Daring

by Dee Davis

  She dropped the flap. No exit that way.

  Grimacing as she pushed to her feet, she made her way across the tent and knelt by the back wall. Then, with surgical precision, she slit the canvas so that she could peek outside. The tent was bordered in back by the jungle. At first she thought the way was clear, but then an armed man stepped out of the surrounding trees, his back to Lara and the tent.

  She waited a full five minutes, praying the man would go away, but instead he lit a cigarette and seemed settled in for the evening. Tightening her hold on the scalpel, she considered her options.

  She was too small to take the man down without considerable help, but if she moved swiftly, she ought to be able to ram the scalpel between his ribs into his lung. The blow might not be deadly, but he ought to be out in a matter of seconds. She released her breath and added a perpendicular cut to the first, lifting the corner of the tent canvas to make a door of sorts.

  With a furtive prayer, she moved out into the night, keeping her attention on the man. Then, scalpel at the ready, she crossed the ground on silent feet, and after visualizing the space between the third and fourth ribs, she slammed the scalpel into the man’s back.

  He gasped once and bent over grabbing his chest. Lara didn’t wait for more. Instead she broke into a full-out sprint, moving through the trees, mindless of the tree branches and bushes. She had no idea where she was headed, but she knew that anywhere was better than here. So she kept running, the sounds of shouting filling the jungle behind her. Apparently her effort to subdue the guard hadn’t worked as well as she’d hoped.

  Still, for the moment at least, she was free. That had to count for something.

  Despite instinct dictating otherwise, she slowed to a stop inside a tight cluster of juvenile safou trees. She needed to assess the situation. Moving about blindly was the most likely way to be caught. Better first to take a few precious seconds to get the lay of the land.

  While running, she’d intuitively followed a trail. Probably originally made by animals, it would be the easiest way for her enemies to track her, and her dash for freedom hadn’t exactly been subtle. She’d no doubt left footprints and, judging from the leaves in her hair, probably a swath of broken limbs and trampled plants.

  There were at least six men at the campsite, and she’d counted three additional men on the trek through the jungle. If they were still present, that meant nine people searching for her, and assuming they started now, the odds were in their favor. They had equipment and guns and lights.

  Darkness had descended with an inky blackness that promised protection, but it also impeded progress and risked injury. The canopy of the jungle made the night almost impenetrable, and to make it all worse, Lara had no idea where the hell she was.

  She closed her eyes for a second and then shook her head. There was nothing gained in standing here feeling sorry for herself. She needed to move, and based on the sounds of voices in the jungle, it should be sooner rather than later.

  Keeping low, she veered away from the animal path to the northwest and a heavier growth of trees. Here the jungle closed in on her, the overhanging tree branches bowed, some of them brushing the ground. She briefly considered climbing high into one of the trees but rejected the notion. If they did find her, she’d be cornered.

  So instead, she kept moving, hopefully putting distance between herself and the men pursuing her. As the trees grew closer together, she lost all sense of direction, but she didn’t dare stop. She could still hear sounds and see occasional beams of light that suggested her kidnappers were still behind her, but at least they seemed farther away now.

  Lara had no idea how far she’d gone, but the trees had started thinning out again, and as she moved forward, the skin on the back of her neck prickled as she tried to shake the feeling that someone or something was in close proximity. There were pythons in the jungle. And leopards. And, depending on exactly where she was, gorillas and bonobos—both of which could be dangerous if they felt threatened.

  Still, at the moment, push come to shove, she’d have preferred an animal threat over the human one.

  Behind her the beams of light were getting stronger. They were closing the distance.

  Moving on a burst of adrenaline, she sprinted forward again, hands in front of her to avoid hitting something in the dark, and then suddenly, she burst from the trees onto a rutted road, the jungle continuing on the other side.

