The Heart's Dangerous Trek

by Maya McMillan

  “Red,” she said. “One of my favorite colors; versatile but demanding. It doesn't share well, but it doesn’t have to.”

  Nick smiled. His eyes seeming to fall on her as from a great height. The soft, but unnerving gaze had her fidgeting in seconds.

  “Don…don’t do that,” she said, blushing and fighting the schoolgirl-like stutter.

  “Do what?”

  “Look at me like that.”

  He straightened and dialed back the look--a little. A very, very little.

  “I can’t help it. I’m happy. I like this, with you. It’s nice, don’t you think?”

  His deep voice had taken on a softer, almost musical quality. Tara was sure she would never begin to plumb the man’s depth.

  “So I can’t control myself. I’m sorry. You will have to forgive me this one thing.”

  Tara lost her appetite as she felt her heart would burst.

  Then her stomach turned to stone.

  In the shadows of the hallway that led back into the kitchen she saw a furtive flicker of movement, the silhouette of a truly fine head of hair.

  Her blood went cold.

  Nick took her hand, completely unaware that their world had been violated and their bubble of happiness burst.

  “The situation is not ideal…” he began, then stopped as he noticed the stricken look on her face. “Tara?”

  Her mind frozen, Tara could find no words to describe what she saw.

  “Clipped U’s,” she finally blurted out. “His U’s are clipped.”

  Confusion wrecked the bearded man’s handsome features, then all of a sudden they cleared and his eyes went wide with alarm.

  “The leader of the men who kidnapped you?” He whisper hissed.

  Tara could only nod, her eyes locked on the shadowy hallway.

  “Touch your fingers to your face like you are hiding a laugh.”

  Oddly, Tara found she could do that.

  “Good. Now look into my eyes and pick up a spoon and blow on it like you are cleaning it.”

  The combination of specific instructions and mundane actions unfroze her brain.

  “Take my hand, lean in like we are having an intimate moment and tell me what you saw.”

  She did. After she was done Nick shook his head, smiled a broad smile and actually chuckled.

  “He won’t be alone,” he said. “For some reason this is all on his shoulders so he had to confirm it was us in here. They will wait until we go out; maybe hit us in the parking lot, maybe follow us back to the hotel. If they knew where we were staying, then most likely they would have attacked when we left.”

  His calm was contagious, and though terrified, Tara was no longer frozen in fear.

  “What do we do next?”

  “Have a normal dinner. Find excuses to go to the bathrooms, do recon, but not at the cost of letting them know we know they are here.”

  Tara nodded.

  Nick’s eyes were earnest, but his voice was steady. “Hamilton seems to have deep pockets so we know that he’s got people outside, and maybe inside as well. We need to find out what our options are. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “They won’t attack us in a public place unless they have no other choice. It won’t come to that. The hard part right now is we have to separate to do separate searches. You can do the ladies room, then find a reason to go up front and check the entrance. We are looking for emergency exits, spots that can be made into exits, or places for cover. Do you understand?”

  Tara nodded.

  “I’m going to check the men’s room and the back. Maybe the waiter will even let me into the kitchen.” Nick paused, looked down and took her hands. He squeezed them then looked back up at her.

  “Just remember, everything is one step at a time. If you feel unsure, head right back here.”

  Tara shrugged with an ease she did not feel, then smiled a smile she didn’t feel, at least not at first.

  “Well, if a mountain can’t kill us, and we don’t kill each other, what’s the problem?”

  Nick chuckled.

  CHAPTER 25

  It had been the most harrowing 10 minutes of her life.

  When he returned to their table Nick gave her a moment to collect herself, then detailed what he saw, all the while managing to break into casual smiles or little laughs. Tara was mesmerized and a bit terrified by the chameleon-like ability.

  “How do you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Make it look like everything is okay.”

  Nick was quiet for just a moment, his eyes fuzzing out like he was drifting to a world faraway. Then he came back.

  “I will tell you, but in exchange you have to do something for me.”

  He hardly had to bargain, but Tara nodded.

  “I...a long time back...a long, long time back, took some acting classes.”

  Tara was let down.

