Guarding the Princess

chapter 3



Dalilah felt herself slipping down Brandt’s back and once again tried to maneuver herself higher, squeezing her thighs tighter around his body as he trotted through long dry grass. But he was big between her legs and the strain of holding on was making her muscles burn. The back of his shirt was damp from exertion and his neck smelled very faintly of aftershave. It made her wonder about him—who he really was, where he’d been going before he’d suddenly been diverted into this mission. She wondered if he’d had any idea it was going to turn into this—a manhunt.

Thunder grumbled again and the wind felt hotter. She peered into the darkness trying to get her bearings, but there was nothing to orient her, just shadowed shapes of trees, scrub, rocky outcrops.

He stopped suddenly, breathing hard.

“What is it?” she whispered near his ear.

“Elephants,” he said as he set her gently down to the ground. “Over there.” He pointed.

Dalilah heard the crack of a branch, and a crunch. Then a monstrous, ghostly shape seemed to materialize out of the darkness itself. More followed, big hulking forms moving slowly across the land, ears silently flapping, curved tusks gleaming ghostly white. A sense of awe washed over her skin and she rubbed her arms, instinctively moving closer to Brandt, knowing at the same time a small machete and rifle were nothing against these beasts.

Neither of them spoke, just watched in humble silence as the ghostly gray Goliaths moved quietly in single file across the plain. There was a baby behind one and Dalilah’s thoughts turned to the vicious crocodile fight she’d witnessed back at the lodge, the Czech with the gin and tonic, the strange portent of danger. She glanced at Brandt. It was a feeling she should have given more weight to.

The matriarch leading the herd paused suddenly and turned to face Dalilah and Brandt, lifting her trunk as she sniffed them, her ears flaring out wide. Brandt reached for Dalilah’s hand, and he brought his mouth close to her ear.

“Whatever you do, don’t run,” he whispered, breath warm against her skin. “Out here, only food runs. Besides, there is nothing here that you can outrun.”

She swallowed, heart banging against her ribs. He gave her hand a squeeze, reading her fear, just letting her know he was there, and Dalilah moved closer to him. His air of confidence made her feel safe.

Satisfied that the humans posed no threat, the giant pachyderm turned, and lumbered on. Her tribe followed.

“Wow.” Dalilah exhaled after the night had swallowed the animals. She realized she was shaking.

“See how all the Mopani trees here are short and squat?” Brandt whispered. “They’re eaten like that, by the elephants.”

Dalilah realized she was still holding his hand tight, and she awkwardly extracted herself but stayed close, her body almost touching his. She was suddenly acutely aware that any number of creatures were probably watching them from the darkness right now, assessing threat, waiting for opportunity.

The Czech’s words filtered back into her mind.

We’re put on this earth to eat or be eaten. To kill or be killed, except with us humans, it’s not always about food or water. Sometimes it’s just for fun, or revenge.

Like with Amal. Watching, waiting all these years. Dalilah rubbed her arms again, cold suddenly in spite of the heat.

“You ready to move again?” His voice was a little kinder, gentler. He’d been as affected by the animals as she had, Dalilah noted. He might be experienced, but not jaded, not when it came to something like this.

“Come, hop on.”

“I’m walking, Brandt.”

“You’ll hurt your feet, then we’re done for.”

“Forget it, you can’t carry me all the way. I th—” Abruptly he grasped her by the hips and swooped her round onto his back. As he did, his fingers caught on the thread of her G-string, and she felt him stall. It made her suddenly conscious of the intimacy of her position on his back, and it clearly hadn’t escaped his notice, either.

He started to move again, this time at a faster trot, his small flashlight bobbing in a little yellow circle on the ground immediately in front of them. Lightning forked again over the horizon. The terrain began to change, thorn trees getting taller. After several miles he was breathing hard, his body wet with exertion.

The smell of smoke grew stronger. He coughed.

“Brandt, put me down.”

He kept going.

“I’m going to hurt you if you don’t put me down—you can’t keep going like this.”

He gave a snort.

“I mean it.”

He trotted faster.

She gripped his hair, pulled. “Put me down!”

He dumped her to the ground, hard and sudden.

“Dammit, woman. I should leave you out here for the bloody jackals!”

“Give me that machete,” she demanded.

“What in hell for?”

She took off her shoe. “Please, just give me that blade,” she said, holding her hand out.

He met her gaze, the paleness of his eyes unnerving in this light. Caution snaked through Dalilah. She didn’t know how far she could push him. She knew nothing at all about him other than Omair trusted him. Which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Her brother knew some rough and dangerous people.

Slowly he unsheathed his blade, handed it to her by the hilt, and in the faint beam of his flashlight she caught what looked like a twist of amusement on his lips. Irritation spiked—he was humoring her, waiting to see what she was going to do. Well, she’d show him.

