Tonight would be the night. Once it got dark he repainted his face in black instead of green, slipped out of his ghillie suit and checked his belt for the pocket-size bolt cutters and his tranquilizer gun. The fence had barbed-wire coiled along the top, but the chain-link fence below could be easily cut. He wouldn’t be able to leave so much as a shell casing to identify himself as the intruder, so a tranq would have to do if he got stopped.
Even if this mission was a success, the fallout could still be disastrous. Only two things might save his butt. The fact that China wouldn’t want to publicly admit that someone had been able to escape one of their “reeducation facilities,” and that if they did suspect any US involvement, they wouldn’t be able to prove it.
The young guard arrived for his shift at exactly midnight as usual. And by 2:00 a.m. he’d climbed down from his tower.
Neil moved fast, cut the chain-link fence, crawled through and raced for the prisoners’ sleeping quarters. He checked on the guard, who was headed for the corner of the fence shadowed by the tower. Neil knew he would soon be occupied with lighting a cigarette and then relieving himself.
No guard was stationed at the prisoners’ sleeping quarters, but the door was latched from the outside. He could only hope no one noticed the latch was open after he entered. But in all his time watching the camp, no guard had ever checked this door at night.
Next came the hard part. Finding the boy among the dozens of blanket-covered cots. Neil switched to his night-vision goggles and scanned the rows of beds for feet sticking over the end.
Row after row and no luck. A momentary panic hit his gut. What if... There! A pair of long, lanky legs and big, bare feet. Silently, Neil moved to the head of the cot. It was him. Nandan.
He clamped a hand over the boy’s mouth and the kid jerked awake. Neil held a finger over his lips and then said in a low voice into the boy’s ear, “Anju sent me to get you out.”
The boy’s eyes widened.
“Get dressed. Come with me.”
When the boy nodded his understanding, Neil slowly removed his hand from the kid’s mouth.
While the boy dressed, Neil opened the door a crack and checked the guard’s location. He was back in the tower. But Neil knew he would leave his post once more during his shift. They’d wait him out.
Signaling for the boy to stay in his cot, Neil kept watch at the door with his tranq gun drawn. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but in fact was only a couple of hours, the guard left the tower for the shadowed corner again. The boy had fallen asleep. Neil woke him with a hand over his mouth and motioned for him to follow. Now out the door, relatch it and sprint across the courtyard to the tall grass where he’d cut the fence.
Neil’s heart was racing. Then he heard a shout behind them.
In one motion, Neil turned and shot the guard running after them. Before the man had even dropped to the dirt, Neil was shoving Nandan through the opening he’d cut in the chain link and urging him to run across the wet grass.
Neil sprinted over to the unconscious guard, retrieved the tranq dart and then positioned the man to look as though he’d fallen asleep at his post. Heart pounding, he raced back to the fence, crawled through and caught up to the kid, guiding him toward an outcropping of boulders two clicks away.
He’d set up a camp of sorts and hidden his gear and equipment there. He’d brought a set of thermals for Nandan, along with food, water...everything they’d need for the long journey back.
But after about half the distance, Nandan was falling behind, too weak to run the full distance.
Neil bent, hefted the kid up and over his shoulders and ran like hell.
* * *
IT WAS POURING again tonight. Piper curled up on the window seat in her bedroom, staring out at the sheets of rain drenching everything in sight. Colors dulled. People drooped. Hopelessness was like a fever in her blood.
It rained a lot in London, but so many days of ominous dark clouds weighed on her psyche, suffocating her.
Considering she’d decided to be Britain’s number one bad girl again, she’d been staying home a lot lately. Partying the night away only made her feel emptier. Besides, she had a shooting assignment in a couple of days and she wanted to pack up the flat and get it on the market. She was hardly ever here anyway. Maybe she’d buy something small outside the city.
She sighed and wrapped her arms around her bent knees tucked under her chin.
The creep who’d sent her the letters in Miami had been right after all. She had ruined Neil’s career. Unwittingly. But even though she tried to tell herself he’d gotten his just desserts by having to resign from the navy, she couldn’t help but feel that if only they’d never met, or if only she’d refused his dinner invitation that first night, none of this would’ve happened. He would still be a SEAL and she’d have her Modelle contract.
Piper pressed her palms to her eyes. Stop it. Crying was weak and useless. So were “if onlys.” And as much as she tried to convince herself that she hated him, she didn’t. And the worst of it was that even knowing how things would turn out, she would do the same thing all over again. She rubbed at the ache in her chest. She missed him so much. His smile. His kiss. How he’d made her feel—as if she could do anything.
Her mobile chimed. Expecting Ragi, she checked the ID. The investigators she’d hired? She clicked Answer. “Hello?”
“Ms. Piper?”
“Yes, what is it? Didn’t you receive your last payment?”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s not why we’re calling. We have some good news.”
There was a pause and Piper sat up, afraid to hope, the moment feeling surreal.
“We’ve found your brother.”
16
“THIS IS MESSED UP, MAN.” Clay practically spat the words. “She should know what you did for her.”
