by Pamela Clare
“You really are a thrill-seeker.” He took his foot off the brake, and they moved down the road once more.
“The last time you called me that, we had just joined the Three Hundred Club, and all I could think about was getting my hands on you.”
“I remember you holding your breasts to keep your nipples from getting frost bitten. I wanted them in my mouth.”
The road curved to the left and went slightly downhill, the trees falling back to create a kind of clearing. Kristi glanced back and forth, watching for wildlife, but saw nothing. The vehicle came to a sudden stop—and then the front end began slowly to sink.
“What’s happening?”
“I think we’re stuck in mud.” He tried reversing, but it didn’t help.
If anything, it made things worse.
“Why are we still sinking?”
“Stay inside, and let me know if you see Simba creeping up on me.”
“Right.” She glanced around, but saw no movement among the ghostly green shapes of the trees.
Malik climbed out, walked toward the front, then staggered back. “Fuck!”
She’d heard that even with the windows up.
He opened the door. “You’re not going to fucking believe this.”
“What?”
He lifted his right leg, showed her his boot. “Quicksand.”
“Quicksand?” Kristi stared at him, her mind taking a moment to catch up. “Is it going to swallow the SUV?”
She’d heard about people being rescued from quicksand during the rainy season, when sandy soil became saturated, especially around Lagos, but she hadn’t worried about quicksand since she was about nine years old.
“I don’t think so.” He moved carefully toward the front again. “We’re no longer sinking, but the front tires are almost buried.”
“How do we get it out?” She glanced around, some image in her mind of thick banyan vines.
“We don’t, not without a winch. We’re not going anywhere—not tonight.”
Kristi’s stomach knotted. “We’re just going to stay here?”
“For now.” He walked to the driver’s side passenger door and grabbed his duffel. “Climb out here. I’ll set up a bivouac. You can get some sleep.”
“You want to camp—with the lions?” She had one particular lion fresh in her mind, and that lion wasn’t too far away. “There are snakes, too—poisonous ones—and spiders and scorpions.”
He took out his body armor and strapped it on. “Where’s your spirit of adventure?”
She sat on one of the back seats. “It’s here in the vehicle where it can’t be eaten.”
He chuckled, reached for his helmet. “I promise I won’t let you become dinner.”
She took it off, handed it back to him, the world going dark. “Why can’t we sleep in the SUV?”
He strapped on the helmet, flipped down the NVGs, and glanced around. “We don’t want to be inside the vehicle if the bad guys find us. We’d be sitting ducks. We want to be watching from a distance so that we can conceal, evade, and escape.”
“Okay. That makes sense.” Still, she didn’t move.
“In the morning, we’ll take only what we need and start walking. I can try to rent another vehicle or hotwire something on the other side of the river.”
“Steal a car? You know how to do that?”
“I learned all kinds of skills in special operations.” He held out his hand, helped her climb out. “I’m going to put on my chest rig and holsters. Can you carry the water? Grab whatever you need, but leave the food. We don’t want to draw in predators.”
Kristi reached for the water, the darkness seeming to press in on her.
You can do this.
She’d just spent four days as a prisoner of traffickers. She could handle a night in the wild, especially with Malik beside her.
Looking like a soldier now, he walked to the rear of the vehicle, opened the lift gate, and rummaged around. “They should have an emergency kit. Here it is. There’s a flashlight for you. They’ve got a plastic tarp, too. Cool.”
She took the flashlight from him, turned it on, pointed the narrow beam of light at the wall of trees to the left of the poor SUV.
“Just don’t shine it in my eyes.”
“Right.”
He slipped his duffel on like a backpack, then locked the vehicle, pocketed the keys, and led the way into the trees, testing the ground before each step, the soil wet and muddy. “I don’t see anything here that might want to eat us.”
Kristi used the flashlight to watch where she stepped, following closely behind Malik, her senses trained on the forest around her with all of its strange noises.
The chirping of insects. What sounded like a monkey. The breeze in the canopy.
The ground began to slope uphill.
“Don’t look to your right.”
Naturally, that’s where she looked, the flashlight revealing an enormous spider in a web that stretched between two trees and was taller than she was. “Shit!”
“I told you not to look.”
“I can’t help it.” She thought she heard him chuckle.
“I know.”
They walked toward a rise, Malik picking a safe path.
“Stay here.” Rifle raised, he hiked to the top of the rise, glanced around, then turned and pointed his rifle toward their vehicle, as if checking to see whether he had a clear shot. “Let’s camp here.”
She hiked up to where he stood, glanced around.
He spread the plastic tarp on a relatively level area. “I know it’s not a nice soft bed, but you can lie down here and get some sleep.”
Kristi wasn’t sure about that. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to keep watch. I don’t want anyone or anything sneaking up on us.”
“Won’t you be exhausted tomorrow?”
He lowered his duffel to the tarp. “I’ve gone days without sleep. Don’t worry about me.”
Kristi set the water down beside his duffel bag and sat. “This is better than that awful hut with the rodent droppings.”
