by Dale Mayer
“And I’m not sure she’s ready.”
“You mean, you’re not sure you are ready?” she said.
“It’s dangerous,” he admitted. “Look what happened to you—and Helena—with the kidnapping, and that’s just because you’re my sister.”
“Not necessarily,” she said. “This is, like I said, a bizarre scenario.”
“True.” He nodded. “But it happened. So we don’t want it to keep happening. I don’t want to get close to Helena and then have people coming after her because she’s important to me.”
“Really?” Carolina asked with a smile. “How are you gonna stop that?”
He frowned and stared off in the distance.
“Because you realize it’s already happened. Sure they came after me because I’m your sister. But I’m pretty darn sure that the kidnappers know how close you two are already.”
“They can’t know,” he said, “because I don’t even know what I am to Helena.”
“Maybe not,” she said. “However, you already know how important she is to you. You just hope nobody else does.”
“Does anybody else?” His voice sounded harsh to him as well.
She smiled. “You mean, does she know?”
He hesitated and then gave a nod.
Carolina smiled again, bigger this time, shook her head, and said, “No, I don’t think so.”
Immediately he let out a sigh of relief.
“But I don’t think that’s a good thing,” Carolina said. “Something’s between the two of you, and I think you’re cheating yourselves if you don’t acknowledge it and at least see what is there.”
“Cheating ourselves?” he said with a smile. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“You won’t know unless you try,” she said, “and, as we have found out yet again, life is fleeting. It can end in a heartbeat, usually when you least expect it.”
“Are you ever gonna have another relationship?” he asked her.
“I will,” she said, “when I find a man who doesn’t scare the crap out of me.”
Instantly his face thinned with anger.
Carolina shook her head. “No,” she said. “That’s the wrong wording. I’m not afraid of men. I’m afraid of my judgment. And I can tell you that that’s a big part of Helena’s problem too. We thought we knew what we were doing. We thought we trusted the men we had chosen, but the fact of the matter remains that we made crappy decisions. That’s what’s stopping her. That’s what’s stopping me. What we don’t want is for that to stop you too.”
Chapter 9
Helena heard part of the conversation as she lay curled up in bed. The voices woke her from an uneasy sleep. She’d hoped for a deeply relaxing and rejuvenating sleep instead of the sounds of her best friend’s conversation with her brother drifting toward her. It was interesting to hear Carolina’s take on Helena’s own abuse experience and Lennox’s replies. Helena realized just how screwed up they all would be when going into future relationships.
With their backgrounds as victims of abuse, the worst that any relationship could offer, both women were hesitant to move forward. Helena knew that Lennox had absolutely none of the same qualities of her ex-husband; maybe that’s why he’d been her ex? Lennox was also a very fit and powerful man, and, if he ever did turn ugly, Helena wouldn’t have a hope in hell. It was hard to take a chance, hard to take that step forward. In her heart she trusted him, but did her mind? … Moody, she lay in bed, wondering what her options were.
First off, they had to get home safe and sound, and next, well, she’d look at that when the time came. She let herself drift off to sleep again, waking several more times throughout the night, tossing and turning. When she finally did wake up in the morning, Carolina walked in with a smile on her face.
Helena yawned and asked, “What time is it?”
“It’s ten a.m.,” she said. “You slept late.”
“No,” she said, “I just finally got to sleep around four. It was terrible before that, and I’m still so tired.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t sleep well,” Carolina said. “I’m only waking you up,” she said, “because food has been ordered. It will be here soon.”
“Perfect,” Helena said, around a second yawn. “Did our luggage arrive?” She sat up in bed, looking around for her carry-on bag.
“They’re due in the next five to ten minutes. Not sure about our purses.”
She frowned. “Well, I don’t want to go out there not dressed, and I don’t want to redress in my dirty clothes if I have fresh ones coming,” she said, “so how about I just stay here?”
“Coffee is out there though,” Carolina said with a coaxing smile.
“Any chance of a room delivery?” Helena asked hopefully.
Carolina laughed. “I’ll see.” She disappeared from the room.
Helena smiled. That was the thing about good friends. You could ask them to go the distance, and one little step farther, if it was something you wanted. When the door opened again though, Lennox stepped in. He held a cup of coffee in his hand. “The luggage just arrived downstairs,” he said. “We’ll have it up here for you in a few minutes.”
She beamed. “Thank you. I love the prompt service with our clothes. Any news on our purses and IDs?”
“Yep. We’ve got them too. Two of our men came in behind us and cleaned out any sign you were ever there.”
“Perfect.” She felt such a relief to know they could go home now with their proper identification in hand. She held up her cup. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“Well, you won’t get room delivery all the time,” he said with a grin. His gaze lingered, and Helena realized that, since she’d gone to bed with just panties on, an awful lot of skin probably showed. She tugged the sheet a little bit higher and gave him a good frown.
“What’s that look for?” he asked.
“Because of the one on your face.”
“I like what I see,” he said. “You can hardly blame a guy for that.”
“I don’t blame you,” she said. “I just know that we’re in this silent truce to stay physically away from each other.”
