Mission Read online

  She heard an engine start and realised they were in a vehicle. They were being transported somewhere. Was that good or bad? She took a deep breath and tried not to think about what lay ahead.

  She felt her ankles being tied together and for a brief moment she witnessed the grey, leaden sky as the sack was removed from her head. She took the opportunity to drag in some deep breaths of fresh air and orientate herself. They were lying in the back tray of a utility truck. Where were they going? A black tarp was secured quickly into place above them and once again they were effectively blinded.

  ‘You OK?’ Richard asked as they felt the vehicle start to move.

  Holly could just make him out as her eyes adjusted to the gloom. A thin sliver of light shone into the space from where the tarp hadn’t been fully secured at the tailgate end. It was tied back slightly and allowed fresh air to circulate.

  Holly nodded because she didn’t quite trust her voice.

  ‘See if you can get out of your ropes,’ he said as he worked away at his. ‘Let’s try and get out of here before we get too far out of Abeil.’

  Holly nodded again because she was pleased that he was thinking about ways to get them out of the situation. She battled with her bonds for a while but it was no use.

  ‘Richard,’ she said into the silence.

  ‘Hmm?’ he said, still concentrating.

  Are they going to kill us?’

  Richard stopped the frustrating activity and heard the note in her voice that said she was scared but trying to be brave. He marshalled his thoughts. He needed to keep her positive and focused on their freedom. ‘If they’d wanted to kill us, they would have already done it.’

  Richard’s reasoning sounded sensible. ‘Why are they doing it, then?’ Holly just couldn’t work it out. She’d been a good person all her life. Why the hell was this happening to her?

  ‘What’s the matter? Holly,’ he said as he worked at his ropes. ‘Losing faith in the misunderstood? Still think the rebels aren’t the enemy?’

  She stopped trying to free herself and gritted her teeth. He wanted to goad her into a political debate now? ‘I still think that they have reason to be angry. Don’t you? Or do you just blindly swallow the government line?’

  ‘No, I don’t. As it happens, I have a lot of sympathy for their cause. But I have absolutely no tolerance for their tactics.’

  Yeah, well, she didn’t have a whole lot of tolerance for their tactics at the moment either. It still didn’t stop her from recognising that they had been wronged and feeling for their struggle. ‘Have you ever thought that maybe they’re driven to these tactics and that maybe they’re not endorsed by all of their followers? Do you think we should tar them all with the same brush?’

  Richard sighed and cursed himself for derailing his attempt at focusing her. ‘Look. I’m sorry. OK? Maybe you’re right.’

  Holly didn’t hear much conviction in his voice. They were both silent for a few moments, reflecting on each other’s words. ‘I suspect they’re probably going to hold us for ransom,’ he said into the silence.

  Holly felt momentarily cheered by the thought and their apparent value to these people. And then she remembered that her government didn’t negotiate with terrorists and certainly didn’t pay ransoms. How long would they be held for before the rebels got trigger-happy?

  And when our government refuses to talk with them?’

  ‘Hopefully we’ll be long gone.’

  He grinned at her and despite their predicament and disagreement she felt encouraged by his confidence.

  Richard gave up on his ties and looked at the tailgate that was just beyond his feet. He wriggled down until they were touching and then he kicked with all his might. The utility looked fairly old and rusty from the inside so maybe the catch would loosen.

  He kicked at it repeatedly, striking it with both of his feet simultaneously. Nothing. It didn’t budge. He tried again. And again.

  ‘I don’t think it’s going to work,’ she said when he stopped for a breather. The noise produced by his efforts had been deafening and Holly was glad of the respite.

  Richard kicked it once again out of sheer frustration. There had to be a way out of this. Think, damn it! Think!

  The ride started to get really bumpy and Holly knew as she was bounced around that she was going to be covered in a million bruises come tomorrow.

  ‘Where do you think they’re taking us?’ she asked.

  ‘Into the mountains is my guess. It’s their stronghold.’