“Hell, yeah, it is. Fresh air. You can see the stars. No bad guys.” He knelt beside her, rifle pointed at the ground, and raised the NVGs. “I’m right here, Kristi. Just use my duffel bag as a pillow and get some sleep.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep.”
“Then just lie down, breathe, and close your eyes.”
She lay down on her side, rested her head on the duffel.
“Turn over.”
She did as he asked, her gaze fixed on the dark wall of the forest beyond.
He rubbed her back, one big hand sliding up and down the column of her spine. There was nothing sexual about it. He was trying to help her relax—and it was working. Slowly, the day’s tension began to leave her.
“Just close your eyes, angel. You’re safe here.”
She must have been more tired than she realized because she began to drift. The last image in her mind before she fell asleep was of the lion’s amber eyes.
Malik stood over Kristi, watching the forest around them while she slept. They faced a long damned hike through the forest tomorrow. She needed her rest.
He had no idea how many miles they’d covered before getting caught in the fucking quicksand or how close they were to the river. What he did know was that they had long, dangerous miles ahead of them.
The rental vehicle wasn’t going anywhere, and when it was found, those Sky King fuckers would know exactly where to pick up their trail.
Malik didn’t know what kind of tech they had at their disposal, but it would be hard to evade search helicopters, especially if the people onboard were equipped with thermal imaging. The trees offered some cover, but, unlike the jungles of Vietnam or the Amazon, the forest here wasn’t impenetrable from the air.
He hadn’t talked with Kristi about any of this yet. After what she’d been through, he knew it would scare her. He needed her to sleep tonight, not
worry.
He kept his gaze moving over the forest around them, careful to look up at the canopy above them and to watch the ground, too. Bats. Some kind of bush baby thing. A big python snaking its way up a tree.
Yeah, he could do without the snakes.
He glanced down, the peace on Kristi’s face putting a hitch in his chest, unleashing a rush of emotion. He’d had a year and a half to sort out his feelings for her, to figure out why he hadn’t hooked up with other women after Antarctica. He’d almost succeeded in convincing himself that their connection was just great sexual chemistry and that he’d been too busy with missions to meet other women. But now, as he watched her sleep, he knew that was bullshit.
Was he in love with her?
Whoa! Don’t get carried away, bruh.
Sure, he cared about her—a lot.
You cared enough to drop everything, fly around the world, and kill and maybe die to rescue her.
They were good in bed together. He just loved having sex with her.
Keep telling yourself that.
Okay, there was more. He loved her sense of humor, too. He loved her big heart, her compassion. He loved her courage, her hunger for adventure. And that sparkle in her eyes when she smiled.
You’re in love with her.
The realization ought to have scared the shit out of him, but it didn’t. Instead, he found himself smiling, a feeling like sunlight spreading in his chest.
Yeah, you love her.
He’d thought he was in love twice before, but this was different. Of course, he’d been a lot younger then. Neither relationship had lasted.
Whitney, his high school sweetheart, had wanted him to go to college. His decision to join the army had split them apart. Several years later, he’d met Veronica. They’d moved in together, and he’d thought that was it. He’d caught her poking holes in his condoms with a needle, trying to trick him into getting her pregnant. He’d broken up with her. After that, he’d kept things casual, focused on his job.
And then Kristi had come into his life.
They had agreed to a simple exchange of sexual pleasure, but it hadn’t been simple at all. She’d been so much more than he’d expected. She’d gotten inside him. They’d spent a month together, only a month, but he’d never stopped thinking about her.
How does she feel about you?
He didn’t want to think about that. Not here. Not yet.
He needed to focus.
He turned slowly, scanning the forest around them for movement or predators, his gaze drawn once again to her face.
She shifted in her sleep, reached for covers that weren’t there.
She was cold.
He knelt and unzipped his duffel bag far enough to reach inside and pull out his jacket. Then he draped it over her. “Sleep, angel.”
Tomorrow would bring a world of trouble their way.
14
Kristi was awakened by a chorus of birds. She opened her eyes to see the sunlight streaming through the trees above her.
“Good morning, beautiful.”
She stretched, sat up, and discovered that Malik had covered her with his jacket during the night. God, he was sweet. “Good morning. Did you sleep at all?”
“Nah, but I’m good.” He tore open a small paperboard box and removed a green plastic bag.
“What’s that?”
“Breakfast. I got these MREs out of the truck just before you woke.” He drew items out one at a time. “Hash brown potatoes with bacon, peppers, and onions. Granola with milk and blueberries. Filled bakery item. Cheddar cheese spread. Crackers. Dry-roasted, salted peanuts. Orange beverage base, sugar-free. Accessory Packet A.”
“Filled bakery item?” She laughed. “That’s so … appetizing. What’s Accessory Packet A?”
“In this case, it’s coffee.” He opened a bottle of water and set it aside, a grin on his face. “This is the US military’s idea of haute cuisine, so don’t get excited.”
While she watched, he stuck the plastic package of hash browns into the green bag, poured in a little water, and set it aside. “Does that rehydrate the food?”
“No, it heats it.” He opened another box and repeated the same process. “This is how soldiers get warm meals when we’re out in the field.”
