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She shook her head. “No. Would you mind if I went to bed?”
His disappointment gave way to a smile a moment later, his expression turning hungry as hooded eyes raked over her. “Of course not.” He held out his hand. Unable to refuse without incurring offense, she let him help her up.
Silently she walked beside him to the cavern adjoining his and stopped several feet from the makeshift bed. A quick glance at his face showed a deepened hunger that made her heart slam against her ribs in sick apprehension.
“I look forward to the day when I will join you on that bed, Belle.”
The sound she made in her throat was unintelligible. But he smiled as if he understood, bid her goodnight, and left.
She sank onto the bed, her breath coming out in gulping pants. With every strange sound her nerves frayed more. With every second that passed, she slid closer to black despair because she could no longer hide from the knowledge that Charles Mwana very much wanted to keep her as his personal prize…indefinitely.
1:34 A.M.THE SAME NIGHT
Nick’s teethjarred as the second-hand jeep struck yet another ditch in the severely potholed dirt road that led into the rebels’ territory.
A whole day had passed since they’d landed in this godforsaken place.
A day wasted while several appropriate hands had been greased in an attempt to ascertain the most up-to-date information on the whereabouts of Belle and the other three hostages.
So far all they’d managed to find out was that the rebel leader and his men were holed up in the jungle near the Congo-Nawakan border, waiting forTheosknew what.
Nick suppressed the dread rising inside him and forced himself to focus. Beside him, Alex braced his hand against the dashboard as the jeep bounced again.
Like him, his cousin had done three tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Having Alex by his side eased his gut’s churning. Not by a whole lot, but…it helped.
His com crackled through his earpiece. Gritting his teeth, he listened as Allen spoke to his men over the radio.
“We’re approaching the coordinates, gentlemen. Time to ditch these babies and head in on foot. We don’t want any surprises. And remember—radio silence in T-minus five. Allen out.”
They located a wide, shallow ditch and hid the jeeps, covering them with tarpaulins and large branches from a mahogany tree.
At Allen’s low, terse command, they melted into the jungle. Nick stayed abreast with Alex, his senses sharpening and heightening as covert skills he’d presumed dormant swiftly rose to the fore. Adrenaline flooded his veins and coated his mouth. His gaze swept and tracked their immediate surroundings for any potential threat. Relief followed swiftly, and his grip tightened on his assault rifle.
His training hadn’t completely deserted him.
The smell of damp earth and rotting vegetation attacked his nostrils. Hanging leaves from low branches whipped at his face, but he ignored their sting, his focus locked dead ahead as they moved at a crouched trot deeper into the jungle.
After almost an hour, they stopped and spread out. Nick indicated for Alex to stay with him as the other men headed off in a semi-circle, donning their night-vision goggles and melting into the trees.
After adjusting his, he moved forward, stopping several moments later. A dozen yards ahead, two figures stood to one side of what looked like a small clearing. Outlined in shadowy green silhouette, one of them lifted a hand every few seconds to his lips. At the intermittent glow flaring from the soldier’s hand, Nick realized one of the rebels was having a cigarette break. Good. Their guard was down.
Crouching low, he trained his gun on the soldier and sighted him in his scope. A quick sideways glance and Alex nodded at his signal. They fired almost simultaneously, their silencersbarely causing a sound in the night air as the two rebel soldiers crumpled to their deaths.
Two of Allen’s men materialized from the gloom and tugged the bodies out of view several feet into the bushes.
Sweat broke out on Nick’s brow. Two down. The problem was the rest of the rebels were inside the cave. And at this time of the night, even if half of them were asleep, Nick’s band of mercenaries would in all likelihood be outnumbered.
Taking steady breaths, he crept closer to the clearing, Alex beside him, their guns poised and steady at shoulder level. In near-complete silence, one man extracted a minute video camera mounted on the end of a flexible fibre-optic cable. He fed it through a small fissure, while another man observed the feedback on a small screen.
After a few minutes, the men moved back and communicated their findings through hand signals.
Nick held his breath as Allen spoke. “We have a total of sixteen bodies inside, five up and moving around. Most of them are grouped at the front. I’m guessing those are the soldiers. Three are isolated in the far corner, and I think those are the hostages. There are lights in there, so we won’t need these,” he said, indicating the night vision goggles.
They split into two groups, advancing cautiously toward the entrance of the cave. Nick clenched his jaw to stem the fear and adrenaline. Not fear for himself, but for her. His wayward wife.
“Easy now. We’re almost there,” Alex whispered and clasped his shoulder in brief reassurance.
Nick nodded, exhaled in a slow breath, and rapped lightly on the wooden barrier with his gun.