  Confirming Richard’s supposition, the utility started to tilt as if going up an incline and she heard a gear change.

  Into the mountains? Holly remembered seeing them in the distance from the back of the orphanage. They’d always looked so majestic, jutting from the earth in all their emerald glory. But seeing them, admiring their beauty and actually being among them were different things. Holly shivered. They had always seemed so isolated and she felt fear slide down her spine.

  Richard saw the worry etched on her pixie face and sensed her apprehension.

  ‘It’s going to be all right, Holly. I promise.’

  She swallowed the rush of emotion that rose in her throat and nodded. His confidence gave her hope. She gave him a half-smile. She would be brave.

  He shuffled over to where she lay because she was a lousy actress and her body betrayed her doubt, and he desperately needed her to believe in him. To believe that he would keep her safe at all costs. He needed her to trust him and to do anything and everything he asked of her to get them out of this alive.

  He could do nothing at the moment but lend her some comfort and if that’s what it took to allay her fears and forge some trust then that’s what he would do.

  ‘Roll on your other side,’ he said.

  ‘Why?’ she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

  ‘Because you’re scared, and if I had the use of my arms I’d hug you but as I don’t we can spoon instead. It’s not ideal but it might help.’

  ‘You want to spoon me?’ she asked. Half of her was incredulous at his request the other half found it, given their dire circumstances, absurdly funny.

  ‘Yes.’ He smiled.

  ‘What, no flowers, no champagne?’ She smiled back.

  ‘I’m a fast mover.’ He shrugged.

  Holly laughed but did as he’d requested. A cuddle to calm the nerves sounded like just the right medicine at the moment. And let’s face it, she thought, they could do little else.

  It was a tricky process, changing positions while lying down with your hands tied behind your back in a moving vehicle, but she accomplished it with reasonable dexterity.

  Once she was over she shuffled back and finally their bodies came into contact. She shuffled around a bit more, fitting herself to the shape of his body before she settled and relaxed.

  Of course, that put her hands in the wrong spot altogether. Oh, dear, here she was, abducted by rebels, and all she could think about was how close to his groin her hands were nestled.

  ‘Don’t even think about it.’ His low voice held unmistakable humour and she gave a half-laugh. The rasp of his chin stubble grazed her neck slightly and she felt her nipples stiffen at the erotic sensation.

  ‘Maybe I’m a fast mover, too,’ she said.

  He heard the corresponding humour in her voice and chuckled. ‘What? No flowers? No champagne?’ And they laughed together.

  They fell into silence for a few minutes. Holly squirmed a bit more because the ropes were chafing her ankles and biting into her wrists and it was difficult to find a comfortable position.

  ‘For God’s sake, Holly, can you stay still?’ Bad predicament or not, he was just a man. One who could remember how good they were together as if it were yesterday.

  ‘Sorry.’ She ceased her struggle and found a position she could live with.

  Richard was conscious of how big he was around her. She fitted against him perfectly, emphasising her smallness. Her head fitted snugly under his chin an
d he had to suppress the urge to rub it against her soft hair. How many times had they lain together like this?

  Holly couldn’t believe in their desperate situation she could feel so calm, but the familiarity of their position took her back to happier times. Snuggled into him, her naked flesh hot against his as they’d waited for the next inevitable surge of desire to choreograph their frantic coupling.

  Richard could feel her trembling lessen and felt pride swell inside him. She had to be scared out of her mind and to her credit she hadn’t cried once. She was doing a great job but lying this close to her soft body her frightened state was obvious and he needed her to continue to be brave and strong.

  He cast around for something to say. ‘So, tell me about what you’ve been doing these last couple of years.’

  Holly filled him in on her nursing career, her midwifery, her work at the hospital and her growing disillusion with medicine. He listened without interrupting and Holly realised how much she had missed their conversations. Maybe he hadn’t always treated her as if she were two.

