River of Desire: A Romantic Action Adventure/Thriller

by Winn, J. K.

  Dylan used his superior height to his advantage, lording over the intimidated doctor. “What the hell was in that syringe?”

  Even in the dim early morning light, the doctor was as white as a lab coat. “Nothing...nothing,” the doctor muttered.

  A vein in Dylan’s forehead bulged. He tightened his grip. “Tell me, damn it-or else.”

  The doctor threw his hands before his face. “Do not hurt me. I talk. Please-”

  Dylan stood firm. “Tell me what was in that damn needle or you’re a dead man!”

  Gasping, the doctor coughed. “I tell...I tell.”

  Leah took short, shallow breaths that barely filled her lungs. A thousand deafening bees buzzed in her head, but she forced herself to listen as intently as possible to the doctor.

  Dylan released his stranglehold on the doctor and, while the old man clutched and cleared his throat, Dylan removed the gun from his hidden holster. When he cocked the trigger, a snap resounded. He held it to Kruger’s head. “Well?”

  The old man stared at Leah, an incredulous look replacing one of fear. “S...Smallpox.”

  No longer able to hold herself upright, Leah sagged again against Dylan who held her up with his unencumbered arm. “Smallpox...Oh my God...smallpox. I was never vaccinated against smallpox.”

  Dylan tightened his grip on her waist. “What does this mean?”

  Emotion chased away all reason. She clasped her arms around herself. “I may die.” She clutched tighter. “If I live, I’ll be horribly disfigured.” Her voice sounded distant, shaky, as unstable as she felt.

  Dylan pulled her closer, sealing her to him. “I won’t let that happen. I can’t let that happen.”

  When she slackened her grip, he tightened his. “Are you all right?”

  “As all right as I can be. The disease has an incubation period of up to a week. I’m not contagious until then, but after that...” Her teeth chattered from a cold that replaced the steamy jungle night from within. All that held her up was Dylan’s arm. She allowed his strength to support her.

  Her head began to clear a little. “Wait...Wait a minute. There’s a vaccine for smallpox.”

  Dylan released her and she stabilized herself with a hand on the lab table.

  He spun on the doctor. “Is that so? Do you have any?”

  The doctor looked about the room. “I...I...”

  A sound behind Leah drew her attention. The large armed local the gate guard had called Kimo stood in the doorway, rifle pointed at Dylan.

  The doctor spotted his guard at about the same time she did.

  “Drop your gun,” Kruger commanded.

  Dylan looked over his shoulder while slowly lowering his arm.

  The doctor reached out and plucked the pistol from Dylan’s grasp. “Back away. Schnell!”

  Dylan did as told, his eyes leveled on the old man. “Okay...okay. Don’t shoot.”

  Kruger looked wild-eyed from one to the other.

  “What do you plan to do with us?” Dylan asked.

  Kruger held the gun unsteadily. “I vill only answer after Sophie surrenders gun in pocket. Kimo, take her gun and frisk him.”

  She reluctantly held out the gun to the Sumo wrestler-sized attendant. Kimo patted Dylan down and extracted the knife from his belt. The two of them were totally unarmed. “You can’t mean to keep us here.”

  Kruger eyed them. “I vas not expecting visitors. I must to consider.”

  Leah did her best to control her mounting panic. Every muscle in her body shook from the effort. She gulped for air in the still room. “But the virus. What about the virus?”

  “Ja, the smallpox.” He looked contemplative. “Now for you time runs out.” A flicker in the doctor’s eyes led her to wonder if he actually regretted having stabbed her.

  As much as she resisted the idea her life depended on this demented old man, she had to convince him to be sympathetic. “You know I will die without the vaccine. I need your help. Please.”

  He turned away. “Kimo, remove to extra room our visitors and lock them in for night. Do not out of sight let them. I must think.”

  The guard nodded toward the room’s only exit. Dylan must have realized the futility of a struggle because he took Leah’s arm and helped her down a hall and outside to what appeared to be the main building in the compound. They were shoved into a candle-lit room, followed by the slam of the door and snap of a bolt.