She crouched, and balancing her stiletto against a rock, Dalilah raised the blade into the air. As she brought it down, he caught her wrist midmotion.

“Don’t be a fool!” he growled. “You’re going to slice off your goddamn fingers like that!” He pushed her aside and lopped off the heel in a clean swipe.

“Other one,” he said, holding out his hand.

She gave him her other shoe. He matched what was left of that heel to the other with a neat slice of his blade.

Dalilah put the decapitated sandals back onto her feet. Gritting her jaw in determination, she stood. The shoes were uncomfortable, but the soles had enough give so that she could walk, and it was better than having lopsided stiletto heels pinning her into the ground with each step.

He resheathed the blade. “Fine. Walk then. But there are three rules. One—we walk single file. You stay right behind me. Two—I give an order, you jump. Three—you keep pace or you’re back on my shoulders. Got it?”

Before she could retort he strode off, his flashlight a tiny yellow beam on the ground. “And it’s a panga, not a machete,” he called over his shoulder.

She hobbled after him, immediately struggling to match his pace.

“You’re going faster to spite me, aren’t you?” she said after a few minutes, already breathless.

“Believe me, if I wanted to spite you I’d do a lot more than walk fast,” he grumbled.

“Look, I didn’t ask to be rescued,” she retorted. “Especially by some pigheaded brute with a massive chip on his shoulder.”

“I didn’t ask to rescue you, either, sweetheart.”

“What’s your problem under it all—you don’t like women? Where’d you earn that chip on your shoulder anyway?”

He didn’t bother to reply.

“What did Omair do for you that you owe him?”

He was quiet for a moment. “If it wasn’t for your brother I’d be dead.”

Surprise chased through her. “What do you mean?”

“Save your breath, woman, you’ll move faster.”

“Dalilah! My name is Dalilah!” Tears of frustration pricked at her eyes as she tried to run faster behind him, fear crackling at the corners of her mind. The scent of smoke was growing stronger and she could feel static in her hair—electricity quietly rustling everywhere in the dark. And her feet were already hurting, stones hard under the soles, grass cutting her skin.

He picked up more speed as the clouds seemed to lower even farther, and she felt a bullet of rain hit her shoulder. Big marbles of water suddenly began to bomb into the dry, dusty earth, the scent of soil was pungent, and she heard him curse ahead of her.

“Run,” he called out, breaking into a trot himself. “This is going to be a mother of a storm. We need to get gear and make for that river, stat!”

Gathering up what was left of her cocktail dress, feet sending sparks of pain up her legs, Dalilah ran as best she could. Raindrops were attacking them now, crashing into the earth, slamming into her head, onto her shoulders, wetting her hair. Wind gusted, thick with smoke from a nearby bushfire. Her hair was quickly plastered to her face.

Brandt reached a slope of smooth stone and began to descend rapidly ahead of her. But the rock was slick with water, and with no grip on her soles, Dalilah went down hard, smacking onto rock as her shoes slid out from under her. Her arm caught in a small crevice and torqued against her weight as she slid. She cried out in pain.

He spun around instantly, and swore. Dalilah couldn’t hold back the tears of pain that pooled in her eyes and ran with the rainwater down her face.

Frustration licked through Brandt as he aimed his flashlight at her face—it quickly changed to worry as he saw her complexion was bloodless, her eyes black, shimmering holes of shock and pain. Quickly he panned the light over the rest of her body. She was hunching over her left arm, her gold dress wet and glittering against the red rock.

“You should’ve let me carry you,” he said, crouching beside her.

“You were getting tired,” she snapped.

“That’s not for you to decide. Let me see your arm.”

But she kept her arm tight against her stomach. “It’s fine.” Rain pelleted down and thunder crashed right above them. They hadn’t seen the brunt of the storm yet, and in his mind Brandt could visualize the rivers filling, their window to cross the border closing. Urgency bit at him.

“Dalilah—give me your arm.”

She glanced sharply up at his use of her name, and she met his gaze. Something punched through his stomach, low.

“Let me see,” he said softly, taking her arm in his hands.

Her skin was slick with water as he felt carefully along the bone. She sucked in air when he neared her wrist.

“It hurts there?”

She nodded, biting her lip.

Brandt concentrated on the area, detecting a slight grinding feeling under her skin—crepitation. She had a fracture. Damn!

“Can you wiggle your fingers, move your hand?”

She wiggled, but not without obvious pain.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve fractured it.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking truly frightened for the first time since the ambush at the lodge.

His tone grew gentle. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ll get you somewhere we can splint and bandage you up properly. There should be some first-aid stuff at the camp, maybe even some painkillers.” As he spoke, Brandt squinted through the sheen of rain, scanning their surroundings. “See that cluster of baobabs down there, below the cliff?”

She nodded.

