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Nik leaned over the woman who lay on her side, eyes tightly shut, her hands pressed against her stomach. He touched her shoulder lightly. “I need to get you sitting up,” he told her in English.
Lauren’s eyes snapped open. The man looming over her was lean, but just as tall as Alex. She recognized him, but her mind was scrambled and she couldn’t identify him. He looked awfully familiar to her. She felt his hand, tentative on her shoulder. He was dark-haired, his blue eyes narrowed upon her, his mouth thinned. “Y-you know English?” Her voice was raspy.
“I do. I’m Nik. Come, I must sit you up in order to help you,” and he gently eased her into a sitting position. The woman weakly tried to sit up but he saw her blanch and then she started to pitch to the left. This wouldn’t do. He stood up and hooked his elbows beneath her armpits and dragged her against the cave wall so it would support her. She grimaced and bit back a groan as he released her.
It helped for Lauren to close her eyes. Less dizziness. She felt his hand on her shoulder and cringed, trying to pull away.
“Open your eyes,” he commanded. “I’m not going to hurt you. I need to you to drink some of this water. Slosh it around in your mouth and then spit it out to the left.”
Lauren opened her eyes and saw him holding out a canteen toward her. She lifted her hands, wrapping them around the aluminum canteen. Her hands were shaky but she followed his directions, spitting out the water several times before her mouth felt clean. “Th-thank you,” she whispered.
“Drink some,” Morozov ordered, quickly daubing away the blood running down the right side of her face. His shoulders ached like fire from carrying her a good three miles at a constant trot through the jungle. Speed was of the essence. He knew the Special Forces Army team would quickly follow them. This was a risky venture in his mind. If Volkov had stopped talking about the woman in Aguas Calientes who had kicked his knee in and broke his thumb, Petrov would have ignored his limping. But Volkov’s considerable ego had been deflated. By a woman.Her.Nik studied her. She was beautiful. She didn’t look like an operator, but Volkov swore she was one. That was why Petrov, who had spotted her earlier today from their hiding place, had wanted to grab her. Was she a new breed of operator? Was the US sending women to do a man’s job? Set traps for sex-hungry men who would never suspect them of being deadly agents?
Lauren handed the man his canteen back with a whispered thank you. She closed her eyes, feeling his gentle touch. Her mind refused to work. Why did he seem so familiar to her? Was he a combat medic like Alex? Did Alex know this man? She didn’t know who else had been on his team. She tried to think. Tried to plan, but it was impossible. Every time she opened her eyes, the dizziness made her stomach roll.
“You hit your head badly,” he informed her. Pulling on a pair of latex gloves, Morozov separated her hair, finding a good one-inch gash in her scalp. Scalp wounds always bled heavily. “I’m going to have to put stitching tape along it to stop the bleeding.” He released her hair and crouched back on his heels, staring intently at her. “What is your name?”
“Lauren,” she whispered. “I’m a botanist. I’m an American citizen.” She turned her gaze up to his. “Please, let me go. I’ve done nothing to you. I don’t even know why you did this.” She had to play her role as a botanist. Just an American tourist on vacation. Morozov’s lean, oval face softened a little. His eyes were well-spaced, intelligent-looking.
“It’s not for me to decide anything,” he told her gruffly. “Now, I’m going to give you a choice. I have to clean and tape-up your wound. If you promise to sit quietly while I do it, I will not cuff you again. But if you fight me, I will cuff your hands and your ankles. You’re dangerous with those feet of yours.”
“I’m so dizzy I couldn’t move if I wanted,” Lauren muttered, her voice low from the pain throbbing through her skull.
“Your word, Lauren?”
“Y-yes. My word…”
Morozov nodded. “You’re a smart woman. Now, sit very still. I’m going to give you a shot of lydocaine around the cut so I can tape it up without causing you a lot more pain.”
Lauren sat there feeling terror. It alternated with hope. She knew Alex would find her. He was a tracker. He knew his own kind. And, from what she could tell, there was no one but her and this man around. Where had the others gone? Would they come back? What were they going to do with her? Why had they captured her and not just killed her at pointblank range? Petrov must have a reason and that scared her even more.
CHAPTER 15
The rain continuedto fall. Alex was moving at a slow trot, water streaming down his face. He had his AK-47 gripped in his right hand. Behind him were Killmer, Cunningham and Merrill. It was close to dark, but he had his NVG’s that they’d picked up for him. Alex knew he was a fast mover, but the Army operators caught up with him nonetheless, giving him his ruck and the rest of his gear to carry. It showed their toughness and how good a shape they were in. They were moving out with a hundred and twenty pounds on each of them. They didn’t know how long they would be out here, but it didn’t matter. All he could think of was Lauren.Where was she? Alive? Dead? Being tortured? God, raped? No…He went over in his mind who was still in Petrov’s group. The ONLY possible aid that Lauren might get would be from his best friend in the team, Nik Morozov, IF he was with the group. The rest were animals. They would hurt Lauren without a second thought.
But why kidnap her? Why? His mind churned over the issue as his wet boots sunk into the squishy, soft leaves. They had risked a lot capturing her in broad daylight. Petrov wanted her for something. What?
“Let’s take five,” Killmer told him over the earphone.
Alex didn’t want to slow down, but he knew from long experience that a body could recoup in five to ten minutes. He hadn’t been drinking enough water, either. Turning back, he went to where the operators crowded in under a gigantic fallen log, sitting down to rest. They were all sucking water like camels. He did the same. With the AK-47 wet and gleaming across his thighs, Alex pushed up the bill of his baseball cap, the overhead log shielding them from getting even wetter.
Killmer shot him a look. “I’ve been wanting to know WHY they took Lauren.”
Alex shook his head. “I do not know. The only thing I can think was that Lauren accidentally ran into Volkov in the grocery store in Aguas Calientes. He pinned her and she swung at him. She grabbed his thumb, breaking his hold on her, and then kicked his knee out from under him with her boot. He fell and she ran. That is why we left the town sooner than we wanted. I knew Petrov or any of his team could identify me on sight. And then, Volkov had to know she was not a tourist. If they saw either of us, we were marked. We left that night to hook up with you.”
Rubbing his beard, Killmer muttered, “Volkov put it together, then. He figured out from the way she fought back that she was an operator. Not a civilian.”
“That is what I think,” Alex said, popping two salt tablets. Already, his calves were tight. Next would come cramps, so nasty that he wouldn’t be able to walk. He looked around through the dusk.
“Why?” Killmer demanded. “To teach her a lesson? Torture her for information on why she’s with us?”
“Possibly,” Alex agreed, wanting to deny that any of that could happen, but could not.
“Well,” Killmer grouched, “they made us. They were here and they could see all of us.” He shook his head, angry with himself.
“They laid in wait,” Alex agreed, drinking more water. He pulled a protein bar out of his cargo pants pocket. He had no intention of quitting this hunt until he found Lauren. If he had to track through the night alone, he’d do it.
“Look,” Cale Merrill said. “maybe we’re approaching this sideways? What if they grabbed Lauren to trapus? You know… they’re leaving very easy tracks for us to follow.”
