They’d married while both were in med school. Beth and Rob were more like friends than lovers, which Sam found good to know. Rob was a nice guy, Traci told him. Too bad he’d fallen in love with a woman he’d met on the Internet. Dr. Beth was being really decent about it and doing what she could to expedite the paperwork to get it over with as quickly and quietly as possible.
Damn good thing. Because Sam didn’t poach on other men’s territory. Not that he thought for a moment Beth would do anything hinky behind her husband’s back, even if she were tempted.
Sam’s thoughts had nothing to do with sweet, or kind. The second he’d seen her, his thoughts had turned carnal. Primitive. He wanted her hard and fast. Hot and sweaty. Slick and slippery. He wanted to have her on the counter at the bank. And on the hood of his car, on the floor of the only hotel in town. Hell, he didn’t think that they’d make it to a bed the first few times.
He’d moved into a condo a few blocks from her house and waited for the divorce to be final. One look at Beth, and he hadn’t been capable of staying away. Hadn’t, God damn it, been able to think of much else. He imagined her naked, having her on her desk in her cramped little office at her clinic two doors down from the bank. He pictured her small high breasts, and imagined that her nipples would be a soft delicate pink, like her lips.
“You have reinforcements, right?”
She was as tenacious as a bulldog and her lack of faith stung. “I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.” He was alone in this. It wasn’t a sanctioned op. He’d come on his own. Beth was a personal matter.
“That’s sweet, Sam.”
Sweet? She didn’t exactly exude confidence. And why should she? As far as she was concerned, he didn’t know one end of a gun from the other. Eleven years in a private army guaranteed he knew how to use the MP5. He also knew some interesting, and painful, tricks with a machete.
“But what’ll happen if you’re bitten by a snake?” she continued, slightly breathless now that she was on a roll. “Or eaten by a lion?”
Jesus. “Odd are against it.” He’d better stay hale and hearty. She stood zero chance of survival alone in the jungle. Less than zero if she was returned to Nkemidilm’s compound and the man who waited there.
He used the muzzle of the MP5 to flip away a curious, and highly poisonous, bush viper hanging from a limb in their path. It landed almost noiselessly in a thicket of vines before slithering into the underbrush. There’d be time to think about Beth’s delectable body later. Right now he had to get them both the hell out of Dodge before Thadiwe’s men caught up.
“How much longer?”
“Couple of hours.” Give or take. He could almost hear her brain working as she digested the information.
“Don’t you think I’d be better off going back and waiting for you to bring in some help?”
He heard her nervousness. So much for trust. “No, Beth, I don’t.” Sam made sure his barely-a-whisper was implacable. “We’re meeting a guy with a boat. Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here in one piece, I promise.”
He stopped, and she stepped right against his back, letting out a little huff of surprise. “There’s a three-foot high log in our path. I’ll go first then help you over.”
Sam flung a leg over the mossy trunk and dropped down on the other side. Beth’s breathing was a little fractured. Fear. Tucking the machete into the sheath strapped to his thigh, he leaned over the log, extending his hand. Not that she could see it in the crack under dark. “Give me your hand.”
Blindly she held it out. Grabbing hold of her wrist, Sam gave a little tug. “Up and over. Straddle the log, then slide down on this side.”
Her cold fingers felt ridiculously small in his. Her chilled, sweaty skin told him she was scared out of her mind. Despite that, she was keeping up and not falling apart. Not yet anyway.
He gave a little tug to help her up, then watched as she flung both legs over to his side. “Right here,” he told her when she hesitated.
She slid into his arms. “Tha—What’s that?”
She was pressed against his semi-erection. “Don’t worry,” he told her dryly. “I’m not going to have my wicked way with you. Not here anyway.”
She smothered a laugh. “Not that. That.”
That. “It’s an MP5 submachine gun.”
She put her hand on his chest, the smile still tilting the corners of her mouth. Sam wanted to kiss her in the worst way. This time he resisted.
