“Man, am I glad to hear that.” Cheryl hugged Jordan. “I am so ready to leave this damn place.”
“Why not get this show on the road and leave tonight?” Mick McGuire asked. “As soon as the old man gets his Eshe plants, I say we hightail it out of here before the goon squad finds out what’s happened.”
Will glowered at Mick. “We’re leaving at dawn tomorrow morning. It will be safer traveling through the jungle and entering the ocean waters after daylight. And we will be leaving Umi without any Eshe plants.”
“No way,” Mick said. “The old man’s going to get those plants. They’ll be worth millions, maybe billions. And he’s going to share equally with all of us. Isn’t that right, Professor?”
“Quite right,” Dr. Arnell said.
Will looked from person to person. “Trying to steal samples of that plant will be signing a death warrant for all of us.”
“This is something Mick cooked up between him and The Professor,” Jordan said. “Cheryl and I agree that we should leave as soon as possible, without the Eshe plant samples.”
Gwen took Will’s hand. “I need to speak to you alone.” She nodded toward the door. “Outside. Okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” He opened the door and went with her a few feet away from the hut. She took both of his hands in hers. “Daddy refuses to leave Umi without samples of the Eshe plant, and he’s convinced Mick that he can make him a wealthy man if—”
“Then I’ll just knock your father on his ass and carry him with us to the Footloose tomorrow. And if McGuire gives us any trouble, I’ll leave him here.”
“No.” Gwen swallowed hard. “My father is an old man. He has spent his entire life searching for this island, dreaming of the day that he could take the magical youth-serum plant back to the world as a gift. How can I ask him to leave here without the Eshe plant? It would kill him.”
“And if he stays here, he’ll die.”
“I know. But there is one other solution.”
“I’m already not liking the sound of this.”
She squeezed his hands. “You take Jordan and Cheryl with you at first light in the morning, back to the shore where you left the lifeboat. I will go with Daddy and Mick before dawn to the Fields of Eshe and help them gather a few samples. Then we’ll join y’all. If we don’t make it, if we’re captured or—”
Will grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “No way. No way in hell.”
“Please, Will. I have to do this.”
“No, Gwen, you don’t.”
She pulled free of his tenacious grip, then turned and walked farther away from the hut. He came up behind her, not touching her, not saying a word.
“Daddy and I have talked this through, and we’ve agreed that it’s the only way. No matter what happens, you and the others will be safe.” She couldn’t face him, couldn’t look him in the eye, knowing how angry he was.
“To hell with my being safe. If you think I’ll leave you here, you’d better think again.”
“Please, Will.”
“No. And that settles it.” He grasped her shoulders and yanked her back up against his chest.
“You can’t knock all three of us out and drag us with y’all through the jungle,” Gwen told him. “If you do this my way—”
“I’m not leaving you. Get that through your head.” He encompassed her in a possessive embrace. “If you won’t leave this godforsaken island without your father, and he won’t leave without that damn plant, then I’ll go to the Fields of Eshe at dawn and get the samples for him.”
She whirled around in his arms. “I would never ask you to take such a risk.” She caressed his cheek. “If anything happened to you, I couldn’t bear it.”
His eyes narrowed as his gaze locked with hers. “Then you know exactly how I feel.”
“But you don’t understand. I love you and—”
“Do you think you’re the only one who’s in love?”
She didn’t dare believe her own ears.
He captured her face with his open palms. “Of everyone in our group, I’m the only one with the kind of training it will require to go into those fields, steal a sample of the plant and get away without being captured.”
“You can’t go in alone. I’ll go with you.”
“No. You will take your father, Cheryl and Mick back to the beach and wait. I’ll take Jordan with me and we’ll meet up with y’all as soon as we have samples of the Eshe plant.”
A bittersweet feeling engulfed Gwen as she realized the depth of Will’s love for her and knew that she couldn’t allow him to risk his life to fulfill her father’s dream.
