by Sue MacKay
‘There are some similarities when I think about it. She’s driven, always right, and never slows down for anyone else.’ Maddy said it all with a smile and sighed with relief when Sam didn’t get uptight.
‘A top-notch character, then. What does she do?’ His hand was back on her elbow, holding her close to his body as he navigated them through the throngs of people too busy peering at all the merchandise to look where they were going.
‘She has a double degree in business studies and clothing design, which I have to admit she’s exceptional at. Her fashion label is building a reputation for quality and style so fast I only hope she can keep up, considering those four gorgeous girls who keep her busy, too.’
‘Bet they miss their aunt.’
‘Their aunt misses them heaps.’ Madison looked along the stalls for something to send home to them. ‘What are you going to get Pa Creighton?’ she asked next. ‘We could go back for more scarves later.’
The hours disappeared in a haze of shopping, teasing, and laughter. It was the fun she’d hoped for, and more. They got along with no hiccups, like this was something they did often. The heat had built up all morning, the sun beating down on the street and the rooves of the buildings they entered.
Finally Madison said, ‘I could kill for a cold drink.’ She wouldn’t acknowledge the heat from a different source that also drained her of energy. Heat she’d like to do something about, but then she’d spoil the day. Sam would have them back at base quick smart if he thought she wanted to get closer, get beyond kissing and clothes.
Beyond clothes? her brain screeched. Seriously? Of course not.
‘I know just the place.’ Sam swung some of her shopping bags in front of her. ‘It’s near the car so we can dump these first.’
Going back to base might be wise. With his hand on her arm for most of the morning, Sam had cranked up her desire level to a simmer. If this was what one hand could do then she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have Sam’s total concentration. Boiling wouldn’t begin to describe it.
‘Here’s the car.’
‘I’d never have found it again,’ she admitted as she stepped around him, putting a gap between them as she placed her shopping in the boot.
‘We’ll cut through that alley by the barber’s. There’s a café at the other end that’s primarily used by Westerners, and serves hot and cold drinks.’
Sam’s arm was draped over her shoulder, drawing her along with him. All she had to do was stop, tell him she wanted to go back, and that would be it. Easy. End a perfect day. But a little devil zipped her mouth shut and lifted her feet one after the other so she was moving with Sam.
The alley was dark and cold after the sun. She shivered, peered around, shivered again. ‘This is creepy.’
‘We’ll be fine. It’s not in the tourists’ brochures as a place to visit or shop in, that’s all.’
She upped her pace, and was glad Sam followed suit. ‘Everyone’s staring at us,’ she murmured. The few stallholders had stopped talking and were standing watching as she and Sam headed for the far end. Two men ducked into a doorway. ‘I’m not liking this.’
Sam’s hand tightened on her shoulder, and she was tucked closer to his hard body. ‘We’re fine, I promise.’
Great. Her strides lengthened and Sam went with the flow, heading for the splash of sunlight at the far end of the alley. Then they were out in the glaring light and her heart rate started slowing back to normal.
‘In here.’ Sam pushed open the door and she stepped into a cool room filled with small tables and chairs. A man lounged against a counter, talking to the waiter or possibly the cook, who was rubbing the countertop with a cloth as though he had all day to do it.
There was nothing uncomfortable about the place. It was so normal Madison had to pinch herself to make sure she hadn’t imagined the previous minute outside. ‘Did that happen? Was I wrong to think there was something bad out there?’
‘You’re not used to being an object of intrigue by strangers in a foreign setting.’ He placed money on the counter. ‘Two sodas, thanks, Bix. Okay if we have a booth at the back?’
‘Go for it.’ The barman answered in a light American twang.
‘Why do we want a booth?’ Maddy asked. ‘I’m quite happy sitting in here.’ She liked the sense of space and being able to see what, if anything, was going on. That alley had spooked her more than it should have.
‘Sure. No problem. Want something to eat as well?’ Sam asked. ‘Falafels? A kofta?’
