Hostage to Love (Entangled Suspense) (5 page)

They flattened themselves against the rock face as the soldier removed the barrier and stuck his head out of the cave. Nick yanked him out, slammed his elbow into the rebel’s neck, and silenced him before he could utter a word.

With a hissed warning, Allen pulled the pin from the small device in his hand and lobbed it inside the cave.

…

Belle jerked from the troubled sleep she’d fallen into as a loud, piercing sound shattered the silence of the cave. The harsh strobe flashes of light that lit up the dark cavern a second later completely blinded her, even after she shut her eyes against the painful intrusion. After several seconds of intermittent bursts, they stopped. Heart thundering, ears ringing, she lurched from her bed and wondered if she was dreaming.

Edda’s terror-struck face from a several feet away told her she was still enmeshed in the nightmare.

Dizzy and momentarily blinded by the flashes, she stumbled forward. What was happening? Had she given herself away somehow? Had Mwana decided they weren’t worth keeping after all and blasted the cave, burying them alive? Curiously though, the walls of the cave remained intact. She blinked a few times to dispel the blindness. Nothing happened.

Something brushed against her, and she bit back a scream.

Were they being rescued? Her spirits soared, then plummeted.

Who would rescue them? Only Liz knew her whereabouts, and her best friend wouldn’t give it up that easily. Besides, Belle wasn’t due to make her weekly phone call to Liz until Monday, so she wouldn’t guess Belle might be in trouble until after she failed to make the call.

As for Father Tom, having lived and run the mission in Nawaka for the last seventeen years, he wouldn’t be missed back in his native Scotland. And if somehow Edda and Hendrik didn’t make it out, then…who knew?

The Nawakan government had enough on its plate dealing with the very real dual threat of its gold and diamond mines being looted and bracing for Charles Mwana’s inevitable takeover to mount rescue operations of kidnapped foreigners.

Rescue was not an option.

The only other conclusion she could reach was that another rebel faction had caught wind of the Mwana’s bounty and intended to claim it. One rebel group often seized another’s hostages if they could profit from it. Sometimes rebels within the same group rose up against each other. Was that what was happening here? Had Mwana’s subordinates staged a coup?

If so, she and the other hostages had to take advantage of the gunfight.

“Father, I think we should make a run for it. This may be our only chance.” God, she prayed she was right and they did have a chance.

He gave a nervous chuckle. “I’m with you, lass, but unfortunately, these old eyes cannot see a thing at the moment. I think I’ve gone blind.”

She stopped herself from telling him she was suffering the same predicament, although she could just about make out shadowy images. She fumbled for his hand and grasped it tight. “It’s all right, Father. Just hold onto me, and I’ll guide you. Keep your head down. Hendrik, Edda, are you okay?”

“Yes,” Hendrik responded.

She took a deep breath and edged forward, her hand clamped around Father Tom’s. They’d traveled only a few feet when a bullet slapped the cave wall beside her. Small rocks struck her cheek, and she cried out. Fear strangling her, she crouched down beside Father Tom, eyes shut.

“We have to keep moving,” Hendrik urged from behind her.

She opened her eyes and thankfully, most of her vision had been restored. But what little she saw stilled her heart. Since whoever was attacking the rebels was doing so from
outside
the cave and the guerrillas were defending themselves from inside, there’d be no way to escape without being caught in the crossfire.

Another bullet whizzed past her and struck a kerosene lantern on the far side of the cave, knocking it over so it shattered. It ignited, sending a huge plume of acrid smoke billowing up toward the craggy ceiling of the cave.

Their situation had just worsened a hundred-fold.

If the bullets didn’t get them, the smoke and fire would. There was enough bedding, ammunition, and lamps to set the place ablaze in minutes.

Abruptly, the gunfire ceased.

“Come on,” she whispered desperately to Father Tom. “We need to go, now!”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the entrance of the cave, trying not to let the sight of bloodied bodies paralyze her. She focused on the discarded guns instead. If they could arm themselves, they’d increase their chances of escape considerably.

As she reached for the nearest rifle, she heard the crunch of feet approaching.

Another burst of gunfire. Then silence.