“Maybe that’s the wrong thing,” he said, standing there with his hands on his hips as he studied her.
“And what brought that on?” she asked, straightening in surprise, trying to mask the shock to her system. As his words mirrored her own internal conversation, she didn’t know what to say. This was about his conversation with Carolina last night. “It’s been what, five years?”
“Right,” he said, “five years, and we’re both five years older.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but maybe I’m not any wiser.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I think you’ve been through enough that you’ve probably learned a lot.”
“I have,” she said, as she shuffled up against the headboard, uncomfortably keeping her sheet up high. She waved him toward the door. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Well, maybe I’ve changed my mind,” he said in a challenging voice, his fingers spreading on his hips as he rocked on his heels slightly. “I’ve had five years to think about it.”
“So have I,” she said, hating the bitterness in her voice. “I’m not the same person anymore.”
“You can’t hide away forever.”
She narrowed her gaze at him. “I don’t plan on it,” she said. “I’m not carrying a grudge against men, if that’s what you’re thinking—or afraid of them. I got myself into a shitty situation. But that doesn’t mean I want to get into another relationship right now.”
“I admire the fact that you did get yourself out of that one,” he said. “I can’t imagine that the two of you were very comfortable in your marriages.”
“No,” she said, “I wasn’t, and, therefore, I won’t be too eager to jump back into something like that.”
“Well, you shouldn’t jump back into anything like that,” he said, “but you also know that I’m not like that.”
> She frowned up at him again. “Where is this coming from?”
He shrugged. “Maybe I’ve been thinking.”
Her eyebrows rose. “About me?” She wasn’t sure what to think about that. They had had one hell of a fiery kiss and, by mutual agreement, had backed off, deciding it was not smart to move forward. As a way to forget him, she’d gone in the opposite direction. Only it didn’t work. She’d always cared. So why was she still arguing, when it’s what she wanted? “Nothing has changed. Your sister is still between us.”
“Yeah, and I wonder why we put her there?” he said quietly. “You and I both love her. That won’t change whether we’re together or not.”
“Well, considering we’re not together,” she said, “we don’t know that.”
“I’m not explaining this very well,” he said, his gaze first on her, then her coffee. “We’ll pick it up later. Drink your coffee. The luggage should be here soon.” And he pivoted and walked out.
She sat here, stunned, sipping her coffee, realizing that the conversation last night between sister and brother had potentially gone a lot deeper than the tidbits she’d heard. She would have to ask Carolina about that.
Just then Carolina walked in with her purse and Helena’s purse. “We got them,” she said. She dropped Helena’s on her lap and then sat down at the end of the bed and said, “Mine appears to be intact. I’ve got my money, my passport, all my cards even.”
“Wouldn’t that be lovely?” Helena exclaimed. She checked out her purse and nodded. “It looks like everything’s here.” At the bottom of her purse was a large-tooth comb; she snatched it and grinned. “How I missed the simple things in life.” She quickly combed her hair, plaited it in the back, and curled the braid around her shoulder.
“You look about twelve years old now,” Carolina said.
“You’re the one who looks twelve,” she said teasingly. “I’m at least fourteen.”
The two women laughed, both of them welcoming the lighter atmosphere and the chance to release some of the stress from the last few days.
“Oh, our suitcases are here too.” Carolina hopped up. “I’ll go grab yours.” And she dashed out again.
Helena smiled, overjoyed to have her belongings back. There was just such a sense of loss, panic almost, when she didn’t have her IDs or a credit card or any cash on hand. It was one thing to be at an airport, where there were assistants and phones and bank machines. And people to contact for help. But, when you were caught in the middle of nowhere, where you didn’t even know the language, … it made you vulnerable.
Carolina returned with Helena’s single carry-on bag. “Lennox said we can’t use our phones yet, in case the kidnappers are tracking us that way. He’ll let us know when it’s okay later. I’ll go get changed,” she said.
She dropped Helena’s luggage on the floor for her and disappeared again, closing the door behind her. Helena finished her coffee, put it down, then stood and brought her bag onto the bed and opened it. There she took out leggings and a T-shirt and clean underwear. Dressed and feeling a whole lot better, she rolled up her dirty clothes, put them in a travel-size laundry bag, and stuffed them into the back of her carry-on. She hoped she’d be home pretty soon, but, if it wasn’t to be, then she could always rinse these out somewhere. And, with that, she picked up the empty coffee cup and headed out to the main room.
With perfect timing, the doorbell rang. She looked over to see Gavin already at the door, opening up for a trolley, followed by a second one.
“Wow, you ordered some serious food,” she said with a happy cry.
“Some serious appetites are here,” Lennox said. “Not to worry. You won’t starve.”
“Didn’t expect to,” she said with a grin. And, sure enough, as she looked at her options, she found a stack of pancakes, toast, scrambled eggs, some fruit, and little individual yogurts for each of them. She sat down with the rest of the crew and reached for a small yogurt and a spoon first.
“Make sure you eat more than that,” Lennox said.