Not the time. Not the place.
“Do you know how to use it?”
He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah.” The fact that her body was still flush with his didn’t exactly make his thinking process crystal clear. Taking her hand, he stepped back. “Know that outfit just outside of town?”
“That private military place?”
“Counterterrorist training site, yeah. I work for them.”
“You—work for them? I thought you were a teacher?”
“Tactical instructor. I train special ops in weaponry for high-risk environments.”
“Thank God.” Beth gave a small laugh, her relief evident and heartfelt. “Better than I’d hoped. My highest expectation was that you excelled at playing paintball.”
“I wouldn’t trust your safety to anyone less than one hundred percent competent. If I didn’t think I could handle the situation, rest assured, I would have sent in someone who could.”
“Oh, God, Sam. I’m terrified out of my mind.”
“It’s warranted, sweetheart. You’re in a bad spot. But this time tomorrow you’ll be on your way home, I promise.”
“Adventure isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” Beth slid a hand around his waist and leaned into him. “I couldn’t have made it past the guards. And frankly, since I have zero sense of direction, I’m not sure how far I would have gotten if I’d managed to steal a Jeep and drive out. How far is the closest town?”
“Village? Ten miles or so. A real town? With transpo? A hundred.”
She shuddered, and his arms tightened around her. Not romantic with a semiauto in one hand, and a machete strapped to his leg. But he’d take what he could get, when he could get it.
“I could have died here without anyone knowing.”
“I knew.” Only because he’d been called by one of the Cape Town operatives minutes after Beth had been snatched from the hotel. When he’d asked that they keep an eye on her, Sam hadn’t specified just how closely he’d wanted her watched. Close enough not to be kidnapped would have seemed logical. To him anyway. Thank God they knew who to notify.
Sam had someone following the kidnappers’ trail while he’d jetted halfway around the world to retrieve Beth from her captors.
“Thank God,” she said with utmost sincerity.
“Ready?”
In answer she took hold of his belt, and Sam moved out.
“That OR was state-of-the-art, and equipped for anything and everything. I can only imagine how many millions of dollars it cost to install that way out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“Could you have done it?”
“Nobody could have done it in his time frame. Interesting that he targeted Lynne Randall, but didn’t research how long that procedure would take. And to answer your question: If I’d had to perform the surgery I could have done it, I suppose. But not well. The last time I did that sort of thing was during a five-month rotation in med school. Plastic surgeons—goods ones—are part practitioner, part artist. I can’t even draw a stick figure.”
Sam chuckled. Thadiwe was a butt-ugly individual already. He didn’t see how anything could make him look worse.
“Fortunately you won’t be doing any surgeries. You’ll be out of the country before he realizes you’ve gone.”
“From your lips …”
Sam had already extrapolated Thadiwe’s location to the next action. Without Beth he’d find another doctor. Somewhere. Right now Sam was the only one who knew where the son of a bitch was located. He’d have to return and take hi
m out. But first things first.
Get Beth downriver by boat, then drive her the ten miles to the waiting chopper. Get her on board and on her way to Cape Town where a private jet waited to return her to Montana.
“How soon do you think they’ll come after us?”
“Long after we’re gone.” No point anticipating the worst. He figured he had until daylight to reach the boat Desi was bringing to a preassigned location. They’d be cruising down the Congo River before Thadiwe’s men realized she’d escaped. Three hours. Tops.
They needed five.
FOUR
A GORILLA, SOUNDING ODDLY doglike, barked in the distance. A warning? Or was the primate merely heralding daylight?
While it was still oppressively dark, Sam could almost feel the rapid approach of morning as the animals started to stir. Soon they’d be moving toward water. There was an elephant trail somewhere around here he knew from his earlier trek in. Walking on that open trail would save time, but it also meant encountering animals who had the same idea.
