“What if he’s right, though?” Danielle interjected with haste, trying to keep the hint of panic out of her tone. “What if I’m needed for some small thing, something no one else can do but it’s necessary all the same?”
She desperately did not want to tread on the young girl’s ego, but she was forced to state her case or be eliminated as the competition before she even knew what the two women were supposed to be competing for.
“Well, it’s true he is a professor with lots of knowledge and years in his field,” Anna reasoned in spite of herself, and Danielle’s shoulders sagged with the respite. “So maybe he just needs you to pull a switch or something, nothing important though.”
“That’s probably it. I don’t even know very much about what’s going on, so whatever my part is, it can’t possibly be all that crucial.”
“Let’s get moving, then, so we can see what he really needs you for.” Anna gestured with the rifle, and Danielle didn’t need to be asked twice.
The young woman stepped aside when she approached and moved in behind when her feet landed on the narrow trail. She needed to put the pieces of the puzzle together as quickly as possible, but it wasn’t easy to think clearly with a girl and a gun at her back.
“Oh my God, I am so stupid.” Danielle exhaled with sudden realization as she quietly considered the recent events that led up to her current situation.
“I didn’t say it.” Anna snickered with satisfaction as she followed closely.
“You were on the plane with us…with Britton and me, weren’t you? I’ll bet he put you in the taxi as we were leaving the airport, and I was waiting in the car like a fool the entire time.”
“I was supposed to be in first class with him. I was supposed to ride in the limousine to the hotel when we landed, too, but you spoiled all of it.”
Anna pointedly shoved the barrel of her rifle into the center of Danielle’s back to push her along, a move Danielle felt was unnecessary because she was moving as fast as she could in the darkness.
“You don’t have to stick me with that, you know. I’m hurrying as much as I can.”
“That’s right.” The girl laughed, but she sounded too bitter to enjoy her position. “I just want to do it.”
“I admit I don’t know you as well as I could have in the few short days I lived at the farmhouse, but your mother genuinely seems like a good woman. I don’t understand why you would let Britton take advantage of you like this, like he does everyone. It seems strange you would throw your lot in with him when there are so many other things you could be doing with your life.”
Danielle hadn’t expected her to explain their entire plan, but the snarl of rage at her back took her by surprise as Anna dug her long and perfectly manicured fingernails in to her arm.
“You listen to me.” Her voice was as cold as the grave as she spun Danielle around to face her shadowy face. “Don’t talk to me about life. You don’t know anything about me and you don’t deserve to know my reasons. This chance is more important to me than you can ever know, and it has nothing to do with treasure or fame. I hardly care what Britton has in mind, after I get what I want.”
“Maybe we can help each other,” Danielle said softly, stunned to see fresh tears glistening in the young girls eyes. Whatever she was after, it apparently meant a lot. If she could figure out what it was, she might be able to get her on their side.
“Following Britton’s orders is the only way you can help me,” she stated flatly.
Her response was so final that Danielle didn’t fight it when she forced her back around, shoving her forward a little for good measure. She walked as quickly as she dared down the unfamiliar path, and the one thing that gave her hope was the heavy, sharp stone that tapped against her hip in a smooth and reassuring cadence with each step.
The village was eerily silent as Anna roughly guided her to the main lodge, and Danielle now knew from experience that Britton would have rounded up all of the natives and secured them inside the largest building he could find. Her suspicions were confirmed when Anna parted the blanket with confidence and gestured for her to enter. She clearly knew the situation and who was inside before they got there.
Her eyes searched frantically for Jake the moment they adjusted to the bright firelight in the corner oven, but he was not present among the captives. She saw with alarm the women and children were lined up against the wall on one side, and the men had their hands all tied behind their backs on the opposite side of the room.
“I found your little traitor,” Anna said sourly to a group of men bent over a table near the center of the lodge. Britton turned, and Danielle shivered when his eyes raked her scantily clad figure from top to bottom, taking in her curvaceous silhouette in the soft white nightdress.
“There is no need for a hostile attitude, Anna.”
Britton smiled widely, his tone laced with saccharin. “Danielle is our friend. After all, we may have never found this place if she hadn’t conveniently left us a map at the hotel. Why everything she’s done has only brought us closer to the truth.”
He strolled across the compound and opened his arms as if he were welcoming her with a hug. Anna’s face froze in a mask of horror, and Danielle was afraid she’d shoot both of them for the way he was behaving.
“I haven’t done anything for you, and I never will, you bastard.” She smacked his hand aside when he reached for her. A few of the local women gasped at her bold movement, but she was so angry at his intimations that she didn’t care of he took her out her right then and there.
“Quite the contrary, my dear.” His lips formed a thin line of displeasure as he addressed her a second time.
“It was you, was it not, who brought the ceremonial mask directly to me? I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that, by the way. The same for the map, of course. I tore that house apart looking for them, but really had no idea if they existed at all because Jake only mentioned them in his feverish ravings.”