“I’m going to leave you down there, with my rifle, while I run the rest of the way to the camp. Those trees are over a thousand years old—they’ll protect you from the worst of the storm. That cliff reaching up behind the baobabs—it’s the highest point of this terrain and it will take any lightning strikes. You’ll be safe there, okay?”

As safe as one can be out here.

“Brandt—”

Something in her voice cut through him.

“What is it?”

“I’ve been difficult, I’m sorry. Thank you—for coming, for saving me. I...I don’t think it’s really all sunk in until now.” She sounded beaten suddenly.

He nodded, instantly erecting his own emotional walls. He should be the one apologizing for being so brusque with her. But he wasn’t going to. He needed to maintain distance, and if she disliked him for it, so much the better. Because he needed her to focus. He wasn’t going to lose another principal.

His big mistake had been falling for Carla all those years ago. And because he’d become vested, because he’d lost focus, she’d died the most horrible death one could imagine.

He took Dalilah’s good arm, helped her to her feet. They began to move down the rest of the rock slope, carefully this time, him holding her by the elbow and steadying her around the waist, rain drenching them.

“Do you think there’ll be people at the camp?” she asked as they neared the prehistoric-looking trees with branches that resembled roots upturned to the sky.

“It’s a satellite bush camp. I know the outfit that runs it—I’ve flown for them before. They might have a party of guests there,” he said. “If not, there might be someone sleeping there to guard the place.”

“They could help us.”

“No, they can’t. We don’t know who’s heard of the bounty on your head and this is a hungry country—life is cheap. I’m not trusting anyone. We’ve got to look after ourselves.”

They reached the grove, the ancient trees dwarfing them, and Brandt was relieved to find they were in the lee of the cliff and protected from the real teeth of the wind.

“How much is this bounty on me, Brandt?”

“One million dollars. For your head. Five million if you’re brought to Amal alive.”

He felt the spark of shock run through her body.

“My head?”

“Yes.”

She swallowed, staring at him.

“How...can he promise so much?”

“Omair expects that Amal will try to extract a large ransom from your family, and he’s intending to use this to pay the bounty if need be.”

“They won’t do it—my brothers will not pay that bastard. They will not negotiate with the devil!” A sudden defiant anger crackled through her words and Brandt felt a spurt of relief. Anger was good. It would keep her sharp, ward off the real shock he figured was yet to fully hit her.

“I know your brother, Dalilah. Omair will do anything to save you.” He gave a dry laugh. “Including trust me.”

“You say that like it was a mistake.”

“His options were limited. Come, we need to get you up onto that fork between the trees, off the ground, out of the worst of the rain.”

Brandt lifted Dalilah up by the hips and set her into the crook where two baobabs joined. He chambered a round into the rifle and held the gun out to her. “You know how to use one of these?”

“Probably better than you do.”

“How so?”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Brandt.”

He laughed, then quieted at the seriousness in her features, the air of mystery deepening around her, his prejudices tumbling one by one, hour by hour. “Any other surprises up your sleeve?”

She gave a weak smile, her almond eyes huge black pools. She looked frightened, vulnerable, brave and even more beautiful. It twisted some unused muscle in Brandt’s chest. He gave her his flashlight and spare rounds. “Use the torch only if necessary—we might need to conserve the battery.”

She nodded.

“Sit tight, okay? I won’t be long.” As he withdrew his hand, the backs of his fingers brushed against her ring. He glanced down at the rock.

“Engagement?” he said—couldn’t help himself.

Her mouth flattened, and she nodded. He caught something strange in her eyes as she met his gaze, and it made him hesitate. “You’ll be fine,” he said, more for his own benefit than hers. Then Brandt turned suddenly, and disappeared into the storm.

Dalilah watched the darkness swallow him, wondering if part of Brandt Stryker’s bluntness was his way of keeping focus, or if his jabs were actually designed to make her angry so she’d keep hers. Because it had worked.

Thunder exploded right above her head and she winced, crouching farther back into the crook of the trunks. Rain splattered into a sheet of water collecting on the packed earth below the trees. It began to run like a river.

After what seemed like an hour, she grew stiff, and fear began to sink deep and cold into her chest. The night seemed to grow even darker, the pain in her arm more intense. She thought of Amal wanting her head, and her pulse quickened.

What would she do if Brandt didn’t come back? Try to make it to that bush camp on her own? She had no idea where, or how, to find it. And he was right about the bounty—anyone in the country could turn on her, law enforcement and military included. It was a starving and denuded nation under a long, corrupt and brutal regime. Her mouth turned dry and she began to shiver. Images slammed through her mind—men in balaclavas, shooting, screaming, the sound of breaking glass, cutlery.

Dalilah squeezed her eyes tight, but she couldn’t shut out the memory of the dead man under the table, blood welling from the small black hole in his neck. His blank, dead gaze. She opened her eyes and fingered the rifle trigger, drawing some resolve from the feel of the weapon in her hands. Then she heard a noise, somewhere above in the tree.

