River of Desire: A Romantic Action Adventure/Thriller

by Winn, J. K.

  Gabriel began to move in one direction, Vicente the other.

  They hadn’t gone more than six feet when three natives stepped from behind bushes wearing nothing but the lines streaked across their faces, parrot feathers through holes in their earlobes, and a sheaf of darts strapped to their backs. All three pointed dart guns at the Peruvian soldiers. Dylan had never encountered these natives before. They had to be members of one of the Amazon’s lost tribes.

  Vicente raised his rifle higher, but the natives fired before he did, hitting him in the throat and the gut. Blood gushing from his neck indicated a direct arterial hit. A high pitched scream escaped his lips. He dropped his rifle and clasped his throat. Blood poured down his shirt and stained the sand beneath his feet a scarlet red. He crumbled to his knees and fell face forward.

  Gabriel turned toward him with a horrified expression and, as he did, a dart embedded itself into his side. He staggered, mouth open in a silent scream.

  A surge of adrenaline gave Dylan a clarity he had not had in hours. With this renewed awareness, he thrust one leg overboard and pushed the boat away from the river’s edge. With all his remaining strength, he shoved the boat into deep water, then hunkered down between two seats, praying he had not been seen.

  The boat drifted aimlessly in the stream. Dylan waited patiently, laying low. Finally, after a long silence, he lifted his head and looked shoreward. The beach was deserted except for the two soldiers, twisted in unnatural positions on the sand. He levered himself up onto a seat and used his right leg to silently paddle to shore. The effort to paddle with one leg winded him, and he had to stop intermittently for breaths, but pure determination kept him moving forward.

  At land’s edge, Dylan dug his heel into sand and struggled to beach the boat. When he had barely managed what normally would have been a routine maneuver, he clumsily plied his way out of the craft, allowing his good shoulder to help hoist him over the prow. He tumbled onto the beach, slid over to a tree and, with tremendous effort, pushed up against the bark to standing.

  The natives had obviously melted back into the jungle and left him alone with the two felled soldiers. He approached Vicente, dropped to his knees and placed two fingers over Vicente’s nostrils. The soldier was most certainly dead.

  With his hands cuffed behind his back, he maneuvered around and awkwardly probed Vicente’s pockets for keys. When he came upon the cool metal, he hooked a finger through the brass ring and pulled them out. They fell to the ground with a clatter. He studied the set carefully until he saw one that looked like the kind of skeleton key used for handcuffs. With his right thumb and forefinger, he lifted the key and attempted to poke it into the opening on his left handcuff, but, because of the strange angle, it repeatedly slipped out of the designated slot. Frustrated and weak, he rested, sweat dribbling down his face, blinding him.

  With a deep, steadying breath, he tried again. By sliding the key close to the keyhole and slowly jockeying it in, the key finally snagged the edge of the opening and slid in. With the click of turning tumblers, he yelped. Left hand free, he easily emancipated his right. He massaged both wrists before rising.

  He picked through Vicente’s other pocket in search of the vaccine, but came up empty-handed. An inspection of Gabriel’s pockets produced similar results. Returning to the boat, he hoisted Vicente’s backpack onto land and rifled through it.

  A letter fell open onto the ground. He picked it up and read, My darling Vicente, before folding it and placing it back in the pack. To think someone loved the dead renegade soldier was too much to cope with at that moment.

  Dylan carefully probed the backpack until the clink of glass against glass told him he had found the vials. He removed them one at a time to assure their integrity, then replaced them where they would be safer than in his shirt pocket.

  Overjoyed that the vials were safe, he turned to Gabriel and tested his pulse. The man’s heart was still beating. If the situation were reversed and Dylan was the one lying on the beach, Gabriel would almost certainly leave him to die. But the situation wasn’t reversed and Dylan couldn’t do that. He hoisted the soldier up with his good arm and dragged him toward the boat, stopping frequently to take deep, fortifying breaths. The effort took longer than it should have and exhausted him, but he finally reached the craft. He lugged Gabriel to the side of the boat and draped him over the rim, then pushed the weighty solider inside before climbing in himself.

