Cradle and All
Page 9
"No, please. I know how to care for her."
"You question my orders?"
Sunita's eyes focused on a spot near his feet.
"No, Lion of our people. I would never do that. You know I have done
everything you asked of me," she said in a small voice.
"In the American hospital, I received special training. I can keep her
well for you."
He studied her bent head.
"Yes, your part was most important in our plans. By the grace of Akal,
we will be victorious in winning freedom for our Land of the Pure,
@listdn."
"By AUI's grace," she repeated.
"Show me the child."
Sunita Stepped forward and unfolded the light cotton blanket, revealing
the tiny little girl.
Amarjit stared at her, not so much seeing the infant as the bargaining
power she represented.
Purposefully, he unsheathed his sword and tested the razorsharp edge.
Then he brought down the weapon mere inches from the small, vulnerable
head.
He could see Sunita's arms tremble as he demonstrated his power over
the baby-and over her.
But she didn't back away.
He could kill this girl child as easily as he could swat an insect.
But she was valuable'to her 'parents.
With one swift stoke, he cut off a l@k of the fine baby hair, then
replaced the sword.
"You may keep the hostage for now. But do hot become too attached to
her. Remember, she is only a means to an end."
"Ilank you, Lion of our people. ." ' Her tone was submissive, but he
detected a defiant note that she was doing her best to hide. He'd sent
Sunita on other missions to the west. Each time she returned, he saw
the contact had undermined her upbringing. She'd bear watching.
"Go rest now. You have had a long journey."
After bowing to his command, she hurried from the tent.
He closed his large fist around the baby's hair.
He had the child.
He would use her to bend the parents to his will.
He would send them this token with his next communication.
ONE momENT Abby was asleep, tucked under the covers with her knees
drawn up like a little animal snug in its den.
Then a sound woke her.
In the darkness, she didn't know where she was and felt panic expand in
her chest.
Her hand darted out, and she reached for the light switch beside the
bed.
But her fingers brushed only plaster.
Rough plaster.
Her heart began to thump.
Don't lose your cool.
If you figure out where you are, everything will be okay.
Abby dredged up a hazy vision of an unfamiliar hotel room.
In India.
The Akbar.
- For confirmation, she rolled toward the finger of silvery light where
the window curtains didn't quite meet.
She drew in a steadying breath and let it out slowly.
She was perfectly all right.
She'd locked the door as soon as the porter had left.
But she'd been so tired she couldn't remember slipping the security
chain into place.
Her nerves jangled again.
In the darkness, the room felt wrong.
As if another presence waited in the shadows.
Her breath stilled, and her ears probed the darkness.
She was half convinced she could hear the sound of breathing-and half
convinced that she was imagining it.
Yet she couldn't just lie there waiting for someone to pounce.
Moving stealthily, Abby began to slide toward the far side of the
bed.
Before she'd crossed more than a few inches, a large, hard hand clamped
itself over her mouth.
She tried to scream, tried to wrench away, but the owner of the hand
was far stronger than she.
In desperation, she began to lash her head from side to side.
He simply pulled her against his hard chest, smothering her in a sweaty
shirtfront.
She worked her mouth against the damp fabric.
When her teeth dug into his flesh, he grunted and shook her roughly.
"All right, let's find out what the hell's going on."
His weight shifted as he dragged her back across the bed.
When she heard his voice, she tried desperately to speak, but that was
still impossible.
Now her goal was to keep him from hurting her as he yanked her fully
out from under the covers.
However, her knees gave way as they hit the floor.
"Stand up, damn it."
The sheet tangled around her legs and trailed along behind her as he
half carried, half pulled her across the wide floorboards toward the
door.
What was he going to do, throw her out into the hall ' ?
With one hand,- he turned her face toward his.
With the other he threw the switch, flooding the room with light.
she blinked as she stared up into &eve's startled blue eyes.
His astonished exclamation mingled with her sob of relief as he
undamped his hand from her mouth.
"Abby! P) On another sob, she collapsed against him, her arms winding
around his shoulders, her face pressing against his neck. He held her
tightly, his hands stroking unsteadily across her back.
"Abby?" he repeated.
"What ... what are you doing here?"
When she lifted her face to his again, he wiped a hand across his eyes,
staring at her as if he didn't believe she was real.
His gaze went from her bloodless features to the nightgown twisted
around her body and gaping away from her right shoulder.
With shaky fingers, he-smoothed it back into place, smothering a
selfdeprecating curse under his breath.
"God, I'm sorry.
D-did I hurt you?
"No."
She searched his eyes.
They were shadowed with fatigue.
"Who did you think I was?"
He shrugged.
"God knows. I picked this place because I've never been here
before-it's not the kind of hotel I'd normally choose. I guess I
thought someone had figured out where I was."
He laughed hollowly.
"An assassin. Someone sent to get information from me. Your mind can
spin some great fantasies when you've been running on no sleep as long
as I have."
"Nobody told you I was coming? Or that I'd arrived?"
"As far as I knew, I was the only one checked in to this room."
He looked over Abby's shoulder at the covers strewn across the floor.
"When I saw a shape in my bed, I just reacted."
She nodded.
"There isn't even a night clerk at the desk," he continued.
"Probably because they don't expect guests to show up at 4:00 a.m. I
had to get the porter to tell me which room I was in."
"But they were supposed to give you a message from Jason."
She saw him go very still.
Then his hands dug painfully into her shoulders.
"A message? Did you come here to break bad news-" He swallowed hard.
"Did they find Shannon's body-?"
"No. Not that! Nothing like that," Abby reassured him quickly.
She had come with bad news, but not that bad.
He stared down into her eyes.
"Then what? What brought you all this way when you
told me I was going
on a wild-goose chase?"