Her nerves twitched and she peered up into the darkness. Dalilah couldn’t see anything, but she could feel it—a presence, something close, watching. She flicked on the flashlight, panned the branches above. A pair of green eyes glowed back—the forward-facing eyes of a predator. Heart jackhammering, she panned the flashlight farther to the left.

Ice slid through her veins as she registered what was sharing her tree.

* * *

Brandt crouched in the shadows, assessing the camp, oblivious to rain washing over his face and soaking through his clothes. A covered game-viewing jeep had been backed in beside five Meru-style tents. That meant there were guests here, a fully equipped camp. And if there was one good thing about this weather it was keeping both guests and guides battened down inside those tents.

This deluge would also wash away most of the tracks he and Dalilah had made from the safari lodge. But if Amal did have a skilled combat tracker on his team, Brandt had no doubt that come daylight they’d still find enough trace to pursue them.

His gaze went to the food-storage shed—it was constructed of metal, a padlock on the door. The padlock hung open.

Brandt had already checked out the jeep. The keys were inside, and it was equipped with GPS, radio, four-wheel drive, first-aid kit, blankets for night game drives. There were emergency flares in the glove compartment, along with a lighter and waterproof matches and map. A jack and spare tire were secured in a compartment at the rear. There was also a spare can of diesel fuel and a large water container that had been freshly filled. Brandt ran in a low crouch toward the shed, ducking around the side wall. He waited, his hand hovering near the hilt of his panga.

No one stirred.

From this vantage point he could see a pair of hiking boots behind the mosquito netting in the enclosed entrance area of one tent. They looked as if they might fit Dalilah. Even if they were too big they were better than the getup she was in now.

Quickly he edged round the front of the shed, unhooked the padlock, pushed the door open. Metal creaked loudly. He stilled, muscles taut. But the rain drumming on the tin roof was loud, and branches creaked and moaned in the wind.

He moved fast, filling a plastic cooler with food—tinned goods, dried meat, stuff that would last. He found a box of ammunition, then he reached up, snagged a large bottle of whiskey off the top shelf, tossed it into the cooler. Might take some edge off this mission.

Brandt hefted the chest into the backseat of the jeep. The vehicle had three rows of pew-style seats, the last one slightly higher than the others. The roll bars were topped with canvas but the sides of the jeep were open. The vehicle was far bigger than they needed, and it was going to be a little cumbersome, but a godsend given the loss of his Cessna. He was still bitter about that.

He jogged quietly back and hunkered down next to the tent that contained the boots. He listened for sounds inside, heard someone snoring. Rain pattered loudly on canvas.

Slowly, he unzipped and opened the mosquito flap, reached in for the boots. That’s when he saw a backpack with a sleeping bag tied to the bottom leaning against the back of a camping chair.

Brandt snagged the pack, slowly edging it toward himself. He opened the flap and saw shirts, pants, socks, bush hat, bug repellent, headlamps. He almost smiled. Some poor bugger was all set for a safari hike tomorrow. Feeling in the side pocket, he pulled out a wallet. Inside was a German driver’s license and wad of greenbacks. The cash might come in handy.

Gathering up the gear, Brandt jogged back through the rain to the jeep. The vehicle had been parked facing a sloped dirt track that quickly turned into a steep decline.

He climbed into the driver’s seat, geared into neutral, released the brake, got out and pushed. It took three hefty attempts, but once the wheels released from their indentations in the mud, it trundled easily toward the slope. Brandt steered with one hand on the wheel as he ran alongside. When the vehicle gathered speed and started down the incline, he jumped into the driver’s seat.

The jeep lumbered wildly down the slope, gathering more speed. Brandt didn’t fire the ignition until he neared the bottom. The jeep growled to life as thunder clapped overhead, then echoed down the valley. A gust of wind drove rain through the open sides, soaking him. He’d bet the people back at the camp hadn’t heard a damn thing and would only discover their transport missing after daybreak.

“Good girl.” He patted the dash. “You’re a real beauty.” The diesel tank registered full, too.

Brandt drove fast over the rough terrain. As soon as he felt he was far enough from the camp, he reached for his hip flask and took a deep swig, almost emptying the thing. At least he had a refill now, several times over. Brandt grinned. Things were most definitely looking up.

Within minutes he could make out the dark silhouette of the cliff in the distance, then the baobab grove at the foot of the rocks. But as the jeep mounted a last small incline and Brandt swung his headlights over toward the trees, he saw a strange pile in the mud at the base.

It took a split second to realize what he was seeing.

Dalilah—leopard!

His heart exploded into his throat as he slammed on the brakes. Leaving the headlights shining on the terrible sight, Brandt lurched out of the jeep and raced through the mud toward the pile of animal and human tangled in the water at the base of the trunks.