Hearts' Desires

by Anke Napp

All three of them froze in place, slowly turning their heads towards the voice. There stood two men in ragged uniforms, their machine guns pointing straight at them.

  The rebels ushered Vance, Jake and Alison down to the parking lot, where they discovered to their dismay that four other team members had been captured as well, right in front of Max’s Rover. They heard Lauren’s angry voice from a distance.

  She was struggling against a young rebel who had just snatched the cell phone out of her hands. Of course she did not stand a chance. Thabo grabbed her with surprising strength and thus probably saved her from harm.

  “Move faster! Over there!” the man next to them shouted, and another accompanied the order with a threatening gesture by his machine gun. A moment later, the three of them were reunited with the other crew members. Nora Mendez was shaking. Vance tried to stay as close as possible to Alison, just in case. As far as he could count at the moment, at least 12 rebels were around them, some very young, barely more than children. But that did not mean they weren’t ready, willing and eager to hurt or kill people; he had no illusions about that. They weren’t criminals, but they were desperate. At home, probably a drumhead court-martial awaited them, and South Africa would perhaps extradite them. So they had nothing to lose.

  “What are they going to do with us?” Nora asked, sobbing.

  “Try to keep calm,” said Alison, gathering all her strength to sound calm and in control, while her thoughts raced and her body begged for a tranquilizer. “Don’t irritate them. We are-”

  “Over there, I said! Into the cars! Move!”

  Lauren murmured a not-too-ladylike curse involving the man’s genitals. Jake reached out to steady Nora and the movement exposed his precious watch. The flash of sunlight reflecting on the metal caught the eyes of one of the kidnappers. The man grabbed Jake’s arm and ripped the watch off his wrist. Bertoni did not resist or struggle. Expensive jewelry didn’t matter much right now.

  That gave the other rebels ideas, and they started to collect watches, rings and cell phones from the other prisoners. Even Nora’s wedding ring vanished in a green uniform pocket.

  The rebel commander, who wore a distinctive red scarf around his neck, hurried them forward, into the Rover and their own Jeep, while some of his men took over the remaining car. Getting split up was an additional problem. They could only hope they would be reunited at the next stop. Otherwise, the police would have even more trouble rescuing all of them. If they were going to be rescued at all…

  With howling engines, the vehicles started moving and headed westwards, splashing up sand and stones. One of the rebels, a young guy was sitting in the back of the rover with Vance, Nora and Alison. The youngster had one rifle over his shoulder; the other pointed at his prisoners. He was chewing on a piece of wood and had a bandage around his left ankle. Vance tried to study him discretely, trying to see if there was any chance to approach him, try to build a rapport, but he was not discrete enough.

  “Stop staring!” he shouted all of a sudden, and shoved the barrel of his gun into Vance’s stomach. Clenching his teeth, he doubled over.

  Alison tried to hold and shield Nora as best as she could and make her stop crying, before the kidnapper lashed out against her, too. She quickly glanced over at Vance, and he realized she was concerned about him, before she could shutter her feelings behind her mask of anger and indifference again. It made the pain well worth it! She still cared for him!

  “I’m okay,” he whispered and put his right arm around Nora, thus touching Alison as well. Then, they barely dared to move, speak or even look up for the rest of their ride. All they could see was the foliage flying by as the rover went at top speed.

  Vance thought he would never forget the pattern of the Rover’s floor plate. He wondered where they were heading; what the kidnappers’ had in store for them.

  The sky was already bathed in the fading orange and darkening hues of blue and gray of the evening colors, when the vehicle came to a halt. To their relief they were reunited with the rest of their crew. But no sign of hope for rescue by a local police force, dammit!

  When the dust settled, the pitiful remains of a house appeared. An abandoned farm apparently. The prisoners were hurried out of the cars. The commander ordered them to stay together in the middle, while his men secured the perimeter.

  “Looks like a cozy homestead,” Jake said with a half grin, trying to ease the tension a bit. “But I doubt I’ll get a cold beer anytime soon…”

  “Why are we stopping here?” Nora asked.

