Hearts' Desires (26 page)

             
With howling engines, the vehicles started moving and hea
d
ed westwards, splashing up sand and stones. One of the rebels, a young guy was sitting in the back of the rover with Vance, Nora and Alison. The youngster had one rifle over his shoulder; the other pointed at his prisoners. He was chewing on a piece of wood and had a bandage around his left ankle. Vance tried to study him di
s
cretely, trying to see if there was any chance to approach him, try to build a rapport, but he was not discrete enough.

             
“Stop staring!” he shouted all of a sudden, and shoved the barrel of his gun into Vance’s stomach. Clenching his teeth, he doubled over.

             
Alison tried to hold and shield Nora as best as she could and make her stop crying, before the kidnapper lashed out against her, too. She quickly glanced over at Vance, and he realized she was concerned about him, before she could shu
t
ter her feelings behind her mask of anger and indifference again. It made the pain well worth it! She still cared for him!

             
“I’m okay,” he whispered and put his right arm around Nora, thus touching Alison as well. Then, they barely dared to move, speak or even look up for the rest of their ride. All they could see was the foliage flying by as the rover went at top speed.

             
Vance thought he would never forget the pattern of the Ro
v
er’s floor plate. He wondered where they were heading; what the kidnappers’ had in store for them.

The sky was already bathed in the fading orange and darke
n
ing hues of blue and gray of the evening colors, when the v
e
hicle came to a halt. To their relief they were reunited with the rest of their crew. But no sign of hope for rescue by a local police force,
da
m
mit
!

             
When the dust settled, the pitiful remains of a house a
p
peared. An abandoned farm apparently. The prisoners were hu
r
ried out of the cars. The commander ordered them to stay toget
h
er in the middle, while his men secured the perimeter.

             
“Looks like a cozy homestead,” Jake said with a half grin, tr
y
ing to ease the tension a bit. “But I doubt I’ll get a cold beer an
y
time soon…”

             
“Why are we stopping here?” Nora asked.

             
“We should be glad they did,” answered Max, “Gives the police a chance to catch up.”

             
“Maybe they just have to get some gas.”

             
Vance looked around. The place was as de
solate
as could be. The bushes and the grass were dry and dead, and any sign of cultivation was long gone, reclaimed by wilde
r
ness.

             
“Why are they doing this to us? We have nothing to do with their fight!!!”

             
“Calm down, please. Breathe.”

             
But Max’ words fell on deaf ears. Nora was panicking and hyperventilating.

             
“Shut up, all of you!
Shut the fuck up and get into the house!”

             
Max helped Nora, so they could move quickly and avoid further abuse by their kidnappers. The ruin would at least pr
o
vide shelter from the burning sun or rain - more they could not expect. Of course, it was filthy everywhere, the place had gi
v
en refuge to wild animals for some time. Lauren shoved some junk aside with her foot. In one room they found an old ma
t
tress, but decided of course not to use it. Nora just sat on the ground, covered her face and cried.

             
“Fucking shit!”
Lau
ren
kicked a piece of plaster outside and scowled at their wardens. They forced her to feel powe
r
less and helpless again, just like in her childhood, they forced her to r
e
member - that alone was enough to ignite her rage.

             
Apparently one of the rebel-soldiers had picked out Thabo for insult training. The young actor showed remarkable self control and did not react in any way, but patience had its li
m
its, and under these conditions a provocation could end up with someone getting killed.

             
“We’re all alive and unharmed so far. Let’s just sit down and save our strength.” Jake cut in right before Thabo was finally driven over the edge. It wasn’t just the insults, those he could ignore, but the greedy way the kidnappers looked at
Lauren
were
almost more than he could handle. Vance grabbed the boy by the shoulders and dragged him aside.

             
“Don’t let them get to you, okay? You’re a pro. You can handle this!”

             
“The best we can do is
try
to stay calm. And hope that the others with the bus made it and alert the authorities.”

             
“I’m going to talk to our kidnappers, now,” decided Alison. She could not just sit here and wait – it was against her n
a
ture.

             
“Let me go,” said Vance.

             
“Why? Because you are a man and I’m a frail woman?” Without waiting for his response she headed towards the commander, arms spread to show she was not hiding some sort of weapon.