“All right,” she said, lying to him. “We will do this your way.”
“That’s my girl.”
When he kissed her, she clung to him, wanting to hold on to him forever.
* * *
Will woke with a start, but had no idea what had roused him. After making love with Gwen, he had fallen asleep almost instantly. He turned over in bed and reached for her. The other side of the bed was empty. He shot straight up and surveyed the dark room, the only illumination coming from the dying embers of the fire in the fireplace and the moonlight shining through the open window.
“Gwen?”
No response. Completely naked, he got out of bed and searched the hut. Where the hell was she and why hadn’t he heard her leave?
After putting on his clothes, he went outside. She was nowhere in sight. A sick, gut-tightening sensation gripped him. He made his way to the hut next door and knocked softly, calling Jordan’s name.
Within minutes Jordan opened the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Have you seen Gwen?”
“No. Why? What’s happened?”
“She’s gone.”
Cheryl came up beside Jordan. “Maybe she went to see her father, to try to talk sense to him again.”
“Why would she go in the middle of the night?”
“You think something’s wrong, don’t you?” Jordan asked.
“I know something’s wrong.”
Gwen hoped Will wouldn’t wake up until it was too late to try to stop her. If he figured out where she’d gone, he would come after her and risk his own life. She couldn’t let him do that. Not for her. Not for her father. She was Emery Arnell’s only child. It was her duty to stand by her father, to do her best to care for him, to help him.
The small child that still existed inside Gwen believed that if she did this, if she enabled her father to fulfill his lifelong dream, he would be grateful to her. He would love her.
Before her father and Mick McGuire had left her hut last night, she had told her father that she would slip away from Will in the night and come to him.
“Tell Mick to stay with you and when I can get away, I’ll come get you and we’ll go to the Fields of Eshe and get the samples you want.”
“But I thought Will was going to—”
“No, Will isn’t going.” She had told her father what she wanted him to believe. “Will was lying to you, to pacify you. He has no intention of getting the plants for you. If you want the plants, we have to get them ourselves, before dawn.”
She, her father and Mick had made their way by moonlight to the Fields of Eshe. The knee-high stalks glowed softly in the predawn darkness, as if they were lit from within.
“There’s not a guard in sight,” Mick said, keeping his voice low. “This should be a piece of cake.”
“Sebak said that Lord Baruti, the high priest, has a power that oversees these fields,” Emery told them. “We can’t be too careful. You two must let me gather the samples.”
“Go to it, old man,” Mick said. “Just make sure you get enough.” He gazed at the acres of flourishing plants that gleamed like yellow-green gold in the moonlight. “And I’ll carry them plants for you, Professor. They’ll be safe with me.”
“We will each carry a sample,” Emery said. “That way at least one sample should survive.”
“Good idea.” Mick�
��s smirking grin made Gwen’s skin crawl. He was such a sleazy bastard.
“We’ll stand guard while you retrieve the samples.” Gwen kissed her father’s cheek. “I’m so proud of you, Daddy. You’re going to be very famous.”
“And rich as Donald Trump—like a billionaire,” Mick added.
Her father smiled broadly. “This is the most exciting moment of my life. Nothing can compare to the knowledge that I will be able to give the world a precious gift and prove to my colleagues that I am no fool.”
Gwen’s heart beat loudly in her ears as she watched her father enter the fields. He walked slowly along the rows, inspecting the plants, taking his time as if there was no rush.
“What the hell is he doing?” Mick grumbled.
“He’s savoring the moment,” Gwen replied.
When her father had gone approximately twenty feet down the second row, he reached into his pants pocket and removed an old switchblade knife and a tattered handkerchief. He knelt down on his knees, spread the handkerchief out on the ground and grasped the tall, willowy Eshe plant, holding it with one hand while he used the knife to carefully dig around the roots. He unearthed one plant, laid the roots on the handkerchief and repeated the procedure with two other plants.