Through the smoky light, she saw a figure, tall and male, enter the cave, followed by two equally formidable-looking men. In silence, the trio advanced toward them. Her throat closed up, fear completely seizing her. She turned to Father Tom, gripped his hand in hers, and tried to shield him with her body.

Someone crouched behind her.

She squeezed her eyes shut, terror flooding through her.
This is it. This is it
.

Then a deep, masculine voice purred in her ear, “Hello, Tinkerbelle.”

Chapter Three

No
. It couldn’t be. Belle knew she must have slipped into some sort of fugue state. Because only one person called her that. Only—

“Nick?” she croaked. She spun around and tried to see through the smoke, but her eyes still burned and her mind wouldn’t let her hopes blossom or her heart believe.

“Nick? Is it really you?” But how could he be here? How had he found her?

“In the flesh,
glikia mou
,” he confirmed in his husky, slightly accented voice as he scooped her up into his arms and rose.

With long strides, he carried her outside.

Oh, my God
. It
was
Nick. She would recognize his voice anywhere, even after six months of separation. The arms that secured her, protected her, were painfully familiar.

“But how can you be here? H-how did you find me?” she asked in wonder, looking up at him in the moonlight. The strange binocular-like contraption strapped on top of his head notwithstanding, the face looking down at her was one so imprinted on her memory, sometimes she feared only death would erase it.

“There’ll be time for explanations later.” He set her down gently on her feet. “Right now I need to know, are you hurt?” Without waiting for an answer, his hands began investigating for broken bones. They skimmed over her neck, probed her diaphragm and ribs. By the time they reached her hip, a fire had started within her. A fire she’d thought herself immune to by now.

“No, I’m fine.” She tried to pull away from him, but he held fast and continued his examination. “I couldn’t see earlier, and my ears are ringing, but other than that I’m fine. Is that Alex?” Stunned, she stared at the familiar figure of Nick’s cousin.

Similar in build to Nick, the two were often mistaken for brothers.

“Yes, he pestered me into letting him come along.” Nick took a pen torch and flashed it into her eyes. Her immediate flinch seemed to satisfy him. “Sorry, the noise was the result of the flash-bangs we used. It causes dizziness and temporary blindness, but the effects normally pass after a few minutes. I regret it, but it was necessary.”

“But Father Tom…he couldn’t see either. He might be hurt.” Again she tried to pull away.

A strong arm clamped around her. “Don’t worry, he’s fine. Alex and my men will take care of him,” Nick replied softly. His hands continued to roam over her, as if to establish she was indeed unhurt.

“Your men…?” With the aid of the fire-lit cave, she counted seven of them, all dressed in black, with powerful guns, harsh faces, and a multitude of weapons strapped to their bodies. Alex crouched next to Father Tom, holding a water bottle to his lips, and two men stood with Hendrik and Edda. Another knelt next to an injured rebel soldier, only this one wasn’t being as gentle as the others.

She took in the scene, her heart lurching wildly when she realized Nick had mounted a full-scale rescue.

For her.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She fought to remain calm, but it was no use. When he pulled her against his chest, she gave up, relief from pent-up fear erupting in huge, racking sobs.

“
Shhh
, it’s all right. You’re safe now,” he murmured in a deep, soothing tone.

In some distant part of her brain, she knew she shouldn’t display such weakness, and she definitely shouldn’t lean on Nick, of all people. But she couldn’t help it. The last week had been horrific. She’d been certain either death or an even worse fate had awaited her.

When her sobs subsided to sniffling hiccups, she wiped her nose on her sleeve and raised her head.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose it like that.” Her voice faltered as he lifted her chin with one finger. Her gaze collided with steely gray eyes.

“Don’t you dare apologize. You’ve been through a harrowing ordeal. I would be more disturbed if you
didn’t
let it out in some way.”

Nick’s voice was a firm, reassuring hope amidst all the carnage surrounding them. Sighing, she burrowed into him, the need to lean on him too great to ignore. She closed her eyes as his lips brushed her temple.

“Are they…are they all dead?” She refused to look toward the cave and the bodies within.

