by KaLyn Cooper
“My place is on the left.” Daniel steered her toward the tent and held open the flap. Stepping in behind her, he spun her around. Cupping her face with his big hands, he crashed his mouth on hers. His kiss was filled with heat as he dropped his hand down her back to grab her bottom and pressed her against him.
“Christ, I’ve wanted to that for hours.” Daniel touched his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry I can’t stay here with you, but I real—”
“You need to get back to your children,” Nita finished for him. She stepped from his embrace and glanced around the twelve-foot square tent. She thought it was a little odd that there was only a single cot, a sparse nightstand with a battery-operated lamp on top, a military style footlocker, and an extra pair of combat boots tucked under the bed.
Glancing over her shoulder at him, she asked, “Is this where you lived when you were on duty?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him take in the tent. “No. I’ve lived here for over four years.”
She turned to face him. “Where did the children live?”
“With their mother.” As though a light bulb went off in his head, Daniel explained, “All the women and children live in the center of camp. It was safer for them, and easier to take care of the children in one location. The kitchen and bath house is there, a courtyard of sorts for them to play, and several small concrete houses.”
“So you had one of the houses down there?” Nita pointed toward the center of camp.
“No, this is my place. My family lived down there.” Defensively he added, “I saw my children…almost daily. At least I tried to.”
Nita’s jaw dropped. “You mean to tell me that you never spent the night with your kids until you brought them to me?”
Daniel spread his legs and fisted his hands on his hips. “This is a very different culture from the United States. The women raise their children here while the fathers defend the camps and villages.” He lowered his voice. “I did what I had to do to fit in. I did everything that was expected of a man in my position in this camp. That obviously offends you, but it doesn’t mean I love my children any less than an American soldier who has to leave his family on a regular basis. Just because we don’t live under the same roof like families do in the United States, it doesn’t mean I don’t love Bella and Simon.” He threw his hands in the air. “The women wouldn’t let me take care of my kids even if I tried. That’s their way. It’s just different here.”
Nita suddenly realized the learning curve Daniel had climbed and conquered in just a few short days, all while worrying over a sick baby. The social structure in this area was not that different from other places around the world. In many countries, the women were the sole caregivers until the child reached a specified age. In some, at a given age, a boy is then turned over to his father for training on how to be a man. In many cultures, little girls rarely see their fathers.
What Daniel had done was nothing short of amazing. He’d taken on fatherhood and succeeded. She walked back to him and slid her arms around his waist.
“I do understand.” She went up on tiptoes and placed a quick kiss on his lips. “And I understand you.” She gave him one more kiss then smacked his butt. “You need to go. Give Simon and Bella a kiss good night for me, please.”
He didn’t let go. Instead he pulled her to him tighter. The kiss he gave her was a scorcher, deep and sultry. “That’s to remind you what you’re going to be missing tonight.” He swatted her ass and left.
Seconds later, she heard Daniel talking with someone a few feet away. All she caught were few words. “Look after her for me,” and, “she’s special.” At the last words, warmth swelled within her.
Nita was back in the tent six hours later. About four hours ago, shortly after dark, someone had brought her a bowl of rice and vegetables with some kind of meat mixed in. Other than sitting to scarf down that modicum of food, she’d been on her feet since arriving twelve hours ago. She was so tired, she couldn’t sleep, so she lay on top of her lightweight bag thinking about Daniel. Mentally, she kicked herself for not leaving her satellite phone outside so the solar batteries could recharge. At least then she could have called or texted Daniel, just to hear from him one more time that night.
She heard men whispering outside her tent before someone knocked on the center pole. Thankfully, she’d remained dressed, so all she had to do was slide into her work boots and grab a gun.
“Who is it?” she called as she untied the inner flaps.
“Ma’am, it’s Emilio Bautista. Daniel introduced us earlier today.”
She remembered the man as being Cris’s bodyguard. “Is there a problem in the clinic?” Or perhaps someone had been hurt.
“No, ma’am. Everything is okay in the clinic. Can you please come out?” She finished untying the flaps and stepped out. Something didn’t feel quite right, so Nita put her fist on her right hip so it was close to the gun she had shoved in the back of her pants.
In the light of the half moon, Emilio seemed nervous. He kept glancing back at Cris’s tent. Finally he spoke. “Daniel called and said you are to bring all the remaining supplies with you. He told me where to take you.” He quickly added, “He will meet us there.” Not once did the man look at her. His gaze darted from tent to tent then down the road toward the clinic.
Emilio didn’t seem this nervous earlier, but he may have been putting on a strong front in front of the other men. Daniel’s and Cris’s mere presence was formidable. Then, too, he was talking with a strange woman in the middle of the night.
“Where exactly are we going?” Nita asked in Spanish.
His eyes widened as though surprised she could speak the language. He replied in Spanish, “Daniel told me where to take you. He will meet us there.”
She nodded. “Let me grab my things. Can you load the supplies we will need?”
Seemingly happier, Emilio nodded his head. “Already packed in the Jeep. You grab your bags. I’ll wait here.”
