“Home is a little one bedroom white stucco house that’s still standing after the attack.” She frowned. “Medina’s soldiers ransacked Maria and Sophia’s home on the other side of the school. They’re still standing, but they tore them apart and they’re going to need a lot of work, paint and effort to get them livable once more.”
“And what about the normal places you go on a weekly basis?”
“Oh, gosh,” Lia mumbled, “Can I take a rain check on this, Cav? I suddenly need to sleep. If I don’t, I’ll keel over. I didn’t get much in the past five days.”
“Sure,” he said, “No problem. Go to sleep. I’ll wake you up when we get there.”
Lia gave him a grateful look and laid the seat down so she could stretch out. “Thanks…” she whispered, closing her eyes. Almost immediately, she spun into a deep, healing sleep. Cav made her feel safe. She liked him. He seemed genuinely concerned about her safety. And there was more. The look in his hazel eyes when he’d said, Take my word for it? There’s nothing boring about you, her heart leapt. She recognized that steady, burning gaze. It was that of a man wanting a woman.
CHAPTER 5
Driving the van, Cav tried to resist the emotions that were bubbling just beneath the surface. Lia had instantly fallen asleep, exhausted from the events of the past five days. As he followed the lead SUV all the way to the edge of the massive Monte Verde Cloud Forest Reserve, Cav occasionally slid a glance over at her. He knew that his priority was to stay alert to all activity around them, including the cars and trucks passing them in the faster lane. He was wearing an earpiece and could hear everything the lead security contractor, an ex-SEAL named Tanner, was saying.
Cav knew of him—Tanner had been with Seal Team One, while Cav had been with Seal Team Three. He knew that Tanner was a highly competent ex-SEAL and he was glad the operator was at the helm of this mission
Now, Lia had moved to her side and was facing him, one hand beneath her cheek, her legs drawn up. Cav was surprised she hadn’t gone into a full fetal position—he’d seen it often in Afghanistan with young Afghan children who slept like that. It was a defensive position adopted when people didn’t feel safe, aware that they could die. And hell, over there? Yeah, every village he’d frequented as a SEAL had been a potential gateway to death.
His brow furrowed as he kept his eyes on the road. Although he didn’t want to go there, he flashed back to the eighteen years he’d been living at home. He’d slept in a fetal position every night. He might have started out lying on his back or side, but when he woke up in the morning, he was always curled up on his side like a frightened animal with knees to his chest.
Had he been frightened? Hell, yes. Every day. Once, when his mother had tried to step between his father and Cav, his father had jerked a butcher knife from the kitchen counter, holding it in such a position that eight-year-old Cav thought it would slice his mother’s throat open. Even today, he could feel the same icy fear grip his throat and gut when he remembered that scene.
Luckily, his father still had some control and hadn’t followed through. Today, Cav often read of men who killed their spouses and children. What a piss-poor state this world was coming to! Hell, he’d personally gone through that potential scenario so many times he’d lost count.
His damp fingers moved around the steering wheel, even though the air conditioning in the van kept it comfortable. Every time Cav relived those years, which he hated to do, he would experience a physical reaction. His hatred for his father had made him grow up fast. When he was fifteen, his father had pulled out his belt to use on him once again. Finally, Cav was ready to fight back.
Unconsciously, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. It still had a bump to remind him how his father, high on coke, had gone ballistic when Cav had yelled he was never going to get belt-whipped again. Cav didn’t remember a whole lot about that event. He knew what it was like to “lose it.” Once he’d picked himself up off the floor, his nose running blood, he’d attacked his father.
Although his father had broken his nose and bloodied him, Cav had gotten in some serious punches, blackening his father’s eye.
Only when his mother rushed into the house after work and found them on the kitchen floor pummeling each other did she scream. That scream finally broke up the fight.
But Cav was ecstatic. He’d given his father the worst of it, the culmination of fifteen years of rage from the abuse he’d received. And while his mind had blanked out some of the details, his scars were there to remind him of the day he’d physically resisted his father.