A delicious aroma wafted from the packet as it warmed, making her mouth water.
But what if animals smelled it, too? “I thought you didn’t want to have food outside of the vehicle.”
“We’ll be leaving when we’re done. Did you sleep well?”
“Thanks to you.” She was a little stiff, but she had slept. “I had strange dreams. I kept seeing the lion, watching it walk by, looking into its eyes. Sometimes, I knew you were the lion. Its eyes were your eyes. Dreams are weird.”
He handed her a plastic spoon. “I don’t know what that means, but I like it.”
“Did you see anything last night—lions, maybe?”
“No lions. I saw lots of bats, a big python that’s still in that tree over there, a bush baby, and a family of pangolins that shuffled by not long ago.”
“A python?” She decided not to look this time.
He took one of the green heater bags, pulled out the food packet, peeled it open, and handed it to her. “Bon appétit.”
“Thanks.” She took the packet, which was almost too hot to hold. “That smells so good. Mmm. It tastes good, too.”
Malik tore open his food and began to eat. “I’m glad you think so. It’s calories—fuel to get you through the day.”
Kristi finished quickly and then ate her granola without the powdered milk. Uncertain when they’d be able to eat again, she saved the rest for later, tucking it inside her backpack and putting the trash inside the brown paper box.
“We’ll clean up, pack up what we need, and use the compass on my phone to—”
The sound of an engine.
“Get behind that rock!”
Kristi did as he’d ordered, dragging the tarp with her.
Malik concealed himself beside her, stretched onto his belly, rifle raised.
Pulse pounding, Kristi lay still.
Now she understood why they hadn’t stayed with the vehicle.
“Breathe, Kristi,” Malik whispered.
She exhaled, watching the road as the sound of the engine grew closer.
A green pickup truck came into view, the words Okobi Wildlife Preserve Ranger painted on the door in white. The truck stopped behind their rental vehicle, and a man wearing a green uniform with a green beret stepped out. Hand on his weapon, he moved carefully toward the vehicle, looked inside the windows, then down at the ground.
He knelt, touched the sandy soil. When he stood upright again, he looked straight at them—and reached for his radio.
“He’s tracking us, but doesn’t see us,” Malik whispered, quickly stripping out of his military gear and tucking a pistol in the back of his jeans. “I’m going to take a chance. I have to stop him from calling this in. You stay here until I call you, okay? And hide my gear in the duffel bag.”
“No! What if he’s one of them? What if he kills you?”
“I’ll kill him back.” He took off his helmet, set the rifle aside, then called out. “I’m a tourist, and my car got stuck! Don’t shoot.”
Slowly, Malik stood, hands raised.
The ranger shouted back. “Walk out slowly.”
“Yes, sir.” Malik disappeared from Kristi’s view. “I was driving through last night, got lost, and then got stuck in that quicksand. I’ve been out here all night, hoping someone would come by to help.”
Careful to stay out of sight, Kristi did as Malik asked, listening, her body tensing in anticipation of gunshots.
“We had a sign blocking this road, but poachers removed it,” the ranger said. “Are you alone?”
A moment of silence.
“No, sir, my wife is with me, but I asked her to stay back.”
“She need not be afraid of me. I am a ranger. Come out, ma’a
m!”
Kristi’s pulse raced, but she stayed where she was.
Then Malik called to her. “It’s okay, Kristi. I think he’s one of the good guys.”
“I am a ranger, not a bandit. See my truck and my uniform?” The man sounded insulted. “I will not hurt her.”
“When you see my wife, you’ll understand why I’m being so careful. Kristi, just stand up slowly, hands over your head, and walk toward me.”
Kristi stood, hands raised.
Malik watched the ranger as Kristi slowly emerged from the shadows, ready to draw his pistol. He saw the moment the ranger recognized her.
The man’s gaze moved from Kristi to Malik. “She’s the woman who was abducted and rescued by the NPF.”
“Yes, but now the Sky Kings are after her.”
The ranger’s eyebrows almost disappeared behind his beret, his pupils dilating. “How do you know this?”
The man was afraid of them.
“The bastards who’d abducted her were one of their strike groups. Many were killed. We tried to catch a flight out of the country, but they had men at the Abuja airport waiting for us. We were trying to drive across the border, but men with weapons put up a roadblock on the highway. So, we left the road and got stuck here.”
The ranger lowered his rifle, gave Malik and Kristi a nod of his head. “I’m Chief Ranger Isaac Tinubu.”
“I’m Malik Jones.”
Tinubu met Kristi’s gaze, sympathy on his face. “I’m very sorry about what happened to you here in Nigeria, ma’am.”
“Thank you.”
A burst of static from Tinubu’s radio.
The ranger reached for his mic.
“Don’t tell them about us.” Malik didn’t want to have to hurt this guy.
Tinubu nodded. “Tinubu here. It was just some tourists from Ghana stuck in the road. You know how they are. All is well. Tinubu out.”
Malik exhaled. “I’m grateful.”
“If those fools are after you, you must leave the country and get back to America as fast as you can.”
