by Iris Bolling
Fear clung in Akande’s tone. “Where are you going?”
Joshua took off his suit jacket, then pulled out a thin tube. “Take this. Stay behind this tree. Keep your eyes in that direction. He pointed to the area where the shots were fired from. “If anyone comes within fifty feet of this tree, put this end to your lips, point it at them then blow hard. Understand.”
“They are shooting guns at us and you give me a straw?”
He almost laughed. “It’s a very powerful straw.” The look on her face was priceless. “You’re going to be fine. Remember, I’m your knight in shining armor. I will not let anything happen to you.”
“Where’s your armor?”
“God is my armor.” he proclaimed with a smile. “I’ll be right back.”
Joshua had to draw the attacker away from her. He picked up a rock and threw it in the direction where he wanted to draw fire. It worked. They opened fire, giving him a clear indication of where they were positioned. It sounded like three guns. He circled around to where the shots came from. The first man was perched behind a tree. Years ago, his trainer had forced him to take ballet classes. At the time, he wanted to kill the man. After several missions, and at times like this, he could kiss the man. He had learned to move around soundlessly. He walked up behind the man, grabbed him around the shoulder with one arm and snapped his neck with the other. His lightning fast reflexes allowed him to catch the man’s weapon before it hit the ground. “Sleep tight,” he said as he eased the man’s body to the ground.
Using the scope from the man’s weapon, he counted two other shooters. Another tidbit his trainer had taught him. If you really want to kill someone, don’t waste bullets shooting the body, go straight for a headshot. That’s what he did. One single headshot and another attacker dropped to the ground. “Two down, one to go.”
The third man was a little crafty. After hearing man number two go down, he pulled back. Joshua wasn’t able to find him right away. It took a minute, but he now had him in his sights. The man shot at Joshua. The bullet lodged into a tree next to him. “You have to aim better than that.” Joshua said from behind the man. “Too late,” he said as he pulled the trigger leaving two shots in the man’s head. He searched the man’s pockets and found the keys to the vehicle.
“Hello honey, I’m home.” Akande turned on him ready to fire when he grabbed her arm. “Whoa, now is that any way to greet your knight?”
She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck, almost knocking him to the ground. “Joshua.”
“It’s okay.” He held her a little longer then he should hold the enemy. Pulling away, he smiled. “Now that’s how you are supposed to greet a man.”
“Are you ever serious? You could have died out there.”
“It’s the nature of the beast.” He picked up his jacket. “Let’s go. And on the way, you want to explain to me why your aunt is trying to kill us?”
Akande stopped. “I don’t think it was my aunt. She would have no reason to.”
“Like she had no reason to have you locked in a cell.” He raised an eyebrow.
Questions about her home life, she was not ready to answer. She began walking again. “That is different.”
They walked to the clearing and jumped into the jeep. “Who else would be trying to kill us?” Joshua asked as he pulled off.
Akande looked off in the direction from which the men had been shooting. “I do not know.”
They drove a few miles in silence. Joshua’s mind was working overtime. Akande may be right. Her aunt watched as they left the grounds, yet did not sound an alarm. Why would she now have men shooting at them? It didn’t add up. Another mile in and the answer appeared in front of him.
Vehicles, at least three, filled with men with guns were traveling at a high speed towards them. At first he thought they were LaVeré’s men crossing the border to assist them. When several raised their weapons, he knew better.
“Get down!” he yelled. He took a sharp turn taking them into another wooded area. They had to get off the open road. “When I stop, get out and haul ass to the North. You understand?”
Akande nodded. “I don’t understand any of this, but okay.”
He pulled as close to the trees as he could and stopped. “Run.”
Akande opened the door and ran into the woods. Joshua turned the vehicle in the direction from which they had come. He propped the gun he had taken from the other men against the gas pedal and the seat, then released the hand brake. The jeep roared towards the oncoming vehicles. He ran into the woods.
“Akande! Akande!”
