by Dee Davis
“Not your fault,” he said, his voice sounding thready.
She laid the branch down and dropped to her knees beside him, feeling for his pulse. It wasn’t as strong as before. She closed her eyes, struggling against her fear. It was possible he had internal bleeding, and there wasn’t a goddamned thing she could do about it.
As if sensing her anguish, he reached for her with his free hand, his fingers closing around hers. “There’s nothing else you can do.”
“No.” She shook her head. “There has to be something. I just need to think.”
“Sweetheart, there isn’t anything to do. The branch is too big for you to move. Even with a lever. The truth is that I’m not even sure someone my size could move the damn thing. You just have to accept the facts.” He closed his eyes for a moment, his grip on her fingers loosening.
“Damn it, Rafe, you’re not going to leave me. Not like this. Not when we’ve only just found each other.” The words came of their own accord, and his eyes fluttered open.
“Did you say that you love me?”
“Not in those exact words, no. But as a matter of fact—I do love you. And I’m not going to let it end here in the middle of the godforsaken jungle with a bunch of thugs on our tail. Don’t you understand? I won’t lose you. I won’t.”
“Well, you can’t stay here. Not with Mumbaro’s men closing in. You know as well as I do that if they weren’t certain where we were before, they sure as hell know now. That blast was probably visible for miles.”
“Well, I’m not leaving you,” she said, her gaze locking with his, willing him to understand.
“Lara, you don’t have a choice. It’s the only chance either of us has.”
“What about being in this together? I thought the idea was that neither of us leaves the other?” She was gripping his hand with both of hers now, as if the contact alone could somehow save him. His color wasn’t good, and she could see that his breathing was more ragged.
“Sometimes, we have to make hard choices, Lara. If you can get away, maybe you can get help.” He was struggling to stay with her; she could see it in his eyes.
“No,” she cried, tears streaming down her face, the truth of his words driving deep into her heart. “I can’t. I can’t leave you.”
“There’s no other choice. Mumbaro’s men are coming. If you stay, we’re both dead.”
She sucked in a breath, pushing away her tears. “Well, if I go,” she said, “if I do it, you have to promise me that you’ll hold on. That you’ll fight. Because I’ll be back. I’ll find help, and I’ll be back. I swear it.”
He nodded, words too difficult now. The pain and the shock were taking him from her.
“Promise me, Rafe,” she demanded, desperation tingeing her voice, the lights drawing closer.
“I… pro… promise,” he said, the corners of his lips tilting upward in the smallest of smiles.
“I love you, Rafe Winters.” She leaned down to kiss him, and then he slipped into unconsciousness, and against every instinct, she pushed back to her feet, turning away from the approaching lights, away from Rafe. Running full out now, she jumped across the fallen pieces of the mangrove tree, moving into the jungle, her only thought to get help, to find someone who could rescue Rafe.
Somewhere deep inside, she knew that it was a fool’s errand, but hope died hard, and she wasn’t about to give up until she’d exhausted every possible option. She’d meant what she said; she was coming back. She would find help, and then she’d be back.
The trees closed around her and still she ran. Crashing through the underbrush, not caring about anything except helping Rafe. She couldn’t lose him. Not many people got second chances, and she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to fight for hers.
The farm was only a mile or so away now. That was doable. She just had to keep pushing forward. She stumbled across a tree root, going down hard, but she ignored the pain and jumped back to her feet. She had to keep going. The jungle was less dense here, and driven by sheer adrenaline, Lara upped her pace, moving into a full-out sprint.
Trees rushed by, and she prayed for some sign that she was nearing the farm. She rounded a turn, splashing through a stream, the trees closing in again, the darkness deepening. It felt like she’d fallen down the rabbit hole, into a world without light, a world without hope. She was winded, but she pushed herself forward, knowing that if she stopped now, she might never start again.
And then suddenly up ahead, she saw what she thought was a light. But just as quickly, it was gone again, so fast that she thought she must have imagined it. Her brain screamed for her to slow down, warning of danger ahead. But all she could think was that maybe there was someone to help her, someone to help Rafe.
