More Than Paradise (30 page)

His weight constricted her breathing. He tore at her pants. The gun was limiting him, leaving only one hand free. He didn’t bother trying to silence her anymore, so she screamed again, eyes closed, face rigid, diverting all the oxygen in her lungs into the loudest noise she could make. And while her own alarm still reverberated in her chest and her head, something exploded and she knew the gun had gone off.

His body seemed to ß y off hers and she reacted instinctively,

• 203 •

JENNIFER FULTON

elbowing herself up, stunned and blinking, her whole body trembling.

Her attacker was lying in a heap next to her, his brains blown out, Nitro standing over him. He checked the dead man’s pulse, then picked up Charlotte’s T-shirt and handed it to her.

Returning his gun to its shoulder holster, he said, “The bodyguard was for a reason, Dr. Lascelles.”

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Klaus wasn’t happy with the plan and explained his objections during the ß ight back to the Sarmi hangar.

“The group is descending into anarchy,” he said as they cruised along at six hundred feet, below the scudding clouds. “The disaster caused a breakdown in order. In a vacuum people make up new rules.

You’ve read
Lord of the Flies
.”

Ash thought his gloomy assessment gave the expedition too much credit. They’d never had much order in the Þ rst place, and a group of civilians losing the plot in a crisis was only to be expected. Some sound leadership would contain the situation, and that’s exactly what Nitro had imposed. Billy Bob Woodcock’s behavior was not part of a big picture, it was all about one man’s lack of character. Now he would never bother a woman again. She owed Nitro.

Ash kept her emotions Þ rmly in check. She’d given in to an initial outburst and a spell of impotent rage when Renee called her just after daybreak. But even then, she’d kept a lid on herself. Renee knew she’d let her down. She’d allowed Charlotte to give her the slip, and Ash didn’t need to spell out how much worse the consequences might have been. Fortunately for Charlotte, Miles had staggered back to the camp after being pistol-whipped, and raised the alarm. Nitro was already there, looking for Billy Bob, who had not returned to the digging team from a bathroom break.

The rest was history and Ash could not allow herself to dwell on it. She had not been there to protect Charlotte from a sexual predator, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. All she could offer was comfort after the fact, and if it was humanly possible she would

• 205 •

JENNIFER FULTON

get to her lover today. Meantime, indulging herself in recrimination and self-blame was a luxury she could not afford. If she was going to put this bird down in the conditions Renee had described, she would have to be ß ying at the top of her game.

This was the easy part of her plan. She’d called Tubby to arrange a rescue operation, and a team would be arriving in Sarmi the next day.

Klaus was going to wait at the hangar so he could guide them to the site. Ash hoped to extract at least some of the party this afternoon if possible. She would only get one shot at it, given the weather, and she knew she might not able to land the Huey at all.

“They can wait another day,” Klaus urged.

“Yes, but I can’t.”

He looked sideways at her. “You are serious about this woman?”

“I never thought I would say it, but yes.”

He gave this a moment’s thought. “What will you do? Is there work for her over here?”

“I doubt it. We haven’t discussed the future, but her job is in Chicago. The weather sucks there.”

“You’re leaving PNG?”

“I will if she wants me to.”

He was silent for a while, then pronounced, “Billy Bob was lucky.”

“How’s that?”

“It was quick, yes?”

“One to the head is what I heard.” Nitro was not a man who wasted time or bullets.

Her copilot nodded. “You would not have been so considerate.”

“Not even close.” She started her descent.

“Is she okay?” he asked cautiously.

“Just cuts and bruises.”

She’d put up one helluva Þ ght, Renee had told her, and that bought them critical minutes. Ash hoped Charlotte felt good about her own role in defending herself. She planned to make sure of it.

The airstrip loomed and Ash dropped the Huey effortlessly onto the landing gear. Before Klaus bailed out, they shook hands and, because it was pointless to let self-consciousness prevent her, she said,

“If anything happens, tell her she’s the love of my life.”

“You have my word,” Klaus gravely assented. “And if there is a cremation, I will make sure she receives the urn.”