“Over here.”
He found her, grabbed her hand and they took off running again. They stopped momentarily to gauge their location. According to his device, there was a clearing behind the trees on two sides. Gunfire came at them again. “That was too close,” he said as they continued to run until they reached another area with trees surrounding them. Joshua stopped, pulled out a button from his jacket, pushed the center and threw it in the direction of the shots. He pulled her under him and ducked.
The explosion cascaded through the trees. He grabbed her hand and ran towards the opening he saw on the device. They burst through the line of trees only to suddenly stop. Joshua had to pull Akande back to keep her momentum from taking her over a cliff.
“Whoa!” she screamed. There was at least a twenty foot drop into the river. They started to run back in the direction from which they came when shots rang out again. Following the line of trees, they ran to the North. Shots rang out from that direction. They were being surrounded.
“Oh hell,” Joshua yelled as he pulled Akande and ran full speed over the cliff.
Joshua had no idea which was more deafening, shots ringing out over his head, Akande’s scream as they jumped in the river or the impact of the splash when they hit the water.
Chapter Twelve
They were immediately submerged, losing contact with each other. Joshua swam back up to the top and looked around for Akande. She didn’t come up. “Aw, hell… Akande,” he called out, looking around to see if she surfaced anywhere. He went back under at the point of impact. Thank God for clear water, he thought, spotting her a few feet away. She was struggling to stay afloat. He swam over, grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up with him. She sputtered; water was coming from her mouth.
He had to get out of the open water so the men could not see them. He looked around and saw an opening behind a waterfall and quickly swam in that direction. He pushed her body up onto the ledge. He pulled himself up.
Akande lay there coughing up water, trying to catch her breath.
“Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t know how to swim?” Joshua was bent over, hands on his knees.
It took her a moment before she had the strength to answer him. “You didn’t ask before throwing me into the river.” His laugh was rich, deep and contagious. Akande came to her knees and could not help but laugh with him.
“I didn’t throw you into the river,” he continued to laugh as he stood, walked over and helped her up. He pushed her hair from her face. She looked a mess, but she was a beautiful water creature. The water on their bodies did nothing to contain the flame that ignited between them. Neither moved as they stared, smiling into each other’s eyes. The pull was strong, almost too strong for him to resist. She is the enemy. His mind reminded him. He stepped back, still holding her gaze.
Checking his pockets, he pulled out his handheld. “Let’s check this place out.”
Akande stood, frozen in place. The heat that was there a moment ago was now gone. The chill from her drenched clothes replaced it.
Joshua turned away and took a deep breath to regain his composure. This woman...no enemy, was disturbing his concentration. No woman had ever deterred him from work. He was determined not to allow this one to do it now.
“It has never been submerged in water.” He held it up now certain he was back in control. When the green light blinked he smiled. “Okay.
” He sent a signal to Ned, closed his eyes and said a silent prayer. “All right.” He stood to assess the area. “What do we have around here?” Looking around, he walked into the opening. It was a large area, about the size of a ten by ten room, with a flat surface. “With a little cleaning we should be able to hold here until help comes.”
“Will help come?” she asked.
He turned to see her hugging her body. The chill from the wet clothes was affecting her. That wasn’t all it was doing. The outline of her nipples were pressing against the wet shirt. He looked to the sky and thought, Lord, why? Why did you send me this temptress?
“Grrrrr,” he growled. He knew he had to get her out of those wet clothes. And as sure as he knew his name was Joshua Theodore Lassiter, if that woman took her clothes off they were going to end up bumping booties. There was nothing he could see to keep it from happening. She is the enemy, his mind screamed. “Oh, shut the hell up.”
“What did you say?”
“You need to get out of those wet clothes.”
“I have nothing to put on. I cannot.”
“Yes, you can.” He exhaled. “Give me a minute.”
