Red Leopard (The Vistaria Affair Series) (16 page)

Distantly she realized that the men on the trunk clapped and cheered. She hooked her leg through the root and turned to look at Nick, hanging patiently, his arms outstretched.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“As Duardo is lowered, get a better grip on him, so he doesn’t roll down the valley.”

“Okay.”

Nick rolled his head up to look at Pietro. “
Listo?
”

“Sí!”

“Ahora!”
Nick shouted. He let go of the leather with his left hand and flexed, rolling up and thrust his hand towards Pietro, who clamped both hands around Nick’s wrist.

The tug on Duardo’s leg came but Calli, forewarned, hung on.

“Obtuvolo!”
Pietro declared triumphantly.

Got you
, Calli guessed.

Nick and Pietro adjusted their grip, so that each had their fingers gripped around the other’s wrist. Pietro reached over to grip the man next to him in the same way. In turn, the man reached to the one next to him and so on along the tree.

Nick looked down at her. “I’m going to drop and Duardo will too.” He unhooked one leg and pushed with his boot against the branch to release the other. But he didn’t drop like a stone. He rolled slowly and Duardo’s body sank towards the ground. Calli hauled on him, bringing him to the ground close by her, again gripping the band of his jeans and hanging on grimly.

Pietro did the same as Nick, letting himself fall off the branch in a controlled motion and now the two of them hung in the air, a human chain. The third man, Jose, slipped off the tree and Nick dangled closer to her. Duardo had reached the ground fully now, so she pulled him up and thrust her leg in front of him so he would not roll. That left her hands free. She reached up and caught Nick’s leg and hauled him sideways, toward the high ground. A fourth man slipped off the tree and suddenly Nick stood beside her.

He gave a shout and the chain of men on the tree trunk who anchored them slowly began to move back to the base of the tree, towards the cliff and the broken tiles. As they moved, Nick reeled Pietro in so that he could stand. Then Jose.

Finally, a chain of men stood strung along the cliff, up onto the tree base. The men on the tree climbed off and lay down on their stomachs on the edges. They reached down with their hands.

Nick hooked his own leg around the same root Calli used as an anchor. He bent down and with another flex of muscles, picked Duardo up in a fireman’s lift. He looked up above him. “
Listo?
”

“Sí.”

With both hands beneath his torso, Nick lifted Duardo straight up into the air. Many hands reached for him then lifted him up and over the edge. A little cheer sounded above them.

Nick looked behind Calli. “Minnie, your turn. Calli, you’ll have to lift her over here.”

Calli looked at Minnie’s tear-streaked face. “No problem,” she said cheerfully. “She’s always been a squirt.”

Minnie gave a big sniff.

“Minnie, you don’t have any room to do anything but push off with your hands and fall into Calli’s arms. She’ll catch you.”

Minnie looked at Calli. “Drop me and I’ll never talk to you again.”

“Deal,” Calli said.

Minnie took a deep breath and launched, arms outspread, straight at Calli. Minnie’s weight slammed into Callie and she felt herself toppling over. But Nick’s arm was there, against her back, holding her up.

Minnie gave a shudder and a hysterical little laugh, but Nick patted her cheek. “Not yet, Miss Minerva. Hold on for a few more minutes.”

Minnie took another deep breath and nodded.

Nick threaded his fingers together, to form a step. “Kick your shoes off. Step on my hands, then my shoulder and then the men will lift you up. Okay?”

She nodded and sniffed again, wiping her forearm across her cheek, which simply smeared the dirt and tears even more. Calli propped her up while she pulled off her shoes. Then she stepped onto Nick’s hands and he boosted her up so that she could use his shoulder. She stepped up and the men lifted up and over the edge as if she weighed nothing. Another small cheer sounded.

“Your turn,” Nick said in Calli’s ear.

“What about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

She kicked off her shoes, regretfully casting them aside. She had enjoyed the few minutes she had been wearing them before the explosion. It was unlikely she’d experience anything quite like that ever again.

She stepped onto Nick’s hands. He boosted her as if she weighed the same miniscule amount as Minnie, which she knew for a fact she did not. She barely put any weight on his shoulder. Many hands caught at her arms and drew her swiftly up. The motion shot pain through her shoulders, but it was over before she could protest. She found herself lying once more on the debris and sand scattered across the tiles.

She wanted to stay there, to rest and recover, but the same many hands hauled her up, made her sit and move out of the way. They raised her to her feet and led her to a battered but still whole, chair, where she sat, grateful to be still for a moment.

She watched as Nick was hauled up over the edge and then Pietro, Jose and the last of the human chain clambered up. Pietro’s AC/DC tee-shirt hung torn and dirty now. His face was smeared with ash, but he smiled brightly.

Many more people moved about the remains of the courtyard now, including men in uniform. She remembered the valley was a popular residence for army officers. The explosion would have brought them running.

A very senior-looking officer, a man with graying hair and a buffet table’s worth of medals across his chest, walked up to Nick. As Nick brushed himself off, the officer saluted.

Nick spoke. It sounded like a question.

The officer pursed his lips then shook his head.

Nick looked down at the ground and sighed. After a moment he straightened again. “Okay,” he said and spoke more Spanish. Short sentences. Emphatic.

Orders.

The officer saluted again then turned on his heel and strode away. He called out to others, who came running to his side as he walked, some wearing uniforms, some not. He issued orders, too, and they scurried off to do his bidding.

Nick stopped in front of her, picking up her hand, pulling her from her comfortable seat, while all around them the courtyard seemed to suddenly burst with activity. Lights came on everywhere and she heard the distant “thwock-thwock” of helicopters.