“Don’t think about that now,
yineka mou
,” Nick replied with another soft kiss. Her heart skipped a beat at the familiar endearment.
His wife
, he’d called her. God, how she’d loved it when he’d called her that.

But that was in the past.

Technically, she might still be wife, but in name only. Pain she’d thought numbed by time and distance sliced through her with the lethality of a newly sharpened knife. Again she tried to pull away.

“Stay.”

Struggling against the temptation to do as he bade, she looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw Alex approach them.

Alex tugged her into a strong but gentle hug, then pulled back a bit to look down at her. “Next time you decide my cousin needs his ass handed to him, send me a memo. Trust me, I can devise more fun ways to jerk his chain than subjecting him to this mosquito-infected hell hole. Agreed?”

Her chin threatened to wobble at the brusquely masked worry she glimpsed in his blue eyes.

“Agreed,” she whispered.

After planting a kiss on her temple, he turned to Nick, a wry smile twisting his lips when Nick immediately pulled her close to his body.

“We have a small problem. We’ve only counted fourteen soldiers. There’s no sign of the leader, Mwana. We need to get a move on in case he’s in the vicinity. Our gunfire could also have attracted unwanted attention.”

“Yes, he left hours ago,” she told them. “He has another camp about an hour from here but…I think he has another secret camp nearby. He never sleeps in the same place two nights in a row.”

Nick turned as a second man joined them.

“We’ve found two more concealed entrances to the cave and several passages that lead to dead ends. We came across some old mining equipment, and I think this is one of the abandoned diamond mines. As a hideout it’s perfect, which is why I don’t think we should hang around.”

Nick gave a curt nod. “Right, let’s get the hell out of here. Are the others well enough to travel?”

Alex nodded. “The Dutch woman’s fine. So’s the priest. He’ll probably need to be carried, but that’s not a problem. Unfortunately, the other guy, Morgensen, caught a bullet, but he should make it. He’s being patched up. We’ll leave as soon as he’s ready to go.”

Belle’s relief at hearing Father Tom was unharmed disappeared at the news that Hendrik had been hurt. This time, Nick didn’t stop her when she pulled away, but his hand remained in the small of her back as she went to the injured man.

“Are you all right, Hendrik?”

He nodded and took her hand. “Yes, I’m fine. Thanks to you. We owe our lives to you.” His eyes misted.

Edda’s sobs were muffled against his unhurt shoulder, but she nodded vigorously. “
Ja
, you saved us.”

“No. We looked after each other, and we stuck together. We’ve made it through, and now we get to go home. Okay?”

Tears spilled down Edda’s face. “Okay.”

The firm hand at her back moved to her shoulder. “We need to leave now. Are you all right to walk?” Nick asked. She turned and her eyes connected with his unwavering gaze. Steadfast strength emanated from him, and she selfishly tapped into it.

Her feet hurt like hell, and her head throbbed with the beat of a thousand African drums, but there was no way she was going to slow them down by admitting it. “Yes, I’m good.” She stood up as Nick shrugged off his Kevlar jacket.

“What are you doing?” she asked in surprise when he repositioned it on her shoulders.

“I thought it was obvious.”

“But…” Her protest for him to keep the jacket for his own protection died on her lips when she saw the hard implacable look on his face. Their eyes met. Battled. In silence, she let him zip up the vest.

He pulled her to his side as a small explosion sounded behind them. The blaze in the abandoned diamond cave had become an inferno in the dark African night sky.

It was time to go.

Alex and John Allen rounded up the men, who took charge of Father Tom and Hendrik.

With a last look over her shoulder, she gripped the hand that held hers and followed Nick into the black night.

…

Nick looked down at his wife as she slept, her head pillowed on his shoulder. Belle Andreakos, or to give her full title, Lady Tinkerbelle Poppy Winkworth-Jones Andreakos, daughter of Lord Jonathan Andrew Winkworth-Jones, sixth Earl of Edenhall, was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, even with dirt-coated hair, long scratches crisscrossing her normally smooth skin, and exhaustion etched deep in her face. The shirt and trousers he’d supplied for her might dwarf her willowy five-foot-seven-inch figure, but they did nothing to diminish her ethereal beauty.