Freefall (8 page)

He sensed her confusion, followed by her awareness as he moved closer. A warning rang in the back of his mind that his feelings for her were probably just caused by the intensity of their situation, but for once he ignored reason. He pulled her into his arms, a myriad of emotions rushing through him. Psychologically, he knew he should keep a professional distance between them, but when she leaned her head against him, all logic disappeared.

She was frail at that moment, and his instinct to protect her took on an unaccustomed urgency. A light breeze whispered around them, chasing away the desert heat. Brent closed his eyes, lost in the sweetness and simplicity of the moment. When he pulled back, he chastised himself for not keeping a professional distance. He looked down at her, frustrated that she could make him forget why he was here and block out everything around them. Quickly, he looked away.

“We should water the horses and eat something before we start out again,” he said, grateful that she was steady on her feet when he released her.

Slowly, Amy led her horse to the water and then looked over at Brent. Her voice was tentative when she asked, “Am I going to see you after we get back to the States?”

He looked up at her, unsure of how to answer her. Did he want to see her after they got back? Yes. Could he afford the emotions she evoked in him? He wasn't sure. The only married member of his unit was his commander, Kel Bennett. Despite the fact that Kel and his wife had a temple marriage, from what he had seen of their relationship, he wasn't sure marriage and his profession were compatible.

Though they had only been together a few days, Brent already knew that Amy wasn't the type he would be able to just forget the minute he left for an assignment. Instead, she would make him anxious to get back home.

Rather than answer her question, he asked one of his own. “Are you going to stay in the States, or will you go back out on assignment?”

“I don't know,” Amy admitted, running a hand over her horse's neck as it drank. “I love to travel, but I don't think this is an experience I'll want to repeat.”

“Maybe you should ask to go someplace like London or Stockholm,” Brent suggested. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized that many of the safe assignments would put half a world between them.

Amy felt his words and the implication of them. She watched him for a minute, hoping she had misunderstood. She knew that he wanted her to be safe, but surely he realized that those assignments would put thousands of miles between them. How could he hold her one minute like she was the center of his world, and then the next minute suggest she live on a different continent from him? She dropped her eyes to the ground, realizing that at this moment she was the center of his world, but only because it was his job to protect her.

Disappointment shot through her, followed by a wave of irritation. Perhaps the closeness they shared was no more than a result of being together constantly for the past few days. She looked out over the river, annoyed that she would let herself feel anything of a romantic nature for this man who was being paid to keep her safe. If Brent wanted to see her tucked away in some safe post where she would never see him again, she had to assume that he wanted to reestablish a professional distance between them.

In the west the sun was sinking behind a mountain range, and fingers of pink, red, and orange streaked across the sky. Water rippled over a fallen tree, creating a mini-waterfall. Under different circumstances the sandy beach would have made an ideal picnic spot. She took a bite of her energy bar and decided that even though they were eating here, energy bars and spring water definitely didn't count as a picnic dinner.

After a few more minutes, Brent led his horse away from the water and swung himself onto the horse's back. “We had better get going,” he said. He winced as pain shot through his arm, but he was grateful that the constant throbbing hadn't returned even though his painkillers had worn off.

Amy mounted her horse and followed as Brent took the lead. Her mind raced as they moved forward, and she was forced to ask herself if she would really want to see Brent again after they made it out of Abolstan. As much as she enjoyed his company, she wasn't sure she would want to be involved with someone who would have to fly halfway around the world at any given time. She watched Brent ride through the trees, telling herself that he didn't appear to want to see her again anyway. With a shake of her head, she reminded herself that she was just tired. Maybe the fact that they hadn't slept in almost twenty-four hours was further confusing matters that were confusing enough already.

She counted up the number of days since they had fallen out of the helicopter together, surprised that she had only met Brent four days earlier. In fact, this whole ordeal had only started five days ago, but as they pressed forward, she could barely remember what it was like to sleep indoors or not have to worry about the gunshots and tanks that sometimes sounded in the distance.

Could they really have met only four days ago? she asked herself as she struggled to stay alert. Rolling her shoulders again, she decided it didn't matter how long they had been on this journey. The important thing was to get out of here in time to warn the right people that their country was about to come under attack. In two more days, her family could end up in a far worse situation than she was in now.

* * *

“Four days.” Jim Whitmore paced across his office, a cordless phone up to his ear. He nodded at Jared Elliott, who was manning the desk outside of his office, and then shut the door between them. “Doug, how can we not have heard anything by now?”

“I don't know, sir.” Doug's voice came over the line. He hated dealing with the unknown, but for the past several days the only news he'd had was that they had no news. “The unit commander said that Lieutenant Miller only had one communications device. If that was somehow broken when he and Amy were separated from the rest of the group, it's possible that they have already left the country and just haven't been able to get word out.”

“That's the optimistic possibility.” Jim's voice took on an edge. “What's on the other side of the coin?”

“Senator, I think it's too soon to consider any negative outcomes,” Doug said carefully. “The press has not yet discovered that your daughter is missing, and none of the warring factions in Abolstan is making any demands. If they had been captured, someone would have contacted us by now.”

Jim closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temple, refusing to consider that his baby girl might already be dead. He couldn't give up, and for now he chose to believe that a successful outcome was not only possible, but inevitable. “I understand that the DCI is leaving for Cairo this morning to meet with the ambassador to Abolstan. I think perhaps a trip would do me some good.”

“Do you really think that's a good idea?”

“I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I don't think I can sit around here much longer and pretend that everything is okay.”

“What will the press think?”

“After we leave, I'll have my staff issue a press release saying that I'm going to meet Amy there so that I can escort her home,” Jim told him. “Charlie is already working on the arrangements.”

