime. He wiped the perspiration off the back of his neck and drew in a long, slow breath. Why was it that he'd hovered over dozens of land mines and was used to the soar of adrenaline when potentially facing death, but somehow that snake had the power to send the chill of death through him?

“You okay?” Maddie asked.

“You saw that, didn't you?” he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets to stop them from shaking.

“Yes, and if I'd been standing where you are right now, I think I would have passed out from fright.”

“Thankfully, it's gone,” Antonio said, “though I have a feeling it was far more scared of you, than you were of it. They might be lethal, but they're also very skittish.”

“He looked me in the eye,” Grant said as he got into the car. “Man, I hate those things.”

“Okay, I've got to ask you something,” Maddie said as he started the engine and continued slowly through the rice fields, looking for a place to turn around on the other side of the gully. “You deactivate explosives for a living, but you hate snakes? Not that I blame you, by the way, but it just...I don't know...surprises me.”

She might be right, but that didn't help alleviate the lingering panic still circulating through him. “I blame it on the time I was ten years old and went overnight camping with my grandfather in East Texas. When we started packing up the next morning, I pulled up my tent, and curled up beneath where my pillow had been was a sleeping cottonmouth. Far as I know, it had been there all night. It took months before he convinced me to go camping again. And, poisonous or not, every time I see a snake my skin crawls.”

“Well, that thing
was
almost as tall as you are.” Maddie pressed her lips together.

Grant glanced at her, not missing her attempt not to smile. “And now you're laughing at me.”

“I'm not laughing.”

“He could have bit me.”

“But he didn't.”

He shot her a smile. “I still say you're laughing.”

“I'm really not,” she said, “Though your face did turn a bit...chalky.”

“You're not going to let me live this down, are you?”

“I did tell you what I would have done. You're far braver than I am, hands down.”

He couldn't help but laugh. “If you say so.”

Grant glanced at Maddie sitting beside him and realized it was more than just the encounter with the black mamba that had him feeling off balance. Because
cowardly
wasn't exactly a word he'd use to describe her. It had taken courage to leave her practice and family to work in a third-world country with a completely different culture.

And as far as he could tell, she didn't do it because of guilt.

So how had he managed to sweep in and rescue her when it felt like she was the one with the ability to rescue his heart? And while he was emotionally drawn to her sense of empathy and love for people, he knew there were other factors involved in his feelings toward Maddie. What he felt could be nothing more than one of those instances where an intense situation bonds two people more quickly than it would in real life. But once they got back to normal, the feelings no longer remained.

He'd seen it happen to a friend of his, Paul. Paul had met Lana the day Lana's brother died. Ivan, who'd been working for their organization as a trained deminer, accidentally hit a mine and triggered a fatal explosion. Paul had rushed Ivan to the hospital and met Lana there. He'd visited her every day after her brother's funeral, and eventually fallen in love. Or so he'd thought. But it didn't take long for Paul to realize that their relationship had been built on the emotions of the situation and not on something solid.

The cell phone rang, pulling him away from his thoughts.

“It's the phone you bought in the market,” Maddie said, grabbing it from the console between the seats and handing it to him.

Grant pressed the phone against his ear with his shoulder, and kept both hands on the wheel. “Colton?”

“Grant...can you hear me?”

Grant gave out a sigh of relief at his friend's voice. “The connection's pretty bad, but yes. Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Thanks to your text message, I got out of there. Saw the explosion from the air. But what about you?”

“Long story, but Antonio and I managed to get Maddie out of that camp this morning. We should be at the dock to catch the ferry to the mainland in about ten minutes, but they're looking for us.”

“I know. That's why I've been trying to get ahold of you. I've got a contact on the ground who told me they're watching the two airstrips.” There was a slight pause on the line. “That means I can't fly in, but there's still got to be something I can do. If nothing else, I can contact the American Embassy in Dakar and Maddie's aid organization. Her family's going to want to know she's okay.”

“No—”

“No?”

Grant hesitated. While he appreciated his friend's offer, if someone in the State Department was behind this the last thing they needed to do was contact the embassy. Because beyond his tight circle of friends, he wasn't sure who they could trust. Even contacting Maddie's family could end up jeopardizing their lives if word got out.

“Listen.” Grant shifted into to third and swung around a large ditch on the side of the road. “I can't explain everything now, but I need you to keep this quiet for the moment. Don't tell anyone you've spoken to me. It's not safe.”

“What do you mean? If you rescued her, and she's okay—”

“There's more involved than just her kidnapping. Trust me, I'll explain everything once we get to Bissau, but for now I need you to keep this quiet.”

“Okay, but there's got to be something I can do in the meantime.”

“Meet us at the dock in Bissau when the ferry arrives. We're going to need a safe place to go and computer access.”

“Of course. You've got it.”

Grant hung up the phone as they finally made it to the outskirts of town, marked by more people along the sides of the roads. Wisps of smoke above the palm trees from cooking fires. The recent rain had made the streets muddy with pools of water.

“Colton will meet us on the mainland,” he told her.

“If we make it to there.”

“We will.” He wanted so badly to reassure her that he'd protect her from whoever was out there, but what if he couldn't? “And as soon as we get to Bissau, we'll be able to see what's on this flash drive and hopefully put a stop to all of this.”

“We're almost there,” Antonio said. “The dock is just around the corner.”

And if it had already left?

Grant stamped away the thought. He wasn't ready to deal with those consequences. Not unless they had to.