Mosquitoes and gnats, flies and other insects didn’t give a damn if it was night or day. They swarmed and dive-bombed them as they walked. The gorilla barked again, and this time it was answered by its mate. Beth stepped in closer to him, her fingers tight on his belt.
He chuckled.
“Good grief, Sam,” she whispered. “How can you laugh at a time like this?”
“I’ve finally got you where I want you.”
“Kidnapped and running for our lives in a rain forest?”
“Alone. Without distractions.”
“Boy, you live a crazy life if you consider this a place without distractions.”
“No ex-husband. No clinic. A few tangos and a few plants are nothing.”
She laughed. “A few p—Crazy man.”
“The divorce was final a year from last week, right?”
She didn’t say anything for several seconds. “How’s that relevant?”
Sam held aside a branch, tugging Beth under his arm to clear it. Instead of replacing her hand on his belt, he shoved the NVGs out of the way on top of his head and turned around to curl her into his arms. “Plenty enough time to get over any lingering regrets or Monday-morning quarterbacking about your marriage.” Screw resisting. Having Beth this close in the steamy darkness was like waving crack under an addict’s nose.
Resistance was futile.
He’d held off for a full year. He was done waiting for her to catch up. Sam brushed her lips with his. She kept her mouth firmly closed. Lifting his head, he said softly, “Put your arms around my neck and open your mouth.”
“Mosquitoes,” she mumbled, tightlipped.
He chuckled. “Tongues are mosquito-free zones,” he assured her, nibbling at her now parted lips, which were firm and warm and tasted like promise. He tightened his arm around her waist until her body was pressed flush against his. Hell, she felt good. Better than good. Imagining them both naked, Sam closed his eyes and savored the moment while around them the darkness seethed with life. And death.
He drank Beth’s sigh and deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue into the warm recesses of her mouth. The first stroke of her tongue against his sent a shudder down his spine. His body went from a gentle, bearable simmer, to a full-out boil.
Sam kissed Beth the way he’d wanted to from the first time he’d met her. Full throttle. No holding back.
Burrowing his free hand in her hair, Sam tilted her head back while he feasted on her mouth. Her arms slid around his waist, and she hugged him to her with the same ferocity he was feeling. Sam raked his teeth across her bottom lip, and she made a low sound of need as his tongue tangled with hers.
A macaw swooped between the branches over their heads, squawking loudly. Beth pulled away with a high-pitched shriek.
Hardly flattering.
Sam tightened his arm around her waist, feeling the thump-thump-thump of her heart against his rib cage. “Keep it down, sweetheart. It was only a bird.”
“Sorry,” she muttered. “It took me by surprise. I hate birds.”
He brushed a kiss to the top of her head and hugged her more tightly. “You hate—How can you hate birds?”
“They’re like rats with wings.” Her entire body shuddered.
The place was a minefield of venomous snakes, flesh-eating animals and warring tribesmen, and she was afraid of birds? Sam shook his head. “Better get used to them.” He pulled the NVGs back over his eyes. “There are over a thousand species in the rain forest. You’d better not scream every time you see one.”
Good thing she couldn’t see the hundreds of birds perched in the trees surrounding them. Three curious round-faced chimps had been keeping pace with them, swinging from branch to branch, their eyes gleaming white in Sam’s NVGs. Now they stopped to watch, tails and fingers wrapped around branches.
“You couldn’t be more out of your element if you tried.” Sam resumed walking. The wet, muddy ground and vegetation underfoot made walking exhausting. Add to that her stress, and fear, and she needed a break. A break he didn’t have time to give her. A moment or two kissing would have to do as both a break and a distraction.
He waved away a swarm of tiny moths dancing inches from his face and hoped Beth wasn’t spooked by everything with wings. “Remind me again why coming to deepest, darkest Africa was a cool idea?”
“Adventure.” This time her voice was dry, but it held a faint thread of nerves.