Gwen held her breath, waiting for an alarm to go off, for hidden guards to appear, for iron bars to come up out of the earth and surround the fields. But nothing happened. The only sound she heard was her own heavy breathing.
“Sebak was lying to the old man.” Mick laughed. “These people are stupid to let some high and mighty leader scare them from taking these plants for themselves.”
“Shh. Be quiet,” she warned him.
“Why? It’s not like the plants can hear us.” He laughed louder.
Emery came to them carrying the Eshe in his arms, the plants’ delicate roots wrapped in the handkerchief. “I will need to water the roots and keep them damp. But they are large and healthy and should survive the journey without any problem.”
Mick slapped Emery on the back. “We’re in the money now, huh, Professor.”
Emery frowned. “Yes, yes, we’re in the money.”
Gwen realized her father was simply humoring Mick because he believed he could use the man’s greed to his advantage.
“There’s no point hanging around here,” Mick said. “I say we get these million-dollar babies—” he eyed the plants in Emery’s arms “—aboard the Footloose as soon as we can and set sail for the nearest port.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Gwen asked.
“If you’re talking about the others, forget them,” Mick said. “The Eshe plants are ours. I prefer dividing up the billions three ways instead of six. Besides, I’ve got no intention of letting your boyfriend turn me over to the authorities when we get back to civilization.”
Before either Gwen or her father could contradict Mick, beams of blinding white lights shot up from the earth, all around the Fields of Eshe.
Gwen gasped. Emery clutched his beloved plants to his chest. Mick’s eyes bugged out in shock.
“What the hell?” Mick bellowed.
“We have to make a run for it,” Gwen said. “Come on, Daddy. Hurry.”
Mick fled, leaving Gwen and her father, who couldn’t run. With her arm through his, Gwen hurried her father along, away from the fields and toward the jungle, intending to steer clear of the stone roadway. As they scurried for safety, Gwen heard a loud, thundering noise behind her, but realized turning back to see what pursued them would simply waste valuable time.
She caught glimpses of Mick as he rushed ahead of them. Suddenly a thin white light came flying through the air and hit Mick in the back. He dropped instantly, falling out of sight. Dear God, was he dead? Had their trackers killed him?
Suddenly her father grunted, then dropped to his knees. In her effort to keep him on his feet, Gwen went down with him. She wasn’t strong enough to hold him, so all she could manage was to ease him to the ground as slowly as possible. His arms fell open and the Eshe plants tumbled freely onto the grass.
“Daddy? Daddy!” Gwen patted his cheek.
With his eyes wide open but dazed, he looked either dead or unconscious. She felt for a pulse. He was alive, but just barely.
Daring a glance over her shoulder, through the plush jungle greenery, Gwen saw what appeared to be ornately carved golden chariots off in the distance, just outside the fields. But before she could ascertain whether she was hallucinating or not, a thin beam of light struck her chest and the world went black.
Sebak led Will, Jordan and Cheryl to the Fields of Eshe. They arrived moments before dawn. Will realized what had happened as soon as he discovered that not only was Gwen missing from Oseye, but so was Dr. Arnell and Mick McGuire.
“They’ve gone to the Eshe fields,” Will had told the others.
“But why? They knew you were—Damn!” Jordan shook his head. “Gwen did this, didn’t she?”
“She didn’t want you to risk your life,” Cheryl said.
“Yeah. And I should have known what she’d do. Damn stupid woman!” His chest ached with emotion. He’d never been so angry with anyone and at the same time had never been so certain that a woman loved him beyond all reason.
“What can we do?” Cheryl had asked.
“What else? Go after them.”
So, here they were approaching the fields, with Sebak in tow as their guide. But there was no sight of Gwen, her father or McGuire. The Fields of Eshe looked serene and undisturbed.