  “That’s it?” she asked, incredulous. “Nick, at some time in their lives, in high school or college, most people take some kind of theatre class.”

  He sat back.

  “Bad bargain on your part then.”

  Tara fumed just a little, very aware that it was another ploy of his to loosen her up. She leaned in pretending to blow on her soup.

  “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

  “There is a cellar entrance down the side hallway. It’s hidden by a tapestry. I saw the window to it when we drove up. If things go badly, head down there. You can hide out there or climb out the window and make it to the woods if you have to.”

  “If things go badly…”

  He cut her off again.

  “People make bad choices when they think with adrenalin. Don’t think. If things go badly you do that.”

  “But…”

  “You promised.” The harshness of the words was softened as he took her hands in his. The look of pain in his eyes drowned out all other thoughts and feelings she had. Tara nodded, her voice choked out, fighting tears.

  “Ahh, good,” Nick said, sitting back again. “He shows himself. Don’t look.”

  Tara saw Nick was looking over her shoulder, out towards the lobby.

  “What do we do?” Unable to play the casual game any longer Tara released Nick’s hand and carefully studied her silverware.

  “He let me see him. He wants to let us know we can’t get out that way. The next best bet is either the kitchen or the emergency exit near the bathrooms.”

  “Those lead out to different spots, don’t they? He has people covering all the exits?”

  “He might, or….shit.”

  Tara knew instantly Mr. Hamilton was headed their way. She was already rising out of her chair when Nick reached over to take her hand. She felt the tenseness of his entire body in just his grip and understood he was fighting a monumental battle inside to give the appearance of calm as he stood and led her, slowly, towards the back.

  He stopped her as soon as they’d turned the corner.

  “He’s trying to funnel us out into a kill zone. We take the…”

  From seemingly out of nowhere a woman appeared from behind Nick and before Tara could even register shock, she had punched him several times in the back, just below his ribs.

  Nick froze up, then staggered to one knee.

  “Ebeneezer told me how you took out Marko and Vlad.” The woman ignored Tara as she stood over the fallen ex-mercenary. ”I don’t take chances with men who have proven they can handle themselves. A good kidney punch can keep anyone down.”

  Hamilton rounded the corner. He had an elegant stiletto in his hand that he pocketed as soon as he saw Nick’s condition. The mysterious female assailant stepped aside to allow Hamilton to approach the downed man.

  With their two captors in the hallway where the entrance to the cellar was, Tara knew there was no chance she could keep her promise to Nick to flee down into the basement.

  Then Mr. Hamilton squatted down and leaned in to look the downed man in the ey
e. The mountain man’s face was pale and covered in a light sheen of sweat.

  “You are… memorable,” Hamilton began.

  The gloating dandy didn’t get a chance to continue.

  With a whining groan Nick reached out, grabbed Hamilton by the collar and slammed him down onto the floor in front of him, then half-pushed, half fell, on top of him. He looked up at Tara.

  She got the message. Cursing herself to hell a thousand times over, Tara made as good on her promise to him as best she could. She jumped over the downed men and sprinted for the front entrance.

  The last of his pain resistance drained, Nick could only watch from the floor as she disappeared out of view, around the partition between the dining room and the reception vestibule. He prayed without hope that she would get out and be safe.

  His prayers were vomited back up in his face when, moments later, eight men dressed in ill-fitting security outfits stormed in through the front door.

  They fanned out, guns drawn. Patrons and staff cowered and were ordered to the floor.

  Nick groaned again as the woman who had sucker-punched him shoved him to the side and helped Hamilton crawl out from underneath him. The dapper man gave Nick a kick in the ribs once he got to his feet. The pain, by comparison, was inconsequential.

  “Well? Did you get her?” Hamilton’s voice was rough with rage.

  Nick heard no reply. He felt the woman lean in close behind him.

  “You are the toughest son-of-a-bitch I have ever met. Stay down. Don’t make me hurt you any more. As it is you're going to be pissing blood for a week. Let us do our business.”

  Nick barely heard the words. He only knew that the woman was in close and at an awkward position as she leaned in to secure his wrists behind his back with zip ties. He rolled to his side, not faking the groan of pain at all, hoping the woman wouldn’t notice how he reached down to the hem of his pants.