“So you used me, like you do everyone else.” She cast a quick look at Anna’s face when she said those words, but the girl remained impassive.
“I have to say it was a pleasure using you,” he answered her immediately with an unpleasant smile. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play with you in all the ways I originally intended, but we can always rectify that at a later date.”
Danielle’s eyes widened at his remark. Her reaction wasn’t only due to his insidious comment, but because the actual look on his face was so wicked and full of black promise that his insult carried straight to her sensibilities. Her right hand automatically rose to slap the words off his lips, but he grabbed her wrist with lightning speed, twisting her arm so painfully behind her back that she fell to her knees with a sharp cry of pain.
“Not this time, my little spitfire,” he said as he tightened his hold on her arm. “From now on, you will do as I say.”
“Like hell I will.” She forced the words through clenched teeth and though her soul was filled with anger and rebellion toward her aggressor, her body responded to the pain and relinquished tears that fell from her eyes as she squeezed them tight to stop the flow.
“No! Danielle friend,” the tiny voice came from the other side of the room, and Danielle’s eyes flew open in horror as Cataya broke free of her mother’s grasp. The young child flung herself against Britton’s legs and began to flail against him in small, pinwheel like motions with her arms.
He looked down at the girl in disbelief before he smiled to himself with deep satisfaction and gestured to one of the armed men in his party. The dark-haired brute grabbed Cataya up by the scruff of her neck like she was a tiny animal and held her for a moment as she kicked and screamed wildly in the air.
The instant he laid hands on the girl her mother began to keen in an eerie wail of despair, alternately weeping and beating on the ground with her fists. Varha’s wife took her by the shoulders and tried to calm her, but she continued the pattern, doubling her efforts.
�
�That noise is driving me mad,” the British professor snapped in irritation. “Do something about it!”
The bulky mercenary nodded and dropped Cataya at Danielle’s feet, who immediately took her up in her arms and shielded her eyes. She didn’t know what they were going to do to her mother, but she didn’t want the child to see it.
The hired hand approached the huddled group of women, all of whom backed away except Varha’s wife, who raised her chin and refused to release the weeping figure in her arms. He shrugged carelessly and swiftly brought the barrel of his shotgun down on top of the grieving woman’s head. She collapsed in silence and the tribal leader’s wife pulled her limp figure quickly to the wall.
Britton stood menacingly over Danielle and the girl she cradled in her arms, his shadow flickering in the firelight and lunging out at them as she did her best to protect the child. Though she couldn’t see the look on his face, she could feel his overwhelming anger and knew he would take his frustration out on Cataya if he thought it would distress her. She had to think of a way to get him to leave the village and the innocent people behind, where she could deal with him on her own terms.
“Aside from our dear Professor Jake Wilde, is there anyone else missing from this little family reunion?”
She was glad she hadn’t been looking in his eyes because she was startled to realize Alvaro wasn’t inside the lodge with the rest of the villagers, and it certainly would have shown on her face.
“How should I know?” She feigned indifference without looking up. “You have to admit all these people look alike.”
“You have got a point there, my dear.” His threatening shadow eased away from their position as he began to pace in front of the fire. “Still, I think you’ll have to reconsider your attitude toward my little expedition. We’re heading for the ruins tonight, and to insure your cooperation, you’re pretty little ‘friend’ will come along. If you choose to behave badly, she’ll bear the brunt of your actions.”
“Why do we need her?” Anna sprung to life, angrily slamming the end of her rifle on the hard packed ground. “She was not necessary for any part of the plan before two weeks ago. How can any of this change because of the accidental arrival of some stupid cow from the city?”
Britton was across the room before Danielle could register his movement, and she saw him roughly snatch Anna’s arms to pull her up against him, nose to nose.
“How dare you question my motives? You were nothing without me, and no matter how ‘noble’ your personal little side quest is on this venture, it doesn’t change the wicked things you have done to reach this point.”
Danielle’s head spun with the information she overheard as the gun fell limply from Anna’s hand. She nodded to him in resignation, her aggressive stance now slack and defeated as she turned for the door.
Her heart ached for the rebellious girl, and she had a feeling Britton had lured her into all of this before she had a way of knowing everything she was involved in.
If only she could discover her reason, perhaps there was a way she could help her before Britton ruined her forever.
Chapter Eighteen
The cold wind immediately began to buffet them when they cleared the thick, hardy trees which sheltered the village, and she prayed for the feeble sun to rise because it relentlessly cut through her woolen garments and settled inside her weary, aching bones.
Danielle was dressed as warmly as possible in the native clothing the women had gathered for her, but the trek out of the valley led them deeper into the mountains, and she thought if they climbed any higher she’d be able to touch the sky. Her body was finally exhausted from lack of sleep, and she stumbled along the path with Cataya at her side, holding her hand and pulling when she wavered in her progression.
The pace was grueling to say the least, and Britton didn’t allow for rest periods, aside from the few times he halted the staggering party to consult with the guide about the hand drawn map. She had wild visions during these moments, where she grabbed the parchment out of the hapless navigator’s hands and jumped off the nearest cliff with the only clue Britton had to fulfill his dark designs.