  The ute banged over a hole in the road and Holly felt her hipbone smash against the metal floor. She winced as the truck lurched and the movement flung them to one side, Richard’s weight pinning her against the side.

  The road smoothed out again and Richard eased back slightly.

  ‘You OK?’ he asked.

  ‘No. I’m sure I’ll be black and blue tomorrow.’

  They settled back against each other again.

  ‘What about you, Richard? How was Africa?’

  ‘Hot.’

  Holly felt his body tense around her. ‘Something happened to you there, didn’t it?’

  Richard spent a good part of his waking life trying not to think about Africa and most of his sleeping life right back there again. Her intuition surprised him. Did it show?

  ‘Africa is in the past. I prefer to think about the future.’ And the only future he was interested in at the moment was their immediate one.

  ‘And what’s in your future, Richard?’

  ‘Getting through this ordeal.’

  His abruptness brought their situation back into sharp focus again. But it also seemed to intensify her curiosity. They were both living on borrowed time, surely he could open up a little?

  ‘I mean if we get out of this. Is there a special person on the scene? Any little Richards running around?’

  She held her breath suddenly afraid he would say yes.

  ‘I think you know me better than that. I don’t need a family, remember?’

  Unfortunately she remembered only too well. Holly heard the utter conviction in his voice. So some things hadn’t changed. Did he truly believe he could go through life totally alone? Completely isolated? What a chilling thought. She snuggled her body closer to his instinctively seeking his warmth and hoping, somehow, to convince him he was wrong.

  ‘Everyone needs family,’ she said wistfully.

  ‘The army is my family.’

  She’d heard that come out of his mouth so often yet still it horrified her. This was what she’d been up against. A man who was the product of a broken home that he wouldn’t talk about. He had been offered a safe haven, a refuge in the ranks of the military. A man who felt indebted to an organisation who had offered him the closest thing to a family he had ever known. A man consequently married to his job. ‘Oh, very personal.’

  ‘A family has never been on my list of priorities, Holly.’

  ‘Your priorities suck,’ she said quietly, appalled at his callous dismissal.

  ‘My priority at the moment is getting you and preferably me out of here alive. I cannot, I will not think about anything else.’

  The engine cut out abruptly and there was no time for any more idle chit-chat. Holly felt hot acid burning her throat as fear slammed into her again. ‘I’m scared, Richard,’ she said in a quiet voice.

  ‘I know, Holly, but you’ve got to be strong. It’s going to be tough but you can do it. Just watch me and follow my lead at all times. You have to be prepared to make a break for it at any time, OK?’ he whispered frantically, before their captors came for them. ‘I need you to trust me and do anything I ask. I don’t care how strange it seems at the time, OK?’

  She nodded and then they heard car doors open and voices getting closer and the tarp was pulled back, flooding the tray with bright light. Richard and Holly screwed their eyes shut. Their captors dragged them from the vehicle and they stumbled and swayed until their eyes became accustomed to the light.

  Behind the car a dirt road led back down a relatively gentle gradient through the foothills and eventually back to Abeil. Ahead was a narrow track, disappearing upwards into apparent jungle.

  ‘Where are we?’ said Richard stalling.

  ‘The hills, Sgt Hollingsworth,’ said the leader.

  ‘And you are?’

  ‘You can call me…John,’ he said, and laughed, obviously amusing himself.

  Holly felt a chill slide down her spine at the coldness of his laugh. John, or whoever the hell he was, had creepy written all over him. His age was hard to gauge but Holly thought he looked about fifty.

  He had small piggy eyes and greasy slicked-back hair. His thin lips seemed to have an almost permanent sneer and his teeth were yellowed. A thin, hand-rolled cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth and Holly noticed he had matching nicotine stains on his fingers. He looked…evil.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Richard demanded.

  ‘Up,’ he said.

  Holly looked at the mountain before her. OK, it wasn’t Everest but it was quite a climb.

  ‘Why have we been abducted?’ he demanded.