  Common sense pleaded for her to follow the road, the chance of finding help much higher. But instinct insisted she stay with the jungle, its protective boughs offering her the best chance of survival. Torn for an instant, she saw the lights of an oncoming truck and dashed across the road into the relative safety of the waiting trees. The truck slowed as it neared, and for a moment, she thought help had arrived, but then three men jumped from the bed of the truck onto the road with flashlights and machine guns.

  Reinforcements.

  She turned to run, but before she could move, someone clamped an arm around her waist and a hand across her mouth. She kicked out, trying to free herself, but her captor was strong. And then he whispered in her ear, his voice like a lifeline.

  “Lara, be still. It’s me.”

  Her heart stutter-stepped in relief and something else she wasn’t quite ready to put a name to, and then her body went lax. Rafe released his hold and lifted a finger to his mouth, nodding at the men in the road.

  She tensed again as the men began to move, but instead of coming toward the two of them, they moved away, in the opposite direction, into the trees from which she’d just emerged. Clearly they were trying to close the net.

  But they hadn’t counted on her—or on Rafe.

  Chapter 4

  “So what do we do now?” Lara asked as they crouched in the bushes, her eyes still trained on the spot where the men had disappeared.

  “We hijack the truck,” Rafe said, pulling out a gun. The driver was still inside the car, his eyes on the road ahead of him.

  “But aren’t they likely to be watching the roads?” She chewed her bottom lip, considering their alternatives.

  “Probably, but every mile we manage to make, we’re that much ahead of the game.”

  “Which is?” she queried, lifting her gaze to his.

  “Getting you the hell out of Africa.”

  “But I don’t want—” she started, but he shook his head.

  “Until all of this is over, you aren’t safe here anymore.”

  “Yes, but I’ve got a contract. And with Kim dead, the people in the settlement will need me more than ever.”

  “Look, I admire your dedication, but right now we need to get you away from here. As long as they believe you’re an asset, they’ll keep looking for you.”

  Lara sighed, unable to find a valid argument. Clearly she did have some value or the rebels wouldn’t have kidnapped her in the first place. But it was hard to let go of the idea that she owed something to Kim.

  “You can always come back,” he said, his eyes locked on the man in the truck. “When things are safer. But for now, we need to concentrate on just getting the hell out of here. And the truck is our best option.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “Well, I can’t make the shot as long as he’s in the car. We need to do something to get him out in the open. So if you think you’re up to it, I’m thinking a little bait and switch.”

  “You want me to surrender to the guy out there, and then you’ll take him from behind.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “It’s a little risky, but I’m working off the assumption that they want you alive.”

  “Just don’t miss, okay?” She gave him a shadow of a smile, bracing herself for the charade to come.

  “I promise.” His eyes locked on hers, and before she had the chance to realize what he was doing, he bent to give her a hard kiss. “I won’t ever let anything happen to you.”

  She nodded, not sure that she could speak if she tried. Emotions ran riot, and she struggle
d for composure. He grinned, then nodded toward the truck, and she sucked in a breath, pushing aside all thoughts except the task at hand.

  After the claustrophobic blanket of trees, the road seemed surprisingly open, and immediately Lara felt exposed, but she agreed that this was their best chance, and so she walked forward into the beam of the headlights, arms raised in surrender.

  The man in the truck straightened up, and even from this distance, she could see his eyes widen. She continued walking forward as he fumbled for something in the seat and then got out of the truck. He was young, no more than fifteen or sixteen, and despite the situation, Lara felt a rush of protectiveness. A kid—drafted into all of this through desperation or something more nefarious.

  Even in her brief time here, however, she’d learned that there was no reasoning with them. They might look young, but they truly believed in what they were doing, even if it was only because someone brainwashed them.

  The kid leveled his gun and yelled for her to stop, just as Rafe emerged from the jungle behind him. Lara steeled herself, but instead of killing the boy, Rafe used the butt of the gun to knock him out, and she breathed a soft sigh of relief and hurriedly closed the distance as Rafe picked up the boy’s gun.