She ran forward, a large branch slapping her in the face, sending her careening out of control. She stumbled and would have fallen, but arms closed around her, and sick with fear and worry, she struggled to escape, fighting like a wild animal.
“Lara, stop, you’re safe now.” The voice stopped her cold in her tracks.
“Nash?” She couldn’t believe her eyes. Hope and relief flooded through her, buoying her ebbing strength as she found her balance and faced her friend. “Is it really you?”
For a moment, she thought she’d lost her mind, that she was hallucinating. But then she saw Annie and Avery, and then Tyler, the four of them armed to the teeth and looking better than anything she’d seen in all her life. A-Tac to the rescue. She should have known they’d find a way.
“How did you find me?” she asked as they gathered around her.
“A woman from your settlement called Hannah,” Avery said, his deep voice soothing, his dark eyes full of worry. “She said you’d been taken by the rebels. So Hannah called Langley and they contacted NATO. Apparently there’s an ongoing operation. Anyway, we were on a mission in Gabon, so we came as soon as we heard. We’ve been tracking you by satellite.”
“I don’t understand,” she said with a frown. “I don’t have anything on me that you could track.”
“That’s where NATO comes in. The man you’ve been traveling with is in their employ, and so we’ve been following his GPS signal.”
“Oh my God, Rafe,” Lara said, memory slamming home as she fought her rising terror. “You have to help him. He’s going to die if we don’t hurry.”
“Where is he?” Annie asked, her arm encircling Lara, her warmth giving her strength.
“He’s stuck beneath a tree,” she said, fighting to find the words. “He tried to save me, and now I’ve got to save him. I can’t lose him. Can you understand that, Annie? I can’t lose him.”
The team mobilized in an instant, and with only a few questions, they managed to sort out the situation and what exactly was at stake.
“All right,” Avery said, as always taking charge. “You stay here with Tyler, and we’ll go and get Rafe.”
“No.” Lara shook her head, her mind clear, her heart determined. “I’m going with you. If Mumbaro’s men are there, you’ll need all the help you can get. And besides, I promised him I’d come back.”
“Okay,” Avery said, signaling Annie to take point, Nash just behind her. Lara followed with Avery and Tyler. Everyone was on high alert, guns at the ready. In no time, they’d reached the clearing, Lara’s heart rate ratcheting up as they approached the edge of the clearing.
The moon was out again, the meadow grasses turning silvery in the light. The tree, or what was left of it, loomed black against the night sky, and in the jungle across from them, Lara could see the wavering beams of flashlights. Mumbaro’s men were almost to the clearing.
“We don’t have much time.” Lara nodded toward the bobbing lights.
“Annie and I will head around the perimeter,” Nash said. “That way we’ll be able to slow them down as they get within range. Any idea how many there are, Lara?”
“No. But Rafe said the camp was well fortified. And they’ve certainly had time to mobilize.”
“No worr
ies.” Nash shook his head, shooting a look at his wife. “We’ll be ready. You guys just get Rafe free.”
“We’ll signal when we’ve got him,” Avery said. “Keep your com units on channel two. We’ll hold silence until we’re ready for retreat. No contact at all unless things go south. Agreed?”
“Roger that,” Nash said, he and Annie already heading out.
Lara followed Avery as they made their way across the mangled tree to where she’d left Rafe, Tyler hanging back for a moment to radio for evac and possible backup.
“He should be right over here,” she said, picking her way across the leaves and branches of the fallen tree limb. At first she thought she’d steered them wrong, but then she saw him, almost completely concealed by mud and debris.
“Looks like he knows his stuff,” Avery observed as they moved over to where Rafe lay.
Lara dropped to her knees, reaching for his hand, her pulse racing as she felt his neck for a heartbeat. It was there, and as she remembered to breathe, his eyes opened, and he struggled to speak.
“You should… be gone.”
“I brought friends,” she said. “We’re here to help you.”
“Mumbaro,” he whispered.
“They’ll handle him as well. Stop worrying and let us do our thing.”