  Only after attempting repeatedly to shove off with an oar did Dylan realize how incapacitated he really was. The difficulty he had plying the boat from shore alerted him to his deteriorating condition. He couldn’t rest. He had to keep going. He had to reach Leah while he was still breathing.

  * * *

  Leah gave Kruger a moment to compose himself before she pressed him for more. “When you wouldn’t join Mengele, what did he do?”

  Kruger resumed his restless pacing. “No time they vasted. Two nights past my final discussion vith Mengele, Gestapo agents came to house of family.

  “They herded family into living room vhere they asked if I vould villingly join Mengele in research. Vhen I argued, to our heads they held guns.” His voice quavered. “The Gestapo agent closest to me— vith steely cold eyes— toward me leaned and asked if I vould join Mengele.

  “I, in all good conscience, told him I could not to do it vith other obligations. I vill never forget sneer vhich curled his lips. Kruger’s eyes had glazed over as though he was actually seeing the long-ago scene play out before his eyes. “So, he said, you cannot vork for our cause, but you date a Jewish girl. Vhat does that to say about your true allegiance.”

  Leah’s throat constricted. “Where did they learn about Sophie?”

  “I can only guess Bueler told them. I betrayed had been by my closest friend. My heart hurt.”

  “What happened next?”

  “He threatened if I vas not to join Mengele I vould be exposed as traitor...and Sophie vould be arrested. I could never let that happen. It vould end her life.”

  “Was it Sophie you were worried about, or your own hide?”

  Kruger steadied himself with a hand on the desk. “You cannot know. You cannot know. They threatened to shoot all family on the spot. All I could do vas stand humiliated and defeated vith gun at head.” Kruger steadied himself with a hand on the desk. “I agreed vith Menegele to share my work on Tay Saks and do as he vanted. The Commander vith cold eyes smiled at me, then turned to one of his men and nodded. The man raised his rifle and drove the bayonet into brother’s thigh.”

  Leah covered her mouth with her hand.

  “You never heard such sound as that coming from brother. He released a howl like animal in trap and crumpled to the ground. Mother cried out and father tried from guard to break free, but they stopped him vith rifle butt to ribs. I vill never forget look in brother’s eyes. That look still haunts my dreams.”

  “How horrible! Why would they do that after you agreed to help them out?”

  “I ask Commander same question. He smiled at me vith same sickening, sneaky smile and said it vas to seal the deal. That I must never renege on my commitment to Mengele or each family member vould similar fate suffer...or vorse.”

  He stopped and took a deep breath. His eyes looked haunted, hollow. “I signed papers to join Mengele at Auschwitz, vhich I did for three months, but because I excuses made to not participate in research, I vas soon sent to town hospital to practice medicine.”

  “And Sophie?”

  He stared at the ground. “I vas only to see Sophie one more time.”

  Leah placed pad and pen on desk. “I’m so sorry.” Her words sounded silly and inadequate to address the obvious misery Kruger still bore, but she didn’t know what else to say. Her heart ached for him.

  Kruger pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of his tweed jacket and blew his nose. “You are not to blame.”

  “But I’m truly sorry for what you’ve been through.” And she meant it.

  Kruger walk
ed back to his desk and sank heavily into his chair. He drooped a heavy head into his hands.

  * * *

  Dylan’s head reeled. He tried to focus on what he had to do, but objects had lost all shape, all size. Since he was heading downstream, most likely he was in Peru, but he could no longer concentrate long enough to determine his whereabouts. The normally oppressive heat had become hellish. Sweat soaked his shirt and ran in rivulets into his eyes and mouth.

  Next to him, the fallen Peruvian soldier took shallow breaths. The only witness to Von Schotten’s scheme, Gabriel’s life held special significance, but, unless Dylan found the compound soon, the soldier would not survive the trip.

  All Dylan could think about was making it back to Leah in time. He couldn’t accept the idea she might die without ever knowing what happened to him. That the past would repeat itself. That he would let down another person he loved. He struggled to ply an oar through water, but it barely broke the surface.