  “We should be glad they did,” answered Max, “Gives the police a chance to catch up.”

  “Maybe they just have to get some gas.”

  Vance looked around. The place was as desolate as could be. The bushes and the grass were dry and dead, and any sign of cultivation was long gone, reclaimed by wilderness.

  “Why are they doing this to us? We have nothing to do with their fight!!!”

  “Calm down, please. Breathe.”

  But Max’ words fell on deaf ears. Nora was panicking and hyperventilating.

  “Shut up, all of you! Shut the fuck up and get into the house!”

  Max helped Nora, so they could move quickly and avoid further abuse by their kidnappers. The ruin would at least provide shelter from the burning sun or rain - more they could not expect. Of course, it was filthy everywhere, the place had given refuge to wild animals for some time. Lauren shoved some junk aside with her foot. In one room they found an old mattress, but decided of course not to use it. Nora just sat on the ground, covered her face and cried.

  “Fucking shit!” Lauren kicked a piece of plaster outside and scowled at their wardens. They forced her to feel powerless and helpless again, just like in her childhood, they forced her to remember - that alone was enough to ignite her rage.

  Apparently one of the rebel-soldiers had picked out Thabo for insult training. The young actor showed remarkable self control and did not react in any way, but patience had its limits, and under these conditions a provocation could end up with someone getting killed.

  “We’re all alive and unharmed so far. Let’s just sit down and save our strength.” Jake cut in right before Thabo was finally driven over the edge. It wasn’t just the insults, those he could ignore, but the greedy way the kidnappers looked at Lauren were almost more than he could handle. Vance grabbed the boy by the shoulders and dragged him aside.

  “Don’t let them get to you, okay? You’re a pro. You can handle this!”

  “The best we can do is try to stay calm. And hope that the others with the bus made it and alert the authorities.”

  “I’m going to talk to our kidnappers, now,” decided Alison. She could not just sit here and wait – it was against her nature.

  “Let me go,” said Vance.

  “Why? Because you are a man and I’m a frail woman?” Without waiting for his response she headed towards the commander, arms spread to show she was not hiding some sort of weapon.

  Vance pressed his lips together. A part of him was proud of Alison. Whether she liked it or not, she seemed to be a true daughter of this country, and he could easily imagine her on a horse with a rifle in her hands, out to protect her land and freedom. Right now, however, he wished she was not quite that tough and independent - and always feeling the need to prove it. He wished she would allow him to protect her from harm. Or at least try to protect her… Vance realized he would happily take a bullet for her when two of the kidnappers stopped her advance and a short quarrel followed. Obviously, despite all his attempts, his feelings for her had not lessened at all.

  Now Alison was out of sight. Without realizing it, he had walked through the empty door frame to see what was going on and now found himself confronted by a machine gun and barked orders to get back inside. Hands raised, Vance retreated. He couldn’t understand what Alison was proposing, but the angry answers of the rebel’s commander said enough. He was not interested in letting anyone of them go. Yes, he would gladly take any
money, the watches, the jewelry – but most of all he needed some hostages for their escape to Mozambique.

  This was not going well. Hopefully Alison knew when to quit. Their health and welfare depended on their value to the kidnappers, but they would not hesitate a minute to kill anyone who was going to be more trouble than they were worth. And they had enough hostages that icing one of them didn’t matter. The idea they could hurt Alison in any way tortured Vance. He didn’t dare thinking about what he would do in that case… no one would be able to hold him back like he had just done with Thabo.

  Shortly thereafter, Alison returned. Her stony face said enough and spared her the curious questions she did not want to answer. She leaned against the door frame and tried to mentally prepare herself for the coming hours, helpless, without control.

  Don’t ever do that again, putting yourself at risk like that, Vance would’ve loved to say. He wanted to embrace her and hold her tight, safe from all danger!