He nodded, his eyes closing again, and she looked over at Avery as he tried to use the same branch she had positioned earlier to shift the bigger limb off of Rafe. She started to stand, wanting to help, but Tyler arrived and pushed her back down with a shake of her head.
“You need to watch him. If we do get that thing off, there’s no telling what kind of injuries he’s sustained.”
Lara nodded, chastising herself for not having the same thought. She was the doctor after all.
“It’s hard to think when someone you love is at risk,” Tyler said, her smile gentle as she moved over to add her strength to Avery’s. The big branch groaned and then moved a little, but not enough. The two of them stopped, regrouping for a second effort, Lara keeping her fingers against Rafe’s pulse. It was rapid but steady enough. And she prayed for the damn branch to move.
“No dice,” Avery said, sweat breaking out across his forehead as he released the branch serving as a lever.
“So that’s it?” Lara asked, her heart twisting.
“Of course not,” Tyler said, rummaging through her pack. “I just need a minute to think.”
“Well, not too long,” Avery observed as shots rang out. “Looks like Annie and Nash have gone into action, which means Mumbaro’s men are here.”
“No worries,” she said, producing a small quantity of explosive. “I think this will do the job.”
“And blow Rafe up in the process?” Lara said, the question not aimed at anyone in particular, her fear on the rise again.
“No,” Tyler shook her head. “It’ll be a controlled explosion. And I’ll keep it as far from him as possible. Just enough to break the tree branch into two sections. It’ll reduce the weight and give us a real shot at getting Rafe free.”
Her heart screamed no, but she knew that Tyler was an expert when it came to munitions, and that this might be Rafe’s only chance.
“Come on,” Avery said, reaching for her arm. “We’ve got to move out of the way.”
“You go,” she answered, her hand still on Rafe’s pulse. “I’m not leaving him.”
Avery’s gaze moved to Tyler, who shrugged and nodded, then turned back to the wires and explosives she was burying beneath the tree branch.
Avery nodded and knelt beside Lara. “If you stay, I do, too. You’re part of my family, and by extension then, so is Rafe.”
Lara nodded, tears filling her eyes. She’d forgotten just how lucky she was to have these people in her life.
“Okay,” Tyler said, moving over to crouch beside them, an electronic detonator in her hand. “Everybody cover your heads.”
Lara leaned across Rafe, protecting him with her body, and closed her eyes. There was a moment of silence and then the explosion. As promised, it was contained, only a few stray branches and leaves raining down upon them.
Tyler jumped to her feet, heading over to examine her handiwork, then with a thumbs-up, returned to where Avery was already standing by the jerry-rigged lever. Using their combined strength, they pushed hard, the fallen branch groaning as it lifted and then, with a satisfying crackle, splintered and rolled off of Rafe.
He moaned, and his eyes opened as blood flowed into his legs, the resulting pain no doubt harrowing. Although it was clear that his leg was broken, probably in several places, there was no sign of any life-threatening external injury. Lara examined his chest and stomach best she could and was relieved to find no obvious signs of internal injury, either, but they needed to get him out of here. Now.
The gunfire had grown closer, and Tyler barked something into her radio, just as Annie and Nash burst into the clearing, running full out, firing over their shoulders.
“We’ve got to get him up,” Tyler said. “Chopper’s on the way. We’ve got to get him away from the debris to the clear side of the meadow where the pilot can land.”
Lara nodded and leaned over Rafe. “Sweetie, you’re going to have to try and stand. I know it’s going to hurt like hell, but we’ll help you. Okay? You think you can do it?”
His gaze moved to hers, and he squeezed her hand, nodding. “Let’s get… the hell… out of here,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.
Avery moved to Rafe’s left side, the one with the broken leg, and Tyler and Lara moved to the right. Together, they pulled him to his feet, most of his weight resting against Avery. “Come on,” Avery said, “we’ve got to move now.”
Annie and Nash arrived, turning to provide covering fire as Mumbaro’s men burst from the jungle in alarming numbers. “Go,” Annie screamed, as the sound of helicopter blades filled the night. “We’ll be right behind you.”