“I will,” she promised. But she sat back with the yogurt and ate it slowly, enjoying the slide of the tangy, creamy texture down her throat. With that gone and everybody else digging into the pancakes, she got her plate and filled it.
Carolina, seated at her side, had already eaten through her pancakes and eggs and was now working on toast. Helena looked at her best friend and said, “You must be feeling better. And starving.”
“I am, on both accounts,” Carolina said. “You don’t know when the next meal will pop up.”
“I hope there’ll be regular meals from now on,” Sasha said bluntly, “because I don’t ever want to go through this again.”
“I hear you,” John said, “but it is a lesson. I find myself on Carolina’s train of thought that we need to eat because we can.”
“There will be more food,” Gavin reassured them.
“Promise?” Helena asked. “Because, otherwise, you know not a scrap of food will be left here.”
“Good,” Lennox said. “No need for any to remain. Because we paid for it, we might as well eat it. And we can’t take it with us.”
“Good point,” Helena said and took another bite. By the time she was done though, she was overdone. She should have stopped halfway through, but her eyes have been much more concerned about making sure she ate. She wondered how long it took being a captive before that mind-set became permanent. She would already have to watch this urge to eat everything in sight; otherwise she’d end up gaining a ton of weight. And it wasn’t necessary. Not for feeding her body.
It was a security thing, an internal panic that she would starve. But she knew she was a long way from that. When she finally put down her fork and pushed back her plate, she groaned and said, “Outside of a cup of coffee, I’m stuffed.”
“We’ll get another pot of coffee,” Gavin said. “We’ll just empty these trolleys and take them back out again.”
Everybody got up to organize the dishes on the trolleys. Helena went in the opposite direction to grab her coffee cup to keep it with her and returned to the couch, where she curled up into a corner. Her laptop had been in her carry-on bag and was still there, for which she was also damn grateful. She grabbed it and sat down again.
“What are you doing with that?” Lennox asked.
“I wanted to send a couple messages.”
He looked up, frowned, and then shook his head. “No,” he said, “no communication.”
She glared at him. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously,” he said. “We don’t want the kidnapper to have any way to track you.”
“Good Lord.” Was he serious? He looked like it. She slowly closed her laptop. “So, when are we going someplace where I can send a few messages?”
“We’re leaving on a commercial flight at noon today.”
Feeling better, she set aside her laptop. “Right. Thank heavens for that.”
“Maybe,” he said cautiously. “You might not like what happens after that. We’ll see how it goes.”
She frowned at him. But he gave a small motion of his head, and she took that to mean, Don’t ask. She groaned and said, “Whatever. How long until we leave?”
“We’re not leaving for another hour,” he said, “so, once you have more coffee, then we’ll pack up and leave.”
She nodded and pointed to her laptop. “Okay if I browse the internet?”
He nodded.
And she buried herself into catching up on the world news. But inside she couldn’t help but wonder what was going on that Lennox wouldn’t share with her yet. Still she was smart enough not to say anything.
Lennox was glad that Helena had followed his cue and hadn’t pushed for answers. He had a lot of discussions about flights going on right now. They needed to do a couple transfers to get back stateside. And that was a bit of an issue as well. The initial flights were booked and would take them to Holland. Lennox just wasn’t sure where they were going from there. The
next hour went very quickly.
Soon they had everybody packed up in a vehicle and heading to the airport. He already had extra alerts out. As they pulled into the airport, his phone buzzed. He took a look. And then swore and hit Dial. When Keane answered, Lennox said, “What the hell does that mean?”
“We’ve got two more boarding the same plane,” he said, “both confirmed to have been part of that kidnapping scenario.”
“Confirmed how?” Lennox asked, his temper thinning.
“Interpol had these two listed as known associates of the guy Carolina confirmed with the scars. We picked up their trail on a satellite. They’ve booked the same flight.”
“Which means, we’re not going on that flight.”
“Exactly. That’s changed. Now I need you to get out of the way and to keep out of sight.”
“Are we still leaving from this airport?”
“Not anymore. Get back in the vehicle and follow the directions on the GPS.” And he hung up.
Lennox took a look at the GPS, then turned to face the group. “Everyone, get back in the vehicle,” and his tone brooked no resistance.
John immediately stepped back inside and said, “Why? I want to catch my flight!”
“We can’t take the risk,” Lennox snapped. “Our plan had been compromised.”
“Your plan has been compromised?” Sasha said with a sneer. “What do I care? We don’t have to go anywhere with you.” She grabbed up her bag and marched toward the airport. John quickly followed her.
Lennox called out to them, “Two of the men who were part of your kidnapping have booked flights on the same flight as you will be on.”
John frowned, looked at him, and asked, “So?”
“I highly suggest you don’t share an airplane ride with them,” Lennox said.
John shook his head as he followed Sasha. “You know what? We’ve been carted and packed and stuffed into various places for the last couple of days,” he said, “and we just want to go home.” As he held the entrance door open for Sasha, she waved at them with a big smile and cried out, “Good luck with whatever games you’re playing.” And they turned and both walked inside.