             
Vance pressed his lips together. A part of him was proud of Alison. Whether she liked it or not, she seemed to be a true daug
h
ter of this country, and he could easily imagine her on a horse with a rifle in her hands, out to protect her land and freedom. Right now, however, he wished she was not quite that tough and ind
e
pendent - and always feeling the need to prove it. He wished she would allow him to protect her from harm. Or at least try to pr
o
tect her… Vance realized he would happily take a bullet for her when two of the kidnappers stopped her advance and a short qua
r
rel followed. Obviously, despite all his attempts, his feelings for her had not lessened at all.

             
Now Alison was out of sight. Without realizing it, he had walked through the empty door frame to see what was going on and now found himself confronted by a machine gun and barked orders to get back inside. Hands raised, Vance r
e
treated. He couldn’t understand what Alison was proposing, but the angry a
n
swers of the rebel’s commander said enough. He was not interes
t
ed in letting anyone of them go. Yes, he
would gladly take any money, the watches, the jewelry – but most of all he needed some hostages for their escape to M
o
zambique.

             
This was not going well. Hopefully Alison knew when to quit. Their health and welfare depended on their value to the kidna
p
pers, but they would not hesitate a minute to kill anyone who was going to be more trouble than they were worth. And they had enough hostages that icing one of them didn’t ma
t
ter. The idea they could hurt Alison in any way tortured Vance. He didn’t dare thinking about what he would do in that case… no one would be able to hold him back like he had just done with Thabo.

             
Shortly thereafter, Alison returned. Her stony face said enough and spared her the curious questions she did not want to answer. She leaned against the door frame and tried to mentally prepare herself for the coming hours, helpless, without control.

             
Don’t ever do that again, putting
yourself
at risk like that
, Vance would’ve loved to say. He wanted to embrace her and hold her tight, safe from all danger!

             
“You did all you could,” was the only thing he finally m
a
naged to say, hands stuffed in his pockets to keep them under control.

             
Alison didn’t react in any way, and so he sat down next to Jake. His old friend was trying to keep their minds busy and pass time with a makeshift game board he had scratched in the dirt, and some tokens made of little stones. When it came to make the best out of the ugliest situation, Jake was unbe
a
ten. Vance envied him. He found it impossible to think of an
y
thing else but Alison, at the moment.

Vance was dying for a smoke. When one of their guards lit some dubious weed, Vance was tempted to walk over and beg for one on his knees. Only now he realized how addicted he really was.
Well, time to face your darkest side
, he quoted one of the characters he had played recently.

             
Their watches stolen, no one knew exactly what time it was. The lack of information and the enforced inactivity was getting to all of them, especially Alison. She caught herself several times looking at her bare wrist where her watch had been, suppressing a sigh of exasperation when she reme
m
bered it wasn’t there.

             
Suddenly, one of the kidnappers showed up. His gaze roamed over the women, and Vance felt his chest tighten in anger and fear. However, all he did was toss in a plast
ic bag that landed at his feet.

             
“Food and drink!”

             
Thabo glanced to Vance, who started to unpack the ‘su
r
prise gift’. Three bottles of water and some half melted choc
o
late bars and other stuff, none of it looking very appealing. Maybe it had been stolen from a store; at any rate, it was no
u
rishment.
Dead hostages aren’t good for anything
Vance thought wryly. He po
r
tioned out the food.

             
“I’m not eating this crap” Lauren said.

             
Thabo hesitated a moment, then he walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “You have to.”

             
“What’s it to you?”

             
Several seconds passed. Lauren stared angrily at the food. Thabo’s face reflected some of his internal struggle.

             
“A lot,” he said finally. “I like you and you have to eat something.” He took a deep breath – there, he’d said it – there was no way back now! He had to brace himself for whatever storm was most likely brewing in her.

             
Lauren did not know what to say. She took the food Th
a
bo handed her to buy some time.
Thabo looked at her calmly, his own turmoil hidden behind a solemn face. This was more than she could handle right now. She wanted to shout at someone, get rid of her anger! But she couldn’t. How on earth could he smile at her?!

             
“You can’t like me!” It made her feel silly, saying it, like a little child. Why didn’t he leave her alone? It was embarras
s
ing!

             
“But I do like you. You’re strong and stubborn and you speak your mind. And… you’re very beautiful.”

             
Maybe Lauren would have laughed under different ci
r
cumstances. Now, only a faint snort escaped her and she shook her head. “You are a weird guy!”

             
He nodded in agreement, and felt as if he had won a m
a
jor victory, proud and suddenly grown up. Lauren felt as if she saw him the very first time. When exactly had he become the more mature of them? Embarrassing indeed, and irritating,
like
so many things in her life lately! Cautiously, she took a bite of something.