The Heart's Dangerous Trek

by Maya McMillan

  “That woman…” she said as he put the car in gear, “who was she? What did she do to you?”

  Nick pulled the vehicle around and let it idle facing the winding drive that led away from the exclusive restaurant.

  “She was trained, well trained, in fighting. A well delivered kidney punch can be lethal. Mr. Hamilton has a wide variety of resources. You saw that he was able to, on a moment’s notice, have his thugs dress up in private security. The ruse got all the people there to assume the wrong thing.”

  “I didn’t see anything. I was locked up in a dark tube. It was stressful without being exciting.”

  Nick was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t hurt to laugh.

  “I don’t know what we’re up against here, but something isn’t shaking out right. They ran to avoid the police rather than taking the extra seconds to kill me.”

  Tara kept waiting for them to pull out, understanding the necessity of leaving before the police arrived. It was clear from his behavior that he wanted to avoid them at all costs, and she was willing for the moment to go along with that.

  But Nick kept the car in idle, facing the dark road ahead.

  “I can help you with that, a little, I think. Why aren’t we peeling out of here like a bat out of hell?”

  Nick gripped the steering wheel so hard that even in the darkness of the nearly unlit parking lot, Tara could see his knuckles turning white.

  “For a guy who has just survived a brush with death, you don’t seem relieved.”

  He looked over at her, his eyes electric.

  “What can you tell me, Tara?”

  She heard the barely contained tremble of anger in his voice, or was it fear?

  “When they came back out into the vestibule, the two people, Mr. Hamilton and the woman…”

  “He called her Lily.”

  Tara nodded. “Mr. Hamilton and Lily were talking about how Mr. Elders would not be pleased. Lily said she would have to report directly to him about how Mr. Hamilton’s negligence allowed you and me to escape. Well…me.”

  Nick didn’t say anything. He relaxed his grip on the steering wheel and finally flicked on the headlights.

  “I’m not sure, Nick, and I don’t know how much you know about what is going on in the world since you’ve been…away, but given that two of the men who tried to kidnap me were dressed like priests of some sort….and you said they were Croatian, and the name Mr. Elder...”

  Nick shot her a glance that shut Tara down momentarily. He pursed his lips and managed not to say anything.

  “Okay, well,” Tara continued. “There is…well…a cult is what I guess you would call it. I read about them last year. Their leader is a very charismatic but reclusive man, now at least, named Hammond Elder. They were growing quite quickly for awhile, enough that some of the other groups in New York…the religious organizations…were complaining about how they were shielded from paying taxes. Anyway, things started to fall apart for them, and they quit recruiting in the U.S.”

  Nick nodded and with information to work on actually relaxed, a little. “They kept growing but sent missionaries to Croatia?”

  Tara nodded. “And since then this religious cult, Cirq, has begun growing again, but now no one is complaining. No one is saying anything.”

  Nick nodded again.

  “That all sounds right.” He took in and let out a deep breath and when he looked over at her again, she recognized him as the man she had come to know over the last few days.

  “I’m sorry, Tara, I’m in a lot of pain, and the thought that I screwed up, lost someone….lost you...” He let the words hang and Tara hated the feelings she was causing him.

  After a few more breaths in the tense silence, Nick spoke again.

  “This probably isn’t over, Tara.” He took a deep breath and held it. When he let it out, it was with a whoosh. “The smart thing for them do to would be to wait on a roadside that leads here. They wouldn’t have to worry about when the cops came; they would just wait until we passed by. There is a 50/50 chance they know this car. The easiest attack is in the open like this, when the target is in route somewhere.”

  “Like how you attacked Mr. Hamilton and his men.”

  The ex-mercenary nodded, his slight smile tight-lipped. “You are a scary-fast quick study, Tara Miles. We’re gonna need that.”

  “So you think they are waiting to ambush us?”

  “It’s what I would do. We have to count on them being at least as smart.”

  “What do we do?”

  “We have a lot of power under the hood,” he said patting the car’s dashboard. “I should be able to outrun almost anything on a straight away.”

  Tara nodded, then wordlessly fastened her seat belt. Nick smiled and did the same.

  “I should warn you the airbags are disabled. I can’t maneuver if they deploy while driving.”

  “Next time I will bring my own pillow.”