They moved at an agonizingly slow pace, Rafe fighting to hang on to consciousness as bullets strafed the ground on all sides. Up ahead, the helicopter slowly dropped to the ground, the big blades sending dust flying. One hundred feet, then fifty, and then suddenly they were there, someone inside pulling Rafe to safety.
Behind them, Lara heard guns firing, the flash coming from the trees verifying the shooters’ positions. Men were running toward them now, but Nash managed to drop two of them as Avery and Lara climbed aboard the helicopter. And then they were all aboard, Nash still firing out the side, as the big bird lifted into the air, the first fingers of dawn stretching across the African sky.
“Rafe,” Lara said, as a medic checked his vitals and administered fluids and painkillers. “Darling, can you hear me? It’s over. We’re safe now. It’s going to be all right.”
His eyes flickered opened, and the ghost of a smile traced across his face as he squeezed her hand. “Yeah,” he said, his voice fading as the drugs took effect. “Which means it’s just you and me, sweetheart. Together…”
“Forever,” Lara whispered as she smoothed back his hair and he slid into sleep.
Epilogue
U.S. Military Hospital, Landstuhl, Germany—three days later
“So I wanted to say good-bye,” Avery said, filling the doorway of her hospital room. “You and Rafe are going to be fine, and it’s past time for me to get back to New York.”
“I can’t believe you stayed this long,” Lara said, reaching out for his hands as he crossed over to the hospital bed.
“I had to make sure the two of you were going to be all right. And to tell you the truth, if I hadn’t stayed, there would have been a small riot. The rest of the team wanted to be here, too. I had to pull rank to restrain Hannah from coming, so consider me a proxy.”
Lara had developed a staph infection in one of her wrists, and it had spread up her arm, but thankfully, a cocktail of antibiotics had fought it off. Rafe had also been touch and go in the beginning. His internal injuries, combined with a compound fracture in his left leg, had
required surgery, but he, too, was on the mend. She’d just been released, and if things continued to go well, he was due out this afternoon.
“I’ll never be able to repay you for what you did.”
“You’re family, Lara,” Avery said, his big hands enveloping hers. “And whenever you’re ready, we want you to come home. But until then, I’ll trust that you and Rafe will take care of each other.”
There hadn’t been a lot of time for talk after the helicopter, and so she wasn’t exactly sure what was in store for the two of them, but she intended to stick around and find out.
“You can bet on it, sir,” Rafe said, standing in the doorway, fully dressed, leaning on his crutches.
“I thought you were supposed to be in bed,” Lara chided. He hadn’t been the easiest of patients, and with her stuck in her room, she hadn’t been able to help corral him all that much.
“Apparently I’ve been a good boy.” He grinned. “I’ve been released a little early.”
“Which is my cue to leave,” Avery said. “I’ve got a flight to catch.” He shook Rafe’s hand and gave Lara a fierce hug. “Come home soon. We miss you.” She nodded, tears welling, and with a tight smile, he released her and left the room, leaving her alone with Rafe.
“So you’ve been sprung too, I see.” He nodded at her jeans and T-shirt. “Nice to see you all in one piece.”
“Right back at you,” she said, feeling awkward, which was stupid when she considered all that they’d been through and all that they’d said. But still, it was what it was.
“So where you headed?” he asked, the question throwing her. “I assume from what I just overheard, it’s not the CIA?”
“No.” She shook her head, leaning back against the bed. “I’m not ready for that. Not yet anyway. And I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that I’m not supposed to go to Africa.”
“Which leaves what? A vacation?” His eyes twinkled as he moved closer, the crutches not impeding his progress at all.
“Well,” she said, “I’m not exactly the leisurely type. And there’s a clinic in the Andes. They’re short on staff. So I don’t know, I was thinking maybe I’d head there.” She swallowed nervously. “What about you? Do they want you to go back in?” Several officials had been in and out of his room during his convalescence, but she hadn’t had the chance, or the courage, to ask him about it.