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On that cheerful note, they parted company and Ash headed for the Fojas with her heart in her throat.

v

They heard the helicopter before they saw it. Ash was circling, Charlotte thought, trying to see down through the jigsaw of gaps in the cloud. A Þ ne mist shrouded the lake bed. She would never be able to land in this.

Nitro was on the cell phone, trying to talk her down. He handed out ß ares to several members of the team and had them stand in the landing area. On his signal they Þ red them, and a cluster of small orange explosions broke overhead. A few seconds later, the noise of the chopper blades whooped and thudded like huge bird wings smacking into plastic.

Charlotte felt nauseous. She was desperately afraid for Ash, but something else was going on, too. She had awakened that morning aching all over, and her body temperature had been swinging from freezing to feverish ever since. Teeth chattering, she squinted up into the fog and held her breath as a dark shape came into view northwest of their position. Ash was approaching the lake bed from the opposite direction of the one she’d chosen almost two weeks earlier.

Nitro was talking fast and Charlotte tugged at his arm, reading the tension in his face. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s a steep angle. She’s trying to come in for a low hover.”

Charlotte wanted to run out into the middle of the marshy clearing and wave her arms. Everyone had turned around, facing away from landing area to watch the dark khaki helicopter dropping into view. Ash steered it toward the lake bed. Amidst the cheering and premature elation, Nitro barked off an urgent “No,” and Charlotte could see why.

Something very strange was happening. Ash had started to hover above the lake bed when the helicopter began to swing around as if something had caught it by the tail. It seemed to wobble in the air.

Nitro muttered, “Fuck.”

“What’s happening?” Charlotte wailed as a hand landed squarely between her shoulder blades and she was ß attened to the earth.

Nitro yelled, “Everyone, get down!” and shielded her with his body.

• 207 •

JENNIFER FULTON

The helicopter veered sideways, nose dropping. The air vibrated as if the sky itself were shuddering. The Huey was heading straight for the forest south of the team. Charlotte couldn’t move. She wanted to close her eyes, but they were locked wide open. She couldn’t draw breath. Ash was going down right in front of her.

“Do something,” she cried.

Nitro placed his hand over her eyes and held her tight as a dull boom shook the earth and the sky fell quiet.

They lay frozen for no more than a couple of seconds, then he was on his feet again. Ordering her to stay where she was, he charged off across the lake bed followed by most of the team.

Flames licked up over the trees and a plume of black smoke blended with the mist. A hand touched her shoulder and Renee drew her into a sitting position and gingerly hugged her.

“I’m sorry, Charlotte.” She was crying.

They stayed in a shaky crouch for a few seconds, then lurched to their feet by unspoken consent and started walking.

“Are you sure you want to see this?” Renee asked as their feet sank into the bog.

Charlotte had no answer. All she knew was that she could not believe she’d lost the woman she loved. She had to see Ash, no matter what.

v

The acrid smell of petroleum and damp, burning wood assaulted Ash’s nostrils and lungs, but she could feel every part of her body. The undergrowth at the rim of the lake bed danced before her eyes in a blur of greens and browns. She angled her head. Above her, the forest canopy swung back and forth with the gait of the man carrying her, slung over his shoulder.

She craned awkwardly to see the back of his head and instantly recognized what looked like auburn dreadlocks. Her rescuer was half naked, his skin covered in earth. When they’d made it into the concealing gloom of the forest, well away from the wreckage of her bird, he deposited her on the earth, propped against a tree trunk.

Ash gazed up, her head swimming. “Bruce. G’day.”

“Yeah, g’day.” Glassy brown eyes regarded her with Þ xed marsupial tranquility. “It’s always the bloody tail rotor.”

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“I tipped a tree on the descent angle,” she said, hardly able to believe she’d lost her bird. “Something must have been caught up and tangled. Thanks for getting me out.”

“No worries.” He leaned his back against the tree and slid down next to her. “Could you give Charlotte a message for me?”

Ash stared at him. “You know Charlotte?”

“I have the honor of her acquaintanceship.” He paused. “I wouldn’t have let it happen. I want you to know that.”

“You were there?”