  The panic Leah had managed to stave off during the encounter with the doctor surfaced with a vengeance. She reached for the dresser top to steady herself, shaking like a palm frond in a hurricane. Immediately, Dylan threw his arms around her and drew her closer to him. She welcomed the gesture, leaning into him. The warmth of his body, smell of his skin, strength of his arms, calmed her a little.

  He led her to the edge of the bed, lowering her to the mattress. His hand grazed the top of her hair, his lips her forehead. His tenderness was a salve to her wound.

  “I’m scared, Dylan.”

  “I’m scared for you, too. But whatever happens, I’ll be with you.” His words rumbled in his chest and forced her to notice their intense closeness.

  She believed he could help her. He had rescued her before from the impossible. Why not now? “I know.”

  He held her until the storm in her stomach subsided a little and her breathing slowed to a more normal rate. She fought to gain control over her emotions. “I’m glad you’re with me.” They clung to one another, but even his embrace could not entirely ward off the anxiety fluttering like a jungle full of toucans in her gut. “What do we do now?”

  He quietly considered. “Somehow I have to convince the good doctor to give you that vaccine before it‘s too late. But how?”

  “We really could use a bargaining chip.”

  “I can offer him all the money I have.”

  She smiled weakly. “That’s sweet, but impractical. The good doctor probably has enough funding from his CIA benefactors. The amount of money we could offer him wouldn’t convince him to help me.” She rubbed the spot on her arm where she had been impaled. “What if I offer to write an article about him for the paper? Maybe I could play on his ego, tell him I’ll make him famous.”

  Dylan looked over at her, skeptically. “Why should he want any exposure? Seems like he’d want to remain anonymous.”

  “Perhaps. But he’s been working away in obscurity for a long time. Since he’s so old, there’s a good chance he’ll want some recognition before he dies. We could use that to our advantage.” Leah began to rise. “Let’s get Kruger and find out.”

  Dylan pounded on the door and a few moments later, it cracked open. A head peered through the opening.

  Dylan stood with arms across his chest. “We want to talk to the doctor.”

  The guard grunted and closed the door. After a long wait, the door opened wide and Kruger entered in a navy-blue terry robe, his hair in disarray.

  “Vhat you vant me for?”

  Leah wiped moist palms against her pants. “I have something to discuss with you.”

  The doctor rubbed his eyes. “At this hour?”

  “It’s important.”

  “Tomorrow.” The doctor turned to exit the room.

  She would never be able to rest until she dealt with him. She grabbed the doctor’s robe sleeve. “Now.”

  Kruger stopped and inexplicably turned back. “You always vere strong villed, Sophie.” He indicated for the guard to escort her out of the room.

  She caught Dylan’s worried expression as she stepped past him. He made a move in her direction, but she thrust out an arm that stopped him. “I need to handle this myself.”

  Behind her the heavy latch fell into place across the door with a loud thump that made her jump. She trailed Kimo down a hall and into the library. With deep breaths to keep her cool, she glanced around at walls lined with books behind an ornamentally carved mahogany desk. Bare wood ladder-back chairs were positioned throughout the room, as though the doctor expected com
pany. An antique retablo of a saint hung on the wall behind the desk.

  The old man waved her into a seat then leaned against the edge of his desk, looking down at her. Although intimidated, she drew on all the courage she had and said, “I need the vaccine.”

  Kruger yawned. “Vhy bother now? Nothing to do tonight. Ve vill speak in morning.”

  “No,” she said with all the force she could muster. “I have to know if you have any vaccine here.”

  A thoughtful look spread across the doctor’s face. “Nein. I vas about to look for more.” His face blanched and he looked away. “Please forgive, Sophie.”

  She barely stifled a groan. Her days were numbered if she didn’t receive a shot in time. Sweat coated her palms and she rubbed her hands against her pants to dry them. “Whatever else you may be, you’re a doctor first. Your job is to find ways to heal, not harm. Help me.”

  “Only person in Peru vith vaccine is epidemiologist in Lima. Smallpox has been in most of vorld eradicated. Only a few do research using virus. My only source for vaccine is Center for Disease Control in United States.”

  Leah could no longer contain her fear. She clutched the edge of the desk. “Please, Doctor. You have to do something quickly.”