Afterward, the house had quieted. It was almost like a morgue. His mother was shaken and tried to help him, but he walked unaided to the bathroom and took care of himself. That wasn’t new. Cav had always taken care of himself since he was essentially on his own as a kid.
Normally, the highlight of Cav’s day was going to school. It was a peaceful place compared with his crazy household. Because he hated coming home in the evening, he tried to arrive there as late as he could. But he knew that if he wasn’t there for dinner, his father would beat him, so he always managed to get home on time.
He loved school because it was a place of protection for him. His teachers liked him, supported him and most important, cared for and praised him. He wasn’t the most brilliant student in the school, but he wasn’t stupid, either. And Cav was great at sports, math and science.
He was useless in English and composition, for sure, and even now, he was a man of action, not letters. Cav had learned to accept who he was, and he rarely had regrets about the man he’d become.
Glancing momentarily down at a sleeping Lia, he again wondered what it was about her that turned him inside out and made him yearn so badly for time alone with her. He actually felt as if his soul was urging him to learn what lay in Lia’s heart, her mind. What events and people had shaped her? Clearly, she was a rural woman, raised on hard farm work. That tended to breed discipline, common sense and responsibility in a person, in Cav’s experience.
Just seeing the soft slope of her cheek, slightly pink, looking like velvet, made him want to feel it beneath his fingertips. He also noticed that Lia was definitely underweight. Didn’t they feed her enough up there at La Fortuna? Or was she working so hard, she skipped her own meals in favor of the teachers’ or students’ needs?
Lia had a big heart, just like Dilara. She had to—what other kind of woman would want to do this kind of work daily, nonstop. He’d seen the fire in Lia’s gray eyes, the determined set of her jaw during the meeting, her commitment to ensure that her children would not be left in the lurch from the catastrophic events of the past few days.
One of the biggest surprises for Cav was that Lia had come with a solid plan for rebuilding the school’s program, keeping classes ongoing while new teachers were located and hired. They would know that they would be protected so they didn’t have to worry about giving their lives in order to teach.
There was such fight and so much heart in Lia—maybe that’s what appealed to him so strongly. Cav suspected that the scars on her face and neck had come from violence done to her, probably while in the Army. It was actually rare that a mechanic from a motor pool would be outside the wire, the fence that protected Bagram from attack, but while there were drivers for such trucks, she had hinted that she was working in the garage, not as a driver.
Being a mechanic suited her, he thought. She had the smarts, for sure, and her keen eyes seemed to miss nothing. He wondered what she saw behind his own façade. Did she also feel that palpable connection he felt with her, or was it just one way?
He watched the armada behind him move steadily along, keeping the required distance between vehicles. Up ahead, the taller jungle trees were becoming visible, and the rounded, undulating mountains clothed in various textures and shades of green closed in on them. Cav looked at his watch. In another two hours, they’d be well into the northern highlands and near La Fortuna and Lia’s home.
Lia was clearly enjoying her
nap. The corners of her mouth were soft, no longer tight and drawn inward. The stress on her face was gone, showing just how beautiful she really was when not feeling under threat. Cav fantasized briefly, wondering what her curly hair would feel like if he ran his fingers through that short, shining mass.
He wondered why she had cut her hair so short. Even some men’s hair was longer than hers! Yet, there was nothing mannish about Lia.
Cav remembered being in Afghanistan, his hair nearly to his shoulders. He’d worn a thick, unkempt beard for the duration of his deployment there because every SEAL wanted to blend in like an Islamic male, with long hair and bearded faces.
Lia didn’t seem to care if she fit in or not. Clearly, her passions were for those children of La Fortuna. She was like a mother bear, growling and standing her ground, pleading for help for them. And her cries hadn’t fallen on deaf ears. Robert and Dilara Culver were just as passionate about backing Lia’s ideas and her plan for building a new school.
But Cav had a feeling that if Lia needed to fight her way through something, she had the guts to do just that. She might be slender and underweight, but Cav would never dismiss her inner strength and her sense of purpose.