  Waves of nausea doubled him. He pressed his arms against his clenching belly and inhaled deeply, but the putrid smell of sodden, stagnant air sickened him more.

  He lay across the seat, too weak to hold himself erect. Pain radiated all along his left side and he could no longer discern where the pain began and where it ended.

  A jolt shook the boat, sending a spasm through him. He gasped. The jungle closed in. Darkness overtook day. It might have been night, except that the sun was still high overhead.

  All at once, he was back in Cuzco, sitting on a park bench in the plaza. Leah rested her head on his shoulder, the scent of roses emanated from her glistening skin. The brisk mountain air refreshed him, the aroma of fresh roasted mutton tempted him, an intense satisfaction filled him. Vendors strolled past with their baskets of wares. Pinks and yellows streaked the sky. Happiness was almost his, but when he reached for it, everything went black.

  * * *

  Leah lay alone in the darkened room, wanting desperately to make her way to the bathroom, but certain she’d be unable to find it. The generator had gone out in the middle of the night, leaving the entire house bathed in absolute blackness. She literally couldn’t see her fingers in front of her face. She had never been one to be afraid of the dark, but this dark was different. Deeper. More menacing. She imagined it to be like the inside of a coffin.

  With that thought, she fingered the raised, swollen, fiery-looking bump on the backside of her knee. It had stung when her jeans brushed over its crusty surface the night before, but she had ignored it, hoping it was only an insect bite. She ran her fingers around it and a knot in her gut tightened, knowing it might very well be the first sign of smallpox.

  Where was Dylan? Her time was running out—she couldn’t wait for him much longer. What to do if he didn’t come back? Since Kruger no longer had her under lock and key, she could easily leave the compound, borrow a boat and motor to Iquitos. She might find a source for the vaccine there, whatever Kruger said. But what if Dylan returned with the vaccine while she was gone? And what if Kruger was right? Her head pounded with the dilemma.

  She lay awake until the first streaks of dawn touched the eastern sky, then curled up on a chair, waiting until she heard sounds of life coming from the rest of the house. When she did, she left her room for the kitchen. On her way down the hall, she ran into Kruger.

  He extended a shaky, half-spilled cup of tea in her direction. “I am pleased to see you, mein kinder. I could not figure out how to juggle cup and knock at door at same time.”

  He appeared more confused by this simple task than she was over her situation.

  “I thought a little lemon grass concoction might help to awaken you this morning. Sleep is hard vhen generator goes out.”

  The generator was the least of her problems. She took the cup and the lemony smell wafted up her nostrils and reminded her of Dylan. “This is really considerate of you.” She took a sip. “I want to show you something. Would you mind following me to my room?”

  “Ach? Vhat it is?”

  “Just a little something on my leg.” In the room, Leah unzipped and released the pants halfway down her legs. She pointed at the inflamed mark on her left leg.

  Kruger approached her slowly, bent over with a stabilizing hand on the night table, and fingered the swelling. He studied the rest of her leg before stiffly straightening. “Any more of these marks?”

  “Not that I’ve seen.” She pressed the mound with a finger.

  “Then is not smallpox,” he said with authority. “One lesion does not virus make. Smallpox lesions in bunches appear. Vhat you have most likely is spider bite. I vill treat with antibiotics before we meet today. It should vithin hours heal.”

  She released a long-held breath and raised her pants. “That’s a relief.”

  He smiled. “Stop vorrying, mein kinder. Are you ready to begin vork today?”

  She didn’t know if she would be able to concentrate, but working might just take her mind off her worries. “Sure.” She scooped up her pad and pen and followed him first to the laboratory, where he watched her take the antibiotic and then to the library.

  After they were seated, Kruger leaned forward over his desk. “Yesterday vas for me most painful. Today please to make your questions easier.”

  She flipped her pad open. “I would, but there’s still one thing we need to discuss that’s bound to make you uncomfortable.”

  He sighed. “Sophie?”