  “Let’s go,” he said. “I don’t know how long he’ll be out.”

  Lara nodded as she climbed up into the truck. “Did he have a radio on him?”

  “No, and I don’t, either.” Rafe turned the key, and the engine roared to life. “Whoever was behind the hit on the clinic sabotaged all the portable radios. That’s why we cut our trip short and headed back to the settlement.” He shifted, and the truck lurched forward as he swerved around the kid and started to accelerate. “But of course, when I got there, all hell had broken loose, and the radio was useless. I’m guessing that means you didn’t have the chance to get a message out?”

  “Actually, I had a moment before it went dead, so I tried you first and then some friends of mine in the States.”

  “Connected friends?”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t get to tell them what was happening. Damn thing went dark. I’m guessing someone jammed the transmission.”

  “Sounds like the attack was well planned.”

  Again, she nodded, visions of Kim and Aunt Tandy echoing through her mind. “Did you see Kim?”

  “Yeah, he was dead. A couple of other patients, too.”

  “How about Aunt Tandy?” Lara asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. “Did you find her?”

  “I did.” Rafe actually smiled, and for the first time since all of this had begun, Lara felt a stirring of hope. “Resourceful little lady, our Tandy. She hid behind the trash cans.”

  “Thank God she’s okay. I gave her the radio frequencies for contacting my friends. If she can reach one of the radios in town, maybe she’ll have more luck than I did.”

  “She told me.” He nodded, his gaze shifting from the road ahead to the rearview mirror. “Unless they’ve jammed the whole area, hopefully she’ll be able to get through.”

  “Which I suspect is a distinct possibility.”

  “Although it might be okay now. I mean, at least initially, they thought they’d achieved their objective.”

  “Capturing me, you mean.”

  “Right. Did they say who they were or what they wanted with you?”

  “Not specifically, but I assumed they were part of the insurrection. Rebel forces. But I didn’t see anything that would confirm that. Other than that, they were well armed. They didn’t talk, except to give orders, and since they had the upper hand, I didn’t ask questions.”

  The truck surged forward as Rafe put more pressure on the accelerator. “How did you get away?”

  “I managed to palm a scalpel. Well”—she shrugged—“not literally. But anyway, they didn’t know I had it, and once I was alone, after a little contorting, I managed to cut myself free.” She lifted her bruised and torn wrists and heard his sharp intake of breath, a muscle in his jaw tightening. “I’m okay,” she assured him. “Really. I’ve had a lot worse.”

  “I’m not sure that’s comforting,” he said, the words spoken almost under his breath.

  She reached out to pat his hand and repeated the assurance. “I’m fine. Especially now. And in answer to your question, I figured they were either after me because they thought they could ransom me or because they knew about my connection with the CIA.”

  “If they really did know, then that would mean an even higher level of sophistication. Any sign that maybe they were more than just rebels?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean.” She frowned, settling back into the corner of the truck’s cab.

  “I don’t know. Just a hunch, I guess. They didn’t take the drugs at the clinic, which on the black market are worth a considerable amount of money. In fact, best I can tell, they didn’t take anything.”

  “Except me.”

  “Exactly.” His fingers tightened on the steering wheel, and Lara wondered if there was something he wasn’t telling her. She started to ask, then changed her mind. Rafe didn’t seem the kind of man who could be cajoled into sharing secrets, and despite their recent intimacy, they weren’t exactly close. “Anyway,” he said, “right now, as I said, the most important thing is to get you out of Africa.”

  Again Lara felt the urge to argue, but this time, before she could retort, Rafe frowned, his eyes glued to the rearview mirror.

  “Damn it,” he said. “Looks like we’ve got company.”

  She twisted around so that she could see. In the dark, all she could make out was the looming shape of another truck. “Maybe they’re on our side?”