Cav had always liked fighters. He also liked survivors because he’d been one himself. Maybe that was what had drawn him so powerfully to Lia.
The road went from a four lane down to a two lane, and the armada slowed accordingly. The trees were over a hundred feet tall, standing like proud soldiers on either side of the highway. They blotted out the sun as the vehicles climbed slowly but surely into the mountainous jungle area.
Lia slowly awoke as the van left the asphalt and slowed down, the tires crunching on the dry dirt road that led to La Fortuna. Her mind felt spongy and she groaned and slowly sat up, realizing she’d slept on her left side. The van rattled and trembled over the rutted dirt road, and she glanced over at Cav.
He turned, noting her half-closed eyes. “Sleep well?”
Lia muttered, “It felt like I’d died.” Rubbing her eyes, she looked around, seeing that the sun had changed and gone to the west, slanting across the tops of the jungle trees that surrounded them in every direction. The small town of La Fortuna sat a mile away, its colorful stucco homes looking to Lia like Easter eggs.
“We’re almost home,” she whispered expectantly, sitting up and adjusting the seat.
Cav said, “Home. That has a nice ring to it.”
Lia’s mind still wasn’t functioning. She felt as if she had cotton jammed between her ears. “It does, doesn’t it?” And damn it! She couldn’t help but think what it would be like be drawn to a man like Cav.
Whoa! She stopped herself suddenly. What craziness was this? Lia felt a headache coming on. Damn. She got these when she was under severe stress, and she was definitely there, about as stressed as she could be.
“Does The Spider or his guards frequent La Fortuna?” Cav asked her.
“Rarely. We’re more apt to run into them at the local grocery store. Why?”
“Just wondering.” Cav’s eyes swept the dirt hillside that sloped gently into a bowl. La Fortuna sat down in a depression so he could see everything around the small village. It was nothing but bare dirt slopes. Why wouldn’t plants grow around it, or had someone cleared the area of jungle vegetation?
That was more than likely. Cav knew it was the dry season in Costa Rica, but in the rainy season La Fortuna must turn into a mud pit. There was no greenery on these slopes to stop the erosion of the soil from filtering into the town. He saw cars and dust eddies on certain streets of the town as they approached it.
Tanner called in on Cav’s earpiece, directing everyone to follow his lead to the location of the burned-out school. They made a turn, heading down the center of town, which surprisingly featured an asphalt road.
“We’re going to the school,” Lia told him, clearing her throat, her voice still thick and drowsy.
Cav glanced over at her. “Are you awake enough to talk a bit?”
“Sure.”
“Part of a PSD is getting the client to trust the contractor.” He gave her a warm look. “That’s me and you. When we stop, you don’t just automatically get out of the vehicle. I’ll look around first and make sure things are okay. Then, I’ll get out, walk around the van and check things out further. Only then will I come over and open the door for you. Agreed, Lia?”
“Okay,” she said.
“If I ever tell you, ‘Down,’ I need you to hit the deck instantly. Don’t question me. And when you do, I’ll be stepping in front of you and aiming myself at whatever the threat is. Don’t get up or do anything unless I instruct you. Okay?” Cav drilled her with an intense look.
Swallowing hard, Lia nodded. “You’re putting yourself between me and a potential knife or bullet?” She didn’t want to hurt Cav for any reason. Yet, she knew he’d been hurt. It was there in his strong, lined face, with that harsh presence reflected behind his penetrating hazel eyes.
He shrugged. “That’s why we get paid the big bucks. Don’t worry, okay? I’m not intending to sacrifice you or me if it comes to a threat. What I need to know is that you’ll follow my orders instantly and not question me. I can’t have you hesitate. You move as fast as you can, all right?”
In response, she began, “The night Medina’s men hit here…” and gestured toward a huge, burned out building standing in deep black and gray rubble.
“Yes?” he waited expectantly.