Until then she hadn’t thought she was hungry again, but the thought of those delicacies made her mouth water. ‘I’m glad you haven’t run out of good ideas yet.’
When the cook headed out to the kitchen to start preparing their order, the other customer downed his drink and stood up. ‘See ya,’ he called, and headed for the door.
Madison raised her glass and tapped it against Sam’s. ‘Thanks for a great day. I’m glad you brought me. I’m not sure how I’d feel about coming into town on my own.’
‘Best you don’t, being female and—’
Boom. An explosion ripped through the building, followed by another. One moment Maddy was sitting on a chair, the next she was sprawled on the floor, being rained on by ceiling tiles and cups and glasses from where the counter used to be. ‘Sam,’ she screeched, but heard nothing above the throbbing in her ears. ‘Where are you? Sam,’ she yelled as fear spread through her.
Knew there was something evil out in that alley. We shouldn’t have come in here.
Then she heard timber creaking, followed by a loud thud, and the floor shook. More debris poured down over her. The fear intensified, tightened her stomach, chest, mouth. Not again. Please, no. She screamed. ‘Sam.’
Peering through the thick dust, she couldn’t find him. Her heart was blocking her throat, making breathing impossible. ‘Sam. Where are you? Don’t do this to me.’ Was that squeaky sound really her voice? The power for the lights must’ve been taken out because it was semi-dark in here, making everything feel close and looming. What just happened? ‘Sam, please.’
You’d better be all right. I can’t deal with something happening to you on top of all this. I don’t want another Granddad scenario.
A chill settled over her.
‘Maddy.’ A hand gripped her ankle. ‘I’m here. Got you covered. Are you all right?’
Yes, apart from a racing heart and nauseous stomach, and the crippling fear keeping her sprawled on the floor. ‘Y-yes.’ She tried to clear her throat of some of the dust. ‘What about you?’
‘Everything seems in working order.’
‘What happened? Tell me it wasn’t those men in the alley.’
‘No idea, but I doubt it.’ His hand moved up her leg, reached her knee.
Her hand shook continuously as she reached for Sam’s. She needed to feel those fingers gripping hers, to feel his strength and tenderness and warmth. She was frozen. Her teeth chattered. ‘Wh-which way is out?’
‘Wait there. I’ll take a look. Be right back.’
‘No.’ Her grip tightened around his hand. ‘Don’t leave me,’ she gasped. Suck it up, Madison. You’re a soldier, not a wimp. It made sense if only one of them did a recon of the situation. Though sense didn’t come into it if it meant being on her own, even for a very short time.
An arm wound around her, pulled her against a strong, steady torso. ‘You’re okay, Maddy. We’re okay.’
He was so calm, comforting, at ease. ‘Take your time, get your breathing back to normal.’ His neck was twisting left then right as he looked around, probably sizing up their position. ‘The dust is settling, allowing daylight in. From what I can see, it looks like the roof came down on top of us.’
‘That’s a lucky break.’ The beams might hold the weight of the roof off them. Beams? The
fear was back, winding up tighter than ever. ‘Fire. There were explosions. There must be fire.’
‘Sniff the air, Maddy. I can’t smell smoke. Neither can I hear the sound of crackling flames.’ His words were measured, calming in their ordinary delivery.
‘We don’t know for sure.’ Fire moved fast, devoured everything in its path. ‘The building could be burning further away from us.’
‘I’m going to take a look, see how far I can get. Hopefully there’s a way out. Wait here. I’ll be right back.’
Around the thudding of her heart she implored, ‘Sam, be very careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you.’ She’d go nuts with fear if he didn’t return. Suddenly it was impossible to imagine a world without Sam in it.
He cupped her face between both hands and leaned in to touch his nose to hers. ‘It won’t. I promise.’
‘Don’t make promises you have no control over.’ Then she pushed forward to cover his lips with hers, felt his mouth open under hers, took a quick dip with her tongue to taste him. What if she’d lost him when that explosion blew the bar apart? You don’t have him. But he was there, under her skin, waking her up, taunting her with possibilities.