“Let it go, Bellamy.” Neil ducked farther behind the corner of the Delhi hospital just as Piper pushed open the door and stepped outside with her brother. Even in the monsoon-like rain she looked radiant.
Neil peered around the edge of the building, watching with an aching heart as she guided her brother toward the limo.
She was as beautiful as ever. Two months. Two of the longest months of his life since he’d seen her. Neil gripped the handles on his crutches until his knuckles turned white. The torn ligament in his knee was nothing compared to the pain of seeing her up close without being able to hold her one last time.
She was focused only on Nandan, her arm wrapped tightly around him, smiling, talking. Seconds before the boy got into the car, she threw her arms around him and squeezed him tightly to her. The look on her face—Neil would never forget the joy.
As if he wasn’t accustomed to hugs, the boy just stood there. Eventually, his face crumpled and he put his arms around his sister. She started reassuring the boy about getting him a visa and bringing him to live with her in London, then she was brushing the hair off his forehead and hugging him some more. Her eyes shone with happiness. Neil felt a spasm of jealousy. He wanted to celebrate with her. Have her smile at him like that.
After the limo pulled away, Neil swung his crutches toward the waiting auto-rickshaw and Clay followed him.
“So the Delhi investigators get all the glory?” Clay shook his head. “Like I said, it ain’t right.”
Neil shrugged. “That was the deal. They get credit for finding the kid as long as they let me know when Piper was arriving to pick him up.”
“I should’ve resigned and come with you. Look at your nose all frostbitten. I can’t let you go anywhere on your own.”
Neil smiled. He knew Clay was trying to ease the ache. “And have to carry you over the mountains, too?”
Clay snorted. “Yeah, right. I’d have been carrying you.”
“With your bad back? I don�
��t think so.”
Clay sighed. “Neither of us is getting any younger. But you threw away fourteen years of service. Another six and you could’ve retired with your pension.”
“But another six years of what? We both know our ops days are limited.” He clapped Clay on the shoulder. “Come on, Bellamy. It’s not unheard of for SEALs to get out by the time they’re our age.”
Clay turned his back to Neil, kicked a rock. “Don’t think I don’t know.”
Neil stopped at the auto-rickshaw and tried to ignore the knot of emotion lodged in his throat. He prayed Piper would be happy. That she would find a good man someday, a man who saw in her what Neil had seen. That the bad-girl act was exactly that. An act.
Clay climbed into the auto-rickshaw. “You sure you should’ve checked yourself out, Barrow?”
Neil nodded. “Let’s get out of here.” He handed Clay his crutches and swung himself into the seat beside him. Now he could go home. Not that he had a home. But he was ready to get out of this country and back to the States.
He still had one more thing to take care of before he could start his new life.
* * *
NEIL’S STOMACH TURNED as he pulled into the driveway at Lyndsey’s house. The colorful autumn foliage lining the suburban street gave the Virginia home a postcard-perfect quality that belied the truth. Once, there’d been a lifetime of dreams associated with its purchase. But now it only represented failure. Or maybe stupidity.
Her car wasn’t parked out front. He sighed. Late as usual. At one time he’d thought her insane schedule would mesh well with his constant deployments. Ultimately, it had meant that they never saw each other. Not her fault any more than his. But it was a rare relationship that could withstand that much time apart.
Finding the spare key under the pot of marigolds on the front porch, he let himself in. He’d asked her to meet him here so they could finally have that talk she’d wanted two and a half months ago.
Using the cane to lean on, he headed straight for the study, the divorce papers he’d brought rustling in his suit coat pocket like a caged bird fluttering to be free.
Looking around, he saw Lyndsey hadn’t changed a thing. This room had been meant to be his office. Though Lyndsey had decorated and furnished the whole thing. The wall of bookshelves with hardcovers of bestsellers neither of them had read, the mahogany desk and chair she’d bought him for his birthday that he’d never used.
He’d never been a sit-behind-a-desk kind of guy. But, he’d since realized, she’d thought she could make him into that man. Or maybe she’d just never really known him.
He hobbled to the shelves, ignoring the shooting pains in his torn knee. There were a few books about navy SEALs he’d left behind. Maybe he’d take those. He glanced at his watch. How much longer would he have to wait? He wasn’t leaving without her signature even if he had to hang around here all night.
Irritated, he moved over to the desk for a pen so he could say his piece, have her sign the papers and then get the heck out of there. He yanked open the main drawer. And froze.
Slowly he reached in and pulled out a piece of printer paper. It had letters cut from a magazine that were glued onto the page. The message was a warning to Piper to stay away from him. Exactly as Piper had described the threats she’d received.
What the—?
The front door opened and slammed shut. “Neil?”
Lyndsey.
Shaking with fury, Neil limped to the window overlooking the neatly landscaped yard. “In here.”
Lyndsey’s heels clicked on the foyer’s expensive tile.
He was still holding the stalker letter when she appeared in the doorway. “I’m so glad you called, dear. I thought maybe we’d have some dinn—”
Neil swung around to face her, holding up the letter. “Why?”
She paled, but recovered quickly. “What is that?”
“Don’t.” He shook his head. “Just...don’t. What was the plan here?”