  “You did all you could,” was the only thing he finally managed to say, hands stuffed in his pockets to keep them under control.

  Alison didn’t react in any way, and so he sat down next to Jake. His old friend was trying to keep their minds busy and pass time with a makeshift game board he had scratched in the dirt, and some tokens made of little stones. When it came to make the best out of the ugliest situation, Jake was unbeaten. Vance envied him. He found it impossible to think of anything else but Alison, at the moment.

  Vance was dying for a smoke. When one of their guards lit some dubious weed, Vance was tempted to walk over and beg for one on his knees. Only now he realized how addicted he really was. Well, time to face your darkest side, he quoted one of the characters he had played recently.

  Their watches stolen, no one knew exactly what time it was. The lack of information and the enforced inactivity was getting to all of them, especially Alison. She caught herself several times looking at her bare wrist where her watch had been, suppressing a sigh of exasperation when she remembered it wasn’t there.

  Suddenly, one of the kidnappers showed up. His gaze roamed over the women, and Vance felt his chest tighten in anger and fear. However, all he did was toss in a plastic bag that landed at his feet.

  “Food and drink!”

  Thabo glanced to Vance, who started to unpack the ‘surprise gift’. Three bottles of water and some half melted chocolate bars and other stuff, none of it looking very appealing. Maybe it had been stolen from a store; at any rate, it was nourishment. Dead hostages aren’t good for anything Vance thought wryly. He portioned out the food.

  “I’m not eating this crap” Lauren said.

  Thabo hesitated a moment, then he walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “You have to.”

  “What’s it to you?”

  Several seconds passed. Lauren stared angrily at the food. Thabo’s face reflected some of his internal struggle.

  “A lot,” he said finally. “I like you and you have to eat something.” He took a deep breath – there, he’d said it – there was no way back now! He had to brace himself for whatever storm was most likely brewing in her.

  Lauren did not know what to say. She took the food Thabo handed her to buy some time. Thabo looked at her calmly, his own turmoil hidden behind a solemn face. This was more than she could handle right now. She wanted to shout at someone, get rid of her anger! But she couldn’t. How on earth could he smile at her?!

  “You can’t like me!” It made her feel silly, saying it, like a little child. Why didn’t he leave her alone? It was embarrassing!

  “But I do like you. You’re strong and stubborn and you speak your mind. And… you’re very beautiful.”

  Maybe Lauren would have laughed under different circumstances. Now, only a faint snort escaped her and she shook her head. “You are a weird guy!”

  He nodded in agreement, and felt as if he had won a major victory, proud and suddenly grown up. Lauren felt as if she saw him the very first time. When exactly had he become the more mature of them? Embarrassing indeed, and irritating, like so many things in her life lately! Cautiously, she took a bite of something.

  “This tastes like shit.”

  Thabo suddenly grinned. “I agree!”

  Vance lowered himself to the ground in a corner and closed his eyes. Lauren was definitely right about the food, he thought. It felt like chewing on a mixture of dirt and paper. He coughed.

  Lauren’s voice startled him. “Vance?”

  He turned his head and was sure he looked tortured.

  “I just wanna say I’m … sorry.”

  He hadn’t seen that one coming. Judging from the look on her face, this kind of apology did not come easy to her. The young woman took a deep breath and repeated: “I’m sorry… about everything.” If the brief statement could have been misinterpreted, the look in her eyes could not.

  “Me too.” He looked away, feeling Allison’s eyes on them. Did she know, he wondered. Or at least guess? Women had very keen instincts about that kind of thing. If he only could get away from everything for a few hours! If he only could get one little cigarette!

  Nora’s loud moan made everyone turn in her direction. She sat, arms crossed over her belly, her eyes wide with fear. No words were necessary to make the hostages realize that they suddenly had one more problem – and a huge one.

  “Lay back,” Max commanded in a calm, low voice. Vance took off his jacked and handed it to him, and Max shoved his and Vance’s rolled up jackets under her head.