His lips returned the kiss, soft and slow and full of something she didn’t recognise, not from Sam. It felt like concern and care, almost like love, but she was wrong about that. She didn’t know love, had got it badly wrong with her ex. And Sam had clearly told her he didn’t get close to people, had indicated he didn’t do love.
Sam pulled away, leaving her feeling bereft. ‘Don’t move,’ he told her as he crawled along what used to be a gap between tables and was now full of twisted, broken stools.
Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, she made up her mind to do some exploring of her own, be proactive instead of reactive. Sitting here, waiting for Sam, only led to her mind conjuring up all sorts of nasty ideas about what had happened.
‘Looks to me like we’re stuck in here,’ Sam told her when she bumped into him under a flattened door.
‘How stuck?’
‘As in the roof is on top of the tables, saving us from being flattened. The walls appear to have fallen inwards. I can’t find a way out. Not even a small opening for you to squeeze through.’
No, no, no. They couldn’t stay in here, waiting for someone to reach them. She sniffed the air, sneezed when she got a lungful of dust. But no smoke. One bit of luck anyway. A huge bit. ‘I’m going to check this out.’
‘I’m telling you we’re stuck.’ He tugged his phone from his pocket. ‘I’ll text someone on the base.’
Sam was right. She’d known he would be but, desperate for a way out, was driven to check. This was one time she’d love to prove him wrong.
Her hands shook as she felt her way around the edge of their cell. It took less than a minute to concede. Frustration and worry built up inside her, creating waves of nausea. Being confined in a small place would never have bothered her once. ‘We could be here for days. No one knows where we are,’ she cried.
‘They do now.’ Sam waved his phone in her direction.
‘You’re kidding. You got coverage in here?’
‘Yep. I’ve texted Jock and the commander. One of them will get guys here with gear to haul us out.’
She swallowed the fear in the back of her throat. Tried to, any rate. Focused on something else. ‘What about the barman? He went to the kitchen. Did you hear anything from him? He might be worse off.’ Her heart was in overdrive, beating like that of a wild bird. She couldn’t do this. She’d go mad thinking about the last time she’d been stuck, unable to move to save her grandfather.
There is no smoke. There is no smoke. You’re going to be all right. You’re with Sam. He won’t let anything bad happen to you.
Both hands were on her stomach, her fingers digging in, warding off any blows that might come her way.
Sam was texting and reaching for her hands at the same time. ‘Stop this, Maddy. You can do better than wind yourself up into a ball of nerves. You’re strong.’
Worry was only half of it. But, ‘You’re right. It’s just...’ Stop. Don’t tell him. He was going tomorrow, and whatever was going on between them would be over. ‘This isn’t the first time a roof has come down on me. Part of one, any rate.’
Sam stuffed his phone back in his pocket and reached for her other hand. ‘Tell me.’
She nibbled her bottom lip until it hurt. ‘There was a fire.’ Nibble, nibble. ‘My granddad lit a candle and set it by his bed.’ Her hands gripped Sam’s. ‘He had early dementia and I was there for the night to give Mum and Dad a much-needed break. The fire investigators believe Granddad knocked the candle over in his sleep.’
Then it became impossible to stop the torrent of words.
‘A crashing noise woke me. I rushed to get Granddad out, but there was smoke everywhere and I couldn’t find my way around the house I’d lived in most of my life. It freaked me out.’
Sam’s hands squeezed hers, his thumbs rubbing her skin softly, encouragingly.
‘His room was ablaze. And his bed. I managed to drag him out the door, along the hall to the lounge...’
Her voice trailed away so that her next words were a whisper. She’d never talked about this to anyone. People knew, but putting any of it into words had been beyond her—until today.
‘A ceiling beam dropped on us, and that’s where we were found not long afterwards.’
Strong arms wound around her. Sam lifted her onto his thighs and held her close, stroking her shoulder. ‘We’re safe in here, Maddy. There’s no smoke or the sound of approaching flames.’