  An Australian army medic and an aid worker? Come, now, Sergeant, you’ll fetch a pretty penny,’ John taunted softly.

  Richard curled his fingers into a fist behind his back. John would pay for his smugness. ‘Our government won’t pay and you will be tracked down and brought to justice.’

  Holly stared agog at Richard’s defiance as John chuckled loudly, joined by his brothers in arms. Way to go, Sarge! Goad them into shooting us now. Good plan.

  John turned to one of his crew and issued an order. The younger man scurried quickly away, going to the car and bringing back a digital camera.

  ‘Say cheese,’ said John, and he pointed it at them, snapping a quick photo, the flash somewhat out of place in the primitive jungle setting.

  John nodded to the same man and he took the camera back to the car, got in, started up the engine and took off like a bat out of hell. They watched the car disappear and then John barked another order and two men undid their ankle ropes.

  Next they untied her hands and Holly rubbed at her chafed wrists as she felt the blood rush back to her fingers in a wave, gritting her teeth at the painful hot prickling sensation as feeling returned.

  ‘Let’s go,’ said John, and Holly felt a gun prod her in the back.

  ‘Untie my hands,’ said Richard, refusing to move.

  ‘Sorry Sergeant, I’d be a fool to do that. You will remain restrained and one false move from you and I will shoot your friend without thinking twice. Now move.’

  Richard ignored the painful jab of the rifle in his ribs and dug in his heels.

  ‘You’re right, Sgt Hollingsworth. We don’t need you both. I could just shoot her now,’ said John, cocking Richard’s pistol and pointing it at Holly’s chest.

  Richard saw Holly pale and close her eyes, preparing to die. He waited for her to wail or beg or scream abuse at him, but she stayed bravely silent. Slowly Richard began to move and John smiled triumphantly.

  They walked in single file up the narrow mountain track. Two rebels led them, their rifles slung over their shoulders. The one at the front wore Richard’s pack on his back. Holly came next, then Richard, then John, followed by two more armed rebels.

  After an hour of solid walking up the steady incline Holly’s legs were screaming for mercy. She was relatively fit but this mountain goat routine was tes
ting her limits and the track stretched ever upwards. Were they going right to the top?

  Her muscles protested another increase in the gradient. How were they going to be tomorrow? All providing she was alive then, of course. She couldn’t believe how blasé she was becoming where her life was concerned. Although when John had pointed Richard’s gun at her it had been a different story. Her heart still hadn’t settled from the rush of adrenaline.

  Mind you, the climb wasn’t helping her heart rate. All they needed now was for it to rain. Looking at the sky and glancing at her watch, Holly figured it was just about time for the mid-afternoon monsoonal downpour.

  Richard had been planning and plotting like a man on a mission, the view of Holly’s back keeping him focused on his goal—to get the hell off this mountain. Alive! The further up they went the more out of his control the situation became. John was clearly very clever and Richard knew he’d have to stay alert to outsmart him.

  Richard was certain an opportunity would present itself. He just had to be ready. He noted the many side tracks that ran off the main route down either side, like narrow tributaries snaking off a big river. Were they just formed from soil erosion during the monsoon or were they alternate pathways, short cuts even, that the rebel forces used when needed?

  ‘So, John,’ said Richard breaking the silence, ‘you speak remarkably good English.’ He may as well try to get as much information as possible.

  Holly startled. Birds and insects had been the only sounds until now. She noted the distinct lack of puff in his voice. Maybe the man really was a machine?

  ‘Thank you, Sergeant.’

  ‘May I ask where you learnt it?’

  ‘Australian schools are excellent Sergeant, but I guess you know that already.’

  Richard was far from cheered by the leader’s generosity in sharing information with him. He had expected to gain nothing useful—after all, John was too clever to give away important identifying facts. Unless…he already knew their fate. Richard’s mouth set into a grim line. Not without a fight, Johnno. Not without a fight.