Adventure, for God’s sake. He didn’t remind her that he’d pointed out all the dangers inherent in going to one of the most dangerous countries in the world. And South Africa was a cakewalk compared to Huren. “You’re lucky you weren’t killed. Next time you want goddamned adventure, take me up on my offer.”
“Which offer was that? A ride on your motorcycle? Or the ride on you? I don’t consider sex an adventure. Sorry, Sam, but that can’t compare with this experience. Other than in both instances I’d be sweaty. Possibly panting.”
“I’m insulted,” he said, amused as hell. She’d be panting and sweaty, all right. He couldn’t wait. “You find sex boring, do you?” A statement like that from a woman, especially this woman, was like waving a red flag at a bull.
“It’s pleasant,” she muttered, damning one of life’s greatest perks with faint praise.
“With Bob it was pleasant.”
“Rob.”
“Because you weren’t that into each other.”
“We were married.”
“Sex between two people who want each other more than their next breath can be explosive.”
“I’ll take your word for it. I’ve taken life far too seriously up until now. School, school, and school. Opening my practice, building my practice. Long hours at the clinic—I’ve been living life in black and white. I want a little Technicolor.” She sounded resolved if not enthusiastic.
“Admittedly not as much Technicolor as being kidnapped at gunpoint, but something a few notches down from this would suit me just fine.”
Sam vowed she’d have as much Technicolor as she could handle. Soon. “What does your family think about this wild idea you got about coming to Africa?”
“My sister’s been in Mallaruza for a couple of months, and loves it. I thought starting out slowly by going to Cape Town would give me the flavor of Africa. I also wanted to experience the people and different culture—”
“You were kidnapped and taken to a country even more dangerous than the first.”
“Thank you for reminding me. I’m already scared out of my wits. I bet my sister would love every insane second of this. Kess isn’t scared of anything.”
“Then she’s a moron,” Sam told her bluntly. He hadn’t met Beth’s sister. But she sounded like a flake with a death wish to him. He had no idea why Beth was so determined that she could or should match her sister’s rash behavior. Especially when she didn’t have the stomach for it.
“So you’re the sane one, and she’s the wild one?”
“I
’m the boring daughter, and Kess is the bold one. She’s always taking exciting vacations, which is why I wanted to do something bold for once.”
“But why Africa? With your love of Italian food, why not Italy?”
“I’m saving that to go with—”
“With?”
“Somebody.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know yet,” she said, sounding cross. “Someone special. Probably my sister.”
Liar. If she were going to go with her sister she would have done so already. “Why didn’t you go with your husband?”
“He liked American vacations.”
“Yeah? How many of those did you take together?”
“We were too busy going to med school and starting the practice. There are plenty of places in the States where you can learn new techniques. Plenty of places that are exciting and different. Didn’t have to be Africa.”
“Didn’t have to be. But was.”
He set a grueling pace to make up time. When necessary, he slashed a path through the vegetation with the machete. Gnats and mosquitoes swarmed around them, heard but unseen in the dark. He’d made sure that every inch of exposed skin was covered in DEET, but the chances of getting bitten anyway were high.
Thank God she was able to keep up, her hand a small, hard ball of a fist clutching the back of his belt. He’d always wanted Dr. Goodall’s small hand down his pants, Sam thought wryly as he shoved a large leaf out of the way, then held it so it wouldn’t lash back. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind.
He was aware of her every breath as she trudged along behind him. He was pushing it, trying to put as much distance as he could between them and the compound before they realized she’d flown the coop. Trying to get to the river. Trying not to give her the tongue-lashing she deserved for coming to a war-torn country in the middle of fucking nowhere to prove a point that wasn’t even important.
A rustle in a nearby shrub made him turn his head just in time to see the horizontally striped butt-end of an okapi. The deerlike animal, closely related to a giraffe, darted through the underbrush unleashing a troupe of chimps, who chatted and screeched their annoyance at being woken.