  “At two in the morning? Not likely. The road we’re on is an old logging trail. It hasn’t been used since the crackdown on forestry. I’m thinking, odds are that anyone on this road right now isn’t a friend.” As if to underscore the thought, shots rang out, some of the bullets slamming into the tailgate.

  “What can I do?” Lara asked, already reaching for the kid’s weapon, a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun.

  “I take it you’re comfortable with that thing?”

  “I’ve had training.” She shrugged. “Most of what I did for the CIA didn’t require using weapons. But there were instances, and I always figure it’s better to be prepared.”

  “That’s my girl,” he said, and she couldn’t quite contain the burst of happiness his choice of words elicited. “Use the back window.”

  She slid it open and braced the gun against the seat as she centered on the truck behind them. Then she fired, satisfied to see the vehicle behind them swerve in reaction to her barrage of bullets. “Score one for the good guys.” As the truck pulled closer, she fired again. This time, it was close enough that she could see the windshield splinter. The gunmen returned fire, their trajectory more accurate this time, one of the bullets splintering the rear window glass.

  “Son of a bitch,” Rafe said.

  “Are you hurt?” she asked, telling herself she was only worried because he was her best hope for escape.

  “I’m fine, but we’ve got more hostiles. A Land Rover coming at us from up ahead.”

  Lara responded by rolling down the passenger window and leaning out to fire the submachine gun at the oncoming car.

  “See if you can find a clearing anywhere. Someplace I can turn off the road. Otherwise they’re going to have the advantage.”

  She nodded as she leaned farther out; the wind whipped through her hair. Gunfire was coming from both the front and the back now, and it was only with the help of Rafe’s driving that she managed to keep out of the line of fire. She returned fire, and then pushed up farther until she was sitting on the door frame.

  Still shooting, she scanned the sides of the road for some sign that the trees were thinning. For a moment, she thought they were screwed, and then she saw it—the ghost of an adjacent logging trail. “To the left,” she yelled, as she slid back into the truck’s cab. “About twenty yards. I can’t tell how far it g
oes, but it’ll force them both behind us. But be careful, it’s really narrow. There’s a huge tree on the right sticking out into the roadway.”

  Rafe nodded as they approached the opening and took the turn on two wheels, staying tight to the left, just barely avoiding the tree. Lara had to brace herself to keep from slamming into his side. Behind them, the first of the trucks turned the corner, but the driver misjudged the turn and slammed into the tree—a plume of fire shooting up into the air as the truck spun around once and flipped over to block the road.

  “You’d think those guys were working on our side,” Rafe said, a satisfied smile curling his lips. Lara turned to brace the gun against the seat again, but he stopped her. “Better to conserve ammo. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”

  She nodded, watching as the Land Rover took the turn, brakes squealing as the driver tried to avoid the other vehicle. The night split with noise as the Land Rover slammed into the truck, and Lara smiled. “Two for the price of one, which means that we’re home free.”

  “I’m afraid that might be overstating things a bit,” Rafe said, as the truck sputtered and then lurched forward. “Looks like we’ve run out of gas.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I wish I was, but there’s no doubt about it.” The truck coughed once again, and after a short spasm forward, died.

  “Great. Now what?” Lara asked, shooting a look behind her at the glow of the burning truck in the distance behind them.

  “There’s a drop-off just beyond that stand of trees,” he said, pointing toward a rock-strewn slope a few yards away. “We’ll push the car off the rise, and it’ll look like we crashed. Won’t buy us a lot of time, but it should be enough to get the jump on anyone still behind us.”

  “All right.” She nodded. “Tell me what to do.”

  “I’m going to push, and I want you to steer the car toward the drop. When we’re close enough, you jump out, and I’ll send this sucker down into the ravine. You up for it?”

  “Absolutely,” she said with a smile, not completely sure she was as ready as she’d made herself sound, but in for the penny and all that. She climbed into the driver’s seat and waited while Rafe got in place behind. In short order, he had the truck moving, the gentle slope helping the vehicle to pick up speed.