Grant let out a deep sigh of relief as the road curved and the rusty ferry came into view with crowds of people lining the dock. “It might not be our own private speedboat, but I don't think I've ever been quite so grateful to see one of these ferries.”

* * *

The dock bustled with people as Maddie made her way behind Grant and toward the aging boat a few minutes later, holding on tightly to Ana's hand, while Antonio bought their tickets. Already passengers and cargo had filled up the edges of the deck, while others sat beneath the shelter on the top. She scanned the crowd, but so far there was no sign of the men who'd been after them.

“You're certain this is seaworthy,” she asked, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.

“Let's hope so, because it's the safest transport we're going to find out of here.”

Maddie frowned at Grant's response, but realized even he couldn't give her any guarantees. Because a boatload of people facing a storm wasn't the only thing that had her worried. She glanced behind them into the growing crowd that pressed against them, continuing to search for the men they'd seen earlier this morning. But here, even in a throng of people, there was no way they could hide. And if the men found them before they got on this ferry and left the port, there was nowhere else to run.

She grabbed on to Grant's arm and started praying as they continued through the throng of people, her other hand tight around Ana's fingers. She might have teased Grant over his black mamba encounter, but she understood his reaction all too well. Because she was facing her own mounting fears. Until they were back on the mainland she wasn't going to feel safe, and even there, this wasn't going to be over. They needed to know who was behind this. Needed to know what information Sam had died trying to get.

She watched as men off-loaded cargo from the ferry onto the dock. Fifty-kilogram bags of rice, fish, live chickens, half a dozen cows and a pile of foam mattresses. Someone dragged a squealing pig across the deck, while another man carried cashew wine in large motor oil containers. The pungent smell of the animals engulfed her, tempered only by the scent of rain in the air. She shifted her gaze out across the choppy water. The sky had turned even darker as the wind blew the churning clouds their direction. It wasn't going to be long until the brunt of the storm arrived.

Antonio maneuvered his way back through the crowd to where they stood. “I got some of the last seats in the only air-conditioned room. It was more expensive, but it will give Ana a place to sleep and will ensure we don't get drenched if and when the rains hit.”

Maddie followed the men across wobbly wooden planks onto the boat. The humid breeze off the ocean wasn't enough to eliminate the stench of the livestock emanating from the crowded ferry. Still, she supposed, the situation could be worse. The boat appeared to be seaworthy—at least she hoped so.

Inside the enclosed “VIP” section, the room was full of padded benches, a TV blaring in the background and a front-row view of the sea. A couple dozen people had already settled into the unassigned seats, including the only other foreigner she'd seen boarding, who was settled in beside his heavy backpack with a pair of earphones.

“You can sleep again, sweetie.” Maddie tried to get Ana settled onto one of the empty benches and checked her forehead with the back of her hand. Thankfully, the pain medicine she'd given her from the limited supplies she'd brought with her was finally beginning to work and her fever was down again. But a dose of acetaminophen wasn't going to fight against malaria. Only its symptoms.

Ana gave her a sleepy smile.

“A few more hours, and we'll be in Bissau where I can get you the medicine you need.”

“And I can see my grandma?”

Maddie nodded. “We're going to do everything we can to find her. I promise.”

The ferry was already leaving the dock by the time she went to sit beside Grant and Antonio, close enough that she'd be able to keep her eye on Ana. “Guess we just made it.”

“How is she?” Antonio asked.

“Okay for now. The sooner we get to the mainland, the better. She still needs the proper medication, but rest and fluids will have to do for now.”

She grabbed a bottle of water from her backpack, took a long sip and then stopped herself from spewing a mouthful.

She held up her hand. “Okay, I'm sorry, but there are a couple of things mixed up here. Warm drinking water and cold showers.”

She couldn't even remember the last time she'd taken a hot shower. Or had a glass of water—or anything for that matter—with ice. She forced another swallow and screwed the cap back on. Hopefully by tonight all of this would be over and she'd be enjoying a real shower and a hot meal.

“Trust me, I've thought the same thing a time or two.” Grant laughed and caught her gaze. “What about breakfast? You haven't eaten yet, and there are still a couple boiled eggs.”

Maddie frowned. Worry had squashed her appetite, and she was certain her stomach wasn't going to be able to handle a boiled egg this morning.

“Any cashews left?” She knew she should eat something.

Grant reached into his bag tossed her the rest of the nuts.

“Thanks.” Maddie popped a cashew into her mouth and glanced out the glass window. They were finally moving away from the dock.

Just a few more hours, God. I just need You to get me through the next few hours.

“The two of you don't get seasick, do you?” Grant asked.

“On Tilt-A-Whirl, and anything that spins, really, but thankfully not on boats,” Maddie said. “Of course, I've never been on a rusty ferry out in the middle of a storm. It's bound to get rough at some point.”

“Let's just say I've always preferred solid ground, which is why I'm going to walk around for a while,” Antonio said. “I need some fresh air.”

“Do you think he's feeling seasick?” Maddie asked, as Antonio slipped out of the room.

“I have a feeling he wouldn't tell us even if he was.”

Just like she had no desire to let on how scared she really was. All morning she'd tried to stop herself from going through all the possible scenarios of what could happen. Like what would happen if
they
were waiting on the mainland. What would happen if the storm worsened and the boat started to sink? And what would happen if her mother had to attend a second funeral of one of her children?