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“You look worried.”
“Petrov is behaving erratically. This worries me greatly. We do not know if he’s an Alexandrov loyalist or if he’s on Rolan’s side, yet. Until we know, everything is unknown.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Lauren said grimly, hands on her hips as she looked back up the feeder path they’d just emerged from. “He’s got to come by this hill sooner or later. And we’ll be there to stop the sonofabitch.” She snorted. “I just wish DOD had given me the green flag to take out Volkov, too.”
Alex nodded. “Their decision does not make sense to me, either.” He took her elbow and led her back onto the feeder path just enough so that they were hidden from possible people coming down the trail. Brushing her cheek with his fingertips, he rasped, “We have something good between us. I would wish this op was finished and we were flying home. I want the time so we can explore and know one another without danger all around us. I have many dreams for you,malen ‘kaya, that I want to share with you.”
Lauren held his sincere gaze. “That makes two of us,” she whispered, sliding her fingertips across his stubbled jaw. It felt so good to not only be honest with this man she trusted, but also for her to give voice to how she felt.
Alex nodded. “Let us take the feeder back to the hill. We will check out the other one to determine which will be best for us in case we have to egress.”
CHAPTER 14
The children werewaiting and watching for Lauren to arrive back at their village. Alex and her had finished their inspection of the two feeder trails and it was late afternoon. The rain had stopped and Lauren was glad. She carried an M4 rifle, a favorite of Navy SEALs, having found it the perfect weapon for her. It had a short eight-inch barrel and fit well for her size and height. Alex walked slightly behind her, always watchful, his AK-47 hanging off a strap across his chest. She sucked down more water, feeling hungry. They had worked hard all day scouting out the potential site.
“I think you are going to be the most popular person here,” he teased, walking up by her shoulder, grinning. The waiting children were twice as many as Lauren had gathered before. Alex was sure word had spread like wildfire through the village that they had each gotten sweet candy from this beautiful red-haired white woman. His heart expanded fiercely with love for Lauren. The children swarmed her, jumping up, calling their name for her,La Mujer Roja, “The Red Woman”, because of her hair.
They were grabbing at her hand, tugging at her to come with them, to somewhere else in the village. Alex heard her laugh as she reached out, caressing their heads, leaning down to kiss a little girl who was begging to be carried. She was mobbed, but took it in good stride.
“They’re taking me somewhere,” she called over her shoulder, laughing.
Alex nodded and said, “Go play,malen ‘kaya.” He saw the radiance in her face, the flush of pink in her cheeks as he held her warm gaze. He knew Lauren loved him although she had never brought up the topic or spoken to him about it. He felt it in every cell of his body. “See you later?”
Lauren nodded. “Yeah, let me see where the kids want me to go. I still have some candy in my pocket. They must know that?”
His grin deepened. “All children have candy radar.” Her returning laughter made his chest swell with love for her. Children clearly loved her, too. They saw her heart. So did he. He watched as Lauren grabbed her M4 rifle and pulled it off over her shoulder. As routine, she’d always had it on her but he could see she was worried about the powerful military weapon being around the children.
“Here,” she said, lifting it up over the children’s heads toward him. “Take it to the hut? I’ll be back in a few minutes. I won’t be long.”
Alex took the weapon from her hands. Up ahead, he saw Merrill with his own rifle, walking slow, keeping watch. Lauren would be safe enough. “Okay, do not be long?” Because it looked like it was going to rain again, darker clouds in the west churning rapidly toward the village once more.
“Promise,” she said, turning and placing her hand on the shoulder of a thin, tall boy who was smiling up at her, begging her to walk faster with him.
Alex watched the children drag Lauren off between two huts and onto another street. He saw that, finally, they had brought out her own childlike side. It made him wonder that if, someday, she would desire children of her own. As Alex walked down the muddy street, adult villagers out and about their daily business all around him, he pondered that possibility. His heart swelled even more. One of his secret dreams was to one day have a family. He missed his extended family so much that, sometimes, a different kind of ache would arise within his soul. Alex felt lonely without them. Maybe, he thought, it was in his genes to be surrounded by a loving, supportive family like he’d grown up in. Was Lauren even open to the possibility? Alex thought so, judging by how quickly she’d opened up and smiled and cared for her young charges with such focus and tenderness.
He saw Killmer coming up from another street below the one he was walking along. Alex decided to meet him at their vacant hut where their gear was stored, to go over the intel they’d gathered earlier. He’d like the Special Forces sergeant’s feedback. Killmer might not trust him, but would fully help them in the setting-up phase of the op.
Lauren was sweptup in the joy, laughter and playfulness of the fifteen or so children. They were all barefoot, red mud splattered all over their short twig-like legs and calloused bare feet as they tugged and pulled at her hand. First, she stopped and gave each of them a piece of candy, delighting in their eyes shining back with thanks. And then, the two oldest boys, probably ten and twelve, grabbed her hands, tugging her forward, pointing excitedly toward the edge of the village.
Where were they going? What did they want to show her? Lauren saw a number of women by their huts. They smiled and waved to her. It felt good to be welcomed and Lauren pulled her hand free from one boy and waved back. She turned her attention back to the children, and saw that they were leading her behind a large family-sized hut. There was a path there that led into the jungle. It had to be the other feeder line. The one they had not walked today.
Several children raced ahead, their hair flying, calling out to her in their Quechua language that Lauren couldn’t understand. They went up a steep slope, everyone sliding and slipping in the red mud. The children laughed. Three of the girls got behind Lauren, pushing on her butt to help her up the steep hill. The boys tugged even harder on her hands, helping her to make the ascent. At the top, they were all looking very excited. The trio of girls who stood on the flat path, gestured for Lauren to hurry forward. She nodded and grinned. These kids were up to something, their excitement infectious.
Lauren noticed that the woody vines that normally didn’t allow anyone to walk through the jungle were non-existent in this area. She could see into the dark jungle full of trees, most of the ground free of bushes. Wondering if the villagers had removed the ground cover over time, Lauren realized that one could move quite easily across this litter-free jungle floor. Because not much sunlight could reach the ground of the jungle, few plants grew there. Instead, the earth was covered with decaying leaves, much like the hill they would put up the sniper hide on tomorrow morning.
The children became very enthused, their little voices reaching high pitches as they called to her. They rounded a slight curve. There, on the path, was several blooming orchids that had been blown out of overhanging trees last night by the gusty winds from the thunderstorms that had rolled through the area. One little girl knelt, gesturing for Lauren to stop and come look at them.
“Ohhhh,” Lauren said, smiling as she halted, kneeling down, “these are beautiful!” and she scooped one orchid in bloom up into her hands. The children surrounded her, wriggling like happy puppies, their faces alight and beaming. Lauren looked at the huge white orchid with its long, leathery, oval leaves. She saw a lot of roots still gripping onto what looked like bark and moss from where it had lived on a branch of a tree above them. Looking up, because the children were pointing that way, she saw several more of the same type of orchid still clinging onto the tree by the path.
One child took her hand and pushed it toward her. Another kept pointing at her nose, trying to tell Lauren to smell the flower she held.
“Okay,” she told them, laughing, “I get it.” And she lifted the huge white orchid with its purple lip up to her nose. The fragrance reminded Lauren of a heavy vanilla scent. Closing her eyes, she sighed, inhaling the scent deep into her lungs.
Suddenly, Lauren felt the grip of man’s hand on her shoulder, fingers digging in, holding her right where she was.
The children all gasped. Some cried out. They scattered away from Lauren.
Dropping the orchid, Lauren jerked her head up. Her heart plunged. Tamryn Volkov had his pistol pointed at her temple, grinning down at her.