  As soon as his fingers touched the handle of the hunting knife secured to his calf, Nick rolled onto his back. It didn’t worsen the pain, but moving at all was agony. He cut in a hazardous arc with no hope of hurting the deadly woman.

  But she did jump back. Well out of reach. She looked up at Hamilton.

  “You didn’t say anything about a weapon,” she hissed, glaring at the shocked, dapper man.

  “H-he didn’t have one before. Why would he attack two armed men with his bare hands if he had a knife?”

  Nick fought to appear deadly focused while in truth he could barely hold onto the knife.

  The woman reached down the side of her form fitting pants and pulled a foot long stick from a sheath sewn into the legging. She brandished it with the cool ease of someone who knew how to use it and Nick knew that his world of pain was about to get much much bigger, but it was a price he would pay if it meant holding the attackers there long enough for police to arrive.

  “Stop, Lily. We don’t have time. We’re going,” Hamilton barked.

  The woman pressed her lips together, her eyes fastened to Nick’s. She sheathed the weapon and started off after Hamilton.

  The pain in his body had caused white hot nausea, but it was the pain of failing Tara that brought the sting of tears to the downed man’s eyes.

  In minutes the invaders were gone. Nick heard the screech of car tires, then the hush of fear that had fallen over the restaurant fell aside.

  “Somebody…somebody help that man…he was attacked! I saw a knife!”

  Nick realized, after one of the waiters had come up to help him to his feet, that they were talking about him. With a man under each arm, his hunting knife not-to-well hidden in his slacks, Nick allowed them to help him into the vestibule. He stood at the open door and looked out into a night that seemed more empty and hollow than any he had ever known.

  Then one of the men under his arm was jabbering at him in Mandarin and Nick was pulled from his private hell by the necessity of translating and trying to figure out what kind of lie to tell to keep out of jail, or better still, just get out of there.

  That’s when all three men went silent as a faint thumping could be heard. Nick shrugged the two Samaritans off and surveyed the room. The thumping came again, and a faint muffled plaintive voice.

  Nick wandered back towards the dining room then stopped at one of the faux marble columns that gave the restaurant a stately charm.

  The thumping came again. He put his hand on the column and felt it vibrate.

  With a jolt of adrenalin that went some little way to fighting back the receding pain, Nick began sliding his hands around the plaster tube. He stopped and let out a sigh as he found a latch and pulled it.

  The lower third of the column swung out.

  “For god’s sake I thought I was going to suffocate in there!”

  Tara ducked under the unmoved portion of the column and, looking no worse than rumpled and stressed, was standing before the astonished man.

  The injured man nearly collapsed with relief, and might have if the woman had not darted under his arm, catching him before he fell to far.

  “How…..?” he finally gasped.

  Tara began walking him over to a chair, but he shook his head.

  “We have to go before the police get here,” he muttered through gritted teeth. He paused. “How?” he demanded, a little heat in his voice.

  “You told me to do a recon. When I came up front it was obvious that the column was fake.” She nodded up to the ceiling. “And I saw that there were wires that ran down from there to it. I figured it was where some of the breakers or something were, which meant there had to be a way in. Since I didn’t see a box, or a panel, which would have been tacky, I assumed a portion of it swung out. You said the restaurant was surrounded and hide. I hid.”

  Nick blinked his eyes in rapid staccato trying to process not only that she had not been captured, but how quickly she’d found refuge.

  “Now are we going or not? And what happened?”

  “We’re going. Help me out to the car.”

  Tara didn’t do as told. Instead Nick felt her hand on his ass. Then he felt her removing his wallet. She pulled out two bills and stuffed them in the shocked waiter’s hands.

  “Tell the truth,” she said in a surprisingly unhurried tone, “but describe us all wrong. Make something up.” She paused. “Or we may want to come back and finish our meal.”

  The man’s eyes went wide, he nodded, then rushed ahead of them to open the door and usher them out.

  CHAPTER 26

  Tara thought her lover already looked better. She’d dumped him into the driver’s seat after a short debate over whether or not he was fit to drive. He’d won the point by saying he had special training in defensive driving and knew the car better than her.