“I heard the gunfire and I ran. My house has two exits and I took the back door and ran as hard and fast as I could for the jungle.”
Cav slowed the van as Tanner’s SUV came to a halt in front of them. He saw the jungle about a hundred yards away from the school. “Did you ever see their faces?”
She shook her head, feeling that old fear rise up within her. “No, I just heard the roar of the fire and men’s voice yelling at one another. I saw some shadows but that’s all…”
“It’s a long sprint to that wall of jungle,” Cav said, calculating the distance from the house.
“And I never thought I’d make it,” she acknowledged. “I was expecting to take slugs in my back every minute.” Her voice quavered a bit as the painful memories resurfaced.
He heard her terror, but his eyes were on Tanner and his men, who were dismounting from the SUV. They would first do a walk-around while everyone remained in their vehicles. Lia’s gray eyes had grown dark as she stared at the destroyed school, and he wanted to slide his arms around her hunched shoulders. If only he could.
“But you made it to the jungle,” he said firmly. “What did you do then?”
Lia didn’t answer. She wiped her brow, trying to will away the headache behind her eyes as she watched the four men armed with M4 rifles move with silent precision around the area, looking for a threat. She saw none.
The school and their three small homes sat on a dirt plain close to the jungle wall. One could see someone approach from a half mile away in three directions, and she wondered if Medina’s men had come out of the jungle instead.
Cav watched Tanner and his men while he listened to their short, abrupt conversations. The group thoroughly scouted the area, with Tanner standing a head taller than the others.
“This place is so open that I think Medina and his men came out of the jungle,” Cav told her. “That way, they could do the damage, fade away, and never be seen.”
“That’s what I think, too,” Lia said hollowly, watching Tanner order his men to the three small stucco homes surrounding the burned-out school. She was impressed with the way they approached each house, opened the door and then disappeared inside. She didn’t like them inside her home, but she understood they were clearing it, just in case.
Still, her small home was her womb, her safe place. But five nights ago, it hadn’t been safe at all. She lifted her chin and met Cav’s warm gaze on her. “I’m glad you’re here,” Lia said, her statement taking him by surprise.
Rubbing her hands ove
r her upper arms, Lia felt suddenly cold and clammy as the sounds, the odors, the roar of flames and the yells of the soldiers came back to her in a rush.
“I am, too,” Cav confessed, holding her gaze. He could almost bet she was remembering that attack, and he fought anew his urge to sweep her into his arms. Cav could almost feel her body against his, feel her instinctive trust of him. He liked that she was scared and didn’t try to hide it from him.
“Here’s my little house,” she said proudly, gesturing toward the white stucco building with its two small windows and a red painted door between them. “This has been a place of safety for me.” She chewed nervously at her lower lip, staring at her home as Tanner’s men left it, closing the door behind them.
“Was it the only place you felt safe?” Cav wondered.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Well, we’ll just have to make it safe for you again,” Cav said firmly. He knew he could make her feel safe in this unsafe world of hers.
“Medina is a constant threat, Cav. It never goes away. The three of us knew about him.” She sighed and whispered, “The only way he won’t be a threat is if he’s dead.”
Cav already wanted to take the bastard out, but said nothing, just nodded his head. When Tanner gave them the “all clear” over the mike, Cav said, “I’m going to get out now.” He unstrapped his seat belt. “Wait for me to open the door for you.”
Lia pulled off her safety belt and nodded. She watched Cav move with an animal-like grace. Unable to keep her eyes off his large, square hands, she saw real strength in them but there was a soft underside to this man that she sensed he rarely showed to anyone. Why? What ghosts from his past was he carrying around like unwanted friends? She certainly had her ghosts and they were with her ever day whether she wanted them to be or not.
Cav pulled on his dark glasses and shut the door, leaving her alone in the cab. She was intrigued by the security detail, having never been a part of one before. Now, she watched as the security contractors emerged from each vehicle, armed and deadly as they went about the business of keeping their clients safe.
Nowhere to Hide (Delos Series Book 1) Page 7