Repacking took only seconds. Before she threw the satellite phone in the bag, she checked it one more time, hoping for even one bar of battery left so she could shoot a message off to Daniel or someone on her team. Nothing. Damn. It was just a courtesy anyway. Her team knew exactly how to find her anywhere in the world.
She’d see them soon enough. Where, she had no idea. She slid her bag over her shoulder after moving another pistol to an out-of-pocket so it would be easy to reach. Stepping out, she was met not only by Emilio, but by two other men who were heavily armed.
“This way.” Emilio pointed “We need to be very quiet. The whole camp is asleep, and we don’t want to wake anyone up.”
That was understandable, so Nita said nothing as they made their way to several military-looking vehicles. From the stack of boxes in the back, she worried that none had been left for the camp. Perhaps the original plan had changed so that the remaining supplies from that day would be moved forward, and the supplies coming in tomorrow would replenish Cris’s camp. Or was it today? She glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly two in the morning.
She sighed as she climbed into the backseat of the Jeep. It was going to be a long night. As they pulled out of camp, she noticed that they turned west on a dirt road and bumped along for about twenty miles before turning north on a relatively paved highway. The rocking of the Jeep lulled her to sleep.
She woke just as dawn broke. They were headed west again. “How much longer until we reach our destination?”
“It was good that you slept,” Emilio said from the shotgun position. “You’re going to have a full day ahead of you.”
“What time will the other relief workers arrive?” she asked, holding with their cover.
The man next to her smiled showing several missing teeth. “No one is coming to help you.”
Nita’s blood ran cold. She pasted on a smile and stayed in character. “You mean no one is coming to help me today, right? Surely they’ll be able to send more supplies and helpers tom
orrow.”
The man beside her chuckled then said in Spanish, “She’s pretty, but not very smart. She’ll still be fun to fuck.”
Ice ran through Nita’s veins. Damn, she hated being duped. If she hadn’t gotten caught up in her work, she would’ve remembered to recharge the batteries on the sat phone. Bad Teeth beside her would never get the chance to even touch her. She’d kill every man in that vehicle before she’d allow them to touch her body.
“I’ll bet she fights like a cat,” the driver said over his shoulder. “I think I’ll take her from behind so she can’t dig those claws into me.”
Oh, yeah. These guys were dead men.
“You idiots,” Emilio yelled. “She speaks Spanish as well as you do and now she knows that no one is coming to save her. We need her. She has to make our men better.”
Well, at least Emilio wasn’t as stupid as he looked.
He turned in his seat so he could face her. “Dr. Banks, I promise you I will protect you from these savages, and any others who try to harm you. We need your help. Yes, I’ve kidnapped you, but if you make our men better like you did those back in camp, I promise you I will let you go free.”
“Emilio, all you had to do was ask.” Time to play good little woman doctor until she found the right opportunity to either kill them or escape. She wasn’t really worried. Her team knew exactly where she was, even though she didn’t have a clue. “We have more supplies coming into camp today. We’d already planned to go to San Miguelito next, and take care of the workers there for you.”
“Exactly the problem,” Emilio spat out. “That’s why I need you to make my men better first.”
“But aren’t your men in San Miguelito?” Nita was getting very confused.
“No. My men took over the dormitories at the university in Managua, the true capital of Nicaragua. Then they all became sick with this horrific influenza. Many have already died.” He jabbed a finger at her. “But you’re going to make the rest of my men better.”
“You keep saying your men. Who exactly are your men?” She needed to nail down as many details as possible. Was the man insane?
Emilio gestured to the men in the car. “We are members of the presidential guard forced undercover to keep an eye on that fool, Cristobal Maximo. As soon as my men are healthy enough, we are going to free the true president from prison and return Nicaragua to its rightful leadership.”
“I’m going to help you,” she lied. “How many men will I be attending to today?”
“About two hundred fifty are still alive, plus the fifty that didn’t seem affected.” Emilio simply stared at her.
“I can’t handle that many patients by myself,” she blurted out before she could engage the filter that rarely worked.
“You’d better figure out a way to.” He tilted his head toward Bad Teeth beside her. “Maybe an hour alone with Franco would help you find the right motivation.”
Oh. Hell. No.
Chapter 18
Daniel couldn’t wait to see Nita, so he’d left as soon as Maria had arrived that morning to babysit for him. He was delighted by his newfound fathering skills. Both children were ready—up, fed, dressed, the diaper bag was packed, and Simon even had four changes of clothes and a bathing suit in his very own duffel—by the time she and Santiago arrived. He was pleased at how smoothly everything had gone last night, too.
When he’d returned from the camp, he’d taken Bella outside to play in the crystal blue Caribbean Sea with him and Simon. After a delicious supper filled with lively conversation with his sister and the other members of her team, he’d bathed both children. For half an hour, they lay as a family on Simon’s bed while Daniel read books to them before tucking in his son and kissing him good night. He even gave his son the extra kiss good night from Nita.
As he closed the door to Simon’s room, he remembered his father doing the same thing for him as a child. Daniel smiled. He was doing the best he could to give his own children a good life…the same as his father had done for him. Maybe his old man hadn’t been the uncaring son-of-a-bitch he’d always thought.