She clutched at his arms.
"Oh, Steve. I should have listened to you. You were right about Mrs.
Hamadi."
The anguished words tumbled from her lips.
",I was crazy enough to feel sorry for her, but she didn't take Shannon
because she wanted a baby. Or if she did, that's only part of it. She
... she was working for someone else."
Abby leaned heavily against Steve, and he swung her up into his
embrace, carrying her across the room to one of the armchairs by the
window.
Sitting down, he cradled her in his lap.
She wanted to huddle there with her eyes closed, as if being in his
arms again would make this nightmare go away.
But the sharp edge in his voice brought her back to reality.
"Who is she working for?"
"Terrorists," Abby wheezed.
, "A group called the Indian Liberation Army. Jason says,they want to
overthrow the Indian government."
A curse exploded from Steve's lips.
"How do you know it's them? Is that what the-police found out?"
'No.
They sent me a note warning me not to work with the police, or contact
the CIA.
"A note?"
"And a picture of Shannon. They're in my luggage."
Crossing the room on shaky legs, she found the envelope and brought it
back to Steve.
First he studied the picture.
"She ... she looks okay," Abby whispered, dropping to her knees beside
him.
"I think they're taking good care of her."
She didn't know that for sure, but it was what she wanted to believe.
Quickly he read the message.
When he finished, he swore again.
Abby gripped his knee.
"You were right about the connection to Oliver. And I was wrong.
Oh, Steve, I should have listened to you."
"I'm not exactly batting a thousand."
She raised her gaze to his face, taking in the lines of strain around
his eyes and mouth.
"Jason showed me your flight plan. You went to Borneo."
"Yeah. Oliver wasn't there."
He shook his head wearily.
"I've been flying a plane for six hours-after a couple of days tramping
through the jungle on a wildgoose chase."
"What happened?"
"The mayor of the village where Oliver was living gave me what sounded
like a cock-and-bull story, but I had to follow it up, just in case."
He sighed.
"Ollie is an expert at covering his tracks. He wasted a hell of a lot
of my time and energy. When I get my hands on him, I'm going to wring
his neck."
Abby could see that his loyalty to his friend had been worn a bit thin
by recent events.
"You said Oliver had two hideouts. If he wasn't in Borneo, then he's
near here," she pressed.
"He sure as hell better be."
Abby dragged in a shuddering breath.
"The ILA won't hurt Shannon while they think they can get what they
want out of you! That gives us time to rescue her."
There was no use even asking Steve whether he thought the rebel leader
could be trusted to give their daughter back once he'd secured his
merchandise.
She knew they couldn't count on that.
"And Oliver will tell you what's going on," she finished.
She tried to cling to that conviction, even as she thought about the
smiling, wisecracking man they'd had dinner with on their last trip to
India.
He'd I been charming and fun, but she'd been glad she didn't have to
rely on him for anything-not after some of the hairraising stories he'd
told.
She felt her chest tighten Painfully.
Oliver Gibbs might hold her child's life in his hands.
How much would he care about Shannon?
"He's got to help us," Abby muttered.
"Yeah."
There was a steely edge in Steve's voice.
He wouldn't just ask for Oliver's assistance.
He'd make him cooperate.
"We'll talk to him tomorrow."
"Abby, I don't know what I'll find out when I get to his place.
Hell, for all I know, he's got a bunch of new business associates who
are calling the shots. It would be safer if you stayed here. It would
be even safer for YOU if you went home."
She wanted to protest, but the look on Stevels face stopped her.
He had been traveling constantly for almost three days.
As of now, he was no closer to finding Oliver than when he'd left
Baltimore.
"rbe last thing he needed tonight was an argument from her. What'he
needed was her warmth and comfort, even if he was too strung out
and,too exhausted to ask for them.
He was watching her tensely.
When she didn't protest, a tiny measure of the anguish seeped out of
his eyes"I'm frightened, the way I was when I was a little girl and
woke up after a nightmare. I-I need to be held," she whispered.
"Abby."
He opened his arms, and she climbed back into his lap and laid her head
against his shoulder.
For her it was a simple, basic gesture, natural and right.
She felt a shudder go through Steve's body as his hands tightened on
her shoulders.
She'd been loved and protected as a little girl, assured that she was
important and valuable to her parents.
Steve had been born to wealth, but he'd never had the simple luxury of
knowing his parents cared.
She knew what that kind of deprivation could do to a child.
She knew exactly what it had done to this man.
When they'd first met, asking for love and comfort had been alien
concepts to him.
He pressed his face against the top of her head, sighing out a long,
unsteady breath.
She burrowed closer to his warmth and felt his hands stroking over her
arms and shoulders.
They sat for long momentsa husband and wife silently sharing the worst
crisis of their lives.
It was almost too much to bear.
The only way to do it was together.
And tomorrow she'd make him understand that.
Tonight she was too exhausted to speak, too exhausted to do more than
cling to him.
She could hear the steady beat of his heart under her ear, strong and
vital and comforting.
Her eyes fluttered closed.
For the first time in days she felt a little of the terrible pressure
in her chest ease.
And then she was asleep.
Chapter Six
Only a narrow shaft of light knifed through the crack in the
curtains.
Yet Steve knew exactly where he was when he woke, and who was beside
him in the wide, unfamiliar hotel bed.
Abby was nestled under the covers with him, her head almost touching
his arm, her breast inches from his hand.
In that desperate moment of awakening when his guard was down, he felt
his whole body throb with wanting her.
He closed his eyps, but that didn't lessen the need.
Every one of his,senses was tuned to her.
His head was filled with her sweet, familiar scent.
His ears were picking up little else but the gentle sound of
her