“Come here,” he said.

She allowed herself to be led to the dark far corner of the yard, the left side where, just beyond the jagged remains of the courtyard wall, the truck in which they had traveled here was parked. The triangular-shaped side pocket lay in quiet shadows.

He turned her to face him, letting her rest up against an intact section of the wall. The cut below his eye had stopped bleeding, but his face was still dirty and scratched. “You look like hell,” she said.

“You should look in a mirror,” he said, with a grin. Then his grin faded. “Calli....” Then he shook his head. “You’re a hero, Calli. You saved Duardo’s life and every man here knows it. But there will never be any acknowledgment of what you did here tonight. There can’t be.”

“I don’t want it.”

“You deserve it. There are a handful of Vistarian men who will for the rest of their lives consider themselves in your debt because of what you did for their captain. But they cannot speak of it and neither can I.”

“No problems.”

“Yes it
is
a goddam problem!” he said sharply and his fist slapped the wall by her head. “We should not be in such dire straits that we dare not breathe about the efforts of an American amongst us, but we are and it is only going to get worse.”

“Worse?”

“Much worse. This is the beginning, I think. I will know more later but if I’m right, then this is the first faint sound of disaster for Vistaria.”

“You mean, this explosion was deliberate?” Calli shook her head. “Someone blew up the house on purpose? My god....” She caught at his arm. “Nick, I know someone was hurt. Is Duardo...did he...?”

“Duardo will be fine,” he said quickly. “But Menaka died. She sat right next to the kitchen. She had no chance. Nor did Hernandez.”

“Oh, Nick, and the baby?”

“Lives, poor orphaned soul. They delivered it a few minutes ago.”

“Elvira?”

“She is badly hurt.”

Deep sadness welled in her and she hung her head. Nick drew her to him and she rested her cheek against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, but nothing stirred in her. The waste, the pointless loss, pained her too much.

Then a more terrible possibility occurred to her. “Nick, this didn’t happen because of Minnie and me, did it? They didn’t do it because we came here?”

“No,” he said quickly. “This valley is full of army personnel and a party at any house here with a concentration of officers is a natural target, if you’re looking for targets. It’s just that no one thought they were looking for targets.” He sighed.

She closed her eyes and let her hand rest against his shoulder, feeling the silk and the firm, warm flesh beneath.

His arms came around her, tightening. Then with a low groan, he pulled her away from him. “I only have a moment, Calli. You must listen, for this is important. You and Minnie will be flown back to
las colinas
. I’ve arranged medical care for you both—you’ll be checked and treated as needed. You’ll get fresh clothes, a chance to clean up, then you’ll be dropped at your apartment tonight just as if you had been to the party. You may feel the need to tell your uncle what happened and I can’t prevent that, but you must not tell anyone else. Things are going to start happening now and you must be kept out of them. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

He paused and drew back a little, as if he had been expecting a protest from her.

“I’m not stupid, Nick. I can see what is happening here as well as you. If this was not an accident, then the rebels have made their first move. You have to find out how they knew about this party, how they managed to penetrate it without detection. The only way that could have happened is that you have rebel sympathizers inside the army. That means everyone is suspect, no one can be trusted.”

He smiled a little and cupped her cheek. “You continue to astonish me,” he said.

His praise, his admiration, warmed her. It made the touch of his hand more than a simple comfort. She could feel her senses wakening and stirring but she pushed aside the distraction because another horrible possibility occurred to her. “It also means you’re a possible target, doesn’t it?”

His hand dropped away. “Yes,” he said flatly. Truthfully.

From the valley came a roar of an engine. A rhythmic percussive sound that beat at her ears, inside her head. It was a helicopter, very close.

A man stepped around the corner. He carried a rifle and wore a bandolier of rifle shells over one shoulder.
“El helicóptero espera, señor.”

“Gracias. Deme un momento,”
Nick murmured.

“Sí, señor.”
The man stepped back around the house.

Nick turned back to her. “This is a race, Calli. If we can find them, root them out, then we may still win the day. We have to pull their teeth—weaken them before we can dig them up out of their mountain strongholds. We must do it quickly, before this gets out of hand. So for now everything must appear to go along as usual. The mine must still operate, people will work and live and we must give no indication that we are hunting them. And you must stay out of it.”

She gave in to her need to touch him and rested her hands on his chest. “I’m afraid for you, Nick.”

“Don’t be. I have the nine lives of a cat, don’t you know?”

“
Señor
?” The soldier had returned.

Nick barely glanced at him. “The helicopter is here for you,” he told her.

“I know.” She looked at the soldier. “
Uno más momento, por favor.
”

“
Sí,”
he agreed and moved away again.

Nick smiled. “You’ve been studying.”

“I’m a fast learner,” she said and gave a laugh. “Economics seems very remote right now.”

“You have one moment more,” he reminded her.

She gripped his shirt. “It’s not enough,” she confessed. “I’m confused, Nick. I thought I had it sorted out before all this happened, but now...I don’t know. You’re right to send me away. All I know right now is that I don’t want to leave you.”

His hand settled around her neck, curled around it as if he would draw her face to him and she held her breath, her heart suddenly leaping and her pulse fluttering. He gazed into her eyes.

“Nick,” she whispered. “Nicolás Escobedo.
El leopardo rojo
. I have seen you all ways. I want them all.”

He closed his eyes. She knew he battled temptation and his own better judgment. Right now, though, she didn’t care about prudence and good sense. She only cared about the truth in her heart—and damn the price of speaking it aloud.

“
Señor!
” came the imperative call.