  “Sorry, I never to hurt you meant.” The doctor’s pale blue eyes filled with tears.

  Leah wondered if he might be totally insane. Why did he keep calling her by this name? “Who is ‘Sophie’?”

  The old man smiled. “Now you play dumb, Sophie. You toy vith old man.”

  “My name’s not Sophie. It’s Leah. Leah Roberts.”

  Kruger kept a close eye on her while fumbling in his desk drawer. He pulled out his wallet, extracted a yellowed photo. “Look, Sophie. You and I vere engaged and planned to marry. It has long time been, but did you think I not recognize you? You have not changed. Here—your photograph.”

  Leah took the photo from his shaky liver-spotted hand. The woman who stared back looked identical to her except that she wore a dress and coat that had gone out of fashion around 1949. “This picture is at least fifty years old. What’s Sophie’s last name?”

  “Goldman. Sophie Goldman.”

  Leah gasped. “Goldman is my grandmother’s name.”

  The old man slipped, catching himself with a hand on the desk. “Your grandmother? Sophie Goldman—your grandmother?”

  The connection between this evil old man and her grandmother suddenly crystallized. She pressed a hand to her brow. “Oh my God! You are my grandfather!”

  The hand holding Kruger upright gave way and he heavily stumbled into the solid piece of furniture. When he righted himself, tears streamed down his face. Before she could resist, he bundled her into his arms. “Die ùberraschung! It is you, mein kinder. I for all these years have vondered about your mother.”

  Leah stiffened in his arms and, as soon as she could, separated herself from his awkward embrace. He was tremulous so she took his arm and guided him to a chair on the far side of the desk. Although shaken by the discovery that her jailer was the grandfather she had been looking for, she had to pull herself together quickly. Her life depended on it. “I thought your name was Krause.”

  “After var I change name.”

  “I see.” She didn’t really, but now wasn’t the time to question him. No wonder her mother had so much trouble locating him. “Grandfather, I really need your help. You can’t let me die. I’m your flesh and blood.”

  The doctor raised his head and stared at her through rheumy eyes. “I vould to do anything, mein kinder. But vhat to do vithout vaccine?”

  “There must be a way to find some and bring it here before it’s too late. How long do you think I have?”

  His well-trimmed white mustache turned down at the corners of his mouth. “Virus enters by respiratory tract, not bloodstream. Ja. Even though you vere by needle nicked and only received little, ve do not know how virus vill act. If it follows typical course, you have small time left. Incubation period is two veeks for smallpox. You have four odar five days for vaccine to vork.”

  “But the sooner given, the more likely it will work. Please don’t use it as blackmail.”

  “You are mein kinder. I vant to do all I can. But I cannot see a vay—”

  “As a doctor—and my grandfather— you can’t let me go untreated.”

  The old man mumbled to himself in German.

  “I need you, Grandfather.” He stopped mumbling and looked up at her. “Listen, if you do everything possible to get the vaccine and I survive, I’ll do what I can to let the world know about your accomplishments. You’ve never had any real recognition for what you’ve done. I’m a journalist. I can change all that.”

  She thought she saw a flicker of interest in his still damp eyes. “You’ve done a lot for others. It’s time everyone knew of your work.”

  “I am ill. I have little time left.”

  Here was her window of opportunity. She had to crawl through. “I’ll report your findings to the world. You won’t have to die in obscurity. People will know of you and the important work you’ve done.”

  “I vould love for you to do that, but I still cannot see vay...” The doctor’s age-glazed eyes suddenly focused on her and he shook his index finger in her direction. “Vait...One remote possibility is for vaccine. A doctor vith Project Paperclip lives up Amazon, in Brazil. He may have supply.”

  Slim or not, this might be her only hope. She pushed to her feet. “How can we get in touch with him? You must have a way to contact him. The Internet? A cell phone?”

  “Nein. Ve are far into jungle. Only means for communication is shortwave radio.”

  She sat forward. “Great. Why don’t we use it to contact him?”

  With a shake of his silvery head, he said, “It has for last week been broken. I meant to send Kimo into Iquitos for fixing it.”