  The man chuckled, then, without warning, stomped on the accelerator. Tara was pressed back into her seat by the giant hand of gravity and before she could blink they were out of the parking lot and speeding down the narrow windy road, the darkness and close-in Spanish Moss-covered trees making the speeding trek almost as harrowing as the attack itself.

  “Highway!” Nick half-yelled a moment later. Tara saw the cloverleaf on-ramp to a major thorough-fare and breathed a sigh of relief.

  But it came a moment too soon.

  The headlights that popped up behind them were so close and so bright that both Tara and Nick were momentarily blinded by the reflection in the rear view mirror.

  With the straight-away in front of them, Nick punched down on the accelerator. Tara felt herself pushed back into the seat again, though not so violently, as the car leaped forward.

  The lights in the rear view mirror fell back. Tara was just about to let out a sigh of relief when Nick began a long string of violent cussing that covered several languages.

  She snapped her gaze from the rear view mirror to the front just as a screech of tires reached her ears. On the road in front of them two more cars, lights off, pulled up grille to grille onto the road, blocking their escape.

  Nick released the gas, hit the break briefly then released it just as he spun the steering wheel hard to the right. The car screeched in a pivot that slammed its rear bumper into the the nose of the left blockade vehicle, jarring its driver and pushing it out of line with the other vehicle.

  Too tense even to cuss, Nick down-shifted apparently attempting to drive around the damaged blockade vehicle and onto the shoulder. The driver saw Nick hesitate and put his car into reverse and backed out, cutting him off.

  As the tires screeched and smoked along the asphalt, Tara looked out the window to see Lily’s slim form lean out the passenger side window, long hair whipping in the wind, rifle braced on her shoulder.

  Tara saw the muzzle flash but didn’t hear the gunshot until after the bullet struck the passenger side window.

  Not shattering it.

  Then they were speeding backwards, through the hole Nick had tricked the blockade cars into creating.

  Tara saw the driver of the undamaged car brace his handgun against the window to fire at Nick from almost point blank range. Ignoring the danger Nick shifted back into first, cranked the steering wheel and floored the pedal again.

  The man began firing. He was clearly skilled, and at the close range managed a tight grouping of shots, all hitting, but not shattering the driver’s side window.

  The man lowered his gun in shock as their nondescript car pulled away onto the interstate ramp.

  Then they were speeding through light late evening traffic on the four-lane highway bound for nowhere.

  They’d gone another mile before Tara realized she wasn't breathing, then,to her terror, realized she couldn’t.

  “I probably should have mentioned there were more upgrades to the car than just the engine, suspension and tank,” Nick said up-shifting as he looked over at
Tara. His face knotted in concern as he saw the expression on her face.

  “TARA!” He paused for what seemed like an eternity. “Photography is a sad dying art. The truly creative people work with CGI.”

  The words hit a nerve in the gasping woman and she wasn’t sure if she should be enraged or laughing at the statement.

  But the break in the moment let her lungs loose. She inhaled with an almost painfully powerful gasp.

  It wasn’t until several panting breaths later that she was finally able to respond.

  “Yes, you son of a bitch, it would have been nice to know we were driving around in a bullet-proof car.”

  Nick’s smile was wolfish. To her chagrin and shock, it made her wet.

  “And as for the rest….well, I will get even.”

  The city lights sped by them, becoming more and more spaced out. Nick pressed on the pedal a little harder and soon they were cruising at 90 MPH with an easy soft purr. Then they were out in ink black cornfields, the long narrow line of the highway the only thing in front of them, the night close on all sides.

  CHAPTER 27

  “...but you do have a lighter or matches or something, don’t you?”

  “Yes, but we have time and it’s an important skill; right up there with being able to find or collect rain water.”

  Squatting over a carefully prepared mass of twigs, dried leaves and shavings, Tara again struck the steel of Nick’s heavy hunting knife against a rock he had chosen. She got a spark…again; but, again, it did not land on the pile of tender. She looked at the rock, thought about the trajectory and tried again. No spark. On the next try there was spark and it landed in the tender, but did not ignite.

  On the 40th try she got a blaze.

  Nick pushed off from where he had been leaning against the car, which, unbelievably, was hardly any worse for wear after their harrowing escape--the gunfight and an all-night drive through an anonymous state-- and, lastly, an equally harrowing drive deep into a swampy woods.

  The merry crackle and joy of success cut through Tara’s exhaustion and she looked down on it as if she had actually discovered fire.