“Fan out and search for any sign of them, anything the least bit out of the ordinary,” Will ordered. His gut told him that they were too late. “Cheryl, you search around the periphery while we enter the fields.” He turned to Sebak. “If they aren’t here—”
“You will not find them,” Sebak said. “I tried to tell you that the elite brigade captured them and took them to Mount Kaphiri to be punished by Lord Baruti.”
Glowering at Sebak, Will grabbed him. “If we don’t find them, you will guide us to Mount Kaphiri and tell us how to find this Lord Baruti.”
“No, I cannot. I am but a lowly village leader. I am unworthy to ascend to Mount Kaphiri.”
Will shook Sebak, then circled his neck in a death grip. “Worthy or unworthy, you’re going to show us the way. Either that or I will wipe out your entire village, starting with you.”
“You cannot think you are capable of overpowering an entire village. You and Jordan are only two men.”
“Two men with weapons. Guns. Do you know what a gun is? I just happened to have picked up a couple of them when I went back to my boat yesterday, and they’re safely tucked away in my backpack.”
“If your guns are weapons that render people unconscious, then I know what they are. The elite brigade have such weapons.”
“Do their weapons kill?” Will asked.
“Kill? No, they do not kill. There have been no murders on Umi in a thousand years.”
“No murders, huh? What do you call human sacrifice?”
While Sebak stared at Will, a perplexed expression on his face, Cheryl cried out, “I’ve found something!”
Will forced Sebak forward. Cheryl, who had gone approximately thirty feet into the jungle, turned to face them, a dirty handkerchief in her hand. Jordan came running up behind them.
“It’s The Professor’s handkerchief,” Cheryl told them.
“They were here,” Jordan said.
“And now they are gone.” Sebak shook his head sadly.
“We’re going after them.” Will didn’t care what it took, didn’t care if he had to move heaven and earth, he was going to find Gwen. “Sebak says the elite brigade took them to Mount Kaphiri.”
“It will do no good to follow them,” Sebak said. “You cannot rescue them. Their lives are now in the hands of Lord Baruti.”
Will gave Sebak a hard shove. “And your life and the lives of your fellow villagers are now in my hands. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I un
derstand. I … I will show you the way to the foothills of Mount Kaphiri, but I can go no farther. I would be of no help to you. I have never been up the mountain itself, but when my son, who is a scholar, has visited me, he has told me that there is a road that leads from the foothills straight to the high priest’s palace. But the elite brigade guard the entrance to the palace, day and night.”
Gwen regained consciousness slowly, at first not remembering what had happened, but the minute her eyes opened and she didn’t recognize her surroundings, the events of their capture came back to her. When she sat straight up, her head pounded unmercifully, forcing her to lie back down on the soft pillow. Lying flat on her back while the throbbing ache in her head subsided, she glanced right and left, up and down. She lay in an intricately carved black bed. Ebony? The sheet beneath her felt like silk. The walls were decorated with murals, island scenes of waterfalls and villages and the Fields of Eshe.
When she tried sitting up again, more slowly this time, she realized that she was naked. Dear God, what had happened to her?
And where was her father? Where was Mick? For that matter, where was she?
She wrapped the silk sheet around her and tucked one end under the edge that crisscrossed over her breasts, then walked across the room to the gilded door. The handle was gold, encrusted with gems—rubies, diamonds and emeralds.
She tried the handle. The door opened to reveal a long, narrow hallway with stark white walls and a black marble floor. The moment she stepped into the hallway, four women came through a door at the end of the long corridor and rushed toward her.
She stopped and waited for them to come to her. Better to get this initial meeting over now, she told herself.
When the women came near, they paused and looked at her as if waiting for her to either say or do something. The four women looked like sisters, each dark-haired, tall, slender, doe-eyed and elegantly dressed in azure blue off-the-shoulder dresses tied with silver cords directly below their breasts.
“Where am I?” Gwen asked, hoping beyond hope that one of them could speak English. “How long have I been here?”
Ready for Anything, Anywhere! Page 18