Bella had slept through most of the night with only a three o’clock snack. She’d awakened such a happy child. Christ, he loved his children.
With every mile down the deeply-rutted road closer to camp, the more excited he got about seeing Nita. He hadn’t been the only one to miss her last night. Simon had asked for her at bedtime. It nearly broke Daniel’s heart to tell him that Nita wasn’t there, and he wasn’t sure when she was coming back. He wanted her lying on the other side of Simon every night as they read books to the children. Their children. And he wanted to fill that bed with more siblings for Simon and Bella.
As he crawled between the sheets, alone for the second time in as many nights, he missed snuggling into her even more than he missed sliding into her warm wet body. In the wee hours of the morning, while rocking Bella and feeding her a bottle, Daniel had been hit with the realization that he loved Nita. He’d loved her as a friend, he loved being her lover, he loved watching her with his children, and he loved that amazing woman. He couldn’t imagine living the rest of his life without her.
He pressed on the accelerator to get to her faster. He needed to tell her exactly how he felt. At thirty-eight years old, he didn’t want to waste any more time. His entire life was changing for the better. Soon, he’d be returning to the United States, and he wanted to make a home for the four of them.
Daniel just hoped Nita wanted the same thing.
The midmorning sun was already stifling hot as he made his way to the clinic, and the woman he loved. He was a bit surprised not to see Emilio at the door since he’d asked his fellow lieutenant to keep an eye on Nita in his absence. Perhaps the man had just taken a break.
“Hey, Doc,” Daniel called as he stepped into the reeking crowded room. “Where’s Nita?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” the man snarled. “I had the night shift, and expected her to relieve me almost two hours ago.”
Unease set into Daniel’s every pore. It wasn’t like Nita to shirk her duties. “I’ll go find her.”
Jogging to his tent, he asked everyone he encountered if they had seen the American woman doctor. Every inquiry was answered with a resounding no.
Finding his tent flap untied was not a good sign. As he stood in the empty space he had called home for far too many years, fear began to set in. There was no trace she’d ever been there.
He spun and tore out of the tent, about to rip Emilio a new asshole if he’d dared to leave Nita alone and something had happened to her. He didn’t bother knocking on the tent pole, before he lifted the flap.
He was rocked back by the sight. All the personal items that had littered every surface were gone. Not a single picture of Emilio’s parents, sisters and their families, or high school friends. Everything was gone. The battered green footlocker that lived at the end of the single bed was also missing. Emilio Bautista was gone.
At the creak of the Cris’s double bed springs, Daniel knocked on the tent pole. “Hey, Cris. Did you know Emilio left?”
“He’s probably just in the head,” the camp boss said around a yawn.
“Cris, the man is gone.” Daniel emphasized the last word.
The tent flap opened wide exposing Cris in nothing but a pair of silk boxer shorts. Daniel was thankful the man at least covered his junk. It wasn’t unusual for many of the men to walk out naked to take a piss first thing in the morning. After only a few nights at the Callahan compound living in luxurious civility, Daniel couldn’t wait to leave this job. Camping would never be a family activity as far as he was concerned.
Cris scratched the hairs on his chest and yawned again. “What the fuck do you mean Emilio is gone? We put a hard dent in a bottle of eighteen-year-old Scotch together last night.” He stretched and looked at the morning sun. “I haven’t slept like that in years, especially without a woman in my bed.” He rubbed his forehead. “Christ, I’ve got one motherfucker
of a hangover. I didn’t think I drank anywhere near that much.”
Both men glanced at the half-filled bottle of scotch on the table between the two camp chairs.
“I think you were drugged.” Daniel started putting together a plausible scenario, one he didn’t like in the least. “Did you hear anything at all last night? Did you hear Nita screaming out? Any kind of a struggle?”
Concerned covered Chris’s face. “Nita? You mean Dr. Banks isn’t here?”
“No. And all of her stuff is gone.” Daniel thought he was going to revisit his breakfast.
Santiago came jogging up. “Katlin sent me to find you. All the medicine we left here last night is gone.”
“What the fuck are you saying?” Cris snapped. “You think Emilio did this?”
“Nita is gone,” Daniel said through clenched teeth. “So is Emilio.”
“So are all the drugs needed to make the people in this camp better,” Santiago added.
“We have to find her, now.” Daniel ignored the other two men and headed to find his sister. “Ti, go find the guards who were on duty last night. Find out what they know.”
“I’m on it.” Ti took off in the opposite direction.
Where the fuck would that son of a bitch have taken her? The why was easy. Nita was the only one who knew how much, and how often, to give the antiviral medication. They needed the bags of fluid to rehydrate…someone. But who?
Daniel tamped down the panic that wanted to overtake his clear thinking. He found Katlin helping Doc inventory the few medical supplies they’d moved into the clinic last night for easier access.
“I think Nita was kidnapped.” At Daniel’s announcement, both his sister and the camp doctor looked up at him. “She’s not in my tent, and Emilio Bautista is gone.” Daniel shook his head. “I trusted that man to watch out for her, to make sure nothing happened to her. Fuck me. I practically gave her to him. Does she carry a tracking device of any kind?”