  She nodded between jotting down the date and time. “I need to know what happened to her and why you feel so responsible.”

  Kruger squirmed and toyed with his shirt collar. “Ja, you should know. But before, I one thing must say. I always loved Sophie. Keep that in mind.”

  She let the silence fill the endless space between them.

  “Before Nazis to power came, Sophie and I vere to be married. Then she discovered she vas vith child. We vere overjoyed. But then Nazis seized control of Germany and our plans became impossible.”

  The doctor looked especially drained. “Ve made other plans to escape to Netherlands and marry, but ve had to vait for Sophie to birth baby. By then it vas far too dangerous to emigrate vith baby. Since ve had no vish to endanger baby’s life, ve gave her for a time to friends of Sophie’s, a fellow nurse and her husband.”

  “My adopted grandparents.” Leah thought fondly of her grandparents, even though they had died when she was still young.

  “Ja. They agreed to raise your mother as their own until they could join us in Amsterdam. Ve had everything planned. Ve took all money and turned it into jewelry so ve could smuggle it from country. Ve purchased train tickets and passports. Everything vas arranged. Ve vere soon to leave vhen SS paid visit to my family and Mengele forcibly recruited me. I could no longer to see Sophie without placing her at extreme risk.” The doctor’s head hung low, his chin almost touching his chest as he spoke.

  After a moment, he rose, shuffled around the desk and took a seat on the edge facing her. “I should never forget last time I see her. It vas night, not far from hospital. Light from street lamp lit only her eyes and hair. She looked pale and frightened. I made her promise to leave country vithout me; told her I vould join her vhen I vas able. She refused vithout me to go, but I reminded her our child needed mother, and she agreed. Before she left, she handed to me small black velvet sack and told me to safely keep it for her. Vhen I tried to return it, imploring her to take everything, she vould not have it. Vhen she valked away, I suspected I might never to see her again.”

  A strangled sob rose up from deep within him, touching her and bridging the distance between them. She ached all over, thinking of the grandparents taken from her. “Do you know what happened to Sophie?”

  He slowly shook his head. “I inquired, but heard nothing until after var. Before I left Germany, I to hospital returned, then in ruins except for one wing. I learned from remaining staff she had not to Netherlands gone. She had been arrested boarding train and sent to Dachau.” His face fell and he looked like he
was going to cry.

  She imagined Sophie’s terror at being stopped by an officious Nazi guard. Her despair during the suffocating cattle car ride to Dachau. Her humiliation and starvation in the camp. And her panic as she made a mindless, yet desperate attempt to climb the gas chamber wall for air she could breathe. Both she and her grandfather had lost a precious person. For once, she felt a real connection to him. “Sophie perished in the gas chamber at Dachau.”

  “I know.” A dark flush crept up his neck and spread over his face. “I loved your grandmother.”

  She hated to ask what came to mind next, but she had to. “Couldn’t you have used your connections with the Nazis to save her?”

  “Bitte, you must believe me. I did all I could for your grandmother. I vant you should understand because your forgiveness is important to me. I do not vant remainder of my days spent trapped in prison of self recrimination for letting her and my family down.”

  “You’ve lived this long without my forgiveness, You didn’t even know I existed until days ago—didn’t care enough to find out. Why should it mean so much to you now?”

  His eyes brimmed with tears. “You, mein kinder, are my last living relative. You are all that remains from the past. I need you to know monster I am not. I tried to keep my loved ones alive. I did vhat I could.”

  “I’d be willing to forgive you if you weren’t continuing to use human beings in your experiments.”

  Kruger rose to face her, a look of perplexity on his liver-spotted face. “Nein, nein, you are mistaken. I use no humans in my experiments.” He shook his head in such protest that his hair fell over his forehead. “I have suffered much guilt over past. I vould never to do another harm again.”

  While she wanted to believe the old man, to recapture a glimpse of the grandfather in her dreams, she still had her doubts. “How do you explain the sudden appearance of the Hemorrhagic fever?”

  “Hemorrhagic fever? I know nothing of Hemorrhagic fever.”