‘I’ve been sniffing the air non-stop,’ she admitted against his chest.
‘I saw. Now I understand why you freaked out when you saw your first dust whirl.’
‘Yeah, that was a bit of a giveaway.’
‘But you’ve done well since. No flinching on patrol where there was dust and smoke for Africa.’
‘I work hard at hiding it.’ Had to if she wasn’t going to be treated with disdain—by this man and the troops.
‘Then there’s that stomach rub thing you do when you’re upset.’ His head might be above hers, but the increased tension in his body told Madison he was waiting for a strong reaction from her.
Damn him for being too observant. She quickly slid off those thighs, muttering, ‘Just an old habit,’ as she tried to make herself comfortable on the floor beside him, averting her face from his prying eyes in case she let slip some emotions best kept hidden.
‘Right.’ Sam’s disappointment fell between them.
She was damned if she was going to explain so he’d feel happier, because she sure wouldn’t.
A phone beeped, and Sam dug into his pocket.
Saved by the bell.
‘The men are on their way.’
Relief loosened her muscles. ‘They know where to come?’
‘Everyone knows this place.’ He tapped out a text and pushed ‘Send’. ‘Might as well make ourselves comfortable. They’ll be a while putting some gear together and we have no idea what it’s like outside our cocoon. They’ll have to take it carefully, working through to us. Don’t want any more timber coming down.’
‘As long as there are no more explosions I can handle that.’ As long as you’re with me. ‘Would’ve loved those koftas, though.’
‘I wonder.’ Sam tapped his finger against his chin. ‘Bix went out to the kitchen to heat up the oil for our order. Then everything blew up.’
‘You think the gas might’ve been leaking? Wouldn’t there be fire?’ Bang, bang. Her heart rate shot through the roof again.
‘No, Maddy. We’d know by now if there was a fire.’ Sam leaned back against what was their temporary wall and tugged her against him. ‘So, probably not the gas. Guess we’re going to
have to wait to find out what happened.’
It was warm in the small space, yet snuggling into Sam gave her a different kind of warmth, finally obliterating the chill she’d been fighting since finding herself face down on the floor. He gave her hope they’d be all right. Couldn’t ask more of him than that. ‘So, got any cards in your pocket?’
He laughed. ‘We could try finding a game app on the phone.’
‘You’d hate me winning.’
Another laugh. ‘Not at all.’ Then, ‘Okay, maybe a little bit.’
Madison glanced around. For a prison it was quite snug in here. Nothing wrong with the company she was keeping either. ‘When I thought we’d spend a day having fun together I never envisaged this.’ She’d wanted to make new memories to take into the future as she learned to live without the man she might be falling for, but she’d got more than she’d bargained for.
Seemed her future was going to be all about memories—good and bad. The best she could hope for was the good ones outweighing the bad.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘“WE’RE OUTSIDE THE PUB”.’ Sam read Jock’s text out loud. ‘“Give us a clue where you might be”.’
In the centre of the café, he tapped back.
‘Told you they wouldn’t waste any time getting here,’ he said to Maddy.
‘I’m glad.’ There was a quiver in her voice, belying her resolute face.
‘It’s nearly over, and you’ll be back on base before you know it. I’ll be able to take a look at that cut on your head then.’
‘What cut?’ Her fingers tripped around her skull until she found a sticky patch. ‘Ouch. Never felt a thing but now it’s throbbing.’
‘You’re relaxing at last.’ Stretching his legs out in front of him, Sam tipped his head back against the boards behind them, stared around their tight space. They were incredibly lucky that the roof had fallen onto chairs and tables, creating a safe haven. Three feet either way they’d have been hit and badly injured for sure. Or worse.
He suppressed a shudder, knowing the woman tucked into him would recognise it for the stab of horror it was, and probably freak out a lot more. Maddy had struggled to keep her terror at bay, but it had been there in her eyes, zipping across her face and twisting his gut. He hated that she was frightened, and yet admired her for not going screaming mad. Now that he knew about the fire he marvelled that she was holding it together at all.