“Charlie's going too?”

“It was actually his idea,” Jim explained. “CJ and Kailey have helped distract Katherine, but Charlie and I just can't wait around anymore.”

“Is your wife okay with this?”

“If she didn't feel like CJ needed her here, I think she would come with us, but yes, she understands why we need to go.” Jim thought of their long talk the night before. Katherine had been torn between wanting to go and wanting them to stay. After a lot of discussion and prayer, they had finally decided that Katherine would stay behind with CJ and Kailey while Matt finished up his road trip. Meanwhile Charlie and Jim would fly to Cairo in hopes of bringing Amy home.

“I assume you will want me to speak with your wife if I hear anything further,” Doug said.

“Yes, but they're actually headed down to Florida later today. They thought it would be easier on Kailey to be in her own home, and they wanted to see Matt tonight before he leaves on his next trip.” Jim checked his watch before continuing. “I'll make sure CJ and Katherine know how to reach me.”

“Good luck, Senator,” Doug said. “Give Amy my love when you see her.”

“I will.” Jim closed his eyes and prayed it would be just that easy.

“Matt! Katherine! Come quick!” CJ stood in the doorway leading from the backyard into the spacious living room, where the television was playing behind her.

Matt scooped his daughter up in his arms and ran into the house with his mother just a step behind him. “What's wrong?”

CJ simply pointed as the newscaster continued.

“Our sources suggest that one of the hostages never made it out of Abolstan. So far, no one has been able to confirm that Amy Whitmore has been seen since she was taken hostage nearly a week ago.”

“Oh, no.” Katherine sank down onto a chair, both of her hands covering her mouth as the newscaster went on. Next to her, Matt set Kailey down and stood riveted to the television.

“Despite the assurances from Senator Whitmore's staff that he is on his way to Cairo to escort his daughter home, one eyewitness said that Amy Whitmore fell from the rescue helicopter along with one of her rescuers when the helicopter came under fire. We have been unable to confirm whether or not they survived the fall.”

CJ wrapped her arms around Matt's waist, her eyes tearing as her husband drew her closer. Their prayers couldn't have all been in vain, but how could someone make up such a story? Could Amy really have died during the rescue? And if so, why hadn't anyone passed along that information?

Taking a deep breath, CJ looked up at Matt. His jaw was set and she could tell that he too was struggling with the possibilities. “It can't be true, Matt.”

Matt looked down at her, his eyes moist.

Realizing that he was afraid to speak, CJ continued, “If she had died during the rescue, we would have been told.”

Matt swallowed hard. “How could she possibly survive falling out of a helicopter?”

“People in the military jump out of helicopters all the time,” CJ pointed out. “Let me call Doug and we'll see if he can find out where this story is coming from.”

Her hand was shaking when she picked up the phone and dialed Doug's number. She hadn't even finished dialing when the doorbell rang.

“I can't deal with anyone right now,” Matt told her, sitting down next to his mother and reaching an arm around her shoulders.

Nodding in understanding, CJ walked to the front door and opened it to find Doug on the doorstep. Desperation was in CJ's voice when she spoke. “Please tell me that the story on the news isn't true.”

“It's misleading,” Doug said, and he walked through the door.

CJ motioned to the living room. “Why don't you come tell all of us what's going on so that you don't have to explain twice.” She led the way down the hall, and Doug took a seat across from Matt and Katherine.

Doug waited for Matt and Katherine to look up before he spoke. “First of all, we have every reason to believe that Amy is alive and well. The story about her falling out of a helicopter is somewhat exaggerated.”

“How exaggerated?” Matt asked.

“We didn't give you this information because we didn't want to worry you, but when the rescue helicopter was leaving with the hostages, it came under fire. The door next to Amy was hit, and during evasive maneuvers she slid through the door. One of her rescuers caught her before she dropped, but they weren't able to bring her back in safely.” Doug took a deep breath. “Afraid that someone was going to get a clean shot at either her or the helicopter, Lieutenant Miller opted for a controlled fall with her onto a roof. He then instructed the helicopter to leave them behind when he noticed how quickly they were losing fuel.”

“They could have picked her up and didn't?” Matt asked incredulously.

“Matt, the lieutenant made the right decision,” Doug said gently. “The helicopter made it within four miles of the border before it went down. Had they stopped to pick up Amy and Lieutenant Miller, they probably wouldn't have cleared the mountain range near the border. A couple of the other hostages wouldn't have lived long enough to receive the medical attention they needed.”

“But she was okay when they left her?” Katherine asked softly.

“Yes.” Doug nodded. “The team leader said that Lieutenant Miller had already checked her for injuries before they left and that she was fine.”

“Now that the story is out, will she stay fine?” Anger tinted Matt's voice. “If they haven't already left the country, every terrorist in Abolstan is going to be looking for them. It's going to be impossible for them to get out.”

“From what I hear, ‘impossible' has never been in Brent Miller's vocabulary.”

* * *

“Take cover,” Brent whispered at the approach of a vehicle. Darkness was falling quickly, but he knew they were still visible in the fading twilight if someone looked into the trees along the road.

He slid off his horse, using the animal and the trees to shield him from the road. Amy followed suit. She let her horse have its head so it could graze and pressed herself up against a tree to hide. They had several yards of wooded area between them and the road, but Brent didn't want to take any chance of someone seeing the movement by the river.

The first of the headlights came into view, and Brent identified the vehicle as a Jeep. A convoy of at least a half dozen vehicles followed behind it, and in the distance he could hear tanks. Something was happening, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what. The vehicles he saw all appeared to be heading in the same direction they were.