He pulled out his handheld and sent a short message to Ned. Attacked. Emure? Extraction. He knew from that Ned would pinpoint his location using the device’s GPS system. Looking at her checking out the small cave they were in, he prayed someone would get there soon. “Do you know the story of Adam and Eve?”
She narrowed her eyes.
He walked to the edge of the ledge they were on and pulled up several large fern leaves. “Adam ate the apple, they saw each other’s nakedness, then covered themselves with fig leaves.” He took the leaves and placed them next to each other on the ledge. He took another leaf, rolled it up like a funnel then collected water. “Let’s see if you are still working.” He pulled his laser from his jacket pocket and flipped it on. He looked at her and smiled. “It’s working.” He held it above the leaf pointing the top towards the water.
“What are you doing?” Akande asked as she walked over to him.
“Don’t stand too close,” he cautioned. “I’m heating the water to sterilize the leaves. We are going to use the leaves to cover ourselves, then hang our clothes above the ledge to dry.”
“You are just an Indiana Jones, aren’t you?” she asked, amazed.
“More like MacGyver.”
“MacGyver? Who is he?”
“You know Indiana Jones, but you don’t know MacGyver? Ouch,” he yelped from the heat of the water. He turned off the laser.
Akande laughed. “Smarty pants.”
The sound of her laughter was pleasant. “I got your smarty pants all right.” Joshua smiled. He held one of the large leaves up, then slowly poured the heated water over the front, then did the same process for the back. He did the process several times until he had four large leaves for her and two for him. Using his knife and string from his jacket, he punched a hole in the stem of a leaf and then ran the string through to attach the leaves.
“Hold these.” He handed her his handy work and pulled his shirt off.
Akande quickly turned her head, but not fast enough to avoid seeing the ripples upon his stomach. “What are you doing?”
“Taking these wet clothes off,” he replied enjoying her face blushing from the thought.
“Wait.” Akande commanded. “You can’t do that here.”
He looked around. “You see somewhere else I could do this?”
“I don’t know,” she said and turned her back. “Go over there in the corner.” As the words left her mouth, she knew it was too late. She heard the pants unzip and fall to the ground.
“If you don’t want your world to be shattered, you may want to hand me one of those.” When she did not move, he reached out and took the leaf he made for himself and wrapped it around his hips on both sides. “You can turn around now,” he said as he picked up his shirt and pants. He climbed two boulders, above the waterfall, placed his clothes there and placed a rock on top to keep them from blowing away. He came back down to find her staring at him with her mouth open. He walked over, put a finger under her chin and closed her mouth. “I understand.”
Akande had never seen anything so magnificent as this man’s body. Joshua’s shoulders were wide, his chest was smooth; no hair. His stomach was like a washboard and his thighs... Good Lord, the muscles were bulging with definition. When he climbed the boulder, her mouth dropped from the pure power that radiated from his back and thighs. If she were a weak type of woman, she would have fainted dead on the spot from the pure masculinity of him.
She still hadn’t moved. He took the leaves from her. “Do you want me to help you take off those wet clothes?”
There was no way she could take her clothes off in front of this man after seeing his body. She wrapped the wet material around her and violently shook her head no as she continued to look him up and down.
“We are really going to have issues if you keep looking at me like that.” He arched an eyebrow then licked his lips. “I’m going to turn my back. You undress, then wrap the leaves, tying them on both sides. Then tie this one around the top. You will be covered more than a woman on the beach wearing a two piece bikini. If the leaves covered me, as you can see they do, they will certainly cover all of you. Now, get out of those wet clothes.” He turned his back and waited. Inwardly he was smiling at her shyness. Finally, he heard her removing her clothes. He held the leaves out so she could reach them. She took the bottom and a minute later she took the top. A few minutes passed. Nothing. “Can I turn around now?”
“I can’t tie the string.”
“Hold it up to your chest. I’ll turn around to help. Okay?”
“Okay,” her voice was unsure.