Her mouth tightened. She drew in a deep breath and sauntered over to the desk. “Plan? What are you talking about? I’ve never seen that before.”
“Lyndsey. You’ll never make your living on the stage. Drop the innocent act.”
Her face twisted into a sneer. “I had you fooled for quite a while, as I recall.”
Neil felt nauseated. Who was this bitter woman? What had happened to his childhood friend? Or had she only existed in his mind? “Probably not something you want to brag about, hon. Not to a man with nothing left to lose.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Explain this note now, or I swear I’ll call the police and let you explain it to them.”
She seemed startled. “I knew when I saw your picture in that tabloid with her that she would ruin you. And I was right. Look what happened.”
“Thanks to you!” Neil slammed the note on the desk. “You refused to sign the divorce papers, and then you show up at that B and B where Piper and I were and ruin—”
“You shouldn’t have been there with her!” Lyndsey yelled. She never yelled. But her eyes had a wild look to them. Almost unbalanced. But would someone who wasn’t unbalanced send letters like this?
“Were you there? In Miami?”
She scoffed. “Certainly not. Your father said he knew someone. He helped me arrange it. He was as eager as I was to get that tramp away from you.”
Neil fought the urge to argue with her. After all, it wouldn’t do any good. It wouldn’t undo any of the horrible damage she’d caused.
And, of course, there was his father. Neil should’ve known. He grabbed the papers out of his pocket and dropped them on the desk. “I want you to sign these right now.”
She huffed. “Neil, you can’t—”
“Right now or I go to the police.”
She gave a condescending little smile. “It’d be my word against yours.”
“And in the meantime, your name gets dragged through the mud. I doubt your lobbying firm would like that.”
Her eyes narrowed and she practically snarled. “Fine.” She strode over, grabbed the pen he handed her and flipped through the pages, scratching her signature over and over.
Every time she signed her name Neil felt another weight lift off his chest.
When she finished, she pitched the pen across the desk.
He snatched up the papers and strode out of the room as quickly as someone using a cane could. After his lawyer filed this document with the court, Neil would be his own man again.
“Neil...” Lyndsey called after him as he got to the door.
Only because they’d once been friends, he stopped.
“You would’ve come back to me if you hadn’t met her.”
He glanced over his shoulder, his hand moving for the doorknob. “That was never going to happen.”
17
PIPER STOOD IN the rain, drenched, but not cold. The air was hot and humid. She knew she was in Delhi, but she had no idea how’d she’d gotten here. She was searching for Nandan. But she didn’t know what he looked like, so she stood in the middle of the street calling his name.
Then he appeared out of the shrouded mist. Her brother, all grown up! Tall and lanky. Too skinny. A stranger. But not a stranger. Oh, Nandan.
She ran to him, but he disappeared down an alleyway. Piper raced after him. When she turned the corner into the alley, a man stood in the shadows. Not Nandan.
She approached him with caution. As she drew closer, his face became clear.
Neil.
Huddled from the rain. Bedraggled. Weary.
His face so dear. Neil. Her love. Her honorable betrayer. Piper’s heart ached. Her tears mixed with the rain. She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him. But she couldn’t move.
&n
bsp; Neil’s gaze penetrated her soul. His dark eyes seemed to say that everything would be okay and that she should be happy. She was deliriously happy, and yet frozen with grief. Then he gave her a weak salute and strode away from her down the alley.
She wanted to cry out to him not to go, but she couldn’t speak. All she could do was watch helplessly as he rounded the corner and was gone forever.
Piper awoke with a shout.
Then she burst into tears. She grabbed up a pillow and muffled her sobs so Nandan wouldn’t hear them.
She’d almost contacted Neil so many times. After Nandan went to bed at night, she’d be on the sofa with her mobile, her finger poised over the call button. But she had her pride. She’d given him her complete trust. And he couldn’t even tell her he’d been married.
The mind was a funny thing. It had the capacity to make you believe something simply because you wanted it desperately to be true.
She’d actually imagined for a short time that Neil loved her. He’d never said the words. Certainly, the passion between them had been real enough. But he was an important man, the son of a powerful politician, a war hero in his own right. And she posed for magazines in underwear and partied with shallow sycophants and self-important billionaires. What could he have seen in her besides a fun time for a short while?
But it hadn’t felt that way.
By the time the sun rose, Piper had been to the shop for scones and eggs and coffee.
She crept into Nandan’s room. “Śubha prabhāta.” She greeted him in Hindi, but Nandan had heard and spoken nothing but another language for at least five years. Not that he spoke much at all now. She bent to brush the hair off his forehead. “Nandan.”
He barely stirred.
Worried, she opened the curtains on a sunny morning. “Nandan, wouldn’t you like to get some new clothes today?”
He lifted his head and then turned his back to her, burrowing under the covers.
It’d been almost two weeks since she’d returned to London with him and he’d barely left his bedroom. At first, she’d understood his wish to do nothing but sleep and eat. So she’d brought home some new clothes and shoes. But it seemed as if he wanted to hide from the world.
Fevered Nights Page 14