  “We’re all going to die…” Nora was crying. “My baby is going to die…”

  “No one is going to die! You’ll see, in two days we’re back in L.A., having a cool drink and bragging about our adventure!” Jake answered and even managed a cheerful face. “Ah, I’m looking forward to annoy my ex-wife’s lawyer again! She is probably wondering what happened to me.”

  His words did nothing to calm Nora, if she had heard them at all. Vance wiped his face and cursed silently. This was the worst imaginable timing for his poor colleague! Where the hell were the police? They must have figured by now what had happened out here! They were in a perfect location for a rescue mission. Did the police want to wait until the kidnappers had fuelled up and where on the run with them again, for heaven’s sake?!?

  From one day to another, their circumstances had changed drastically – from routine to life and death! From that perspective, everything he had worried about earlier was quickly becoming insignificant! Paparazzi and tabloids, agents, appointments, work… even his regrets concerning his late wife, or Lauren – everything was blowing away like dust in the wind… and leaving what?

  Max sat down next to him. “Nora said something about complications; the doctors back in L.A. warned her about.”

  “Crap! They should have forbidden her to travel at all!”

  “Under normal circumstances she still had over a month left.”

  “I’m going to speak with the commander again,” Alison decided. She just had to do something other than just sitting and waiting in a timeless cocoon!

  “You already tried that; he is obviously not in the mood to negotiate. The worse our condition is, the more leverage he has to get what he wants,” replied Max, glancing over to the two rebels next to their Jeep.

  “They’re probably just as desperate as we are,” Vance said. “And desperate people aren’t good to negotiate with, Alison.”

  “So what do you suggest we do? Just sit here and do nothing?!” Her voice almost cracked, and she took a deep breath. She had to maintain self control – it was all she had left. She did not want to lose that too. She would not!

  “I don’t care if you think I’m a chauvinist asshole, Alison. But I won’t let you go out there again and risk life and limb! There is no way!” The tone of Vance’s voice left no question that he was deadly serious. He would hold her back by force, if necessary. Alison glared at him.

  “Calm down everyone,” Jake said. “Let’s not fight each other. I agre
e with Vance - we have to put our faith in the police. We have to give these guys some time. We all know the police don’t move at the speed of light, don’t we? And we’re no action heroes … sadly.”

  The morning fog seeped coldly into the bones of the exhausted hostages. The kidnappers in search for fuel had not returned yet, nor was there any sign of the police. Maybe there were any other problems that kept the rebels from continuing their flight – no one knew.

  Nora’s labor pains had become more frequent; she was crying and getting weaker by the hour. Thabo had told them that he had helped a few times back home, with the lifestock. He tried to reassure Nora that he would know what to do if it came to that. However, he knew it was one thing to help with a cow or goat in a township with his aunts and sisters next door, and another one to be out here in the wilderness all on his own, and his confidence was not as high as he wanted to lead the others to believe!

  Alison raised her head. Was she really hearing the hum of an engine and the whop whop of helicopter blades in the distance or was wishful thinking getting the best of her?

  “A chopper,” Vance whispered, and the word brought life into everyone. They sat up, listened, waited full of hope and apprehension.

  A moment later, a loud voice came over a speaker: “Surrender! There is no way out. Let the hostages go!”

  Everyone cheered, but their initial excitement died down quickly as time went on. A police taskforce apparently had already caught the rebels who had left to find fuel, but now, instead of a quick rescue they had a standoff. The police didn’t want to concede anything, and on the other hand the kidnappers had nothing to lose. Everyone was hungry, thirsty, tired and overwrought. A bad combination! The police chopper circling above them was the only sign that they weren’t completely abandoned in this godforsaken place.

  Vance had dozed off, only to be awakened by several voices.

  “This is your fucking fault!” shouted Lauren. “YOU did not want us to leave when there was still time! ’Cause all you’re thinking about is getting that movie done in time so you look good with the producers! You push us around like we’re slaves! Like we’re in fucking army boot camp!!!”