He turned around and froze. He understood why Adam ate the damn apple. If Eve had looked like this, he would have eaten it too. Her head was down and he was glad. For if she caught a glimpse of his reaction to her, he was sure she would jump off the damn ledge. Seeing women’s bodies was a daily, sometimes, twice daily occurrence for him. Why this little woman, with the toned legs, and thick thighs caused him to have an immediate salute he did not know. Her skin seemed to glisten, even in the semi-darkness of the cave. Her hair was still a mess, yet it did not take way from how sexy she looked. If he could just get his heart to stop pumping so fast, he could move from the spot to which he seemed rooted. His hand held beeped with a message. He pulled it from his fig wrap and read it. Twenty-four. He closed his eyes. If he did not know better, he would swear God was conspiring against him. It was going to be twenty-four hours before someone would reach them. How in the hell was he going to keep his hands off her?
He laughed to ease the tension. “We should have done a one piece for you. The leaves are almost longer than your legs.” He willed his legs to move. “I’ll tie it for you,” he tried to sound as nonchalant as he could. “If I had a camera, I could make money off this.....” His voice trailed off as he walked behind her.
He had seen many things in his life, and recognized them for what they were, fresh whip marks. Five thick, red lines resided brightly across her back. He took the strings with shaking hands and tied them. While doing so, he saw several old marks, which meant this was not the first time.
When he spoke, his voice was dangerously low. “Who did this to you?” He touched one with his finger.
Akande flinched from the touch and turned quickly to face him. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s nothing,” he repeated as he held her eyes.
Anger was shining back at her. Pure unadulterated anger was what she saw in his eyes. “I didn’t do anything,” she said thinking he was angry with her for some reason. “I swear I didn’t.”
“Why were you beaten?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Akande said, “It’s just my aunt’s way of keeping us in line. That’s all.”
She was talking as if this were a natural occurrence. He turned away from her, to curtail his anger. He picke
d up her clothes, climbed the boulder then placed them next to his.
Akande walked away. Getting distance between them was what she needed. She knew her body was not attractive. She was short, top heavy and had a big butt. Nothing a man like him would be interested in seeing. That thought should please her. The last thing she needed was to get attached to this man. They had to part ways when they reached America anyway. So why did him turning away, sting so bad? She folded her feet under her and took a seat in the corner. Her chin, she held high; her body was what it was. She was proud of it, regardless of what he thought.
Joshua stayed at the boulder for a minute. He wanted to scream. How could you do something like that to another human being, much less someone you are supposed to care for? He stepped down and found her sitting proudly in a corner. Chin high, hands folded in her lap.
“It shouldn’t take long for the clothes to dry.” He looked at the devices he pulled from his jacket. He picked up a long device and made it expand. It looked like a spear. “We are going to be here for a minute. I’m going to catch dinner. Me…Tarzan; you… Jane.” he joked. She didn’t laugh. Probably never heard of Tarzan. The sight of her back was a little more than he could take. He had to walk away, get his anger under control. Later, he would try to question her. He picked up the metal object he gave her before. “Keep this with you. I’ll be back shortly.”
Akande watched as he walked away. Tears stung her eyes. Why, she did not know. All she knew was his reaction hurt her more than her aunt ever could.
Joshua sat with his back against the boulder at the base of the waterfall. He had surveyed the area. So far there was no sign that anyone had been in the area recently. That was good, he thought. They could hole up here until morning. Next to him, he had several fish he had caught, but he wasn’t calm enough to find out why this was done to her.
For a moment, he thought he had this whole thing figured out. The King and Queen of Asmere wanted sanctions lifted and a Senator in the United States killed. They were using Akande to draw the man out. He didn’t know who, why or how she was to do this. The question he had now was why would she do this for people who clearly treated her poorly. Making matters worse, someone was trying to kill her. The location of every shot played over in his mind. They weren’t trying to kill him. They were aiming at Akande. Again, who and why questions assailed him. He needed answers. Picking up the fish, he climbed back to the cave.