  With each passing moment another strand of hope broke. She clung desperately to the remaining threads. “I’ll go visit this doctor myself.”

  Kruger stood with great effort and held up his hand. “Nein. Not you. It is too dangerous. Your infection might flare vith the exertion. We send your friend to Dr. Von Schotten’s. I vant you should stay with me. I vant about you to learn.”

  Leah held up her hands in supplication. “But that will take too long. He may not bring it back in time. I have to go along.”

  “He can be back. You vill remain here.” Kruger’s unexpectedly firm grip halted her. “Tell your friend to leave in morning. I vill prepare map and letter for Dr. Von Schotten. Tell your friend, Herr...”

  “Hart.”

  “...Dr. Von Schotten is gracious, but since in such short supple is vaccine, he may not vant to part vith it.”

  Beneath Kruger’s packaging, she understood the difficulties Dylan might face. The thought of sending him into this alone terrified her. If her life didn’t depend on it, she’d never ask him to go.

  “I am old man. Time to take rest. Tell me your friend’s name...”

  “Hart. Dylan Hart,” she repeated.

  “Ja, Hart. I forget of late many things.” Kruger acknowledged what was so evident, his deteriorating condition. “Tell Hart he should leave in morning. Now, I vant you should rest, mein kinder.”

  Kimo escorted her back to the room. As soon as the door opened, Dylan pulled her inside. When it closed behind her, he enclosed her in his arms. “I must have paced this room a thousand times. Are you okay?” He stopped and searched her face. “You’re pale and shaking. What happened?”

  Dylan helped her to the bed, where she sat. “The doctor doesn’t have any vaccine-at least that’s what he tells me.”

  Dylan tensed, his shoulders and back rigid. “This isn’t happening. I can’t believe it.”

  She touched his arm. “But there is one hope. A doctor who lives up the Amazon in Brazil.”

  Dylan’s eyes widened. “Great. We’ll head out immediately. Break of dawn. Find this doctor.”

  “Just two problems. One, he doesn�
��t want me to go with you. He says the trip would be too hard on me with the infection, so he wants me to stay behind and record his history.” Leah paused to let that sink in before telling him the bigger news. “We were right, Dylan. Dr. Kruger’s my grandfather. I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised, but I never imagined the type of man he’d turn out to be.”

  Dylan’s expression changed from expectant to stunned. “No kidding?”

  “He’s a scientist all right,” she spat out.

  “What a shock.” Dylan looked as if he could barely restrain himself. “And the other problem?”

  “According to Kruger, the Brazilian doctor, Von Schotten will be courteous, but he might not part with the vaccine voluntarily. That is, if he has any.” She grabbed Dylan’s arm. “Just be careful, Dylan, please. I don’t know what you’re getting into, but I don’t want anything to happen to you on my account.”

  Dylan squared his shoulders. His gaze was as steady as the river’s flow. “Don’t worry. Sounds like a challenge not a problem. I’ll leave first thing tomorrow.”

  As always with Dylan, her gratitude overcame her fear. He had a way of making her feel safe. “Are you certain you want to do this?”

  “I’m sure.”

  Leah threw her arms around him and buried her head in the curve of his neck. Although his reaction didn’t surprise her, it did compound her growing admiration...and affection...and something more. “Thank you.” Her words were muffled against his warm, spice-scented skin.

  He held onto her for the longest time, soothing her with tender words of support. Slowly her pulse calmed a little. Her breathing quieted.

  He brushed her cheek with his lips and, in spite of her churning fear, a wave of warmth rode her. She wanted this man, needed him now with an intensity that frightened her. Regardless of the situation, maybe even because of it, a hunger infused her. She could no longer discern whether her heart pounded from fright or from fervor.

  “You’ve come to mean so much to me.” His breath in her ear sent a tingle down her spine.

  In response, she pressed him close. “I know, Dylan. You mean a lot to me, too.”

  Slowly his lips descended to hers.

  The intensity of the moment caught her off guard: The terror of death momentarily replaced by an intense desire to live. Her fear and helplessness wedded with a desperate need for him. Passion overshadowed dread, extinguishing all else. All that mattered was that moment and her urgent need for him—their need for one another.