  “Come sit next to me. Enjoy the fruits of my labor,” she said in a grunty caveman voice.

  When Nick didn’t answer she looked up. He had gone pale and haggard looking again. The joy of her success was banished.

  “You need to see a doctor,” she blurted out.

  Nick roused himself from looking at his shoes, which, unlike their car, had not fared so well. He glanced up at her and shook his head.

  “I’ve been hurt worse than this. When merc’s spar, it’s not exactly…nice.” He paused again. “I have to go relieve myself; I expect there will be some blood. I’ve been around the block enough to be able to tell by that how badly hurt I am.”

  Tara’s mouth went dry and she crouched wordless over the fire as the man she was afraid to admit she was starting to love moved woozily away deeper into the forest. She swore to herself that Lily would never harm him again.

  Moments later he was back, looking better…again.

  “I won’t need a doctor. I’m not going to be much fun the next few days, but I won’t be down nearly as long as Lily thought.”

  “Well, we have water, right? And you can catch….” she stopped herself. Nick would not be doing any hunting in his condition.

  “Well, we have time to talk,” she finished lamely as she was sliced with intense shame over the fact that, seeing Nick looking well enough, her mind had already gone to sex. The man was phenomenal and more noble than any man she’d ever met. She also knew, beyond all reason, that he was powerfully attracted to her. What she didn’t know was what it all meant.

  “There is a tent in the trunk,” Nick said, resting against the car again. “You can put it up. It’s a lot like the one you had before. There is a….meditation…I learned that will help me deal with the waves of pain. I haven’t used it in a long time so it’s going to take me a bit to get my mind right.”

  “Whatever I can do,” she said in a half-whisper.

  The man didn’t reply. Instead, he pushed off the car and eased himself into the passenger side. He carefully laid the seat back and in moments Tara thought he was asleep except for the slight twitch of his lips that told her he was saying something softly to himself.

  ~​~​~

  “You will have to come in,” Nick called back to her as she sat on the bank of the small river watching him bathe. “We head out today and I’ll be damned if I am going to sit in a car for six hours with a woman that hasn’t had a bath in three days. It was bad enough sharing a tent with you. Phew!”

  Tara smiled and continued, in silence, to enjoy the view. She allowed herself to lust after him. After two days of sleeping 10 hours a day and not doing much, Nick seemed back to himself and with concern for him falling away, other thoughts about him were coming to the forefront of her mind.

  “That water has to be ice cold,” she called out.

  “It is,” he said, moving away from the almost-waterfall he’d been standing under and into the knee deep water before turning to face her. He looked down. “Can’t you tell?”

  Tara covered her mouth as she broke into giggles at how his usually impressive-sized package had shrunken up into his body.

  “Most men only like to show it off when it’s ready for action,” she said, still laughing a little.

  “Oh, it’s not?” Nick asked in mock disappointment.

  “Well, it’s..uh…cute right now. Poor thing looks like it needs a hug.”

  The mountain man smiled and started striding through the water towards her.

  “Nick…Nick…” she said scrambling away and ducking behind a tree. “You said you couldn’t do any of that for a couple of more days.” She continued backing away as he made his way to the sandy shore, his manhood already showing signs of renewed life.

  “I can’t, but you are taking a bath, even if I have to dump you in myself!”

  Then he was up on shore and Tara was once again left almost breathless with his splendor. She had appreciated the power and feel of his body when they made love, but, except for the first time, it had always been in closed, dark spaces. The woman and the photographer in her could not help but be awestruck with his physical beauty. She ducked behind a tree to stave off the inevitable.

  “Oh, okay, I will, I will, but since you wouldn’t go back to the hotel, these clothes and my camera are all I have. If you tear them off me you will ruin them.”

  She bit her lip as she saw her words had inflamed him even more. Men. Tearing off clothes was foreplay for them.

  “So…I will take my dress off.”

  Then a calm came over her as an idea took root in her mind.

  “And you, sir, are going to stand there and watch.”

  He froze. She smiled.

  After a moment she came out from behind the tree. The expensive evening wear was holding together well but it was rumpled and stained. She stood in front of him, wondering if she should be imagining ‘Badda-Boom’ music in her head to make it a true strip tease.

  She quickly realized she wasn’t that kind of a girl, she didn’t think, and chose to simply undress slowly, revealing herself to him bit by bit.