Fortunately, she still possessed enough of her wits that the urge remained just a fanciful dream to thwart the egomaniacal leader of the expedition. Cataya stayed closely by her side, and no one disallowed it, an ever present reminder of the threatening words Britton knew he could use to control her behavior.
Her thoughts drifted back to the cool moonlight cliff where she had been so happy just hours ago, with the sparkling falls that fed the dark pool where the fragile flowers grew. She had made Jake Wilde a promise then, no matter where he was at the moment, and even if it was too late for him to fulfill his end of the bargain she somehow felt if she stayed true to her word it could pull them through. It was all she had, but keeping the faith and seeing to his last instruction was the least she could do until he found them.
She cast a sidelong look at Anna who kept the patrol next to them, but her face reflected nothing except a deep type of sadness that a girl so young shouldn’t hold close inside. If she hadn’t asked Danielle where Jake was when she first came upon her in the clearing, she’d be crazy with worry by now. As long as they hadn’t done anything to harm him, she had a reason to believe Jake was acting on his own to set them free.
There was no way to gauge the passing of time, except the sun rose in the direction they set out and crossed almost directly overhead as they crawled along the treacherous ravine tops in a general easterly direction.
Her legs were numb, but they dutifully pumped out each step as she watched her own shadow grow longer on the stony expanse in front of them. It would be dark soon. They had marched for an entire day, and as far as she could see they were approaching a very sharp rock wall at the top of a large mountain with no way around. It hardly mattered at that point. She certainly didn’t have the energy to climb the sheer cliff face.
A slight mist gathered on the ground, or maybe it was the clouds at that altitude. She couldn’t be sure, but it filled in the jagged cracks along the wall when they arrived and gave the stone a skin-like appearance with veins.
The sound of Britton’s voice startled her out of her hazy observation, and it rang out sharply in the range, echoing for miles though the twisting maze of earth at their feet.
“This is where we all fly over the mountain, I suppose, you stupid old fool?”
The guide looked frantically at the faces of those gathered and seemed to realize there wouldn’t be any help in his defense. He held the map up with shaking hands and spoke in heavily accented English.
“It say this way, look to the path. Please, it is dark, and we are all tired. I will find a place if you give more time.”
Britton snapped his fingers in disgust and motioned for the carriers to deposit their gear on the small plateau against the rock face. They looked fearfully to the man in charge and immediately began to unpack without further instruction.
Danielle’s legs finally gave way beneath her, and she slid against the damp wall with her back until she came to rest on the hard ground at the bottom. She watched the porters scurry around a newly blazing campfire, but their movements appeared to slow progressively as her eye lids sunk lower and lower until they met her cheeks. The last thing she remembered was Cataya tucking her tiny shoulders underneath her arm before sleep overtook them both.
* * * *
The air was freezing when she opened her eyes, and the moonlight which had been so lovely the evening before cast the ragged camp around her in a cool blue hue that made even the dark-skinned members of the party appear cold and dead as they slept next to the embers of the dying fire.
Wispy patches of fog curled around the still limbs of the people who lay at the edge of the dimming orange light, and it almost looked like the ether was consuming them in a gentle and painless process.
The muscles in her legs twitched painfully when she tried to move, and she knew she had to stretch them before the
y began to cramp and leave her completely disabled. With a tender embrace she laid Cataya on the ground and pulled off her heavy outer jacket to drape it over the small child.
Though the scene before her was quiet and serene, her heart beat a hundred miles a minute as she immediately began to think of ways she and the girl could escape. She knew they wouldn’t get far into the wilderness alone, but she only needed to find them a place where they safely hide for a short amount of time and elude any search party Britton might send. He wouldn’t waste much time looking for the two of them when he had so much at stake on this venture.
The adrenaline rushed through her veins when she stood and tested her weight on protesting limbs, but she found she was able to take a few steps if she supported the main part of her body against the slippery cliff wall.
She skirted the boundary slowly at first until she gained confidence. The blood flowed to her extremities once again and allowed her to step more freely, though she still kept the fingertips of her left hand firmly on the stone in case her knees should buckle.
The fog was thick at the base of the towering rock face and all throughout the vein like crevices it contained. She had gotten a fair distance from the camp before her guiding hand plunged into a tall, narrow gap that was almost impossible to gauge in depth.
Danielle tried to repress a gasp as she stumbled partially inside, landing on her knees as the palms of her hands broke the fall. The mist swirled out and away from her body for a moment when she made contact with the ground, and she squinted to make out the familiar item lying on the stony bottom just a few feet further inside.
She crawled a little deeper into the tiny opening, her shoulders pressed tightly on either side of the narrow slit, but she knew she had to keep going forward just to convince herself she wasn’t crazy.
When she reached the place where she thought she had glimpsed the object, she blew gently into the mist which roiled along the tight path like an ocean during the turmoil of a heavy storm.
Through Ancient Eyes (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 18