“About the same time as the Terminator. I would have offered to help, but he didn’t need my services.”

As her mind foggily processed this information, Ash ran an exploring hand over her pounding head. A lump the size of a golf ball protruded above her right eyebrow. Very attractive.

“What do you want me to tell her?” she asked.

“I’ll meet her at our special place tomorrow morning.”

“Your special place?” Ash could not be hearing this. Charlotte had been hanging out with the most wanted man in New Guinea?

“I have the specimen she’ll need,” the Roo said.

“Wait a minute. You’re selling plants to her?”

“It’s a gift.” He sounded affronted. “I should get going.”

“Bruce.” Ash put a hand on his shoulder. “Some advice. Get out while you still can. Time’s up.”

“I feel the heat,” he conceded. “I know that cretin you work for wants to serve my head on a plate to the corporate villains. What am I worth?”

“He offered me Þ fty to bring you in, and I don’t think the Terminator was sent out here to light the campÞ res.”

“I Þ gured.”

“You can do just as much somewhere else,” she said. “Maybe more. The people here need voices on the outside.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Ash took a card from her pocket and handed it to him. “If you need a ride, that’s my number. I have a spare bird in Madang.”

He tucked the card into his woven loin pouch and got to his feet.

“Don’t forget to tell her.”

Ash stared after him. Charlotte had some explaining to do.

v

• 209 •

JENNIFER FULTON

“I still can’t believe it.” Kneeling next to Ash, Charlotte ran a sanitary wipe over the gash on her head. “I mean that you’re here and everything is all right.”

They were Þ nally alone, in the fading light of day, in the privacy of a smaller tent Nitro had found among the items dug up the day before.

Charlotte was more placid now, having spent the Þ rst few hours after the crash attached to Ash like a limpet, revisiting her fears and relief over and over.

“It is all right, isn’t it?” Ash checked in again. They’d talked about the attack, and she didn’t want to keep bringing it up, but she need to be absolutely certain that Charlotte wasn’t hiding anything from her.

“I’m Þ ne. Truly. I told you, he was dead before he could do what he wanted and it’s weird, I don’t really feel a thing about it. Maybe I will one day, but right now, all I’m interested in is you. And us.” She delivered another stinging dab.

“Okay, you’ve tortured me enough.” Ash slid an arm around her waist and drew her down onto the sleeping pad. “Stop fussing and lie down. You’re sicker than I am.”

Charlotte didn’t resist. She placed her prized box of wipes carefully in the corner of the tent, wrapped in a torn piece of cloth, and they both slid onto their sides, facing each other. Ash stroked back the dark strands that clung to Charlotte’s forehead. She was ß ushed and her eyes seemed too bright.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said, meeting Ash’s eyes. “Do you think its malaria? I don’t see how it could be. I haven’t been bitten and I think the DEET’s soaked through every layer of my skin by now. All that meß oquine I’ve been taking is probably in my liver. Maybe that’s why I’m sick.”

Ash gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure you don’t have anything serious. As soon as we’re out of here, you’ll be seeing a doctor.”

Ash didn’t want to scare her with speculation about the nastiest suspects. Malaria. Dengue fever. Ross River fever. She knew Charlotte must have had every shot in the book, so she couldn’t have any of the other serious conditions. Chances were, she had picked up the ß u that was epidemic in Pom. Her symptoms matched those Ash knew all too well from her own infrequent bouts. Locals seemed to build up a resistance, but visitors usually took the virus home with them as a parting gift.

Charlotte nuzzled into her shoulder. “Don’t leave me again.”

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“I won’t.” Ash kissed her cheek. Her skin felt hot and damp. She would fall asleep soon, and Ash still hadn’t asked the question she’d been putting off while others were around. Keeping her tone casual, she said, “There’s something we need to talk about. Tell me how you met Bruce.”

Charlotte stiffened in her arms. “How do you know—”

“I spoke with him. I think it’s time you told me what’s going on.”

“I was going to as soon as you got here.” Charlotte sounded upset.

“I would have told you on the phone but with the batteries—”

“I know. It’s okay.” Ash rocked her gently. “I’m not angry. Just talk to me.”